Otherland
written by Tad Williams
www.ink2quill.com

“Otherland: City of Gold Shadow” is a science fiction book written by Tad Williams and the first book of a four book series, a tetralogy, called the Otherland Series. In 2012 Warner Bros. acquired the rights to the Otherland Series so we might see this story come to the screen.

Otherland Series Goodreads webpage

Otherland Series Penguin Random House webpage

Otherland Series Amazon webpage

“Otherland: City of Gold Shadow” starts with the story of British Infantryman Paul Jonas meeting a mysterious bird woman. This starts a quest for him to find out the nature of reality.

Fast forward to the 21st century and a world where the internet has grown into a virtual reality network. People can enhance their experience through the use of surgically implanted technology called neurocannula. It is also a time where a network plague known as Tandagore Syndrome is killing kids who are connected. When virtual engineering professor Irene `Renie´Sulawejo finds that her brother Stephen fell into a coma with Tandagore Syndrome she races to discover the cause. With the help of her former student !Xabbu she goes on a quest to save her brother´s life. (The ! represents the use of a clicking sound in the African language known as !Xhosa) The group of two expands to include Orlando, Fredericks and others.

The story develops to include a Grail Brotherhood, murder / cover-ups, the existence of the group of hackers known as `Treehouse´ and the discover of a hidden, golden city called Temilun in an area of the internet known as Otherland.

This book series is a wonderful journey into the digital world with a story that kept me captivated and ideas that have yet to come. The idea of the internet developing to the point of being a virtual world is not only entirely possible but will most likely come to pass within the next, sayyyy, 10-15 years.

The idea of stories, more specifically scifi stories, exploring the possibilities and drawbacks of escapism can be found in so many works. Take films like Inception, Surrogates, The Knick (where the head surgeon is a dope fiend), Total Recall, , and in books like Clean and the Mindspace Series, Brave New Worlds as examples of our exploration into the impact of escapism on societies. It´s not necessarily a bad thing either and can even be very helpful when used for teaching for example.

I also loved the way the author implied that the world was a much smaller place by having characters from all over the world. That really is an accurate representation of the world when someone is connected to the internet or the virtual world. People can meet up instantly in the virtual world faster than if they stepped out their door and walked to the corner of the block.

The idea of catching virtual viruses is another interesting idea the author explores. Think about it, as technology gets better we will most likely fuse with it to the point of such problems being able to exist. So imagine the modern person as someone having to worry about all the bugs and viruses in the real world as well as in the virtual one. That may well come to pass.

I highly recommend reading the “Otherland Series” because the story is great and the characters are just great too.

John

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