City of Golden Shadow - Tad Williams


City of Golden Shadow
(volume one of 'OTHERLAND')


AUTHOR - Tad Williams

BEST-SELLERS - the 'Memory,Sorrow and Thorn' series

SYNOPSIS - OTHERLAND
Shrouded in secrecy, it is home to the wildest dreams and darkest nighmares.
Vast amounts of money have been lavished on it.
The best minds of two generations have laboured to build it.
And somehow, bit by bit, it is claiming the Earth's most valuable resource ~ its children.


EXCERPT - 'If you have found this, then you have escaped.' it said. Paul looked around, afraid his rescuers would be terrified, but they were still looking at him with the same slightly worried reserve. After a moment, he realised they could not hear the voice, that it spoke to him alone.

'know this', it said. 'You were a prisoner. You are not in the world in which you were born. Nothing around you is true and yet the things you see can hurt or kill you. You are free, but you will be pursued, and i can help you only in your dreams. You must remain uncaptured until you find the others I am sending. They will look for you on the river. They will know you, if you tell them the golden harp has spoken to you.'


FL Speak - This is a mammoth book. Over 900 pages in the paperback edition and as i started reading, it all felt like hogwash. So i took a deep breath and started from the beginnning again. 

Science Fiction is not my cup of tea, but the synopsis looked exciting so i brought it on a whim. Even though this book fades considerably to his epic 'memory,sorrow and thorn' saga, once you start reading, this book gets hooked. The characters are alive and you feel like you care for each and every one of them. Well no, not all. Some you feel should be killed and some you feel should be killed by your hands. Nevertheless, on an epic scale, this is an ultimate virtual reality saga.

All the computer and virtual reality mumbo jumbo went straight over my head first time, so if you aren't a sci-fi fan, do NOT pick this book up. If you want to try sci-fi for the first time. do NOT pick this book up again. Try reading it after you are done reading a couple of other sci-fi books first.

The best thing about this novel is the plot. Almost 600 pages are gone in the first book trying to get the characters together. And then the fun and misery of the characters begin. I repeat, if you have the patience to go through the careful and slow detailing of the characters, you will love the book. The pace is expected to pick up from book two. So, gear yourself up for some of the wildest imaginations, dazzling ideas and non-stop adventures.

My rating - 3.3 outta 5. That's only because this is the first book.


PRICE - INR 450/- from Orbit publication house. (paperback - 2009)

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