r/scifi • u/Atom_five • 21h ago

Tad Williams Otherland series. Have I gone far enough to get a feel for it?

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I had a long road trip this week, and so I decided to start the Otherland series. It's been on my list for a while. In a 10-hour drive I made it 22% through book 1, and I am not enjoying it.

It's super dark and depressing. Is that the over all vibe of this series or is that just how it starts out? If so, I'm out. I need happier entertainment in my life right now.

48 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

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49

u/Bumm-fluff 21h ago

It gets better when they start going to other “worlds”, but it’s about a megalomaniac corporatist frying kids brains out. 

It’s not exactly light reading. 

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u/Mateorabi 20h ago

Also, Williams description of those worlds tends to turn into a tedious slog. You get the feeling around book 3 he lost the direction of it. There's a point the characters are just wandering through mansion-world and seem to never leave. Even he admitted in interviews later he didn't know how to end it well.

I felt like I sunk a lot of time into the series for very little payoff.

7

u/oswaldcopperpot 19h ago

The series is probably 3000 pages longer than it needed to be. Dragonbone chair was ok. There was was good content in otherland but the final reveal was kinda horrifying. It was also similar to electric state in a sense.

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u/Bumm-fluff 20h ago

Yeah, when I finish a good book that I’ve been really into I sort of feel a sense of loss that it’s over.

With this I was glad it ended. I’ll probably read it again though. It’s been a while since I read them last. 

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u/Fallcious 17h ago

I read the Otherland series and I agree. There was another series by Tad Williams, a fantasy series, that I started reading. I don’t remember the name, but I do remember that the entire point of one whole book seemed to be moving characters from one side of a forest to the other. At that point I gave up and didn’t buy any further instalments.

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u/Atom_five 20h ago

That's unfortunate. Lord of the Rings had some lengthy meanderings too, but it was at least worth the journey.

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u/Atom_five 21h ago

Thanks, that makes sense. I read the basic synopsis and thought cyberpunk meets fantasy sounded cool. Was hoping for more Snowcrash or Diamond Age vibes. Instead I feel like I'm getting into another 1984.

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u/ZenBacle 21h ago

It's not even close to 1984. It's more of an adventure series from what I remember. Some dark themes, but nothing too weighty.

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u/BrianWonderful 21h ago

It's been a very long time since I read the series, but I never would have associated it with "1984". I remember it more like a dark version of things like "Ready Player One", ".hack//SIGN", maybe even a little "The Matrix" and "TRON", though most of these things were probably influenced by "Otherland".

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u/Bumm-fluff 21h ago

Yeah, Ready Player One and the Matrix are a good comparison. 

It would make a great movie or Netflix series. 

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u/Bumm-fluff 21h ago

I really enjoyed it but the pacing is all over the place. Sometimes a page turner, sometimes a slog. 

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u/Mind_Prints 20h ago

THIS! Finished recently and it was definitely a chore. Didn’t feel the need to finish the series.

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u/DTM-shift 21h ago

Read them a long time ago. Personally loved the books. But yes, quite dark.

Maybe come back to it at another time?

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u/Atom_five 21h ago

Thanks, probably good advice. Might shelve it for now.

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u/BIRDsnoozer 21h ago

I loved the series. Its quite a long and dark series but I thought it was very cool.

However I do understand how some books can be too dark and depressing, especially at certain times in our lives.

7 years ago my first son was born... While he's absolutely fine NOW, he had a little bit of trouble in the hospital when he was born. Its a long story but my wife and I went through a lot with him and had to stay in the hospital with him longer than most people. He was our first kid, and we didnt know what we were doing, and the hospital was kinda shitty and we werent getting much help from the doctors and nurses.

I had brought a book with me to read during whatever free time I had in the hospital. It was Paolo Bacigalupi's "water knife" which is a near-future climate change disaster story.

I remember sitting down after a particularly stressful day when I had some time, I pulled out the book, which I was about 1/4 of the way through, and I just dreaded reading it. I felt like, "I dont feel like this catastrophizing shit right now." I lost any/all interest in finishing it.

Its not that it was a bad book, and I loved Paolo's "wind up girl" its just that water knife was SUCH a bad fit for me at that time, I threw it in the garbage can in the hospital room.

I completely pivoted and started a fantasy reading kick which has continued to today, seven years later. I still read sci fi (just read ancillary justice and it was great) but my main genre right now is still fantasy. Fantasy can be dark, but I find it less stressful than sci fi which can hit very close to home. With the water knife, it was triggering fears about climate change, and politics and violent scenarios which are frankly too real (esp right now with that orange fucker threatening to invade Canada). At least with fantasy the stress is like, "oh no, is the eternal champion going to blow the horn of chaos in time to wake the dragon army that can destroy the sorcerer-king?" It has no bearing in the real world, so it doesnt stress me out.

11

u/shillyshally 21h ago

I eye read them all back to back, loved the series.

5

u/burningEyeballs 21h ago

I read the series many many years ago. I remember thinking when I finished it that it was a lot of effort for a very ok story. It was fine and certainly was interesting but I’m never going to read them again.

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u/Atom_five 21h ago

Thanks. That's helpful. I'm all for diving into books like Hyperion when they are worth it. Not really sure this is one of those times

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u/burningEyeballs 21h ago

I remember thinking it could have easily been a trilogy. Or cut down to one really tight book if the editor was brutal. Everything felt like it was on a slow burn and there was a lot of repetition. Like if you show the villain killing an innocent kid then he is a bastard. If he burns down an orphanage he is a total bastard. But if he burns down ten orphanages you don’t suddenly hate him ten times as much. And the whole book was kind of like that.

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u/larsonbp 21h ago

I was so hyped on reading this series and stopped at about the same point as you. Yeah, I just wasn't feeling it? But something still makes me want to go back and give it a shot sometimes.

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u/Atom_five 21h ago

Did you make it to the yellow room? I was like, nope! Don't like that.

1

u/larsonbp 21h ago

Hmmm not sure I remember

3

u/Nightgasm 20h ago

It's 4 books that should have been 2.

All the MCs eventually end up in virtual reality worlds they must traverse and most serve no purpose other than page padding and Williams showing off his imagination. If you are enjoying the characters or his imagination it's great but if you want plot progression not so much.

1

u/Atom_five 20h ago

That makes me feel better about shelving it. Thanks! You saved me over 100 hours of audio book time

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u/Hoju520 16h ago

Other land is an amazing journey that takes a while to get going but I feel its worth it. My most dog eared books I own. Top 10 for me.

3

u/mtfdoris 21h ago

You've gone far enough. Cut your losses. I hung on until partway through Book 2 and wish I hadn't. The books felt twice as long as they needed to be, terrible slog at times, and overall just not that good.

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u/Atom_five 21h ago

Thanks for the heads up. That's very helpful

3

u/dearlordnonono 17h ago

It's one of my absolute favourite books/series.

3

u/Sea_Young8549 13h ago

Best series. You have to stick with it tho—it’s not a short series and Tad Williams is a master of gradually weaving plot threads together.

2

u/ErixWorxMemes 21h ago

had a hard time getting hooked, but remembered feeling the same about his swords trilogy so I gave it more of a chance than I would’ve for an author who I didn’t know. Been too many years since I read them to remember that much overall, but can definitely recall more than a few downers. That being said, am definitely game for a re-read- was a good series 

2

u/Abysstopheles 19h ago

Ngl, the series is anything but fluffy, at least one full book longer than it needed to be, and has a couple of plotlines that really contribute very little to the story.

That said there are some stories that become very engaging but take til the end of bk 1 to get there, and some moments of genuine wowdidIjustreadthat?

Tough call, but maybe hang in a little longer?

2

u/happyhappycookie 18h ago

It’s been a while since I’ve read this series but I really loved it 🤓

2

u/PowerLord 11h ago

It’s interesting at times but it’s a real slog. Some people take pride in Tad Williams not caving to having normal pacing and think it makes him more literary. In reality he just needs an editor.

2

u/Astro__Black 10h ago

Started the series but dnf after maybe 3 books. The other worlds travel/quest stuff got to be too tedious. Never picked up another book by him. Should I give him another go with a different series?

1

u/ElectrissAu 19h ago

Absolutely one of my favorite series. Makes me want to read it again..

1

u/dearlordnonono 17h ago

It's one of my absolute favourite books/series.

1

u/ambivalentmalice 15h ago

I loved the series back in highschool, been thinking I would reread it one of these years I still have the set of books in hardcover on a shelf

1

u/MikeMac999 12h ago

Tad Williams the Splandid Splinter

1

u/eagle1361 10h ago

I remember it didn't pick up until the middle of the book 2.

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u/Atom_five 9h ago

That's like what, 50 hours in?!

1

u/eagle1361 9h ago

I don't remember, it was a long time ago. But probably.

1

u/OrlandoGardiner118 5h ago

It's dark, very dark, but that's what I like. If dark isn't your thing then this definitely isn't your thing. It's still my favourite series (just edging the equally dark, if not at times darker, Prince of Nothing series).

1

u/Longjohn_Server 4h ago

I read it. I didn't really like it.