In the near future, the internet is a full-immersion VR experience. Virtual engineer Renie Sulaweyo thinks she understands the promise and peril of the Net as well as anyone but is shocked to learn that children--including her own little brother--are being struck down into comas by some malicious online force. Joined by her pupil and friend !Xabbu, a Kalahari San (aka Bushman), Renie begins a desperate search for a cure that will lead to the darkest secret of the digital world.

In real life, Orlando Gardiner is a teenager with a terminal condition--but on the Net, he is the mightiest warrior in the world. When he glimpses a golden city far more real than anything in his fantasy game worlds, he sets out on the ultimate quest to find it… no matter what the cost.

Paul Jonas flees relentless pursuit that takes him through the horrific trenches of World War I, into a castle in the clouds, and all the way to Mars--all to find a mysterious bird-woman who may hold his only chance at freedom.

These are just a few of the characters we meet in the Otherland series by Tad Williams, four hefty volumes published between 1996 and 2001. We returned to this series after two decades and discovered it to be just as delightful, exciting, and rewarding as it was when we first read it. The books have recently become available on audio, and reader George Newbern does an excellent job breathing life into a large and diverse cast.

It's always interesting to see how science fiction ages. Williams does a remarkable job of forecasting both the future of our world and the cybertechnology at the heart of the story. While no author can get every detail right, the thematic questions of Otherland--such as artificial intelligence, digital vs. real life, and what it means to be human--have become more relevant as time has gone on.

The Net of Otherland is still quite far from our reality, more similar to the Metaverse of Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash than the one created by Mark Zuckerberg's engineers. Williams' virtual world is fully-immersive (if you can afford the very best gear), with public shopping and entertainment districts, or private worlds catering to every taste the dark web could imagine. Tad Williams really shines here with his choices for the virtual worlds he presents and the fun he has with them. The characters face VR worlds based on The Odyssey, The War of the Worlds, and Through the Looking-Glass, to name just a few--and some original settings that show off the breadth of Williams' imagination.

The main characters are engaging, and their troubles feel very real, from Orlando's issues with his impending mortality to the child Christabel's innocent desire to help her elderly neighbor. The people are fun to follow, and the mysteries are fascinating to unravel. The massively powerful villains create dangers in both physical and virtual worlds, and everyone who resists them is under threat.

For those who like to spend a long time immersed in a fictional world, Otherland has you covered with four volumes, averaging about 800 pages per book:
       Volume I: City of Golden Shadow
        Volume II: River of Blue Fire
        Volume III: Mountain of Black Glass
        Volume IV: Sea of Silver Light

To help you decide whether this series is for you, here are some basic pros and cons:

PROS

• A great cast offers many different perspectives, with many well-rounded heroes to root for and complex villains to despise.
• A coherent narrative with intricate and skillful plotting, delivered with prose that clearly evokes a vast range of emotions and experiences
• Lots of big speculative fiction ideas are explored with nuance and imagination. The narrative voice is never pedantic or preachy (even when some characters are).
• The author makes deft use of humor to brighten up some of the darkness. Be on the lookout for the Wicked Tribe!

CONS

• In a work this long, it's not surprising that some parts drag a bit. There are no fast-travel options for our heroes in Otherland. . . so they take the hard road through many worlds.
• One of the villains is a particularly dark character. Williams is careful about not getting too graphic, but if you are disturbed by serial killer stories, you may find some sequences are not for you.
• There is one POV character who is required to be dangerously clueless for a very long time. The sequences with this character kind of made us want to pull our hair out.

While Otherland never quite achieved the same prominence as some of the best-known science fiction series, we feel like it's an underappreciated gem--and belongs in the same company of cyberpunk classics from the likes of William Gibson and Neal Stephenson. If you're looking to fill up your reading list with a compelling science fiction saga, we encourage you to give Otherland a try!