Was The Other really alive, was it a person, even if it was only a brain? Were the 'information beings' that Sellars created really alive? Were Orlando and Sellars really alive even though their physical bodies were dead? It made me think about the very nature of life and death. I expected the story to be entertaining like Memory Sorrow and Thorn, and it was-and, like the former series, it had a fabulous ending, but it was also very thought provoking. The second and third books dragged a bit-perhaps they could have been combined into one book.īut the story itself I found quite intriguing, the ending especially. And there were some scenes (for example, the entire part in Dodge City) that I felt were unnecessary and only made the story drag. For example, at one point he said 'The dust lay as thick as icing sugar.' That doesn't even make sense-who said icing sugar is thick? It's just light and powdery.

I felt that some sentences and phrases just sounded awkward. It could have benefitted from a couple more rereads on his part, but to his credit each book is extremely long and I'm sure he had deadlines. Namely, the skeleton of the plot is a very classic fantasy motif, the quest on which a group of bedraggled people who have been thrown together must embark to save the world.įor starters I should say that I really liked the series, although I wouldn't say it was perfect-it seemed to me that Williams was in a bit of rush to finish it. I probably should have put it on the SF board but I'm more comfortable here, and besides I believe the series contains many fantasy elements as well. I just finished Tad Williams' Otherland series tonight and I was wondering if anyone wanted to discuss it with me.

Otherland 2