OTHERLAND

Third chunk of Williams’s enormous four-part doorstopper (City of Golden Shadow, 1996; River of Blue Fire, 1998) about the eponymous virtual reality. Otherland was created by the rich, powerful, and ruthless Brotherhood, who have plans to rule the real world too. After various children enter VR, only to become ensnared, assorted good guys—a WWI soldier, a teacher, a blind researcher, a mysterious renegade, etc.—have hacked into the supposedly impregnable Otherworld in search of the children. But they too end up trapped. Worse, they’re being stalked by the Brotherhood’s assassin, Dread, not to mention another mysterious entity known as the Other, possibly Otherland’s sentient operating system. Williams’s synopses are as abstruse and overcomplicated as the yarn itself. So if by this point you have even the vaguest idea of what’s happening, why, and who’s involved, then keep reading and good luck. Newcomers: try something—anything—less absurdly overblown, labyrinthine and inconsequential. (Author tour)