City Of Golden Shadow is the first part of the four-volume Otherland saga.
Otherland is an extremely realistic
virtual
network created by
thousands of programmers.At the same time, it is a well-guarded secret,
and many people have alredy been killed for it.
It is owned by Felix
Jongleur, the oldest man in the world.
An industrial magnate and a power-
hungry egomaniac,
he is the head of
the Grail Brotherhood. Its members
include ruthless and powerful poeple
from different countries.
Like Jongleur, all of them are very old. Jongleur´s physical body
lies immersed in a tank, kept alive by cryogenic, cell-renewing, and
other techniques. He spends most of his time
online in a virtual Egypt,
where he assumes the role of Osiris, Master of the Living and the Dead.
His business partners, who invested a lot of money in the network, also
wear the masks of ancient gods. Among them are Jiun Bhao, a Chinese
financier; Robert Wells, an American technology magnate, and General
Yacoubian. Bent on discovering the secret of eternal life, they stop at
nothing to achieve it.
One of Jongleur´s servants calls himself Dread. He is a serial
killer lurking under the msk of the jackal god Anubis. Gifted with
psychic powers, he is supposed to kill his boss´ s adversaries.
The network depends on the Other, who also ha disturbing powers.
Jongleur is afraid of him and can even perceive the Other´s terrifying
presence through walls.
The terrible downside to the Grail project is that thousands of
children surfing the Net have been trapped online, while their bodies
lie in a coma, called Tandagore syndrome. The doctors are helpless.
Stephen is one of those children. His sister Renie, a South African
teacher of virtual engineering, tries to save him. She is helped by
!Xabbu, a bushman, who cherishes his people´s wisdom and legends. His
refreshing world view contrasts with that of the city-dwellers.
Their investigations lead the to a virtual nightclub, where you
can get adrenaline kicks. They enter without permission using simuloids
(sim masks) so that they cannot be recognized.
In the most memorable scene, they are pursued by a giant underwater
craeture: a Leviathan. They get to a horrible place where citizens
(real people compared to puppets) pay to live out cruel and perverse
fantasies. Renie and !Xabbu witness how children are caught there.
Before they can become stuck themselves, an invisible helper comes to
their aid and gives them a data package. It is the image of a golden
city and looks more real than reality itself.
Orlando, a teenager with a degenerative disease, is quite addicted to
the Net. In VR he has enormous physical skills and is most alive in the
midst of battle. Orlando also comes across the beautiful golden city.
When he sets out to find it, he is accompanied by his online-friend
Fredericks.
Mr.Sellars is another key character. Badly burnt and using a
wheelchair, he is a prisoner on a military base. He knows about the
golden city and the Brotherhood. In order to escape, he must rely upon
little Christabel, the daughter of the chief of security.
Paul´s story begins in a trench in a simulation of the First World
War. When the battlefield suddenly vanishes, he finds a castle up
a giant tree. A bird-woman warns him of the Old Man. Unaware that he is
in a simulation and suffering from a loss of memory, he has to flee his
guardians. At first a chess piece, he has to learn how the game is
played.
City Of Golden Shadow is a science-fiction thriller with fantasy elements and should appeal
to any reader from 16 onwards who is looking for something similar to Matrix.
It features 3D characters with strenths and weaknesses, inner and outer
conflicts. They are from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds which
gives the story added depth.
However, the emotional focus seems to become diffused, because there
are more characters than we can perhaps relate to. At firstyou might
think that too many secondary characters
are introduced. Later, you realize how they are connected and what role
they play. You have to adjust to shifting points of view and different
styles of spoken language.
On the whole, the novel is written in a light vein;the vivid dialogues make the story come alive.
The tetralogy is not for people who enjoy a quick read because of the
thousands of pages. But through its epic lenght, it has a unique
completeness to it.
The story continues with River Of Blue Fire.