One thing to watch out for: within a chapter, there is absolutely no break as the scene shifts from one character/situation to another. As for the narration, I thought it was dead on. Combined, the series adds up to Nearly 120 hours, so you won't like this book unless you REALLY like this kind of book. And be warned, if you make to the end of this one, you'll pretty much have to read the rest. And then there are the three remaining volumes staring me in the face. Her student/sidekick, a bushman, provides an interesting counterpoint to the high tech world they work in (literally!) I like the book. The story takes place towards the end of this century (mostly?), shifting back and forth between RL and VR ( real life and virtual reality.) The main character is a female South African computer teacher, a sort of cyber detective. I knew right then that I was probably going to give it a pretty high rating. This has to be one of the oddest opening sequences ever written. I almost quit right there, but fortunately I hung in for a few more minutes and the narrative took a turn for the truly bizarre. Oh no, says I, no way I'm listening to another WWI trench warfare book. Will two ordinary kids be able to save the dragons, the farm-and themselves?Įxpert storytellers Tad Williams and Deborah Beale take readers on an extraordinary adventure in their first book about Ordinary Farm.WAIT! Don't give up too soon! The City of Golden Shadow opens with trench warfare. But when darker secrets begin to surface and Uncle Gideon and his fabulous creatures are threatened, Lucinda and Tyler have to pull together to take action. Plus, there's a flying monkey, a demon squirrel, and a barnload of unlikely farmhands with strange accents and even stranger powers.Īt first, the whole place seems like a crazy adventure. Uncle Gideon's sprawling farmhouse never looks the same twice. The thundering herd in the valley? Unicorns. The bellowing in the barn comes not from a cow but from a dragon. But when they arrive in deserted Standard Valley, California, they discover that Ordinary Farm is, well, no ordinary farm. They think they're in for six weeks of cows, sheep, horses, and pigs. Tyler and Lucinda have to spend summer vacation with their ancient uncle Gideon, a farmer.

City of Golden Shadow by Tad Williams