The Long Earth

A Novel

By: Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter

Narrated by: Michael Fenton-Stevens

Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

The possibilities are endless. Just be careful what you wish for....

The Western Front, 1916. Private Percy Blakeney wakes up. He is lying on fresh spring grass. He can hear birdsong and the wind in the leaves. Where have the mud, blood, and blasted landscape of no-man's-land gone? For that matter, where has Percy gone?

Madison, Wisconsin, 2015. Police officer Monica Jansson is exploring the burned-out home of a reclusive - some say mad, others allege dangerous - scientist who seems to have vanished. Sifting through the wreckage, Jansson find a curious gadget: a box containing some rudimentary wiring, a three-way switch, and . . . a potato. It is the prototype of an invention that will change the way humankind views the world forever.

The first novel in an exciting new collaboration between Discworld creator Terry Pratchett and the acclaimed SF writer Stephen Baxter, The Long Earth transports readers to the ends of the earth - and far beyond. All it takes is a single step. . . .

©2012 Terry Pratchett, Lyn Pratchett, and Stephen Baxter (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers

Good Read

This was a good story and a good read.
It stretched my mind a little too far. I am not a sci-fi fan at heart, but it WAS a good story and I would recommend it for all.
It is a fine book for young people and it does get one to thinking.

Terry Pratchett is the best

It flew right by. Looking forward to the next 2 installments. Great way to spend a night working.

Enjoyable

Very enjoyable! A nod back to classic sci-fi. The idea of no more scarcity is a neat concept, and one that is expired here

dope

very sad story. Stephen Baxter and Terry Pratchett are definitely good at what they do. To me, very reminiscent of Dan Simmons Hyperion.

Should be called "Loose Ends"

Any additional comments?

As has been well noted here, this is not a traditional Terry Pratchett book. It's a sci-fi fantasy book with a bit of a Stephen King feel. Terry Pratchett's "Voice" is nowhere to be found, and if it's wry humor you're looking for, don't bother.

The Long Earth is absolutely full of innovative premises. The set-up is well done and a stable of interesting characters are introduced. Even when implausible, the writers have lent an air of plausibility which is good enough to get by, or at least made the premise fascinating - for example the Tibetan motorcycle mechanic/monk reincarnated as a computer. I was drawn in and, for the most part, entertained through most of the book. Tension is built, unrelated characters begin to interact, more is revealed.

Then it ends. It was bizarre. It was abrupt. Like others, I thought I had a bad download. Absolutely nothing was resolved. I'm certainly OK with a few dangling threads - perhaps an ambiguous romance left in the air, or the future of humanity. But these authors wrote a setup, not a book, then forgot to write the book. Every character is left hanging, or simply dropped from the narrative. Major geopolitical movements, brought in near the end of the book, bring the world(s) to the brink - then nothing. The reincarnated motorcycle monk reappears - in the last sentence. If you appreciate being hung out to dry, this is your clothesline.

For a well written and thoughtful review, see Pete Lamonica's review dated 7-3-12. Astute and on point.

Mind-warping

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I love the ambition of this work - having read all of Pratchett's Discworld and knowing his fascination with the multiverse theory and it's implications, this is clearly him letting his mind run wild with possibilities. It just gets weirder and and more wonderful, setting up the series for a huge array of plot rabbit holes.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Long Earth?

The protagonists stumbling almost disastrously into 'the Gap' - a possibility I started thinking of as soon as the multiverse of the Long Earth was explained.

Which character – as performed by Michael Fenton-Stevens – was your favorite?

I loved Sally's cynical pragmatism.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Explore the far limits of the probability tree!

good fun

very engaging, good narration, kept sitting in the car to finish the chapters. bang-your-head-against the wall ending, but in a good way.

SciFi, Fantasy, AI, humour and brilliant satire

An amazing combo of Pratchetts humoristic fantasy and Baxters brilliant Scifi, splendidly narrated by Fenton-Stevens.

An Intelligent Tale

This book was brilliant (as are almost all of Terry Pratchett's books) and actually deserves one hundred stars out of ten. The narrator's voice was soothing, and the story was well described and humorous.

The progression of the book was intelligent, and as Michael Fenton-Stevens read Pratchett's intriguing descriptions, and voiced all the characters, I felt the same satisfaction as I did listening to other titles of his.

People who like deep, gradual stories will like this, because Terry Pratchett's series of small adventures put together, and linked events give certain parts of the story an ominous tone. There is a lot of action, and Pratchett uses the character Lobsang to suggest the next book 'Long Mars' very effectively.

Over all, Pratchett's book is extremely interesting, and his descriptions are very vivid, and all the more because of Fenton-Stevens superb narration.

A happy surprise

I really didn't expect to love this book. I only got it because it was on sale and I recognized Terry Pratchett as an author I often like. However, I quickly found myself sucked into this adventure. There is a certain amount of silliness that feels a little out of place at times, but it always makes me smile. I appreciate a story that doesn't take itself too seriously. It may not be your jam if you prefer hard sci-fi because it hand-waves a lot of physics. However, I don't like to be bogged down in science I don't understand. I appreciate characters from interesting backgrounds exploring a setting of limitless possibilities. Reading this gave me a sense of freedom as I imagined exploring the Long Earth alongside these characters.