The Long Earth

I own all of Terry Pratchett's books and this book was a huge disappointment. The Long Earth is obviously meant to be part of a series, and this novel was full of pointless information that did not add to the story, and there was very little character development or humor. The first half of the book should have been edited down to an introductory chapter. This book in no way resembles a book written by Terry Prachett but science fiction fans who enjoy books such as Larry Niven’s, The Ringworld will enjoy it.

Like Shirley I own all of Terry's books. I was very disappointed in this one. Way too long and draggy. Did not live up to the advance publicity or even what I thought it was going to be about. I would not recommend nor will I bother with the rest of the series. I will wait patiently for the next Discworld novel to arrive.

I adore the prose of Pratchett, which is the only thing keeping the review from being 'one star'. It's sprinkled through this mess like curls of dark chocolate throughout a tall stack of cardboard.
It's almost painful to hear Sir Terry's voice in this dreadful book; he does have a dark side, and I much prefer his Discworld series to his juvenilia, but this simply can't have had much of his input.
An amazing concept of endless parallel worlds in which some humans can just step somehow devolved into this depressing mess, and concur completely with previous reviewers that the entire first half is redundant.
One of the many wonderful things about Sir T is his basic love of humanity, that no matter how far down we dig ourselves, there is always a hero, a Vimes or Sybil or Librarian with a handy ladder, but there is little such joy in this book; although there are glimpses with the cannonball bird and the frisbee octopus which alas are catalogued and listed instead of joyfully embraced and described, and instead of the possibility of freedom, we have female victims, HAL and 2001, weed addicts, and terra-ism.
In my hope for a happy ending, I could hardly wait for it to be over; how sad, and in so many senses and worlds.
If you're looking for a truly Pratchettesque take on evolution, buy 'The Lost Continent'.
Looking forward to Dodger, and won't read the sequel to The Long Earth.

I had a difficult time giving this book five stars. It deserves them. Probably one of the best sc-fi books I've read this year.
It is just with the name Terry Pratchett on the cover one expects someting. Leaving Pratchette out of it for now..
I can say this book is interesting, funny, charming, suspensful. It has an unusual theme and the writing is brilliant. Full of original ideas. The story-line weaves itself forward with a few enjoyable side paths and rambles to increase the excitement.

Then why aren't I happy? I'm sorry to say, Terry Pratchett, it is you who have upset me. I have read everything you've written and you are my favorite author. Every other Terry Pratchett novel ends. Never before have I been left with more questions that I started with, I know this is usual in Sc-Fi to get the readers to want to buy the next in the series, but Terry, that isn't your style.

A good read, but Pratchett fans be warned, it isn't his usual style and we'll probably have to buy the next book in the series when it comes out to find the answers we want.

When you see the name Terry Pratchett on a book it defines a quality of the writing, a plot that while left of field is enjoyable and captivating and characters that you end up being really interested in. This book had none of that. The only reason why I finished the story was that I was hopeing that something was going to happen. What a huge disappointment.

I would have made it longer and given it a stronger and more definite ending.

The Narrator took the central character from a late blooming child to a confident young man using only his voice. That added a dimension that would have been harder to evoke from the printed page alone.

I was left with the feeling this book was delivered to a deadline rather than remaining in the creative oven long enough to be well baked. It is possible a sequel may have been planned but I'm afraid "the long lead-up" just didn't have a strong enough conclusion to satisfy this listener. I really do wonder if the authors became carried away with a good story and were told it was due at the printers on Thursday.

The narrator enhances the characters written by the authors. This alone makes the audio edition worth looking into. To bad audible only sells licenses and not real audio files.

What if you could have an entire world to your self? What if the nature of the universe was explained out there? What if the world might end soon? I enjoyed the grand escapism. I enjoyed the realism. No conflict is avoided in The long Earth. All the exploiters, terrorists, mafiosos, shady traders and super cops are thought of and included. The end of scarcity is not the end of problems.
To me this is what makes this read great for younger and older readers.

Of course there are also some great characters and themes to explore. Witty dialogue to enjoy, and philosophical labyrinths to navigate.

No. No book should be devaoured whole. What are you, an animal? Do you eat apples whole? Do you not cram the whole box of choclates in all at once without even removing the plastic?
Still, I have to admit it was tempting.

Less vomit,fewer characters,tighter editing-there was too much repetition involving the air ship's journey through the various earths.It was boring

A decent ending would have helped.Less negativity and a more comprehensible plot.Terry Pratchett always ties together any loose ends leaving the reader feeling satisfied,this novel failed to do that in fact it did the reverse.

Michael's rendition was excellent and was the one satifying element.

Too many to mention-many did not add anything to the story.

A very unsatisfying experience.I would not read another co-authored book by these two again.

It's a good way to preview a new storyline, and if you don't like it you can return it.

I didn't like how it ended so abruptly, with so many loose ends.

I don't recommend it to Pratchett fans, but Sci-Fi fans may find the premise interesting, if they can get past some of the oddities of the presentation.

The narration set the pace of the story. A bit monotonous in places.

Only to consider re-gifting the hardcover book that was given to me for Xmas.

This book definitely suggests to me that it is an opening story for a whole new storyline/multiverse in which Terry Pratchett can participate in without needing him to carry that much of the load. Some of his humor shone through, but the story was not compelling or that memorable to me. I was disappointed with it.

Great concept, well executed, weak ending.

I don't generally like Prachett too much, but this I enjoyed. It is not a comedy, for those that expecting that; its' a concept book, a scifi novel about an idea, and I generally like those. The characters are good, and I enjoyed spending hours listening about their adventures.

My only criticism is that it is a first half of a book; the main climax and conflict to come in the second, I expect. So it doesn't wrap up in a satisfying way. I had to check with audible to see if I had missed the last part in the downloading. According to wikipedia there are two planned in the series,

But it is engrossing and interesting. I don't imagine we will have to wait for the conclusion as long as with some other series.

With those caveats I would recommend this book.