The Long Earth: A Novel

I am an uber Discworld fan so I'll listen to anything from Terry Pratchett. The Long Earth was good. Discworld it was not. I enjoyed it non the less. More in the style of classic science fiction, the only thing it was missing was Pratchett's trademark sense of humor.

Co-authored with Stephen Baxter this Terry Pratchett book is humorous at times but lacks the normal wit usually associated with his work. At eleven hours and thirty minutes the story jumps around at first with many different characters being intoduced then moving on quickly from one to the next; and at times the whole story drags. Kudos to those who could read the entire book in a day.
It???s a story about parallel worlds where people learn to ???step??? from one world to another by a simple devise that can be made from parts found at Radio Shack and a potato. The main character Joshua discovers that he can ???step??? without using the devise and meets up with a former Tibetan motorcycle repairman now reincarnated as a super-computer that sometimes resides in a coke machine, and has been legally declared a human due to Tibetan religious beliefs. These two soon set off on a journey of exploration of the millions of parallel worlds ???to see what???s out there.???
The story has some other interesting characters including, some really tough nuns, a robotic cat, the strange inhabitants on the other worlds, one very annoying character named Sally, some strange troll creatures, and elves that kill for sport, but I never felt really engaged in the story. The narrator, Michael Fenton Stevens is okay but at times drawls on and is just plain boring. A very strange ending which makes it seem this probably is book one in a series.

The story was fair and the premise was somewhat interesting. Regrettably, I could not tell that Terry Pratchett had anything to do with this book. The wit and humor I have loved in the 30+ books of his I have read was absent. If I had been reading it as a physical book, I doubt that I would have finished.

I love Terry Pratchett almost better than life itself. I've read a little Stephen Baxter, but nothing recently. I was a little apprehensive when I read that they were collaborating. I was afraid I'd be disappointed.

I wasn't.

The book is science fiction. It's obviously the beginning of a series, and there are lots of threads left dangling. But I really liked the idea of the multiple Earths that people suddenly learned how to "step" into. I'd've loved to have a little more actual STORY rather than just foundation-laying, but I still enjoyed the book.

The narrator does an EXCELLENT job. Again, I'm used to Nigel Planer or Stephen Briggs with Pratchett, and I was worried that I wouldn't like this narrator. But his use of voices and accents was exceptionally good, and really helped to make the characters stand out one from another. I thoroughly enjoyed his performance. Well done all around.

I've never read any of Pratchett's other books, so I'm coming at this with a clean slate. I say this because other reviewers (maybe fairly) point out how lacking this book is to Pratchett's other works. I'll be concise, as I don't want to waste your time, when you should be reading this AMAZING book.

This book melds multi-verse theory with adult sci-fi PERFECTLY. There are few, if any, holes in its logic. It's clear that it's setting up for the series, but the story comes together in a way that is both fulfilling and intellectually challenging. I've been waiting a long time for someone to actually get the parallel worlds theory into sci-fi in a unique, entertaining way, and THIS BOOK DOES JUST THAT. Due in large part to the spectacular narrator, the characters all have their own voices, and come alive within the story. Yes, there are a lot of characters, but it's easy to keep track.

The science of the book is sound, which is refreshing, with all the garbage science that most sci-fi books throw at the reader-- almost assuming that we all have a combined IQ of around 20.

I'm a huge sci-fi geek, and this book is top 5 for me, ALL TIME. As far as journey stories that take place over fascinating parallel worlds is concerned, I can't imagine finding a better book.

It's not a classic Pratchett book so if that's what you're expecting you'll be disappointed.

It ends without resolving anything, which I hate even in a series. If you felt betrayed by Connie Willis' Blackout you're going to hate the way this book ends.

The review by Pete Lamonica is basically right on the money.

All that being said I did enjoy the story right up until the ending.

I love Terry Pratchett, I have read everything by him I could find….I would read his grocery list or the label in the back of his underwear. So when I discovered that this wasn’t a Disc World novel was momentarily disappointed….but that didn’t last. This is a terrific read, it’s closer to straight science fiction than the Disc World books…it feels a little like Strata (one of my favorite Pratchett books which is only tangentially Disc World based). Once it gets going (which it does pretty quickly it’s a brilliant ‘what if’ book which imagines a world where almost anyone can step between alternate universes each of which contains a variant on the earth we currently inhabit.
I found the plot a little untidy in places. It develops then somewhat abandons multiple sub themes all of which I enjoyed and most of which would have deserved their own book. Nevertheless I found myself enjoying the book and its impeccable reading like you might enjoy a fine wine or a sunset.
The story weaves quantum physics and universal branching theory with Cyberpunk, The Lost Gate by Scott Card and even a smattering of Little House on the Prairie. Although frequently amusing, its tongue is nowhere near buried as deep in cheek as with the Disc World books, but the story entertains mightily none the less. If you are already a Pratchett fan you can buy this book in the confident knowledge that whilst lacking Vimes or Vetenari you will enjoy a diverting diversion from the typical Pratchett cannon. If you have kids or young adults you might also want to point them in the direction of this book. The style is engaging, fun and easy to follow, whist still posing some intriguing scientific questions.

A story without an ending is an elaborate typing exercise. That's what my creative writing teachers always told me anyway. Pratchett and Baxter could have done with a refresher in that area. This book is probably setting up for a sequel, but it just... stops. I'm not spoiling anything by telling you that it's very unsatisfactory in terms of all the set up that goes on early in the book which gets left unresolved. Read at your own risk. If that kind of thing pisses you off, it might not be for you.

If you have read/listened to *every* other Terry Pratchett book, then add this one to your library. Otherwise, don't be in too much of a rush...

There are several things I like about the book: an interesting mechanism to explore the multi-universe theme; a different angle on the origin of Pratchett's trolls and elves; a new incarnation of a Tibetan monk; two or three characters that you find yourself rooting for; etc...

But...

There's less humor and slower pace than you'll find in most Pratchett books. The twists and turns are more externally driven and less character-based. There's more exposition than character development, which leaves me wanting some of the more interesting characters to interact more (and central characters to interact less). For what it was, it could have been half the length.

Of course, this is a joint work, and it may not be fair to bring a Pratchett-specific lens to the book. It may have merits that I missed because I was expecting something else. Still, whereas I would recommend *any* of Pratchett's solo work (or Agnes Nitt), I can't be enthusiastic about this book.

I never thought I'd find a Terry Pratchett book I didn't like. But I didn't like this one. It was loaded with atheistic philosophy which is fine except when you put an entire bit of narrative in that had absolutely nothing to do with the story line at all. I found the book a depressing and disappointing listen. Narrator was good, story wasn't worth reading to me. Sorry.