The Long Mars

A Novel

De: Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter

Narrado por: Michael Fenton Stevens

The third novel in legendary author and Discworld creator Terry Pratchett and award-winning science fiction writer Stephen Baxter's “Long Earth” series, which Io9 calls “a brilliant science fiction collaboration.”

2040. The Long Earth is in chaos. . . .

The cataclysmic Yellowstone eruption is shutting down civilization. Whole populations flee to the relative safety of myriad stepwise Earths. Sally Linsay, Joshua Valiente, and Lobsang have all been involved in the perilous post-eruption clean-up.

But Joshua faces a crisis close to home. From a long childhood hidden deep in the Long Earth, a new breed of young, super-bright post-humans is emerging—but ""normal"" human society is turning against them, driven by ignorance and fear. For Joshua, caught up in the conflict, a dramatic showdown seems inevitable.

Meanwhile, U.S. Navy Commander Maggie Kauffman embarks on an incredible journey, leading an expedition to the unexplored limits of the far Long Earth.

And Sally is contacted by her long-vanished father, Willis Linsay, inventor of the original Stepper device. Ever the maverick, he is planning a fantastic voyage of his own—across the Long Mars. But what is his true motivation?

For Joshua, for humankind, for the Long Earth itself—everything is different now. Joshua becomes embroiled in the plight of the Next: the super-bright post-humans who are beginning to emerge from their “long childhood” in the community called Happy Landings, located deep in the Long Earth. Ignorance and fear have caused “normal” human society to turn against the Next. A dramatic showdown seems inevitable. . . .

The complete list of books in the Long Earth series include:

• The Long Earth
• The Long War
• The Long Mars
• The Long Utopia
• The Long Cosmos

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[compulsory 15 word review that I have never been required to provide before, including 5 days ago when i left my last star-only review. WTF audible? we don't always have time to provide a full review and just want to feed the algorithm a simple star rating to influence our recommendations.]

A Slow Story

If you’ve listened to books by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter before, how does this one compare?

I love both Pratchett (I've read all of Discworld) and I've enjoyed Baxter. I also really enjoyed The Long Earth. But at book three in this series, the story seems to slow down. At points I wished I was reading rather than listening so that I could scan ahead for plot movement. The novel stays within the world, but it didn't follow through on it's promise to expand it - literally into another world.

More good story from this team

If you're considering this one, you've read the other two already. No? Go read The Long Earth--now.

The Long Mars was as enjoyable and interesting as the two books that came before it. I always feel a series of connections to my own life, starting with the setting in Madison (sort of) where I used to live. I love that the authors talk about specific locations and connect their world to mine.

I had a little more trouble than usual following the timeline in this one, but I think I was distracted, maybe. I kept confusing which ship we were following on which trip. However, it didn't seem to matter much and I thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Disappointing

Any additional comments?

The Long Mars is the third book in the Long Earth series, but while during my listen to the Long Earth (and the Long war) I was completely engaged in the book, the long mars fails to provide the same excitement.

The Long Earth basically blew my mind, the concept of endless earths out there, just waiting to be conquer by humanity is a new and exiting idea which kept me at the edge of my sit, the long war has introduced the idea of other sentient beings out there, again with a somewhat new and interesting spin on evolution and our basic understanding of intelligence.

This last book however seemed to do nothing more than to repeat these ideas with no real purpose, the only truly new idea was that of the Next which didn't really develop enough to hold it's own. Additionally the plot seems somewhat erratic making it a little hard to focus on which expedition is being followed at any given time.

The expedition to mars which really is the main plot of this book seems irrelevant in light of the long earth, and the explanation given for it's importance just doesn't seem right.

So while I loved the first and second books I was slightly bored with this one.

Great Book!

This is a great story, and has an excellent narrator. I can't wait for book 4 in the series.