The Long Earth
Ratings203
Average rating3.7
A unique premise that is fleshed out well enough to immerse you within the world. The book then begins to go in directions that I truly didn't think it would. Some great unanswered questions make you want to read the whole series.
Bit of a disappointment, really. A bunch of puns spread through it was about the only indication Pratchett was in the room. That, and the thing where the 'stepper' that moves people between different dimensions is powered by a potato. But the scooting between alternate dimensions seemed like a travelogue of 'Tuesday, Must be Belgium'. It finished on an interesting note, but was it interesting enough to send me to the next book in the series? Not so far.
A very compelling story about the discovery of parallel earth's.
Note: I went into this knowing it is ‘Not a Pratchett book' which I think is worth knowing before diving straight in.
There's very little Pratchett in this book, unfortunately. It's based on his 30-year old short story, but it feels like Terry had practically no input in growing it into a book. It's really underdeveloped.If you're looking for an interesting read on parallel worlds, go check out [b:The Family Trade 17861 The Family Trade (The Merchant Princes, #1) Charles Stross https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1408262924l/17861.SY75.jpg 930587] by [a:Charles Stross 8794 Charles Stross https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1355510574p2/8794.jpg] (and frankly, Long Earth reads like a fanfic rewrite of parts of this one).
Intriguing premise, well thought out.
It's also set in Madison, WI, my adopted home town.
Nice bits of humor (humour?) and many surprises.
Fun and entertaining sci-fi story in which characters investigate different parallel versions of Earth.
Most of the book is taken up by explaining the backstory of “stepping”–the way that humans on our Earth learn to travel from parallel world to parallel world.
Once these new “Earth” are discovered, there are philosophical implications to such as how an endless supply of habitable planets provides humanity with new resources to exploit, old-west-style pioneering, and opportunities for a new life. As one character puts it:
“An end to scarcity and, may we hope, war. And perhaps a new meaning to life.”
“You have traveled far across the contingency tree of the possible, on a planet where dramatic but quasi-random extinction events periodically obliterate much of family life, leaving room for evolutionary innovation.”
I guess this is SF. (What else could it be?)
TLE is chock full of incredible ideas (thank you, Stephen) and interesting, sometimes quirky characters (thank you, Sir Terry). I hope the follow on books will be as good.
Michael Fenton-Stevens does a good job of narrating the story.
Solid four stars.
This is a prime example of science fiction in the Grand Sense. A wonderful, huge “what if”, and a running exploration of the universe the “if” creates.
Interesting premise... and well thought out. In the blink of an eye people discover they can side-step into an alternate earth. This premise is explored very thoroughly. Pratchett books usually combine their social commentary with whimsy and humor. In this collaboration there is some interesting social commentary -but a decided lack of whimsy and humor.
It's not a bad book - I'd give it 3 1/2 stars if I could - but I wasn't hooked enough into the story to feel a need to continue the series.
WHAT
An ambitious and interesting but underdeveloped plot. You find an infinite number of Earths, but all of them are empty. The book seems to be about how people would react to the idea, not about the different worlds themselves, and the authors fails to make that an engaging tale.
PLOT
People have discovered how to travel between alternate versions of our Earth. Anyone can do it and it only takes a second. There is a man who can do it without side effects, and this ability makes him a person of interest for the parties interested in exploring the most distant Earths that others have a hard time to reach.
SUMMARY
The multiverse theory is true and there is possibly an infinite number of Earths just like our own, representing different versions of what could have been our reality if certain circumstances were different. Think butterfly effect.
These Earths collectively are known as The Long Earth and any person can “step” into them with the help of an easily made device. The travel is also very fast, it takes only a second to do it, but there are some side effects. Stepping through these different Earths causes the individual to become nauseous for about 15 minutes, inducing vomit during that period.
So far people haven't stepped trough many Earths, because there is no need for so many planets. The ones they did explored seems to be almost identical to ours, but in different periods of time, and none of them have shown any sign of life. But already some interesting consequences have started to develop. Gold and other precious metals have lost their value, because now everybody can go to a different Earth and locate a gold ore site that is already known in our Earth.
Criminals have found new ways to commit felony through stepping, because it makes for a very easy mode of escaping. Laws have also been affected. Does the America from an alternative Earth falls into our own America's jurisdiction?
The story focus on a man that is capable of stepping without the help of any device and no side effects whatsoever, and a dead Tibetan monk reincarnated into a computer. This talking computer have found a way to travel through Earths much faster. Together they will travel to the farthest Earth they could possible find. You know, for the lul.
ANALYSIS
Starting with the talking computer, I expect that somewhere in this or the next books it will show why is he relevant to the plot. Maybe he was the one who created the Long Earth or something of that proportion. Otherwise this is just the “talking dog” that everyone treats like a normal character in the plot.
My summary shows all the interesting parts of what I read. You have all this worlds, that could have anything possible happening in them. That is a lot of potential, yet they're all empty. And they are also all too similar to ours. The things I described above could have been the introduction to the book, fitting in one page. This was however 20% of the book, and it didn't show signs it would get any better.
Too much time is spent on developing characters that I did not care about, and details that didn't seem to matter. In other words, I did not like the setting and the world building of the authors. The dialog was boring as well.
I find this story to suffer from the same problem as many other books I've (tried to) read that were also from famous authors and had a promising idea: it focus too much on the boring parts. This is the case of Journey to the Center of the Earth, for instance.
Read 2:40/11:30 23%
I was hoping for a Terry Pratchett book, but got a mediocre Baxter novel with a cliffhanger. I don't think I will bother with the sequel.
Sir Terry, I miss you. I've had this book on the shelf for a while now, and this seemed the appropriate time to read it. The writing style is more Baxter than Pratchett, but Pratchett's signature satire is definitely evident especially in all scenes with Lobsang. Is Lobsang a history monk who stepped over from Discworld? I'm assuming so.
The concept of The Long Earth is a really neat one: what would humanity do if scarcity was no longer an issue, and what would Earth do if humans were no longer an issue? These dual questions make this book part sci if adventure and part philosophical treatise. There are a few points I took a bit of issue with (a family abandoning their son forever just to be at the forefront of the new adventure still doesn't sit right without knowing much more about that family) and the ending basically breathes into the sequel rather than containing a single novel, but overall it's a fascinating take on the parallel worlds trope with healthy doses of science and humor. I'll definitely be picking up the next one.
Panned by a lot of reviewers, I actually enjoyed this novel. While not mind boggling, it was a good read, and a nod towards the kinds of SF I read growing up. I thought it was a nice mix of Baxter's SF with Pratchett's occasional whimsy.
Story: 5 / 10
Characters: 7
Setting: 8
Prose: 6
Did not look forward to this book. Thought it would be too similar to time travel books, which don't really work at all. However, it turns out that space distinctions are quite different. While The Long Earth could certainly have introduced the concept in a different way, the setting does work quite well.
This is also the first book by two authors I've had to read. They also pulled that off quite well. The story is a bit direction-less at times, but it is really the result of the adventure plot. This also turns out to be the largest failing of the book. Definitely not continuing the series, but not warning people away from reading either.
I found “The Long Earth” to be an interesting thought experiment, populated with interesting characters, all in search of a plot. The narrative wandered around from present to past and back, often without warning, but I never really found it jarring. I just didn't feel the story went anywhere, or if it did, it was extremely subtle. Still, it was enjoyable enough that I've already picked up the sequel.
reviews.metaphorosis.com
3.5 stars
A simple wiring diagram posted on the internet gives almost every unfettered access to alternate Earths. Joshua, who can ‘step' to other worlds unaided, explores the ‘Long Earth' as assistant to a Tibetan reincarnated as a electronic intelligence.
Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter are about as unlikely a pairing of SFF authors as one could imagine, the one ever lighthearted and focused on comedic fantasy, the other dour and with a manic grip on manned exploration of space. I enjoy them both, and was curious to see what this conjunction would bring.
Unfortunately, the result here is not quite what one would hope for. Pratchett's manic humor is tamped down, and Baxter's cold narrative is humanized, but the book lacks any real spark. And while in most collaborations, one author writes the draft (here I'd guess Baxter), and the other one edits, here it sometimes feels like they co-wrote some of the clumsy sentences in the opening chapter word by word.
While the environment is interesting, the characterizations and interactions are almost entirely from stock. Very little happens that is really surprising, and some things happen purely for dramatic effect - and we can see it. More problematic, the book makes no real pretense of being a stand-alone novel, though it could easily have been one. Instead it just winds down and then gives up - a truly anti-climactic end after a very mild resolution of what was built up as an exciting mystery.
Both of these authors are good writers on their own, so (after the beginning), most of the writing is good enough, but there's not much new here. Standard alternate world scenarios move along, but don't benefit from either Pratchett's wit or Baxter's painstaking care.
All that said, it's interesting enough that I could see getting the second book, if it's cheap. If you're looking for an exciting collaboration, this isn't it. But if you have an interest in a decently told alternate world series, go ahead and pick this up.
The last third of this novel really came together for me; I don't know if it was that the pace picked up slightly or that it became a simpler narrative, but when it finished, I literally stopped cycling on the bike path (listening to the audiobook) and said “it can't stop there!”.
Style-wise it reminded me of Ringworld in that it was more about the concept of the world-building than a plot. That really bothered me in Ringworld, which I lemmed, but there was enough plot in this to keep me going. The concept of the long Earth was really cool and thought-provoking, especially the thought of how different colonies of humans will evolve differently, potentially even becoming different races with time.
This was great. And I'm looking forward to the sequel (although at the time I started I was not aware of a sequel existing.. silly me).
The plot starts out in Madison, Wisconsin (USA) with a technical diagram of a device being posted online for the whole world to see. Quickly children/teens start assembling the device from parts they picked up at the Electronics store. As soon as they have they flick the switch, and ppooooff.. they have no idea where they are, and feel sick upto the point of throwing up. What happened?
They “stepped” to a parallel version of Earth.
A very original plot and interesting features that combines different paths of evolution and lots of other ingenious stuff. A funny and light footed read, with an exciting and original story. 5 stars.
A lot of people mentioned this book felt like a travelogue with a sci-fi twist. I didn't really understand that until I read it.
The pace is slow, almost relaxing. Conflict arises, but it's dealt with quickly and things continue. The premise and first few chapters hint at action and drama and excitement, but the book never really delivers it. I can't say that's my main problem; my main problem with this story is that I just didn't care much about the characters or anything that happened to them. I didn't care about the Long Earth, or the troll migration, or Happy Landings.
The worst thing I can say about this book is that it's underwhelming, and I imagine I'll soon forget it. It's not a bad story, and I was entertained. The entire book just feels like a prologue to the real story.
I really, really enjoyed this book. It's not something I would typically pick up, but I had just gotten my Kindle Paperwhite and it's one of the books on sale in their monthly deals, so I decided to try the sample. Needless to say, I quickly bought the full book, and it's sequel as well, which I'll be starting shortly.
This is the first Terry Pratchet book I've had the pleasure of reading, and the first time I've even heard of Stephen Baxter honestly. The story is well written and moves swiftly along, and the characters are all intersting and engaging. I'm not one for Sci-fi, so I can't say how this really compares with other Sci-fi novels- I did enjoy the lack of extreme and somewhat pointless technical jargon I've encountered in other sci-fi novels. Every question the book caused me to think up was duly answered, but that's not to say the book was predictable. It was more that it was thoughtful and well researched with plausible occurrences. Around the time it occurred to me to wonder what would happen to the economy of an earth that's quickly emptying of people, it was answered.
I've seen people complain about the ending, but I didn't find anything wrong with it personally. It's clearly intended to lead into the second book. It's a little disappointing that there isn't a clear end, but it's a fairly common issue with stories that run across multiple books. Not really something to complain about.
All in all I found this to be an enjoyable. Nothing ground breaking, nothing jaw dropping. Just good old fashioned fun and interesting story! Would recommend!
The Long Earth begins with the depiction of several strange experiences: Private Percy finds himself suddenly in a quiet, empty forest, when just moments before, he was being shelled in France during World War II; Maria Valiente is struggling through childbirth when she finds herself transported somewhere else; and a mysterious organism becomes self aware, but for what reason? Quickly moving to the heart of the story, readers are introduced to Joshua Valiente, who is in turn introduced to Lobsang, a computer-based entity who claims to be a reincarnated Tibetan motorcycle repairman, and therefore human. After enlisting Joshua to join him in his airship, they set out across the Long Earth, to explore millions of different versions of the planet. The journey is well worth reading, and turns up some surprising and extraordinarily intriguing worlds.
It's not entirely clear in The Long Earth which sections were written by which author. Certainly the plot has some very specific influences by both, but it's not really possible to point to any particular section and claim to know who it was written by–a testament to the excellent writing by both of these master authors. The idea of alternate dimensions, in which Earth exists in various forms has been done before, but never like this. The Long Earth is an excellent book, wrapped around a story that's both unique, and yet familiar. The story picks right up, and never really lets go.
Throughout The Long Earth, the story shifts from Joshua and Lobsang to other characters–such as the police officer who first found Joshua, the night people began Stepping, to a teenage girl whose family left everything behind–including their son–to move far out into the Long Earth and settle in a new place. The characters are well fleshed out, and have their own agendas, giving them further depth and rendering them more believable. The seemingly trivial events of one family end up having remarkable consequences by the end of the book, and set the stage for the followup novel, The Long War, due out later in 2013.
In The Long Earth, flashbacks across history also detail that Stepping has been happening long before Step Day, and reveals that there's more going on than is initially apparent. It's clear that Lobsang has a hidden agenda, and knowledge of things that he's not willing to share with Joshua until absolutely necessary–or even afterward, when Joshua has barely escaped with his life. In many ways, this book is a collection of short stories, revealing both the events in the book, as well as those that led up to it. The character from the prologue, Private Percy, is revisited later in the book, as Lobsang reveals his ultimate fate. The stories serve to lend variety to the novel, and split up the action–sometimes frustratingly, other times not–into manageable chunks.
Most of the plot threads opened in the book are well-executed, and very little is left unsettled. Since this book is the first in a series, there is of course the cliffhanger ending, but it's fitting, and comes completely out of left-field. For a collaboration novel, The Long Earth is a fine example of what two extremely talented authors can accomplish together, combining the best of both into a single volume of amazing fiction. It's an excellent book on its own, and provides an addictive story that readers will be eagerly awaiting until the next novel comes out.