The Long Earth/War

[Goodwich]

Has anyone read this two-book series by Stephen Baxter and Terry Pratchett?

 

I just finished the second book, The Long War. 

 

The concept of the series is interesting although not highly original. At some point in the near future, people discover that an infinite series of 'parallel Earths' exist to which people from our Earth (called the Datum) can travel to in a process called "steppiing." While each of these Earths has its own characterisics (some are hotter, some are colder, some are forest world, some are deserts, some never developed life at all, etc.), each one is its own pristine world awaiting human exploitation. 

 

The first book, The Long Earth, centers around a long journey undertaken by a 'pioneer stepper' in the company of an artificial intelligence named Logsang. Along the way they discover several sapient lifeforms never seen on Datum earth and uncover mysteries that are clearly meant for sequels. 

 

This kind of parallel earth thing has been done before but the neat twist here is that there are literally millions and millions of these earths available for colonization, This causes many "Datum Earthers" to leave our dying planet to start pioneering life on some of these other Earths. This naturally causes economic problems (a lack of labor) and jealousy (among those who are unable to 'step' to these new worlds) that leads to the formation of 'anti-step' Tea Party like zealots on Earth.

 

The sequel, The Long War, takes place ten years after the first book and takes the "everything and the kitchen sink" approach to encompass politics, phrenology, religion, cultural relativism, military/civilian conflicts and a dozen other themes in an incredibly long-winded and tedious narrative that subjects the reader to over 150 pages of tedious exposition and backstories before any real plot begins, and  and then in splinters off into multiple strands that seem to serve no purpose than to set up a third book. 

 

I'm a huge Terry Pratchett fan, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of his writing in either book. There's no wit, no economy of phrasing, or any of the other qualities that characterize Pratchett's best work. The 'voice' seems to be all Baxter's (an author I never heard of until this series) and if his solo work is as bad as this I'm glad I never encountered him before. It's really too bad than a series whose theme has boundless narrative potential is so heavily earthbound. 

 

 

[Karsa Orlong]

Stephen Baxter's written some great stuff.  Try Voyage before judging.

[ian]

The sequel, The Long War, takes place ten years after the first book and takes the "everything and the kitchen sink" approach to encompass politics, phrenology, religion, cultural relativism, military/civilian conflicts and a dozen other themes in an incredibly long-winded and tedious narrative that subjects the reader to over 150 pages of tedious exposition and backstories before any real plot begins, and  and then in splinters off into multiple strands that seem to serve no purpose than to set up a third book. 

 

That does sound very Stephen Baxter from my experience. A great writer, no doubt, and the science always stacks up against exisiting theory. But for me, as you say, it can get a little tedious. Everyone is different of course, but for me the operative word in the phrase "Science Fiction" is fiction. Therefore, I guess I'm always going to struggle with some writers of "hard" sci-fi. Still, this does sound like a very interesting concept, so I might give these a go

[Devi]

Stephen Baxter's written some great stuff.  Try Voyage before judging.

This one looks like a good read, added to the wishlist.

[Athena]

I've just bought the first book, The Long Earth, since I'm a fan of Terry Pratchett and I have a few of Stephen Baxter's books on my shelf.

[Hayley]

I read 'The Long Earth' over the summer and I did like it, but I don't think I like it enough to read The Long War. For most of the novel I found it really interesting, really well-written, and not too hard-going either. It was nice to see the little bits of Pratchett wit in the dialogue too. I was a little confused by the amount of detail some characters got at the start, only to be suddenly discarded later. I also was a little disappointed with the ending. (I can't remember how you do spoilers so I can't really say more on that now...)

 

When I first finished I had every intention of buying 'The Long War', because even though I didn't enjoy everything about the first book, I did still like it. But I had the edition which included the first chapter of The Long War, and it really put me off. It seemed to just completely veer away from the story of the first book, to the point where the style didn't even feel the same. And from what Goodwich wrote, it looks like that's the same in the rest of the novel. I really wanted them to be good, but I'm also really glad I didn't buy them both now!

[Sakura]

I liked the Long Earth a lot, and bought Long War, too, even though I'm not sure yet it will be quite as good. The blurb sounds more like it would cover social, economical and political themes, which I don't like at all. But we'll see.

 

I have to agree that Long Earth does not sound typically Pratchett. But in all books where Pratchett went cooperative, I found his style to be rather subtle. He is very distinct alone, but I actually like that he is more subdued while working with other authors, cause I don't think it would work otherwise.

I have to admit though, that this book did not make me want to read into Baxter's work the same way Good Omens made me discover Neil Gaiman.

It rather reminded me a bit of Pratchett's very early Sci-Fi books.