The Long Earth
by Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter
science fiction
copyright 2012
read in October 2013
rated 6/10: read to pass the time
My main problem with The Long Earth is that it lacks a point.
Sure, there's a huge Earth-threatening monster to be discovered -- but so what ?! Monster discovered, monster left alone. Threat still exists.
This book is -- as I understand it -- an introduction to a series. So the monster can be dealt with in later books. Which leaves very little point to this first book !
Interesting but not great characters travel across the Long Earth. Going places, meeting people, doing nothing much. The book is very much an exploration of a new world. And the impact of the new world on the old. With all the excitement of a textbook on geography.
Okay, the new world is an interesting idea. But the SF question of "what if" is largely replaced by "so what".
At the end of the book is the unpublished short story which was the germ of the idea. Very much a biff-sockee adventure yarn. Not great science fiction, so much more fun to read !
If The Long Earth grows into a series -- that will be interesting. If subsequent books focus on smaller aspects of the world -- that will be much better. If the scope of this first book had been narrower -- it would be a lot more fun to read.
An odyssey across an entire new world lacks the potential interest of a more detailed dip into just one part. This book offers too much of the general overview.
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Problems ? Solved
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