It
is now 2045, and people on Datum Earth are trying to recover
from the catastrophic Yellowstone volcano eruption five years
earlier. The Long Earth has never been so important, and the
lower worlds are filling up fast. The military is keen to
mount an expedition to explore the planet Mars on as many
worlds as possible, and Sally, her father and an old school
astronaut are sent. Meanwhile Maggie is leading another expedition
to the farthest worlds and a new race of highly intelligent
beings called The Next are possibly about to take over?
I love the idea of the Long
Earth, and think that it would be perfect for a TV
series. Every episode a new world is explored, and with so
many millions of possible scenarios only in the wrong hands
would it get boring but this is one book, albeit the third
in a series and not even a very fat one. We get a glimpse
of a few with their alien life and it almost brings to mind
those wonderful old pulp SF novels. Almost, but not quite
of course and I think my favorite feature of this book is
the various possible scenarios for other Earths and Marses.
If the conditions were of such a type, what would the life
forms be like? There is more than this to think on, and as
in the first two books (also reviewed on this site) political
and ethical issues are raised. What could be the fate of a
super intelligent race if it evolved? This is more of a surprise
in a way than the very obvious topics of The
Long War,
and this is a better book for many reasons. With Baxter and
Pratchett writing you are going to get something that is part
fantasy, part SF and this is very true of this series with
this book in particular. By turns intimate as we get to know
the character more fully and vast in scope as imaginations
run riot on planets galore I was left wanting more. An uneven
but very readable and highly imaginative series.
Reviews
of other titles in this series
The
Long Earth
The Long War
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