The first book, The Long Earth, was entertaining and started out strong with an innovative take on the multiverse concept and introducing a handful of interesting characters.
Those qualities were carried over into the first sequel, The Long War. The Long Mars recycled the same characters but did little to add to their growth or to continue world-building and innovation.
That unfortunate trend continues in The Long Utopia, which r The Long Earth series is showing its age in this, the fourth book. That unfortunate trend continues in The Long Utopia, which revisits the same familiar characters but ultimately provides them with little growth, adventure, or action, and fails to exhibit any innovation or creativity.
In fact, many of the characters are poorly developed cliches, and the main characters lack the animation and depth from the first two books, becoming just rubber stamps of themselves.
For a book about the future and the interesting things to be found far from our mundane earth, the novel even wastes about a dozen chapters on flashbacks to 19th Century England to fill in some family background on a main character, which is clearly useless filler designed to fluff the book up into novel length to meet contractual obligations.
The authors committed to delivering five novels in this series, and this one was clearly written merely to fulfill that obligation. It's too little jam spread over too much stale toast. View 1 comment. May 16, Ewan rated it did not like it. This series of books makes me incredibly angry. It is a demonstration of the bizarre reaction that happens when you combine two authors who seemingly balance each other very well.
Instead of fascinating science fiction concepts from Baxter with the exceptional character development from Pratchett you get uninspired characters from Baxter whose work is rife with flat unbelievable people and boring rehashed SF ideas from Pratchett who is far better known for his use of wit than his ground break This series of books makes me incredibly angry.
Instead of fascinating science fiction concepts from Baxter with the exceptional character development from Pratchett you get uninspired characters from Baxter whose work is rife with flat unbelievable people and boring rehashed SF ideas from Pratchett who is far better known for his use of wit than his ground breaking ideas. These two took an idea for a series that was by no means revolutionary and instead of making it special with their unique skills as an author they just continued to force out tired over written and under plotted drivel.
For a more interesting look at people with the ability to step between parallel earths try The Family Trade by Charles Stross and for a better version of the characters in this series try any other book. The plot drifts hither and yon with no regards for the basic concepts of pacing or linearity or even a conscious disregard for linearity.
The story collects characters like loose change and spends their lives in twee attempts to engender some emotional attachment to a story which ultimately delivers nothing in the way of real awe or amazement.
While studded with creatures and places which could be fascinating or terrifying the story simply doesn't give them the time to shine in any meaningful sense leading to feeling of unreality about place which the authors want us to be able to imagine vividly. Over and over villains or disasters are built up only to be entirely undercut by the next book or brushed under a rug by a deus ex machina.
This lack of suspense serves only to limit any empathy we might have for the frail shells of the almost human feeling protagonists. The Long Earth had potential. These authors didn't need more time or more skill, they needed a good fucking editor who isn't afraid to tell two super star writers that they were putting out rubbish.
Something of a return to form for this series that by the end of the third instalment had threatened to become a colossal waste of time and effort. Gone is the multiple vignette style of book three, added is a fair dose of Baxter's scientific imagination and explanation, replaced is the inevitable conclusion in favour of an unexpected denouement that whilst still squeezed in to the same number of words as a description of a forest I exaggerate is at least moving the story in a new direction, e Something of a return to form for this series that by the end of the third instalment had threatened to become a colossal waste of time and effort.
Gone is the multiple vignette style of book three, added is a fair dose of Baxter's scientific imagination and explanation, replaced is the inevitable conclusion in favour of an unexpected denouement that whilst still squeezed in to the same number of words as a description of a forest I exaggerate is at least moving the story in a new direction, even if that new direction is aimed at simply selling the final instalment.
Baxter isn't known for his characterisation and here at least he seems to recognise that, letting the universe he created with Terry Pratchett do much of the lifting and resisting the urge to speechify in expositionary tones if not all the time then for large chunks of story. I started to think of the sequence in terms of Asimov's original Foundation trilogy and whilst not set over such a vast timeframe or with an evolving cast of protagonists the same crew from the previous books all seem to return here it does perhaps seem to have the same goal.
I have enjoyed the previous books quite a bit even though I had problems with both books two and three. I guess my feelings on this one were pretty inevitable. The first 25 percent of this book involves pretty much nothing As a result I found myself bored and couldn't keep a focus on what was actually happening. I skim read through most of the rest and felt like this is probably it for me.
I absolutely love both authors, they are among my very favorite. They have tons of great works to gush about, this just isn't one of them. May 28, Paul rated it liked it Shelves: books-read Humanity has reached the middle of the twenty first century. Datum Earth is never really recovered from the battering of the Yellowstone caldera and has slowly moved further into the Long Earths, and started to settle.
Lobsang is now an elderly and tetchy AI, living on Springfield, an exotic earth deep in the Long Earth. Settled with Agnes, they have even adopted a child, but as he embraces normal life, there are strange sightings and unusual happenings in his new home.
These strange and unusual Humanity has reached the middle of the twenty first century. These strange and unusual sightings have the potential the threaten all of the Long Earth Worlds, and this threat will bring together all of mankind, Ai and the hyper intelligent Next to counter it. In doing so, they may have to make the ultimate sacrifice. Between them, their imagination knows no bounds. Which is a shame really, because both authors are capable of so much more. May 12, Bee rated it liked it Shelves: science-fiction , audiobook , recommended-to-me.
This is such an odd series, it's slow and rather uneventful, but ultimately very enjoyable. Of all the thought provoking series I've read in the last decade this one has kept me up at night thinking the most.
The idea of stepping, of a endless necklace of interconnected worlds is just so satisfying. And TP and SB have really spent their time talking this one through, and thinking it all out. I miss Pratchett Jun 29, Eric Allen rated it really liked it. In my opinion this is the second best book of the series, behind the first. It's the first book in the series that really tries to reach for its full potential, exploring new ways of utilizing the setting and characters, rather than recycling the same old exploration plot like books 2 and 3 did.
I found this to be quite enjoyable, and it shows what might have been expected from the series if not for Sir Terry Pratchett's death earlier this year. Stephen Baxter has reportedly said that, out of re In my opinion this is the second best book of the series, behind the first. Stephen Baxter has reportedly said that, out of respect for Pratchett, he doesn't think he is going to continue the series beyond this volume, which is a decision that I understand and respect.
And those whom he left behind have my deepest sympathies. That said I really enjoyed this book. It's not just the same old thing like we got with the last couple books. It goes deeper into the nature of the Long Earth, and explores different ways of using it, different moral dilemmas and goes into detail on steppers in the past, and Joshua's parentage.
I quite liked the Knights of Discorporea idea, and, if anything, the book could have used a bit more of their adventures. The idea of British secret servicemen using stepping to spy and make assassinations back in the s is really awesome.
And the idea of invaders from a different world conquering the Long Earth is pretty awesome as well. I only wish that the previous two books had gone in this direction and developed these ideas further. The constant movie references in this book made me laugh quite a bit as well. If you've been following this series up to now, you'll prbably enjoy this one quite a bit.
If you gave up on it because it was just more of the same, I'd urge you to finish the series, because this book was really very good, and reused very little previous plotlines. Nov 30, Tim Hicks rated it liked it Shelves: science-fiction. Better than I feared Before I forget, I must credit the sly inclusion of having Lobsang say that one thing he knows about is sweeping. Those who have read Pratchett's Thief of Time will have appreciated that. Now let's see, which Lobsang said that?
Long Utopia? The Utopia concept is mentioned only slightly more than Mars, which is to say in about eight words. And buh-bye beanstalks, because we spent a lot of time writing them in only to realize that Better than I feared And buh-bye beanstalks, because we spent a lot of time writing them in only to realize that we can't DO much with them, so let's handwave reasons why they were feasible but suddenly aren't.
We have a lot of characters and groups of characters to wrap up here. So let's start slowly and not get the reader all excited. Remind readers that Sally is Mysterious and Important. Maybe some flashes from the moon. Mention Yellowstone a lot so we don't forget it. Let's have a whole bunch more of Agnes and Lobsang sighing and all "I just want.. Now a tedious aside, which was predictable because any time Nelson appears the air is sucked out of the room. Let's read about a man named Valiente in Victorian times, then puzzle through the clues as Joshua is shown his ancestry.
And completely fails to say to Nelson, "That's nice, so what? Why does that matter? Sally is what matters! And now here's Stan. Stan's special.
That's a good idea, because this series didn't have anyone special in it till now. No dead people in android bodies. No one who can step through soft places. But I will accept that a Next Next is a reasonable extrapolation. We need a crisis if we're ever going to get out of this plot. So here we are at world 1,,, because Sally "just knew. But first, let's explain the beetles and the pathways.
Let's drop in a huge new idea completely out of nowhere, an idea that could easily carry a new series all by itself. There's our crisis! Cue the stunned military guy, who is a complete idiot but somehow rose past the geniuses below him, as they always do in novels.
Cue the rabble, with the "No! This is our home! The book does develop the crisis well, from here's what's happening to uh-oh, here's WHY it's happening. Suddenly, foot-in-mouth fools-rush-in Stan has become a demagogue [aside: it is possible, ref. Donald Trump] whose honeyed words can move masses. Well, we can't be having with that, can we? Would Stan be torn apart by the mob, or do the authors have something bigger lined up for him?
We don't know. Bet Sally does. I'm starting to find Sally rather annoying. OK, the authors do a good enough job of tying things together, especially the soft places. And the key explanation - view spoiler [ that our sheaf of worlds has intersected another hide spoiler ] The ending?
Pure schlock. And probably the only way out of the narrative corner the authors painted them into. But really. One: you can't top a Noble Sacrifice. Two: They've become so powerful that we can't leave them in the plot. They've almost gone beyond Superman spinning the world backwards to make it didn't happen. Even if Sir Terry were still with us, I don't see how this series can go anywhere from here. Oh, wait, yes I do. At the end, there's at least one Lobsang left, spinning through space into the sequel galaxy.
He has a matter printer but no way to collect raw material for it. He can probably make broom, though. He'll end up landing on a flat, circular world supported by turtles. It will be one of many such worlds Jul 28, Phil Leader rated it it was ok Shelves: reviewed , amazon. The Long Earth series of books presented an intriguing idea, that of being able to 'step' into parallel Earths, each an untouched wilderness and each one slightly different until they became very different planets.
How would this affect people on a personal level and how would it affect the social and political stability of the original 'Datum Earth'? The second book, The Long War explored the political theme further with the superpowers attempting to control the equivalent populations on the oth The Long Earth series of books presented an intriguing idea, that of being able to 'step' into parallel Earths, each an untouched wilderness and each one slightly different until they became very different planets.
The second book, The Long War explored the political theme further with the superpowers attempting to control the equivalent populations on the other Earths - and mostly meeting resistance to any governance at all.
It also introduced the concept of the Next, a super intelligent sub-species of humanity. The third book, The Long Mars had further incredible iterations of Earth on display and also did the same thing for Mars on a quest to discover a material to use to make a space elevator. The Next also started to organise and to separate themselves from the rest of humanity. Each of these took the original concept and gave us more interesting worlds and lifeforms. Although the law of diminishing returns was starting to bite - Earth fatigue if you like - the main interest was in seeing what new ideas the authors could wrestle for each new Earth or Mars.
That is where this book fails. It is almost exclusively interested in only one copy of Earth, which comes under direct threat.
All the usual suspects - Joshua, Sally, Lobsang and the Next must join forces to prevent a catastrophe threatening the whole Long Earth. There is also a sub-plot involving Joshua's antecedents which although interesting in itself is essentially a Long Earth short story of no relevance to the rest of the plot. Whereas the previous books had a sense of wonder at each world, this loses that completely. It is in fact a completely standard science fiction story and probably would have been better told as a stand alone story rather than being shoe-horned into the Long Earth concept, which doesn't actually add anything interesting to it.
It reads very much like Baxter wanted to write a story about a Dyson motor and as he was contracted to write a Long Earth novel, that's what was used. Unfortunately even this story is not well told with stilted and flaccid dialogue, zero character development and no dramatic tension at all.
It was a real struggle to read in places, there is no zip or flow to the story or writing. Various bits of the plot don't make a great deal of sense and the ending is very lame indeed with the chain of Long Earth worlds being essentially fixed by just thinking about it. The Next decide that Stan Berg, a newly discovered one of their kind, is the only one to 'fix' this despite basically no contact.
They are supposed to be super intelligent and think many moves ahead but this just struck me as absurd. Overall, I would only suggest that Long Earth completists read this.
Those who enjoy the Long Earth for its diversity and novel concepts would be better off leaving this one on the shelf. Apr 06, Chris Boulton rated it really liked it. Kinda wimped out giving it a three, lol.. Why did I want to give it a three, I hear you ask! Well, I'll tell you for why! Although I have enjoyed all four of these books, I can't help feeling that it's kinda indecisive.
It just can't seem to decide whether it's going to be one long interconnected story that's going to build up to one final and brilliant climax or individual stories that only have a few interconnected bits. Personally, I think what this series Kinda wimped out giving it a three, lol.. Personally, I think what this series needs is one long interconnected story etc etc. Anyway, that being said.. I did enjoy it as I enjoyed the others and I'll definitely suggest other people read them because they're good..
I love The Long Earth series very much indeed and this, the fourth, is, I think, my favourite. Mixing sadness with light, it delves deeper into the hearts and souls of a very special group of people not all of whom are entirely human to investigate the nature of the Long Earths as well as the greatest threats challenging its survival.
View all 6 comments. Aug 03, Marie rated it liked it Shelves: science-fiction , parallel-universe. The Long Earth universe has unlimited potential, literature-wise. So, imagine my disappointment when books 2 and 3 in the series were no more than rehashes of the first novel, in which we are introduced to an endless string of Earths that people can travel, or "step" to, with the help of a potato.
The Long Earth is a novel of discovery. We follow the characters as they travel from Earth to Earth and witness the staggering array of worlds and lifeforms, intelligent and not, that make up the Long The Long Earth universe has unlimited potential, literature-wise. We follow the characters as they travel from Earth to Earth and witness the staggering array of worlds and lifeforms, intelligent and not, that make up the Long Earth.
I, personally, forgive the authors for cramming it full of stepping and descriptions of Earths instead of focusing on an intricate plot. It is, after all, an introduction to a whole new universe, both for the reader and for the characters. There is only the barest hint of a war, most likely because the authors were preoccupied with stepping. Plot points are introduced, but the story never really goes anywhere, unless you count all the friggin' stepping.
With The Long Utopia, we finally get a novel that focuses on plot instead of countless chapters crammed full of stepping.
I was pleasantly surprised by the actual plot development, the buildup of tension, and the ending that read like an actual ending instead of something the authors tacked on because, well, a book's gotta have an ending. This book also did a much better job of pulling the events and characters of the previous books together.
While it's not without its faults, it's still a damn sight better than the previous two in the series. I can only hope that the final book in the series provides a satisfying conclusion to the Long Earth series. Dec 02, Tomer rated it liked it Shelves: sf , audio , space , digital , ai. The series starts to remind me of Flatland, where the authors made a theoretical exercise with multiple dimensions. The long read expand on our characters' lives who even when trying to live a normal quiet existence, get pulled back into the thick of things to try and make sense of the latest step option into another axis of possibilities.
I have to note that some of the few amusing moments throughout the series is whenever they reference some "arcane" piece of cultural heritage such as Star Trek The series starts to remind me of Flatland, where the authors made a theoretical exercise with multiple dimensions. I have to note that some of the few amusing moments throughout the series is whenever they reference some "arcane" piece of cultural heritage such as Star Trek and other genre works.
The first Pratchett book to come out since the chap who talks in capitals came for him, and as such sure to be a melancholy read whatever its content. Though obviously this series was always a collaborative effort, and in some ways this one feels tilted more Baxter's way than its predecessors. There are occasional bursts of stilted dialogue, undigested exposition and repetition more familiar from his work than Pratchett's — though as with such an assessment of any collaboration, this is pure inf The first Pratchett book to come out since the chap who talks in capitals came for him, and as such sure to be a melancholy read whatever its content.
There are occasional bursts of stilted dialogue, undigested exposition and repetition more familiar from his work than Pratchett's — though as with such an assessment of any collaboration, this is pure inference on my part, and very likely wrong.
The first Long Earth book, too, where I read a review before getting my own review copy. First world problems, I know, having to wait for the very fine local library service to hook me up. The reviewer in question liked this more than anything in the series since the first book, because it felt more like a novel again.
I feel pretty much the opposite about that return to conventionality, especially disliking the misplaced historical subplot here. I liked the intervening books, the way the characters and the plots had become little more than an excuse for unfettered world s -building. But then I like Olaf Stapledon, whose influence is still strong here, and who was usually much more interested in the big picture than standard novel business. That said, like this book he would find time for the occasional uneasy encounter between humans and their strange progeny, in which the lacks on both sides are felt as forcefully as the benefits.
I was reminded too of John Crowley's 'Great Work of Time', and several stories by the great Clifford Simak - the eponymous 'Utopia' here is at least partly bittersweet, a sense that the great human experiment is being abandoned for a more pastoral and nomadic life in the endless forests of the Long Earth.
A utopia to some, but a quiet apocalypse or dying fall for others, especially the old-timers who remember a humanity confined to one Earth. At times, the back-to-nature thinking involved is just maddening; there's one scene which is clearly supposed to be heartbreaking, but is instead as needless and infuriating as the finale of [a popular recent-ish SF series I don't want to drive-by spoiler, just in case].
Helpfully, the book opens with a diagram clarifying one key concept. Unfortunately, it's a concept which is supposed to be a mystery for the first odd pages.
It might have been better placed in an appendix. Jul 12, David rated it it was ok Shelves: e-book , science-fiction. I have yet to read a good Long Earth book. Which is a pity, because Pratchett was always one of my favourite authors, even if his later works started becoming too serious perhaps understandably, giving what he went through.
Unfortunately, and despite occasional flashes of some interesting Sigh. Unfortunately, and despite occasional flashes of some interesting ideas and plot mainly connected with the history of Joshua's ancestors and the Steppers of the past , this was still a long, slow and laborious read.
I'm not sure whether Baxter will continue with the series following Pratchett's death earlier this year but if he doesn't, and unlike the Discworld novels, I doubt I'll miss this series that much or be in a hurry to re-read any of them. So this as much a commentary on the last book as it is the series itself. I read in another review that one of the great strengths of this series is the unique and creative world that they creative.
I have to agree that the concepts are very cool. Where I think it falls short is on the actual execution of those ideas. This trend has only seemed to get worse as the series has progressed. In this last book it feels that the ending has almost nothing to do with what they were building towards for t So this as much a commentary on the last book as it is the series itself. In this last book it feels that the ending has almost nothing to do with what they were building towards for the first half of the book.
The ending felt rushed and honestly unsatisfying. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a preference for one type of ending over another, so the way it ended in that regard wasn't the problem. It just felt like a different book's conclusion. Incongruent seems to be the word that fits for this book. I guess it comes down to a question of which is worse I am left with that for this one. Jun 19, Fantasy Literature rated it it was ok. Unfortunately, I have since read that one more is going to come out.
In some ways, this is fine. The Long Utopia in no way provides a conclusion to many of the plotlines that Pratchett and Baxter have set in motion in previous installments and about which I am still, despite my better instincts, curious. The Next, the evolved super-smart humans we met in The Long Mars, have found a home up in Jul 16, Bar Reads rated it really liked it. Suffering severe book series withdrawal.
I need the 5th book Now! May 03, Steve rated it liked it. The Long Utopia benefits from being forth in a series of imaginative books to allow the authors to push more quickly into new ground without having to explain the whole premise of this universe. Read this book if you've read the others, but make sure you've read at least the first one already. There are a lot of back references to the other books, but if you don't mind being spoiled about some of The Long Utopia benefits from being forth in a series of imaginative books to allow the authors to push more quickly into new ground without having to explain the whole premise of this universe.
There are a lot of back references to the other books, but if you don't mind being spoiled about some of those events, you can safely skip "The Long War" and "The Long Mars" without much plot confusion. I'm going to avoid spoilers in this review, but I'm going to use terminology from the books without explanation, so what follows may not make much sense to folks who've not read any of this series. I'll lead off with what I liked about this book: exploration into the idea of the direction of stepping.
I've always found it convenient that everyone goes along a single dimension of stepping left or right and we get some more thoughts on the actual topology of that dimension here. There is again some interesting thoughts on sentience, but artificial and organic.
The Next are fleshed out a bit more fully, although they still don't seem like they've found their critical role in this universe.
The main character dynamic is also shaken up a bit, which I think is for a good thing because the main steppers are getting a little tired in my opinion. My biggest complaint is the same as it is with this whole series: every idea is just a teaser.
No book ever seems to completely finish a picture, just add some more colors to an already vibrant scene. I guess that's this universe's MO, no one aspect of it will ever be explored to a great extent. As with all the novels in this series, the writing style is of two minds and given that there are two authors, this seems appropriate.
Both writers produce prose that is simple, witty, and plot-centric. Character development feels like an afterthought in most parts of the book, but it does happen.
The authors seems to rely on the reader to supply traits to many of the secondary characters who pop into this book from previous installments.
It helps with the tempo of the book to do this, but it sometimes leaves you fumbling to recall the events that transpired when that character was last featured. Usually there are enough cues to get to a "good enough" approximation to re form opinions on characters, so that's okay too. I think these books really shine in their scene descriptions; the degree to which other Earths are made real always gets me thinking about all the little things that could have happened to shift the datum to one of these long Earth variants.
Now an elderly and cantankerous AI, Lobsang lives in disguise with Agnes in an exotic, far-distant world. As rumours of strange sightings and hauntings proliferate, it becomes clear that something is very awry with this particular world.
Millions of steps away, Joshua is on a personal journey of discovery: learning about the father he never knew and a secret family history. But then he receives a summons from New Springfield. To counter this threat will require the combined efforts of humankind, machine and the super-intelligent Next. And some must make the ultimate sacrifice. There's plenty of fun to be had from this.
Rich in an awe-inspiring sense of wonder, with mind-boggling concepts thrown out like sparks from a Catherine wheel. A triumph. The Long Earth novels are beautifully visual and wittily imagined. The Long Utopia. There's the sense of two enviably talented writers having fun as they play in an infinite fictional universe. Terry Pratchett was the acclaimed creator of the global bestselling Discworld series, the first of which, The Colour of Magic, was published in In all, he was the author of over fifty bestselling books.
His novels have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he was the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal, as well as being awarded a knighthood for services to literature.
He died in March Stephen Baxter is one of the UK's most acclaimed writers of science fiction and a multi-award winner. Clarke and Time Ships, a sequel to H. He lives in Northumberland. Tiffany wants to be a witch when she grows up. A proper one, with a pointy hat. Meet Tiffany and the Wee Free Men.
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