In this non-Discworld novel, Terry Pratchett and co-author
Stephen Baxter explore an interesting concept: what if humans had the ability
to reach all the Earths that could have been? After the invention of a simple
device powered by a potato, the people of the world discover that they have the
ability to Step—to travel to neighboring Earths on the possibility tree. What
if the Ice Age had never ended? What if humans had never evolved? What if, what
if. Each one of these options suddenly becomes a place that humanity can visit.
The further you get from home, or “Datum Earth” as it’s now called, the
stranger things become. Two adventurers—a sentient computer program named
Lobsang and a Davy Crockett-style celebrity Stepper named Joshua Valienté—embark
on a quest to Step as far as they can and discover the end of the Long Earth.
Fans of Terry Pratchett will definitely find his signature
style within this book. Lobsang, a computer program who claims to be a Tibetan
motorcycle repairman reborn, is pure Discworld. However, this work is far more
contemplative than most of Pratchett’s humor writing. There are very few
laugh-out-loud moments, and the book occasionally reads more like a pop science
article than a novel. The emphasis is definitely on the concept more than the
characters or plot. This leads to a slower pace, and I often found that I
enjoyed thinking about the book more than I did actually reading it. Despite
cosmic focus, however, I found Lobsang and Joshua both charming and their
interactions amusing, and I was as eager as they were to discover the end of
the Long Earth. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an
interesting soft sci-fi that might change the way you look at the world, or (of
course) to fans of Terry Pratchett.
LLK
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