The Long Earth

by Stephen Baxter, Terry Pratchett

Paperback, 432 pages

English language

Published Dec. 14, 2013 by Corgi Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-552-16408-5

(14 reviews)

1916: the Western Front. Private Percy Blakeney wakes up. He is lying on fresh spring grass. He can hear birdsong, and the wind in the leaves in the trees. Where has the mud, blood and blasted landscape of No Man's Land gone?

2015: Madison, Wisconsin. Cop Monica Jansson is exploring the burned-out home of a reclusive (some said mad, others dangerous) scientist when she finds a curious gadget - a box containing some wiring, a three-way switch and a...potato. It is the prototype of an invention that will change the way Mankind views his world for ever.

And that is an understatement if ever there was one...

9 editions

skolima@bookwyrm.social reviewed Długa Ziemia by Terry Pratchett

Review of 'Długa Ziemia' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

There's very little Pratchett in this book, unfortunately. It's based on his 30-year old short story, but it feels like Terry had practically no input in growing it into a book. It's really underdeveloped.

If you're looking for an interesting read on parallel worlds, go check out [b:The Family Trade|17861|The Family Trade (The Merchant Princes, #1)|Charles Stross|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1408262924l/17861.SY75.jpg|930587] by [a:Charles Stross|8794|Charles Stross|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1355510574p2/8794.jpg] (and frankly, Long Earth reads like a fanfic rewrite of parts of this one).

pwinn reviewed The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett

Review of 'The long earth' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Every now and then I read a book with a premise that takes my breath away, as this one did. If the final denouement didn’t quite measure up to the initial shock of the Big Idea, that was counterbalanced by the series of smaller reveals, almost all absolutely astounding.

Jan Kjellin reviewed The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett

Not that original, after all

3 stars

Methinks Pratchett and/or Baxter may have read Philip José Farmer's Riverworld novels and then forgot they did. Further elaboration past that point seems redundant. In all fairness, I have to admit I still thought it was ok. Too bad it didn't have a proper ending, though.

Dubi reviewed The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett

Review of 'The Long Earth' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

The book has an interesting premise, but nevertheless, this is a 300 page introduction, and it fails at making me care enough to try slodge through the rest of the series.
Very little happens in this book - there are some isolated events that don't actually do anything for the plot, and there is a very feeble arc, but what little resolution there is is far from satisfying, and what little promise there is for the next instalments just isn't terribly exciting for me.