The Long Earth: (Long Earth 1)

I last read a book by Terry Pratchett some years ago. It was a Discworld novel, but I can't remember which one. As I read The Long Earth, though, I found myself smiling on many occasions as I thought, "Ah, Terry Pratchett, how I've missed you!" Although it has its moments, this one's not nearly as funny as Discworld. But then, it's not meant to be. It's meant to be a somewhat serious look into the possibilities of Infinite Worlds. And it could happen. I don't want to give too much away, but there are plenty of "What would *I* do?" moments as our intrepid adventures travel through The Long Earth to parallel dimensions, and discover things about themselves, the world, and the meaning of life. And even though it's meant to be serious, Sir Terry just can't help put his humorous stamp on pretty much everything. I mean, the means to "Step" (which is what the book calls travelling between dimensions) is powered by a potato, for Pete's sake. I'm sure that wasn't Mr Baxter's idea!

Stephen Baxter and Terry Pratchett are great writers in their own right, so this collaboration draws on the strengths of both and turns out to be a clever new spin on what sci-fi means. Not only is the concept of stepping a great, new sci-fi concept, but using chapter length as a device to control the pace and energy of the story is something I haven't come across before and something that works tremendously well. It makes for a gripping read and a book you just can't put down. On to the sequel... and then the third book to be released in June.

Interesting idea. Hooked me immediately and couldn't put it down for much of the first third. But once it settled in to the second half, the story didn't seem to advance in any meaningful way until near the end when it suddenly throws a flurry of plot developments at the reader crammed into the last few dozen pages. It's almost as though it's nothing more than a needlessly long prologue to the ACTUAL story still to come in subsequent books. Still, an easy three stars for the premise and characters.