The Long War (Long Earth)

If you've read The Long Earth, you might expect this book to carry on the plot thread about the major existential threat that is introduced near the end of that book. You will discover quickly in The Long War that that idea has been all but forgotten.

The Long War expands the cast of The Long Earth, bringing back nearly all the supporting characters and introducing a few new ones. Like its predecessor, The Long War doesn't really do anything with most of them. There are some subplots that have been carried over from TLE, for example the Nelson Azikiwe plot, that persist in not really having anything happen in them. Other, new subplots (like the China mission) suffer from the same malady.

The glacial pace of these subplots, and, by extension, the overarching plot of the series, would be more understandable and excusable if the books were longer, or were developing a more nuanced arrangement of elements. However, with the characters mostly being explicitly variations on the same basic worthy archetypes (socially enlightened loner/pioneer, socially enlightened maverick captain, socially enlightened female loner/pioneer, socially enlightened AI, etc.) there's not much opportunity for any real conflict between them. The "conflict" that does develop is mainly between individual humans and some circumstance of whatever alternate Earth or group thereof those humans find themselves; there's always a feeling of arbitrariness about the way these encounters play out. Later on in the story, it was hard for me to shake the feeling that certain events were the authors' way of writing themselves back out of a corner. There's some foreshadowing of the potential future importance of some of the characters, but given the way the foreshadowing in the first book was subverted here, I wouldn't be surprised if those characters spent Book Three asleep. This would be more forgivable if TLE and TLW weren't all setup.

Another thing I want to touch on quickly is that although I know that Terry Pratchett has a good ear for comic dialogue on his own (I have read none of Stephen Baxter's solo work, so I can't comment on that), as a pair, these authors cannot write convincing character dialogue for this sort of story. Also, the dialogue of the main characters--Joshua, Monica, Helen, and Sally--is not credible as the speech of human beings, much less so of Americans, and of Wisconsinites in no way whatsoever.

The core conceit of the Long Earth series (humans develop the ability to travel through a theoretically-infinite range of parallel Earths with alternate histories on a geologic/cosmic time scale, and therefore with more-or-less widely divergent geographies and ecosystems) is still fun, though, even two books in. If you get past the characters and the plot, there are a lot of nifty thought experiments scattered throughout.

I finished this book in three days, awash in a sea of constantly simmering irritation, finely seasoned with a dash of boredom.

This book fails on two levels. As a sequel, it does NOTHING to continue on the plot setups we were given in the first book, the Long Earth (and speaking of the Long Earth, I was firmly convinced that a book that mind numbingly bad had to at least have a fairly good follow up. I was wrong - so very, very wrong). Characters have moved on in their lives, apparently after having taken some sort of amnesia inducing drug that has made them forget about all of the things that seemed so vitally important to them in the first book. Plot lines are left dangling, never again touched upon.

As a book in and of itself, the characters are shallow and one dimensional (Sally is angry! Joshua is good! Lobsang is inscrutable! Chinese people are smart! Trolls are more evolved than humans!), the plot lines mundane and pointless, the writing disjointed.

How bad is this book? It's... bad. Really, really bad.

On the plus side, I read it during a blazing heat wave, and the book came in very handy for holding the door to our garage open, which gave us a lovely cross breeze through the house. I think it would work equally well to hold windows open, weight down loose papers on a desk, or flatten leaves for a children's art project.

So, not all bad. One star, for intrinsic usefulness as a heavy object.

Sir Terry, the Long Earth broke my heart a little bit, but this book - I hate to say it, but I think we need to start seeing other people.

A riveting sequel to this pair's first novel, The Long Earth.
Stephen Baxter is certainly a better co-author with Pratchett than that drivel Clarke co-authored.
That said, this is not the tongue in cheek type Pratchett humor of the disc-world novels, but more similar to his earlier science/fantasy novels. There is enough humor, of the quiet understated British variety, and more than enough action and plot twists. For me, this was a can't put down front-to-back cover read, except for 5 hours of sleep I had to have in the middle.

I have red other books by the author and even watched disc world but nothing compares with The Long Earth and this new book, a second in what may be more. A great read, well written, the story holds together, not a huge technology base to remember.

Fun and exciting while holding your attention.

You won't be disappointed

I very much enjoyed The Long Earth, and the Long War is also a great novel. It is very magnetising, i just can't stop reading it. Recomended for all the people that liked the style and story of Long Earth.

This book deals with a lot of serious topics in an easy-to-read and completely enjoyable manner.
having read the first in the series, the long earth, I was on tenterhooks for this one's release, and it was every bit as good as I'd hoped! A bit sci-fi, a dash of steampunk, a whole lot of drama and laughs! Definitely worth it.

This has all of the moralizing of Pratchett's Discworld books without any of the satire or humor that make those fun.

It's boring, heavy handed, with no flow and unlikeable characters.

I went in to it knowing that it wouldn't be full-on Pratchett, but I'm not sure that he's in there anywhere except perhaps the concept.

You think with an inciting incident as extreme as the one at the end of The Long Earth, the follow-on book, The Long War, would be an exciting series of battles. If you thought that, you’d be wrong. Instead, authors Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter take the Speaker for the Dead route by aging the main character of the first book by at least a decade and throwing in heavy doses of non-human racism (speciesism?). For a book that has “war” in the title, there isn’t much war at all. This is disappointing for many reasons.

Sure, there’s still plenty of neat science fiction ideas presented here, but The Long War exhibits the same problems that were present in The Long Earth. First and foremost, the wit and humor of Terry Pratchett is hardly to be seen in this book, only occasionally popping up to add levity to a situation. Secondly, there’s so much exposition that the book “tells” instead of “shows,” that it almost becomes a bore to read. Finally, with so many subplots strung together, it was difficult to know precisely what was going on, who these characters were, or why I should care.

I’ll still probably suffer through the rest of this series since I don’t have to think very hard when I’m listening to the audiobook. The fact that I want to get through this five-book series as quickly as possible says something, though. The real problem is that the ideas and settings presented here could have been great. If the end of the first book had transitioned seamlessly into this one, causing the people who could “step” to rise up against those who would perform the despicable act that affected datum Earth, then we’d actually have a war on our hands instead of . . . this. Don't even get me started on the ending, which I'm pretty sure had a good paragraph of dialogue copied from The Long Earth.

An overly long book with little to no war, I give The Long War 2.0 stars out of 5.

Picking up many years after the last book finished, we find the long earth is in chaos. The USA government is determined to impose its rule despite the impossibility of doing so and the fact that colonies have declared independence. The trolls are being mistreated and Sally is determined to fix that. Joshua, who has settle down with a wife and son, just wants to be left alone but is being dragged along. While Lobsang is determined to expand his reach by creating even more iterations of himself whilst doing what he can for the long earth.

The story then continues with half a dozen or more complex sub plots, none of which seem to be connected. As I read I was desperately hoping that they would at some point meet up and lead to something connected. If they did, I missed it and by the end I was left wondering what it was all about. The book certainly doesn’t lack for interesting concepts. It is also a relatively easy read, but overall it lacks cohesion. I’m am undecided whether to read the third in the series.

The Long War is a science fiction novel written together by Sir Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. It is the second book in the Long Earth series of books tackling the discovery of seemingly infinite parallel Earths.

The book skips forward to a point in time when acceptance of the reality of the Long Earth - how they term the infinite parallel Earths. Mankind has well-expanded across these virgin worlds while Datum Earth, or the original Earth, finds itself weakened with the loss so many citizens. Those that remain on Datum are either too scared to Step across the worlds or are physically incapable of Stepping for reasons unknown. And thus the government of Datum America decides to assert control over the far-flung colonies of the Long Earth by sending a Twain of its own on a sort of goodwill tour as both an assurance of support and perhaps a not-so-subtle threat.

The book starts out a bit slow as once again we are introduced to the Long Earth and a quick update on certain characters and the new status quo. Thus we learn of Valhalla, a sort of growing splinter government far off thousands of worlds stepwise from Datum Earth that could very well become a power of its own. And how the Datum government decides to eventually deal with Valhalla makes u a major arc in the story.

Lobsang is still a key figure, although this time Joshua isn't quite as willing to work with the Buddhist monk who may or may not have reincarnated into a computer system. As much as the threat of a far-reaching Datum government is important, Lobsang is more concerned with something else - something that has to do with the few other races they've encountered in their exploration of the Long Earth such as the singing Trolls, the aggressive Beagles and the shifty Kobolds. And so we stop thinking about the humans alone and take a closer look at the races that share the Long Earth.

I liked how this book was a logical progression of the idea originated in the first book. When a government claims to extend into infinity, how does one actually enforce that? How do you collect taxes? What services could government like that actually offer it's distant citizens? There's a lot of questions to be answered and this book is an interesting thought experiment into exploring that notion and seeing where it might go.

On the flip side, the book does get a little long-winded and there are times when you start to wonder how much "slice of life" style content do you really need to tell the story. I can't even call all of it narrative build-up - sometimes there's just so much mundanity that you wonder why the writing went into this direction. It's not terrible writing in itself - it just sometimes feels like the book is a little disjointed, as if we all got distracted by certain nuances of a sub-plot and eventually lost our way. We get back on track in time, but it does feel like some meandering has gone on.

The Long War is still an interesting expansion of the original concept and it's nice to see how things develop. I just don't know how the series is going to extend to a full five books without becoming this seemingly epic multi-generational tale or something.

Two stars represents my own experience of this book. Someone going in with different expectations could have a very different expectation.

I liked The Long Earth, and was looking forward to the continuation of this series. The Long Earth set up the expectation that this series was a somewhat disjointed exploration of the world created by these authors. There might be goals, like exploring the Long Earth, but this wasn't a story built around a conflict. There might sometimes be conflict between individuals, but these conflicts weren't driving the story, they were more a part of the scenery.

The second book undermines itself by promising more conflict. This is done both in the book itself and quite obviously in the title. It seems odd to say that a book would be better if they just changed the title, but the title does promise the reader something akin to large scale fighting, and that is something that you will not find in this book. There are hints in this book and the previous one of a force in the Long Earth that might threaten all of human kind. This threat still does not show up. Even humans having conflict with each other actually deescalates in this book. While the previous book ended with a nuclear terrorist attack, the inter-human violence in this book is restricted to a stabbing, a punch and a large scale sit-in protest. All this would be fine if the authors weren't also telling us that the stakes are increasing.

If one were to go into this book with the expectation of only more vignettes as per the first one, this would probably be a slightly worse book than the first. It's less focused, and thus having even fewer vignettes to devote to each storyline. While this is not a series dedicated to a tightly focused narrative, the lack of space per character can make events like someone literally come back from the dead feel oddly underrepresented, conflicts feel like they are solved with the push of a button, and the very end feels incredibly telegraphed since it's hints even made the cut to appear over and over vignettes.

The sequel (in a planned series) to The Long Earth is a disjointed, unbelievable and internal-morality questionable series of vignettes, too many characters and, worst of all, no actual plot.
Please, don’t get me wrong. I love Terry Pratchett’s books, to a fault, and I feel sacrilegious writing this review after his early death.
The Long War is, however, an un-plotted bore that breaks the suspension of disbelief and has an uneven moral grounding.
First, the plot. The Long Earth was enjoyable enough. At the end, there was a great force, the First Person Singular, that everyone had to watch out for. The foundations of the universe(s) the authors set down were enough to hang the book on. Enough happened. It was a nice jaunt.
The Long War, however, has no antagonists, doesn’t have any protagonists and what is played up to be the rising action leading to the denouement is an entirely nonsensical confrontation that makes even less sense in light of the prologue.
Plus, the real villain/antagonist, the First Person Singular, is neither dealt with nor heard from.
Onward to the slipshod morality: I’m all for anti-heroes and no morality and no scruples and the whole ball of wax. Love it! But, a book needs to be consistent and that is something that The Long War is not.
The characters, and seemingly the authors, create a cognitive dissonance in their handling of the various sentient species dealt with throughout the novel.
The not-particularly-sentient species, the Trolls, which thrive through a collective consciousness, are portrayed, and treated throughout the book by other characters, as nothing short of short-bus angels.
The Kobolds on the other hand, considered to be a subset of the Elves (Trolls are nice, and there appears to only be one species of them and the Elves are not nice and there appears to be many species of them) and are just as smart as humans, but because they barter across the worlds, they’re actually bad. Not evil, no, just bad. Like the Ferengi in Star Trek or the Jews in Europe up until modern times.
None of the characters have this cognitive dissonance they create challenged, the unequal treatment of sentient species, based mostly on the idea that trade is bad.
All in all, it was a boring slog with far too many characters that never did anything.
And the end! Rising action, followed by, prologue, 10 years in the future. Boring. Boring. Boring. And lazy.

I enjoyed the first book in The Long Earth trilogy, it had interesting ideas and some interesting characters. This second book provides more of the same but somehow doesn't quite hit the same mark as the first.

The story continues some time after the close of the first book with humanity continuing its expansion across the long Earth. This is causing problems with the government back on earth as well as the indiginous populations with the other Earths. As with the first book it explores some interesting effects that the parrallel worlds have. The flaw for me is that they're not fully realised. The navy expedition is a good example for this disconnect.

And for me that was the problem with the book generally, it doesn't follow up with all the good ideas and brings very little depth to them. I'm hoping that these will be better resolved in the next book. And I will be reading the next book because while I don't rate this as highly as the first it did do enough to keep me reading. WHile there were flaws in the details the quality of writing was strong and I did enjoy the book.

I am hoping that the final book in the trilogy provides a return to the first book's form though!

Having enjoyed the first book, I fully expected to love The Long War.

I looked forward to an action-filled story given the title and knowing The Long Earth had already done the basic world creation - or 'worlds creation,' rather.

Instead, a lengthy, leisurely travelogue ensued with the original characters (ten years or so older) mostly making their separate ways through territory largely encountered in the first book. Very little happens beyond the frequent, brief stops at various Long Earths. There are moments when something might happen: A Chinese expedition, much like the fabled Chinese fleet of Earth's past, reaches the twenty millionth Earth and - finds nothing interesting and turns back. The pointless American fleet reaches the rebellious Valhalla and - (NO SPOILER: but whatever happens takes only a sentence!). Josh Valiente, in one of the rare lapses in the authors' "bore the readers to tears" style, does get viciously attacked in one LE not-so-nice-doggie civilization but no matter: it's over fast and of no consequence. The characters, by the way, remain one-dimensional caricatures, and the authors' (concerned we've forgotten or are in the process of forgetting through shear boredom) frequently remind of us their various personalities (they only have one personality really: noble exasperation at the stupidity of other people).

I get the distinct feeling the novel was writtten in pieces using a shared outline. The alternating points-of-view, the scene changes, the brief mention of a threat (which promptly vanished again), the appearance of a barely mentioned character: it all feels as if the sections were written separately and could be arranged in almost any order. There's a vague semblance of a cohesive story - the airships are traveling on some mission with some people on them - but it's tiresome. There's no war by the way.

The picaresque novel, in which the protagonist (traditionally an underdog, but not always) engages in a series of episodic adventures, has a history that goes back to _Don Quixote_ and _Tom Jones_ and comes up to _Little Big Man_ and _Quicksilver._ The first volume in this trilogy, in which I suspect Pratchett supplied most of the ideas and Baxter did most of the actual writing, focused on the voyage of exploration by an airship through a few hundred thousand parallel Earths, via the newly discovered latent human talent for "stepping." That's about as explicitly picaresque as you can get. The plot otherwise was kind of random, but the journey itself was interesting and inventive.

This second volume, however, while apparently attempting the repeat the pattern, simply ends up being annoyingly scattershot. In some ways, it presents a series of almost independent narratives that merely share the same background -- the Long Earth -- but which seldom interact with each other. Ten years have passed since the cliffhanging, seemingly international, incident that ended the first book (but which is passed off here as the work of an unstable individual terrorist and then mostly ignored). Joshua Valiente, the natural stepper born with a foot in each of several worlds, has married and settled down in a pleasantly isolated pioneer community far from Datum Earth, which has been colonizing the "low" Earths at a prodigious rate as a base for unregulated dirty industry and off-loading of surplus population. The trolls -- distant hominid relations of humankind who exist all across the Long Earth, and for whom stepping is a constant fact of existence -- have been borderline-enslaved as cheap labor and are officially regarded by Earth's governments as animals as a matter of legal convenience. The trolls have a champion, however, in Sally, another natural stepper and both longtime friend and pest to Joshua, and she wrangles his involvement in redressing their situation. The U.S. government, especially, though it has cut off support from Long Earth settlements and confiscated the property and wealth of Americans who chose to relocate, has now decided that anyone within the American "footprint" still owes the Datum government fealty -- and taxes. And an airship fleet is sent out to enforce this policy, though the Powers That Be pick the wrong naval officer to manage the expedition. Commander Maggie Kauffman has her own ideas of what her job in relationship to the brewing revolt among the far settlements ought to be.

That could have been the basis of a good plot all by itself, but the authors then spin off a confrontation with another species of "aliens," a canine-descended race with its own interests that don't include humans. (Nothing is ever said about why the trolls consider this their perfect haven from Datum Earth industrialization.) They also insist on throwing in a Chinese expedition to Earth Plus Twenty Million, just so they can invent a bunch of new and strange environments none of which have much to do with the rest of the story. And then there's the whole "Gap" narrative thread about potential space exploration, which is obviously going to lead into the third volume of the trilogy.

While the book is an interesting read in its various disparate sections, it lacks the narrative unity that Pratchett's Discworld stories have always displayed. As with the first volume, if it weren't for the occasional bit of business (e.g., a hotel called the Healed Drum), you would never know Sir Terry had anything to do with it.

I enjoyed the first book and was looking forward to exploring more of the Long Earth. Unfortunately the Long War took too long to get moving. The main problem with the Long War is that it doesn't quite know what it wants the main conflict to be. Is this Man against Man? Man against Nature? Man against Ideals? Man against Other Sapients? Man against Repressive Government? Rather than focus on one or two main plots it spread itself way too thin. Which resulted in the set up taking way too long along with a lack luster build up and conflict resolution. Too many characters spread across too many plotlines with an overall thin plot linking it all together just resulted in a disappointing sequel. There are definitely great parts to the book, I love the interaction between the humans and other sapients. Wish there was more of that as long as a stronger link between all the plotlines (something that Peter F Hamilton does a great job off). Sorry, even though I liked the first book, can't recommend the second book . Sorry, even though I liked the first book, can't recommend the second book

The sequel to "The Long Earth", Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter's "The Long War" is a book that for me was a must read & ends up being a bit disappointing especially since the title seems to be off just a bit. In this installment we're 20 years from Step Day and the worlds of the Long Earth are slowly being explored. It's becoming a lawless frontier out there in some spots & in others there are conflicts that have developed with a sub-species of humans called Trolls & a city named Valhalla which is so far removed from Datum that it feels it should be able to do pretty much whatever it wants. The story itself has so many parallel plots from the worlds to the West which continue to be explored at will to the Chinese settling on the East worlds that even with the political side of things get lost along the way somehow. Don't get me wrong, I've thoroughly enjoyed this book as much as the last one despite the multiple plots & the dirigibles that are being used to speed up the stepping process are a nice touch. With all the twists & turns Pratchett & Baxter still manager to keep the wonder of the Long Earth out there & give this book an ending that comes out of left field but that reminds we the reader of what the purpose of those alternate Earths may be. An enjoyable read despite the plot problems & a series this reader will gladly continue moving forward with.

Oddly, there's no war in this book -- long, short or otherwise. Given that fact, I wonder why someone thought it was a good idea to recycle a phrase that failed to gain any traction in the real world a decade ago.

This book strikes me as all too reminiscent of the middle books of Steven King's "The Dark Tower" multilogy: unable to stand alone, doing virtually nothing to advance the tale, sloppily written in evident haste and having no intrinsic "quality" in the Pirsig sense of the term.

"The Long War", like those, tramples on Sam Clemens' Rules 1 and 2: "That a tale shall accomplish something and arrive somewhere," and "that the episodes in a tale shall be necessary parts of the tale, and shall help to develop it."

At least there seems to be no dispute that King wrote those books. Not the case here, where many reviewers have questioned the extent of Pratchett's contribution. I concur; Pratchett is conspicuous mainly by the absence of his inimitable style.

The characters come straight from Central Casting; frankly, they seem no more than sock puppets, and none is memorable. They also violate Clemen's fourth dictum, "That the personages in a tale shall exhibit a sufficient excuse for being there."

Important details of US representative government elude the author(s?) -- we hear only of senators, yet communities of American steppers would be fully entitled to elect their own representatives to Datum Congress. And judging by the backstory of Step Day, one would assume that such representatives would constitute a majority bloc. Thus the "taxation without representation" main theme is utterly unconvincing.

And veracity! Even space operas demand a certain amount of respect for the way things actually work. But here we have colonists being supplied with bicycles before horses -- as if bicycles were a viable transportation choice on a colonizing world where even dirt horse trails have yet to be hacked from virgin forest.

Here we have "step ships": giant airships fated to crash when just one of their multiple helium cells is ruptured (and when they do, rescue is a leisurely afterthought, although folks are dying in the wreckage).

Giant airships which "must" be able to traverse normal 3-D geometry in order to step -- a requirement regarded as "trivial" by a Central Casting magic 15-year-old, but which receives not a shred of explanation as to why it must be so. Giant airships which achieve this capability by virtue of "flexing their skins like fish", though this is a ludicrously inefficient means of propulsion in an Earthlike atmosphere.

LOx tanks that routinely explode for no good reason -- entirely unlike real life, where such accidents are essentially unknown -- and have no purpose in the plot anyway except as background pyrotechnics.

"Static test" rocket motor test stands in which the rocket nozzle points skyward, ignoring the real world in which liquid-fueled rocket motors (LOx, remember?) are always oriented nozzle-down to emulate the way they're actually fired in an actual launch.

I could live with these sorts of lapses if the writing were at all captivating. Alas, it "captivates" only as does a drunk tank. And the Pratchett who buttressed his Ringworld books with solid science should be ashamed of this dog's breakfast of pseudoscience.

This would be an easy one-star review, except that I did detect a smidgen of authentic Pratchett humor at the very end of Chapter 36: multiple "Sound of Music" puns that come rat-a-tat, but far too little and far too late.

And that supervolcano eruption (Yellowstone, natch) at the end of the book: now there's a novel plot twist, ham-handedly prefigured, whose description is taken almost verbatim from a B-movie script. Wow, was I left on tenterhooks waiting to see where that's headed!

The author(s) have dug a mighty deep hole -- deeper than their Yellowstone caldera -- with "The Long War". Unlike some reviewers, I finished it (quickly). But it's unlikely I'll bother reading the prequel or any sequels.

Pratchett and Baxter enjoy a wonderful synergy in their writing. Some readers might complain about a lack of a driving plot or sharply defined story arcs. However, the world building and character exploration is enough to give the novel forward momentum and poses enough interesting questions about humanity and its proclivities to be thought-provoking and engaging. I look forward to the third in the series, which looks to take place on the Long Mars (and begs the question of whether or not there might have been iterations of Mars with life and even advanced civilization).

The problem with creating a science fiction "opportunity" such as the one the Long Earth presents is that you need a space opera to do it justice. When "The Long Earth" came out with its Pratchett notion of a potato inspired device (quickly forgotten in this latest because it was a tad too ridiculous) that gave rise to an infinite series of earths for humanity to expand into, it created a vast series of options for the authors to explore.So vast, in fact, they've fallen short with this latest, directionless effort. All it has done, in truth, is show the brilliance of the idea (though rehashed somewhat - see Greg Bear's 'Eon') and the incapacity of the authors to deal with it. The reality is the concept needs Peter F Hamilton to do it justice. The vastness of the new world of Datum East/West requires more words than these authors are prepared to throw at it and this sequel flounders in a mire of nothingness.

Part of the problem is Joshua Valienté's weary inclusion - it's almost as though the character isn't interested; part of the problem is the character of Sally - she's intensely dislikeable; part of the problem is that Lobsang's not in it enough; the whole of the problem is nothing gets the detail it deserves. We've too many threads fighting for four hundred pages of large print space and no one's a winner. As a reader I want to investigate more about the culture of Trolls, of Kobolds, of Beagles; I want a thorough story following Capt. Maggie on her personal starship Enterprise with the Cat; I need Joshua to be kicked in the backside to show some enthusiasm; I want the gifted Roberta and her Chinese expedition to get ten times the airtime. The whole East twenty million voyage is begging for a juicy hook to yank the reader. The disappearance of the Trolls (yet they are too easy to find) is casually handled; the chewing off of Joshua's appendage unexplained; the "war" that is the title is merely an apologetic after-note of vapid inconsequentialness scrawled in the final chapters. I've seen more fight in the Norse Sagas on Valhalla than I saw in this book.

I was disappointed. The concept of stepping into an alternative reality is handled better by the likes of S M Stirling. He devotes a trilogy to just one "step" and you can see why. The creation of four million worlds needs four million pages, in truth. Pratchett and Baxter have created something too big to handle - and this is coming from two of the very best authors out there. I've read nearly everything these two authors have ever produced. They have all the kudos they deserve for they are very, very good at what they do. But...it's possible for even the very best to produce a poor book...and this might just well be a nadir for them. I hope the next is better. In summary...The Long Earth was great; The Long War...disappointing.

In volume one, _The Long Earth_, Pratchett and Baxter told us of the opening of the "stepwise" Earths: an (apparently) infinite number of parallel worlds, on none of which humans had evolved. But there were other sentient species out there...

In _The Long War_, they take up the story twenty-five years later. Humans have spread across the stepwise Earths, leaving "Datum" Earth for the Territories. The US government back on the Datum wants to exercise control over the parts of the stepwise Earths under its "Aegis" on other Earths, and some of those colonists are asking what they would pay taxes for anyway?

Meanwhile, one of the sentient species, the "trolls," a gentle race that communicates in song, is being exploited and sometimes abused by (some) humans.

Characters from the first volume, along with some new ones, take up the dual tasks of making peace between the Datum and the colonies and setting matters right with the trolls. The various approaches to these two tasks form the meat of the book. There are jolly adventures galore, though the ending takes a dark turn. And some speculation is done on ever-popular questions like, "Why is there something instead of nothing?" "How should we treat each other?" and "What would real aliens be like?"

One has the definite feeling that Baxter is doing most of the actual writing of these books: they lack Pratchett's characteristic silliness, except in little touches here and there. But there is also a wry humor scattered throughout that is not typical of either writer's solo work. But however they collaborate, it works.

The Long War (2013) is the second SF novel in the Long Earth series, following The Long Earth. In the previous volume, Joshua found blueprints for the Stepper machine on the internet. He carefully assembled the components and waited for the varnish to dry.

So when he used the device, it was dark. Others who had stepped to the next timeline were panicking. Joshua sent the others back to their original baseline in groups of two or three.

Officer Jansson soon learned his name from the returnees. So Joshua found her waiting when he finally returned. That was when he learned that he could step without the machine.

Lobsang learned of his existence soon after Jansson filed her report. He sent a female assistant to bring Joshua to him. Then he made a sales pitch for a long foray sideways in time.

Lobsang installed himself within a dirigible and stepped westward. On the way, he told Joshua about other natural steppers found within the literature. Some were not human.

In this novel, Joshua Valiente is a thirty-odd year old man with an inherent talent. He can step between dimensions without a Stepper machine and isn't nauseated after doing so. Now he is married to Helen Green and they have a son Daniel Rodney.

Agnes is a Catholic Nun. Sister Agnes was the mother figure for Joshua. She died a few years after Step Day.

Lobsang is a Tibetan motorcycle mechanic who reincarnated as software in a computer. At least, that is his story and he is sticking to it. In any case, this software is remarkably sapient. He even has a sense of humor.

Monica Jansson was a cop in Madison. She was one of the first officials who noted the Stepper phenomenon. Now she is retired with leukemia from the radiation in Datum Madison.

Sally Linsay is from a family of natural steppers. Her father had published the plans for the stepper machine on the internet. Their family had been stepping long before Step Day.

Bill Chambers is an Irishman dwelling in Joshua's town. He is the town secretary and has other skills.

Margaret Diannew Kauffman is a Commander in the US Navy. Maggie is Captain of the USS Benjamin Franklin, a stepper airship.

In this story, Joshua and Helen are planning on taking Dan to Valhalla for his advanced schooling. Their son has been schooled by the whole community in academics and pioneering. Now he needs to start learning at the college level.

Sally shows up with news of the Troll incident at GapSpace. A human had been trying to force a Troll mother to give him her cub. Then his partner put a little too much force into his argument and the Troll killed him.

Now Joshua and Helen are planning to take Dan to Vahalla and then travel to Earth Datum with Sally and Chambers to discuss the Troll issue with their senator. Sally makes side trips and catches up on her own. When they reach Datum Earth, Sally doesn't officially enter the immigration control gates.

When Joshua, Helen and Chambers exit from the arrivals area, a bystander tries to stab Joshua with an iron stake. He only wounds Joshua, but Helen flattens him with a right hook to the jaw. The police arrest the attacker and Helen.

Joshua and Chambers talk to their senator, but he has his own opinions and doesn't need any advice from his constituents. He thanks them for coming, but isn't about to do anything about the Troll issue. Joshua and Chambers are discouraged and distraught.

Meanwhile, Maggie and her crew are showing the flag within the Long Earth. They stop here and there to offer help to -- and count -- the locals. She soon learns that they often need a few words of advice.

Sally teams up with Monica to investigate the GapSpace incident. They free the Troll mother and son at GapSpace. Then they hide in a joker Earth.

Trolls are leaving the human occupied Earths. Lobsang asks Joshua to locate the missing Trolls and to arrange for their return. Joshua takes Chambers with him on the search.

This tale returns a reincarnated Sister Agnes in a prosthetic body. Lobsang wants her as an external conscience. Joshua is just glad that she is still around.

Joshua is doing his duty, but just wants to go home. The next installment in this sequence has not yet been announced on the store.

Most readers know that Baxter is a SF writer, but few know that Pratchett has also written SF novels. His first story -- The Dark Side of the Sun -- is SF. And the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy is speculative fiction for young adults, addressing both SF and Fantasy themes.

Highly recommended for Pratchett & Baxter fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of political foolishness, artificial intelligence, and other sapients. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

I am not very experienced with writting reviews, but i feel i should warn you all about this book.

First thing, i don`t think it has anything to do with Terry Pratchett. I have read almost all books written by Terry, i believe i get most of his jokes, and i like his style {and phrasing] a lot. I didn`t detect almost any of that in this book. There might be some of his wisdom in it, but if it is don`t expect to find it at every page. If Terry was responsible for all the good ideas in this book, i imagine he told it to the actual writter in a restaurant over dinner. The author might have made lots notes at the dinner, but later did not expand on the ideas but jsut mentioned them in seemingly appropriate places in the book.

After reading the Long Earth i did not expect the The Long War to be really Good, i was expecting another average. But the Long War does not deliver even that. The story {or perhaps i should say the stories, as the problems that humankind face are not related, do not evolve, and do not connect too much] has no structure, no suspension, solutions to problems mostly got solved by asking for another chance nicely.

There is no threat, no villans, almost no evil people in this book. No suspension. If you are like me, you will wait until the end for the actual story to emerge. In the meantime you will try to survive on the mensions of diferent versions of Earth, ideas on how things would have end up if this or if that happened in a parallel universe. (which is interesting, but certainly not enough to make an enticing book)

The Long War visits same places as the Lond Earth, works with the same ideas and same stories, but nothing is developed. The ruins of the dead civilization are visited again, but nothing is learned. We learn that there were scientists, but found nothing for years and left. Then someone comes in, opens secret door with a key, takes laser guns. Then we learn nothing else again. The First Person singular is mentioned few times in the book. No one worries about him too much yet - it would appear he is willing to wait for the next book to become a problem. (or, at this speed, book 12)

The Long Earth was a promising framework. There is literally endless changing environment for a realistic sci-fi/social stories. Coexistence of species. Conflicts, culture and technology exchanging. Treasure searching in different civilizations. What would happen to Earth if half of people left. How would it affect our society and relations if we could easily change where we are. How would battles go. But the Long war uses very little of that. Instead you learn what would live on earth if Pterodactyl did not evolve.

I was going to say, lets wait for the next book if the storytelling starts anew. But while writing this i realized it will never be good. Even if the author decides to have an exciting story, the characters are single sided and not belieavable the the societies and their interactions are not realistic.

Even if you think The Long Earth was OK, skip The Long War. The coherent story from the book 1 and the promises from the cover are deceiving.

i'll start by saying the only thing I've ever read by Stephen Baxter was "The Long Earth" while I've read just about everything Terry Pratchett's ever written. So it's possible I just prefer a complete Pratchett book to this collaborative style. This had all the elements of a great book - solid premise, sprawling plot, and several vignettes that all intertwine. However, the writing is clumsy. I've heard before that an author should show you how a person feels - not just tell you. Well there is way too much dumbed down explanation of every feeling each character has instead of describing how they show said feelings. The characters are also cartoonish - "hardened cop with heart of gold", "hardened captain with heart of gold", "hardened adventurer with heart of gold", "evil republican with heart of turds". Also, to be fair, the title is misleading. Also some vignettes seem to add little... well nothing actually... to the story.

This feels like a jumbled, quickly written, poorly fleshed out book that is to serve as a bridge to whatever the next chapter in this series is. I see no reason to buy this new and in hardback.

If you're a ways through the book and coming back to the reviews to see if it ever picks up or to see if it develops a plot... it doesn't. You're not the only one who thinks the book is rambling and boring. Quit now and you won't miss anything and those good memories from the first book won't be diminished. I wish someone had told me to quit when I had the first inkling that this was going nowhere. I'm amazed that two well-established authors could not come up with a decent story or get a clue how to use or develop their characters.

This book felt hastily done. There were too many characters that did not have any value in the story, which was too broad in general. The premise is great - infinite earths, interesting creatures, the ability to travel in an instant to these worlds, but this was not The Long Earth by any means. The story felt thrown together and honestly, did not make much sense to me. I kept reading it, first, because I did enjoy the first one so much. Second, a good friend loved it. Third, I kept thinking it would get better, so I kept turning the page. I'm not saying "don't read this book." Just be forewarned that it is not as good as the first one.

Even worse than The Long Earth, what little of Pratchett's unique wit managed to show through, was invariably diluted and drowned in lengthy descriptions and endless repetitions of the same theme. None of the story lines came to a satisfying conclusion. In the end, the authors themselves confirmed what I had suspected all along - the entire 500 and a half pages of the paperback edition only served to move yet more pawns, some left over from the first part of the series, some new, into place, to do whatever in yet another book, which I'm definitely not going to read.
Knowing what Sir Pratchett is capable of if writing alone, I can only blame the co-author.

I am currently working through the kindle version having really enjoyed The Long Earth, but this sequel is a huge disappointment. I'm at 40% now and it is as slow as molasses in winter. The characters have not progressed or matured, the plot (so far) is non existent and is just a slow, slow plod, much slower than stepping from one earth to the next. There is no sign of Terry Pratchetts unique style of writing in this book at all. I am about to move to another book and maybe come back to this another time.

I was surprised by this book. From the description, I expected fighting and sci-fi adventure but it has none of that. It basically is the same format as the The Long Earth which is just 400 pages of describing how earth could have turned out. I've never read Stephen Baxter but I can say it has none of the humor I associate with Terry Pratchett. There is very little sci-fi, no wit or sarcasm, and nothing unexpected happens. I gave it a 3 because I read it to the end and it was interesting to see what kind of worlds these two came up with. I just wished they had stuck to one and had made something happen there (besides the last 10 pages with the Beagles...)

And just as confusing as ever. If I had not been given the first three of The Long Earth books I would not now be preparing to move on to the Long Mars. 3, 4 or 5 story lines, all running concurrently and none of them ever seemingly concluding. A single death, foretold throughout this book, is the only ending in the entire volume.
I could not ever get over a few pages into any Disc World novel and the same problems continue here although somewhat mollified by Mr Baxter's presence.

If you loved Disc World, give this series a shot. If you want to read a novel without feeling forced to read 2 or 3 more, this is not for you.

Good writing just needs something more to make a complete story. I am fascinated by the possibilities presented in a Long Earth. But the Long War, tantalizing and teasing of something on a scale even greater than that of Star Wars or Dune, never materializes. The book began more like the long wait...for people to "step" into other worlds, or once more journey across the worlds in a balloon. There were story lines that didn't quite go anywhere...needless characters. Roberta: a fascinating character with loads of potential that is never relalized. Beagles: a concept not quite explored to its ultimate conclusion.

Great concept...unrealized possibilities.

I remember doing a happy dance in the library when I saw the first book available, The Long Earth because I love Terry Pratchett, his books are always full of wit and humor, which, when woven into a book along with his lovable and always memorable characters, makes for an excellent read. Stephen Baxter, although I am not as familiar with him, it is a recognizable name. I enjoyed the Long Earth, although I wished for more exploration of the worlds.

Here, in the sequel, I more or less get my wish. We get to spend some more time on the worlds, and we see some new and some familiar faces. However, this book felt a bit directionless, much like the combers across the long earth, this books tends to wander and then suddenly, it all comes together in the end. There are some story elements that do not seem central to the plot, such as Roberta and Chinese exploration and instead of seeing them sandwiched and diminished in this book, they should have gotten their own book because that story arc feels disconnected. The ending feels rushed and there is very little of Pratchett's trademark humor in this book.

That being said, I will read the next in the series, but this one fell a bit short when held up in comparison to the first one.

If you're a ways through the book and coming back to the reviews to see if it ever picks up or to see if it develops a plot... it doesn't. You're not the only one who thinks the book is rambling and boring. Quit now and you won't miss anything and those good memories from the first book won't be diminished. I wish someone had told me to quit when I had the first inkling that this was going nowhere. I'm amazed that two well-established authors could not come up with a decent story or get a clue how to use or develop their characters.

This book felt hastily done. There were too many characters that did not have any value in the story, which was too broad in general. The premise is great - infinite earths, interesting creatures, the ability to travel in an instant to these worlds, but this was not The Long Earth by any means. The story felt thrown together and honestly, did not make much sense to me. I kept reading it, first, because I did enjoy the first one so much. Second, a good friend loved it. Third, I kept thinking it would get better, so I kept turning the page. I'm not saying "don't read this book." Just be forewarned that it is not as good as the first one.

Even worse than The Long Earth, what little of Pratchett's unique wit managed to show through, was invariably diluted and drowned in lengthy descriptions and endless repetitions of the same theme. None of the story lines came to a satisfying conclusion. In the end, the authors themselves confirmed what I had suspected all along - the entire 500 and a half pages of the paperback edition only served to move yet more pawns, some left over from the first part of the series, some new, into place, to do whatever in yet another book, which I'm definitely not going to read.
Knowing what Sir Pratchett is capable of if writing alone, I can only blame the co-author.

I am currently working through the kindle version having really enjoyed The Long Earth, but this sequel is a huge disappointment. I'm at 40% now and it is as slow as molasses in winter. The characters have not progressed or matured, the plot (so far) is non existent and is just a slow, slow plod, much slower than stepping from one earth to the next. There is no sign of Terry Pratchetts unique style of writing in this book at all. I am about to move to another book and maybe come back to this another time.

I was surprised by this book. From the description, I expected fighting and sci-fi adventure but it has none of that. It basically is the same format as the The Long Earth which is just 400 pages of describing how earth could have turned out. I've never read Stephen Baxter but I can say it has none of the humor I associate with Terry Pratchett. There is very little sci-fi, no wit or sarcasm, and nothing unexpected happens. I gave it a 3 because I read it to the end and it was interesting to see what kind of worlds these two came up with. I just wished they had stuck to one and had made something happen there (besides the last 10 pages with the Beagles...)

And just as confusing as ever. If I had not been given the first three of The Long Earth books I would not now be preparing to move on to the Long Mars. 3, 4 or 5 story lines, all running concurrently and none of them ever seemingly concluding. A single death, foretold throughout this book, is the only ending in the entire volume.
I could not ever get over a few pages into any Disc World novel and the same problems continue here although somewhat mollified by Mr Baxter's presence.

If you loved Disc World, give this series a shot. If you want to read a novel without feeling forced to read 2 or 3 more, this is not for you.

Good writing just needs something more to make a complete story. I am fascinated by the possibilities presented in a Long Earth. But the Long War, tantalizing and teasing of something on a scale even greater than that of Star Wars or Dune, never materializes. The book began more like the long wait...for people to "step" into other worlds, or once more journey across the worlds in a balloon. There were story lines that didn't quite go anywhere...needless characters. Roberta: a fascinating character with loads of potential that is never relalized. Beagles: a concept not quite explored to its ultimate conclusion.

Great concept...unrealized possibilities.

I'm a huge Pratchett fan, I've read everything he's written or been involved with except the Science of Discworld books. I really liked the Long Earth. But this book had no direction, it introduced a bunch of characters who had no impact on the plot and didn't really interact with each other, there were tons of plot points raised which the book didn't spend enough time on and didn't resolve, and the ending came out of nowhere and was mostly unrelated to everything else in the book.

Prachett and Baxter's Long Earth was a good but ultimately disappointing book. The let-down being the sort-of cliffhanger, to be continued conclusion.

The worst consequence of this action being an undue amount of pressure on the sequel. So how does Long War stand-up?

Depends what you liked about Long Earth. If you're enjoying the sociological and cultural examination then Long War will be pleasing, despite the name Long War is at least 2/3 focussed on the effects of discovering the long-earth rather than having a coherent storyline for the main characters.

I'm afraid if you're reading this one for the main characters, plotline or indeed the War then Long War will only rate 2 stars. First of there is hardly any Lobsang, and there are numerous other characters followed than the interesting Joshua, and the relatable Jansson. Secondly after an opening tease of humanoids starting their own long-war this plotline doesn't even develop until the last eighth of the book, and while concluding with a touch of humour leaves one with a feeling deprived of satisfaction.

I'm assuming this is being set-up as a continuing series as there are many questions remaining, well one really - what is with First Person Singular? I for one will be continuing with it, but simply because I enjoy the analysis and the setting. I wouldn't be turning to this book for dramatic ravaging storylines.

I expected more from this after reading the first book in the series (which was decent). This one is pretty poor.

The author's representative of religion is a bit goofy. There is a nun that is brought back to life and does very little to question what happened, she just mainly just shrugs it off without much of a reaction. Weird.

It is never explained how people can, in a matter of a few days, find a specific person at a specific geographic position on one of millions of mostly uninhabited earths. It is just silly.

In general, the characters are also pretty one-dimensional (pun, sort of intended).

This is just not a very good book.

Whereas I enjoyed The Long Earth, which seemed, to me, at least, to bear the marks of Pratchett collaboration (beyond the obvious adaptation of his original short story), in hints of his gentle cynicism and wry humour, this sequel seems to have been more of a solo Baxter effort. Whilst he is an accomplished author in his own right, this book takes itself too seriously and veers in the direction of B-grade. The plot is weak and the exposition plodding; the characterization shallow, seemingly incidental. Too much is presumed upon in terms of suspension of disbelief - several times one feels faced with overly contrived plot devices and embarrassingly thin exposition. Structure points to a hodge-podge of vignettes strung together without any real enthusiasm for credibility. There are some good ideas - typically in the link-backs to the first book - but, by and large, this read like the fulfillment of a contractual obligation rather than sincere contribution. It seems more concerned with political correctness than telling a good story. It was tedious. I finished it only because it had "Pratchett" on the cover.

Simple story lines made overly complex, solutions to simplistic, and instead of being swept along with the characters, it felt as if I had to wait for them to get caught up. This is the first time I have ever been disappointed with the efforts of either author, they're two of my favorite authors ever, and even though I have been disappointed with both novels--though I love the concept--it is probable that I will still buy the third book in the series. (Semi-spoiler-- for the record, I truly dislike cliff hanger endings, even when they are as softly done as these have been.)

This is the only book I have ever returned. Ever.
The first 10 chapters could have been covered in a page. Nothing happens. What makes it even worse is that I expected so much. It could have been magnificent. What happened? I can only guess whatever happened to cause this to actually be published is more interesting than the actual story in the long war.

I’ve read everything by Prachett, and will continue to do so, except for the third instalment of this series, The Long Mars. I can only imagine it should be called the long wait (for something to happen). Is that what is going to happen? The third book will come out all guns blazing and make up for the monotonous drudgery of the long war, and then of course I’ll feel bad about this review. I’ll take my chances and say no. But if that is the case would someone could do a quick summation of the book in a review. That way people could just read that and go straight to book 3.

On the plus side. The ark work on the cover looks great.

Terry Pratchett's imagination always amazes me. His nuggets of wisdom enter into complex narratives with targeted precision. When he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, I began to read his works from the beginning, in chronological order. It has been a journey that is the very best of storytelling. His Discworld series alone will leave you with characters and images to savor. His writing with other storytellers, like Gaiman ("American gods") is just as engaging. Terry Pratchett's readers enjoy the traditional storyteller's art and wisdom with laugh out loud humor.

I went 40 pages into this book, and didn't encounter any interesting characters, plots or mysteries sufficient to hold my interest, so I abandoned it. The reification of the multiverse is mildly interesting, but the authors' vision of how humans would exploit it is not believable (would we really continue to exploit non-renewable resources on new worlds, with manly men doing masculine things (hunting, fishing, building things) and womanly women doing feminine things (cooking, cleaning, and raising kids)?)

Another immersion in the amazing Universe the 2 writers created, stepwise West and East copies of the Earth we know (now called Datum). It is 25 years from the Step Day and human have colonized the millions of Earths opened to them like a magical gift, carrying with them all the problems of the old world: politics, murders, stupidity, lack of tolerance. As the conflict between old and new deepens, sentient life on the New Earths assets itself (beagles, elves, goblings, trolls)and nature destroys Datum Earth. Cannot wait to see how this adventure ends!

I was pleasantly surprised with the twists and turns and how the series is setting up to continue. I'm a big fan of epic space battles, but this series keeps things close to earth (in a manner of speaking) with really cool characters. Looking forward to the next entry.

The Long War presents a fascinating idea (introduced in the prequel, which I have not read) and then does nothing with it.

There are too many plot threads, no climax, no well-developed conflict or complication. The next-to-last chapter is a mish-mash of "hey, everyone, here's all the main characters again!" the last chapter is a leader to make you buy the sequel.

There are too many hints at interesting things - it's as if the authors had a bazillion good ideas, and failed to choose one to explore in depth.

In this way, it is similar to the even more disappointing collaborative series by Baxter and Clarke.

I read the first book in this series, and thought it was boring. There is very little if any traces of Terry Pratchett's wit or humor. In reading the Long Earth, I was waiting for it to end. I only kept reading because I hoped it would develop some kind of action or plot, but that never happened. I picked up The Long War, more out of curiosity than enthusiasm. It did have more action, and actually had more living creatures, as opposed to the endless droning on and on about looking down on different worlds. But I didn't think it was a whole lot better. I would probably give it a 2 1/2 stars, but that isn't an option. I don't see any of the type of writing we would expect from Terry Pratchett. To me the entire novel seems to be a Stephen Baxter novel, with Pratchett's name put on the cover to sell the books. I strongly recommend the disc world series to everyone. But if you like the disc world series, I think this will be a big disappointment. I probably will not buy the next one in the series. The reviews look like it's just more of the same -- long, drawn out and boring.

5/6ths of the way through the book there there are all of these problems that the characters are experiencing and suddenly they are all resolved by some inexplicable outside force. For example there was a particularly stubborn key player in the story who suddenly changes his stance on a subject which resolves some big issues the characters are having.

Also the book isn't exciting. The action is dull and predictable. The storyline isn't fresh and interesting. The concept of a long earth is still interesting, but it grows stale as the book progresses. All the characters are fairly predictable and not well developed. It's just a mediocre book at best and I expected more from these two authors.

I was on the fence about The Long Earth, but I gave the sequel a try because... Pratchett. But this one felt even less like Pratchett than the first one. I had to struggle to hear his very British humour. I don't think I will be picking up the last in the series.

I can't get enough of this series, it's brilliant! I haven't been this excited to read a series in years. I'm glad there's two other books in the series for me to look forward to! I only wish there were more. Not sure how likely that is now, though, with one of its authors dead.

I wasn't a great fan of "The Long Earth." The 'parallel universe' premise isn't a particularly original hook, but some parts of the original--particularly the later parts of Lobsang and Joshua's journey--were somewhat interesting. Pratchett's 'voice' was hard to detect--perhaps in some of Lobsang's dialogue, which sometimes had some of that dry wit Pratchett in his prime was known for.

In "The Long War" there's barely evidence of Pratchett at all. The book is all Baxter, and it's a gigantic, overwritten mess. To what should have been a continuation of the discovery story Baxter ends endless minor characters who were no purpose other than to represent a Point of View (religious, political or otherwise). There are endless chapters of backstory that are completely skippable and add nothing. We get new sapient species based on dogs and early hominids that can suddenly speak English in weeks and become fans of The Kinks. We get a whole bunch of separate voyages among these Earths that add up to absolutely nothing. We get the threat of some kind of civil war fueled by a "taxation with representation" premise, two female 'authority' figures who are nearly impossible to tell apart, and an animal rights saga that is literally solved with a hologram. Oh, and we get a completely irrelevant thread of Long Earth hero Joshua Valiente sent on missions where he accomplishes absolutely nothing (other than being verbally abused in one journey and physically tortured in another).

This is just bad, bad writing. Baxter appears to be influenced by the George R. R. Martin school of introducing numerous characters and backstories and hoping that readers will catch up. Martin got away with this in his first three books and fell on his face in last books. Baxter doesn't even get past the first 100 pages before he completed negates any possible interest readers might have in this story.

This was a very disappointing read. The Long Earth was fresh and interesting, but the cultural self-loathing and the facile reading of the English Civil War and the American Revolution was irksome to read. Then there is the issue of the Yellowstone eruption and what this will mean for the world (see The Long Mars). Also, there is the build up to the long war and it just disappears. A very disappointing entry to this series.

2 out of 5 stars.

I enjoyed this the second in the long earth series. It started out a little slow but it eventually got going. I can't tell you when it was finally getting good. The war is as expected not much of one. In fact you could say the title is wrong. That is my other complaint is the title. I would recommend this to others!!!

Pratchett and Baxter have invented an interesting universe full of obscure and familiar pop culture references at every turn. Not quite as good as the Long Earth, but close, as they continue to explore the step worlds. A fun, easy summer beach read.

Also this is the first time I've borrowed an electronic book from my local library (they have The Long Earth and The Long Mars in hardcover, but not The Long War). It worked flawlessly using Kindle on a variety of the store and non-the store devices. the store deserves a lot of credit for creating such a fine service.

This book has very little if anything to do with Terry Pratchett. It reads like a decent Heinlein (yeah, I know most of his were great but some were only decent) but Discworld this ain't. Pratchett's trademark craft in dialogue and plot are absent.

Here's the good news: If you are having trouble sleeping, read five pages of this book each night and you will fall into a deep slumber.

Here's the bad news: It takes forever to read the book. When you get to the end you will be rested, but bored out of your mind.

I suspect there is more Baxter and less Pratchett in this collaboration. First book was interesting. This book was the literary equivalent of John Travolta's Battlefield Earth.

The Guardian said Pratchett and Baxter were "SF giants" and "a marriage made in fan heaven." I'm filing for divorce.

Terry Pratchett fans, rejoice. The creator of the bestselling fantasy series Discworld teamed up with science fiction writer Stephen Baxter to create the New York Times bestseller THE LONG EARTH. They are back with an inventive sequel for this scientifically informed, witty and thought-provoking new series, THE LONG WAR.

Briefly, for the uninitiated or those needing an update: 25 years ago in Madison, Wisconsin, a home-grown science project involving a potato, a switch, a dial and some wires led to an unexpected outcome. A handheld device that came to be known as a "stepper" was created when its inventor turned it on, twisted the dial and found himself still in his hometown, but in the vacant lot where his future house would stand. A cheap, easily constructed, personal time machine was born. Promptly and, some might say, sadistically, he posted full assembly instructions on the Internet. Before you could say BAZINGA, people were haunting vegetable bins and Radio Shacks for the materials. When they found themselves able to travel back in time, "stepping" became the hula hoop sensation of the 21st century.

Following the rules was the key to success; an instant version of natural selection occurred as the careless and greedy were soon eliminated by their own stupidity. Successful steppers could expect mild motion sickness, and a select few discovered they were natural steppers. Joshua Valiente, a bright young orphan and natural stepper, soon discovered that he could move great distances as well as through time. He is taken under the wing of a mysterious Tibetan priest named Lobsang who invents a space dirigible that allows movement at great speed through thousands of Earth worlds to the beginning of time. Together, Lobsang and Joshua explore the Long Earth, returning from their legendary journey with stories of the possibilities for mankind to reinvent civilization and learn from our mistakes.

However, not everyone is able to step, and THE LONG EARTH ends with a bang as a mad, anti-stepping recluse blows up Madison with a nuclear backpack. Survivors step out into the vast worlds of early Planet Earth.

THE LONG WAR begins 10 years after Madison. Joshua is married with a son, the mayor of a small pioneer town in one of the step-worlds and reluctantly finds himself an international hero and legend. Stepping has caught on in Europe and Asia, and international trade is booming. The world no longer has to depend on oil, vast fertile fields fill the Midwest to feed the world population, and barter for goods and technological services between far-flung step-worlds is the basis of commerce. Life is good, almost serene.

Meanwhile, a migration as never before seen in history has created tens of thousands of scattered mini-towns and villages. An American center of government called Valhalla has arisen a million step-worlds away. The problems associated with starting a new world order have created political, financial and logistical problems of the predictable and not-so-predictable kind. How do you tax people to run the government? If you committed a crime in current time, can you escape punishment by stepping back a couple of centuries? Or millennia? And what do you do with all the wondrous pre-evolutionary creatures you encounter?

A tipping point is reached when a family of trolls, members of a previously unknown population of early pre-human but sapient beings, are allegedly being mistreated in one of the outer regions. Trolls have been found to learn human skills at remarkable speed. They are very large, strong and friendly, and willingly serve as beasts of burden and have become essential to human commerce. They can also communicate over vast distances of time and space. And more importantly, they are good at stepping. When the trolls suddenly start to disappear, world commerce is threatened. The central Valhalla government determines that it is time to count noses, assets, skills and trends, not only of people, but of trolls. They send a team of statisticians, scientists, sociologists and law enforcement people to find and register the far-flung steppers, not just humans but possible other sapient and potentially useful beings.

Joshua and some of his early companions are tapped to lead an essential part of the expedition. Let the games begin.

Reviewed by Roz Shea

Stephen Baxter was born in Liverpool in 1957, and holds degrees in mathematics and engineering. He was first published in 1991, becoming a full time author in 1995 and has since written within the sci-fi and alternate history arena. Terry Pratchett was born in 1948 and, like Baxter, has written prolifically. He's probably best known for his Discworld series, and was the UK's best-selling author of the 1990s. In 2012, "The Long Earth" was published - the pair's first collaboration. "The Long War", its sequel, was first published in 2013.

About ten years have passed since “The Long Earth” and much has changed. Joshua Valiente is now been living on Hell-Knows-Where – an alternate Earth nearly nearly a million and a half steps from the Datum. He’s married to Helen Green, one of the supporting characters from “The Long Earth,” and together they have a son. However, while he’s still occasionally in touch with Sally Linsay, he hasn’t spoken to Lobsang since their journey together finished. Joshua remains a famous name, though he prefers to remain isolate; he’s quite happy with the society they’re building in his new hometown.

Not everyone, however, is as enlightened as Joshua. While trolls are afforded the same rights and privileges as humans on Hell-Knows-Where, they’re more while seen as tools or dumb beasts. In fact, there are people who think nothing of killing trolls, and wouldn’t ever consider it murder. Naturally, the trolls are starting to disappear – something that many see as a loss. Early in the book, Sally gets in touch with Joshua again to ask for help – in finding the trolls and ensuring their protection. There is also a great deal of political trouble, with the Datum trying to reinforce its control over the many Earths.

Some new characters are introduced – a naval commander called Maggie Kauffman, a teenage prodigy called Roberta Golding and a clergyman called Nelson Aziliwe, for example. Others return – Monica Jansson, now suffering from leukemia, and Sister Agnes, for example. Lobsang also appears, but (sadly) only in a very small and supporting role. While the book was easily enough read, it wasn’t quite as engaging as “The Long Earth”. It worked as an introduction to the new characters, particularly Maggie, but their stories weren’t told as fully as I’d have liked. There’s no question I’ll give up on the series though – but I’m hoping for a bit more depth as it progresses.

Reading this book, I was highly appreciative that it was being written by intelligent people who think about ramifications and possibilities, and love to toss out offhand references and let the reader revel in the implications themselves. It trusts the reader to not be an idiot. So it gets 3 stars instead of 2.

However, it suffers even more from the problems that the Long Earth had; not enough really HAPPENS. What made me enjoy the previous book was the immediate, intimate travelogue; things are actually described and cherished, characters interact, and dress up in suits and dark glasses for Blues Brothers night. The "bad guy", for all his cartoonishly cunning stupidity, had a nice long creepy rant, the disturbingly relatable "inside the head of the conservative" sequence that we also saw in This Book is Full of Spiders (you know the part I mean). This one...not so much. There's some caricature of a shoot-first military dude that's so eager to kill random hominids, his enthusiasm comes off as contrived. I enjoy depictions of human beings being stupid as much as the next young secular liberal of self-described above-average intelligence, but I felt pandered to.

The Pacing was terrible, too many plot threads with not enough actual events. The book does have the grace to linger on the REALLY interesting bits, like the stuff involving Finn McCool (a 'kobold' arms dealer that just kept reminding me of Quark from DS9) and Snowy (a sapient dog-dude from a distant alternate earth, who's pretty much the standard big, loyal-but-alien proud warrior race guy archetype you see all over Sci-Fi and Fantasy), and I still want to see more of the dead saurian world. The book reads like they sat down and brainstormed a gajillion ideas, and just threw everything they had in and cranked out a sequel, editing be damned. The vague cosmic horror the fist book left off with is given barely a nod, and stinking slightly of a ret-con.

I would have rather seen the whole Long War scenario turn out stupidly bloody; the inexorable march of history propelled by fox-news-watchers back on Earth 0 into a pointless skirmish. Everything is saved at the last minute thanks to competent, intelligent, and enlightened people in positions of authority who apparently don't answer to a boss or electorate dumber or meaner than themselves. My, what a fanciful world this book paints. But maybe I'm just a terrible person who, when he sees a utopia, wants it smashed, if only to experience the emotional high and feel righteously angry and cynical about it all.

Its a book of big ideas and s****y execution, and a quick read. Worth checking out from your library, not worth buying. I will admit that I took a 12-year-old's glee in the sudden profusion of pulp sci-fi and fantasy concepts.

I enjoyed a well written story. And the plethora of parallel but varied earths, which provided a most interesting and and well developed stage upon which the authors told their story and developed characters. I also appreciated the deep and inherently positive and uplifting human values that remained apparent in spite of many individual weaknesses.

So I really, really loved the first one. But the sequel undermines some of the best features of the first novel, especially the characterization of the main character. This made the whole story ring false. In addition the supporting characters were weak, which was really different than the initial one. And the mystery and majesty of the endless earths was just 2 dimensional this time round.

Honestly I don't understand what happened here. Was there pressure to get this out too fast, so it skipped an editing step?

It was still worth reading, but if the authors want to do more with this they had better step up their game.

I hope they do...both of these things.

There is even less of Terry Pratchett in this book than in the Long Earth, so it feels to me pretty much like pure Stephen Baxter. I do like the story, though I miss the humor that Terry Pratchett brings.

An intriguing science fiction story that leads on from the authors previous Long Earth. The scope of the original premise is huge, my only criticism would be that some story-lines couldve been developed further, but this may have made the book huge as there is a lot going on.
Would recommend this to Sci-fi fans, but for Pratchett Discworld enthusiasts, this is something very different

The Long War
Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
Harper, Jun 18 2013, $25.99
ISBN: 9780062067777

The Stepping process enabled mankind to cross into a seemingly infinite number of parallel Earths. None of these alternate earths contain human life while the farther you journey from the earth the weirder the planets become. Very few people have the ability to Step out without assistance; those like Joshua Valiente and Lobsang who can are in demand as they create the Long Earth.

Over a million steps from the origin Datum, the colony Valhalla has thrived in spite of the demanding control policies of the mother planet. Rage and frustration spread thought this colony as the Valhallans demand freedom. Lobsang pleads with Joshua to prevent the hostilities from going hot as war seems imminent across the Long Earth. Married to Helen for nine years with a son, Joshua prefers to remain home in Hell-Knows-Where, America, but duty calls especially with the trolls turning mute.

The sequel to the Long Earth is a fascinating science fiction tale that uses the dispute between Colonial America and Mother England in the eighteenth century as the basis for a parallel revolution. The parallel conflict to the American Revolution is clever and as with the first thriller the stepping premise is intriguing. However the anecdotal asides like taking a wrong step are more interesting than the main hostilities storyline.

Harriet Klausner

First, the plot was very slow with no real substance.
I recommend all who like The Long Earth assume the book ended there. If you want, make your own idea of a sequel, but it is a desperate attempt to continue a story that fails to bring any joy to the reader. The characters fail to develop and it is difficult to become immersed in the story. It picks up ten years later, but a married Joshua failed to develop, even though he was a main character.

New characters seem added with no purpose. There is a Chinese expedition that mimics the original Long Earth plot while the characters are unlikable (Roberta) and add no extra depth.

In addition, Pratchett is an atheist, but this book seems to pull that theme forward on several occasions. The town of Hell Knows Where doesn't believe in religion, which is fine if it were the only example. Lobsang says there is no Christian God, but it is evident that he is talking about a supreme deity, and there is a former pastor who no longer believes in Christianity, but is constantly hailed as intelligent. Many other remarks were made, and while differences in religion are acceptable, the authors diminish the quality of the writing by alienating people of all religions.
As a whole, I think the book was a waste of time. There are better works of literature I could have spent my time consuming, but I had high hopes for Prattchet.

I expected more from this after reading the first book in the series (which was decent). This one is pretty poor.

The author's representative of religion is a bit goofy. There is a nun that is brought back to life and does very little to question what happened, she just mainly just shrugs it off without much of a reaction. Weird.

It is never explained how people can, in a matter of a few days, find a specific person at a specific geographic position on one of millions of mostly uninhabited earths. It is just silly.

In general, the characters are also pretty one-dimensional (pun, sort of intended).

This is just not a very good book.

Interesting concept in that multiple earths exist simultaneously. Each earth has developed separatel. An infinite number are available, except those which no longer exist due to a destructive cosmic event, and people can "step" among them readily.

This is a long, boring sequel to the moderately interesting The Long Earth. If Terry Pratchett had anything to do with this snoozer, he didn't leave any of his trademark humor, skilled writing or tension between the covers.

It's ten years after the events of the first book. There are few new characters and those who are new aren't very interesting. If they do show signs of being interesting, they disappear before anything exciting happens to them. There are a few new ideas, but they aren't very compelling. Some events, like the the new China's expedition, are abandoned. The one moderately interesting character, the preternaturally intelligent teenager, Roberta Golding, disappears as a character in the last third of the book. And, once again, creating tension and suspense seems to happen only as an afterthought.

If I were Sir Terry, I'd be embarrassed to have my name associated with this novel. Far, far too much Stephen Baxter; precious little, if any, Terry Pratchett.

The Long Earth series, like all of Terry Prachett's works, is deeply engaging. The distinction from the Discworld series is the missing punch line. I always have a sense of playfulness when reading the Discworld stories and there is nothing playful about The Long Earth or The Long War - this stuff could really happen (and at this point in time I wish it would). Lobsang, where are you?!

Based on the Discworld series of books I thought this might be a good read. I read a lot of the older sci-fi so I am not familiar with the co-author. WARNING: this is pathetic! Do NOT buy! I read the whole book and waited for some humor, a good story and memorable characters. I was extremely disappointed!

Is there such a thing As feminist Chauvinism ? Is there a word for creating a plethora of characters that do little but show up to add their identity to pages for some sort of PC quota ? I would have preferred one Non white Misanthropic transsexual protagonist who took the story into some real depth and adventure to a mish mosh of vignettes and subplots that didn't really add anything substantial. .. This book was hugely disappointing . I did not like that J Valente only appears in the story to be a symbolic cipher . It would have been better to have just left him out . I don't think I will buy the next book . In fact I may not buy another new book , certainly not from Harper Collins as they also published the awful Dodger . I will re read my collection of the entire Disc World series instead .

Again a very nice Long Earth story. The first book in the series (The Long Earth) was a bit slow in taking off, but this one (The Long War) is nicely paced. Recommended for everyone who likes books like 'Nation' by Sir Terry.

Although more happened in this one than the last and it had some interesting characters I didn't really feel like anything got enough focus. Too much was going on with too many people and then it all sort of fizzles out at the end. I want to know more about the Beagles and Kobolds. I want more of Finn McCool. More Lobsang. And after the first one set up the world I expected this one to have a more satisfying story.

This story continues the saga that started in The Long Earth. You should read that before starting this one or you might be confused with the storyline. I thought this book was slightly better than The Long Earth, but I think there are too many unresolved subplots. I'm sure there will be another book in this series that may resolve those issues, but I doubt that I shall read it.