I have mentioned before that I am a big fan of Sir Terry Pratchett who sadly died four years ago. I have read most of his books and even met him once at a convention. He was a great writer with a wonderful imagination. His best known creation is The Discworld, a flat world where magic plays a big part, but he brought humour to the fantasy genre.
The Long Earth series was something a little different. It was written in collaboration with Stephen Baxter who is described as a 'hard science fiction' writer. That does not mean he picks fights, it is more about using real science in the stories. So these books mix both genres to create some very imaginative scenarios.
The basic premise is that someone discovers that our Earth is one of an apparently infinite series that exist in parallel dimensions and with some simple equipment it is possible to 'step' between them. The social effects are massive as just about anyone can move or flee to these other worlds to start a new life. They can also be misused as you can step back in a different place to bypass locked doors and other obstacles. Lots of people set of as a new wave of pioneers to start again on a fresh world that is untouched by people.
The other Earths are subtly or radically different to ours as they have had their own evolution and geological or cosmological event. Life can take different turns to give very different outcomes. The books are largely about those who explore this new frontier.
Some may consider the characters a little underdeveloped, but that is common in science fiction and fantasy where it can be more about the ideas. Still, you get to follow some of them through the whole series of five books. We bought the original one when it came out and I have read the others over the last year and a half as ebooks. I really do not have more space for paper books and I tend to pick these up when they are discounted.
Each of the books extends the original idea in different directions with new types of humans emerging and other frontiers being found and they span many decades. There are several parallel stories in some of them that do not always seem to move things forward, but may have an effect later on.
I just finished the final book and it sort of wraps things up whilst leaving a few questions unanswered. As Terry is gone we are unlikely to get any more and I think Baxter wrote most of the last one after Terry became ill.
I have enjoyed reading them. They are not too heavy and could be read fairly quickly. I just do not find enough time for reading and so it took me a while.
My next ebook read is The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson. He is another of my favourite authors. This is also a collaboration and involves some magic, so we shall see how that goes.
Happy reading!
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