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The Long Earth

by Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: The Long Earth (1)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
3,9861933,015 (3.57)2 / 157
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. Where have the mud, blood, and blasted landscape of no-man's-land gone? For that matter, where has Percy gone? 2015: Madison, Wisconsin. Police officer Monica Jansson is exploring the burned-out home of a reclusive--some say mad, others allege dangerous--scientist who seems to have vanished. Sifting through the wreckage, Jansson find a curious gadget: a box containing some rudimentary wiring, a three-way switch, and a potato. It is the prototype of an invention that will change the way humankind views the world forever. The "stepper" enables a person using it to step sideways into another America, another wherever that person happened to be, another Earth. And if the person using it keeps on stepping, they keep on entering even more Earths. This is the Long Earth. And the further away a stepper travels, the stranger -- and sometimes more dangerous -- the Earths become.… (more)
  1. 40
    The Long Mars by Terry Pratchett (chwiggy)
  2. 31
    The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis (sturlington)
    sturlington: The concept of The Long Earth reminded me of the wood between the worlds.
  3. 20
    Dodger by Terry Pratchett (chwiggy)
  4. 10
    Replay by Ken Grimwood (sandpiper)
    sandpiper: Wonderful science fiction classic about a man who keeps reliving his life.
  5. 00
    Ring Around the Sun by Clifford D. Simak (Gateaupain)
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» See also 157 mentions

English (191)  Spanish (1)  French (1)  All languages (193)
Showing 1-5 of 191 (next | show all)
Really fascinating read and extremely well written. ( )
  jfranzone | Feb 14, 2024 |
Fascinating ideas and interesting story. The sentient computer was too much for me and I had to stop listening to the audiobook since I could not skim through his long-winded tirades and annoying prattle. Once on to the physical book I enjoyed it. ( )
  mslibrarynerd | Jan 13, 2024 |
Story: 5 / 10
Characters: 7
Setting: 8
Prose: 6

Did not look forward to this book. Thought it would be too similar to time travel books, which don't really work at all. However, it turns out that space distinctions are quite different. While The Long Earth could certainly have introduced the concept in a different way, the setting does work quite well.
This is also the first book by two authors I've had to read. They also pulled that off quite well. The story is a bit direction-less at times, but it is really the result of the adventure plot. This also turns out to be the largest failing of the book. Definitely not continuing the series, but not warning people away from reading either. ( )
  MXMLLN | Jan 12, 2024 |
Did not finish. Not because I'd expected a Discworld novel, but because I didn't like this one enough to continue. ( )
  jbaty | Dec 29, 2023 |
It was enjoyable but I will admit it was slow to develop. I was left feeling like the first book was one long setup for the series. Thus isn't a terrible thing but it did leave me wishing the story was a little stronger. Reads a lot like a Jules Verne adventure novel ( Around the World in 80 Days for instance). Nothing that would stop me from reading the next one. ( )
  cdaley | Nov 2, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 191 (next | show all)
The Long Earth is a short read: the pages riffle past and there's much to enjoy. The dialogue is a bit Hollywood 101, and much of it is characters explaining things to other characters, sometimes at great length ("Why are you telling me all this?" Joshua asks at one point, with apparent ingenuousness). But it's a charming, absorbing and somehow spacious piece of imagineering for all that.
added by melmore | editThe Guardian, Adam Roberts (Jun 20, 2012)
 

» Add other authors

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Terry Pratchettprimary authorall editionscalculated
Baxter, Stephenmain authorall editionsconfirmed
Stevens, Michael FentonNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Original title
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Epigraph
Dedication
For Lyn and Rhianna, as always
T.P.

For Sandra
S.B.
First words
In a forest glade:
Private Percy woke up to birdsong.
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
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References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (2)

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. Where have the mud, blood, and blasted landscape of no-man's-land gone? For that matter, where has Percy gone? 2015: Madison, Wisconsin. Police officer Monica Jansson is exploring the burned-out home of a reclusive--some say mad, others allege dangerous--scientist who seems to have vanished. Sifting through the wreckage, Jansson find a curious gadget: a box containing some rudimentary wiring, a three-way switch, and a potato. It is the prototype of an invention that will change the way humankind views the world forever. The "stepper" enables a person using it to step sideways into another America, another wherever that person happened to be, another Earth. And if the person using it keeps on stepping, they keep on entering even more Earths. This is the Long Earth. And the further away a stepper travels, the stranger -- and sometimes more dangerous -- the Earths become.

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Book description
1916: the Western Front, France. 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 has returned to the burned-out home of one Willis Linsay, a reclusive and some said mad, others dangerous, scientist. It was arson but, as is often the way, the firemen seem to have caused more damage than the fire itself. Stepping through the wreck of a house, there's no sign of any human remains but on the mantelpiece Monica finds a curious gadget - a box, containing some wiring, a three-way switch and a...potato. It is the prototype of an invention that Linsay called a 'stepper'. An invention he put up on the web for all the world to see, and use, an invention that would to change the way mankind viewed his world Earth for ever. And that's an understatement if ever there was one...

...because the stepper allowed the person using it to step sideways into another America, another Earth, and if you kept on stepping, you kept on entering even more Earths...this is the Long Earth. It's not our Earth but one of chain of parallel worlds, lying side by side each differing from its neighbour by really very little (or actually quite a lot). It's an infinite chain, offering 'steppers' an infinite landscape of infinite possibilities. And the further away you travel, the stranger - and sometimes more dangerous - the Earths get. The sun and moon always shine, the basic laws of physics are the same. However, the chance events which have shaped our particular Earth, such as the dinosaur-killer asteroid impact, might not have happened and things may well have turned out rather differently.

But, until Willis Linsay invented his stepper, only our Earth hosted mankind...or so we thought. Because it turns out there are some people who are natural 'steppers', who don't need his invention and now the great migration has begun
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