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Loading... The Long Cosmosby Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter
   No current Talk conversations about this book.  wreade1872 | Nov 28, 2021 |  I know these books are not everyone`s cup of tea but I really enjoyed as they mixing Baxter`s SF style with Pratchett unique fantasy. This book which is likely the last one because of the untimely death of Terry Pratchett is on a par with the previous ones and a worthy closure of the story. (  ) TheCrow2 | Nov 4, 2021 | not a bad ending, not a lot of pratchett here. (  ) Adam_Gugliciello | Oct 26, 2021 | This final episode in Pratchett and Baxter's shared 'Long Earth' series has all the failings of the earlier volumes. By this time, Baxter was doing nearly all the work; Pratchett made a couple of contributions, and they stand out quite clearly. This book has an introduction by Baxter which sets out quite clearly that the latter three books were mainly his work. And it is more of the same; multiple characters get into various scrapes, some characters come back into the story (though they had never really left) and one character who died two or three books ago is resurrected in flashback. The book draws thematically on Carl Sagan's 'Contact' and the Robert Zemeckis film of that book; the resemblance to the film is at times quite marked. The book starts with a SETI message being received across the whole Long Earth, but its nature and origin are not examined in any depth, despite it appearing on the third page of the novel and so permeating the whole book. Whilst this series was a nice gesture by Baxter and parts of the publishing industry towards Pratchett, it cannot be counted as any sort of significant work. (  )2  RobertDay | Feb 25, 2021 | This concluding volume of the long earth series has all the faults of its predecessors, improved only by an optimistic and marginally more interesting resolution of the series. Not terrible, but certainly not good enough to bear the Pratchett name. July 2020 (  )1 alanca | Jul 29, 2020 |
 For The Long Cosmos specifically, a good working knowledge of the film version of Carl Sagan's Contact is useful, as the book often plays out as a homage, while long-term fans will be excited to learn that as well as going east and west, we finally step north. Not all our questions are answered, but Baxter's scientific grounding will make you dwell once more on that chilling quantum idea that to exist is to be observed, as well as on more quotidian reflections about what is important in life – your family, your childhood and the connections you make. If you've been following the series from the beginning, the last chapter will make you cry, all on its own. And that's before you have to think about the fact that there will, now, be no more Pratchett books, and all that we have lost. Belongs to SeriesThe Long Earth (5)
2070-71. Nearly six decades after Step Day and in the Long Earth, the new Next post-human society continues to evolve. For Joshua Valiente, now in his late sixties, it is time to take one last solo journey into the High Meggers- an adventure that turns into a disaster. Alone and facing death, his only hope of salvation lies with a group of trolls. But as Joshua confronts his mortality, the Long Earth receives a signal from the stars. A signal that is picked up by radio astronomers but also in more abstract ways - by the trolls and by the Great Traversers. Its message is simple but its implications are enormous- JOIN US. The super-smart Next realise that the Message contains instructions on how to develop an immense artificial intelligence but to build it they have to seek help from throughout the industrious worlds of mankind. Bit by bit, byte by byte, they assemble a computer the size of a continent - a device that will alter the Long Earth's place within the cosmos and reveal the ultimate, life-affirming goal of those who sent the Message. Its impact will be felt by and resonate with all - mankind and other species, young and old, communities and individuals - who inhabit the Long Earths... No library descriptions found. 
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.914 — Literature English {except North American} English fiction Modern Period 1901-1999 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.56)
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This has the advantage of at least only having one main plot thread, previous volumes usually had 3 or 4. This is still lumpy and messy, with extraneous side-quests and very dubious reasons for the presence of many characters. And i could have done without the movie references especially all the 'Contact' ones.
But there are a few decent payoffs and character moments. Overall still not great but about as much of a finale as we could have expected from this series and the most coherent since the first book. (