Wednesday, October 10, 2012

The long earth

The long earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

As a longtime Pratchett fan, I was looking forward to a fantasy full of humor and parody.  This isn't it, but I've been drawn in and am still reading.  Stephen Baxter is known for his prolific science fiction novels.  The Long Earth posits an infinite number of other worlds just like ours, each in its own universe--except they are completely undeveloped by humans.  In the very near future, a reclusive scientist develops a way to step between worlds by building a "stepping" box so simple any teenager can make one.  Large numbers of people begin popping back and forth, creating complex consequences and changing the world(s) in ways that no one can keep up with.  I'm enjoying interesting characters such as 13-year-old Joshua, who is more comfortable in the primordial forest of other Earths than in his hometown of Madison, Wisconsin, and a computer in the shape of a vending machine named Lobsang who claims to be a reincarnated Tibetan motorcycle repairman.

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