The Long Haul

I hadn't planned on reading The Long Mars on launch day, given that I was relatively underwhelmed by its predecessor, The Long War, but I happened to finish the incredible Dune on that day, and knew The Long Mars would be a quick and diverting read.

The Long Mars doesn't really depart from what Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter's co-written series has offered thus far. Some decades ago now, humanity experienced 'Step Day', giving them access to a technology that allowed them to simply and easily 'step' into an adjacent world, slightly divergent from our own 'Datum Earth' in some minor or major way, a rough exploration of a multiverse theory, in a kind of frontiersman way. This concept has so much potential for telling interesting stories, and that continues to be the huge strength of the series. There has been a steady progression of scope, as the title indicates, but the core concept remains the same.

The Long Mars still feels like a Sci-Fi 'travel novel' on a big scale. It remains very much a vehicle (more 'Twains', in this case) to explore these ideas, rather than being a great narrative in its own right, and, despite the genuine excitement I have for all that it's showing, this is where things rather come apart.

As a novel, it pretty much sucks. As with The Long Earth and The Long War, there never seem to be any notable stakes. Nothing is on the line, at least nothing over which the characters have any control. Where there is tension, it is short term, situational, and with generally little payoff. It wasn't until the last 20% of the book where any real threat or risk is truly felt, and then, it doesn't extend all that far.

In any one of these books, I would respect that, as a willing departure from narrative conventions. But across all three, it feels almost dull, which is precisely what this shouldn't be, given the promise carried by the setting. For the third time now, I've felt like we're perhaps building to some greater payoff in a later book, but so far, it's more like being strung along with not much to go on in the interim.

Aside from these general problems, I found some of the writing fairly clunky. Heavy exposition in the early pages seems to be the norm for books partway through a series, and here, I found it quite clumsy, almost distractedly so, with the characters seeming wooden, or excessively stating the obvious to bring the reader up to speed. I question how much 'real estate' of an already pretty short book should be devoted to this. Equally, I don't feel like anyone skipping the first two books would be hindered all that much from enjoying this one.

The gentlemen themselves

The characters themselves also fall short, feeling very distant from the reader. In some cases, I'm sure that's intentional but as much as many choose to push people away and not let them get too close, it's awkward when that extends to the reader. I still don't feel that much for most of the characters, even the ones that have stuck around since The Long Earth. Maybe it's a byproduct of my own frame of mind when reading this series, but so far it's three for three on this - combined with the general lack of stakes, it means I struggle to care about these people and what happens to them.

Ultimately, that's what The Long Mars is - another good offering on precisely the same lines as the rest of the series. If you enjoyed either of the first two books, like as not, you'll enjoy this. If you're not familiar with the series, but you love reading something that explores a fundamentally compelling idea, it's worth checking out the series, with the above caveats in mind. I know that Pratchett and Baxter are planning more books, and I still plan on reading them, despite all the issues I've acknowledge, because, at the end of the day, they continue to deliver something that is a quick and highly thought-provoking read, which is, for me, worth enduring the shortcomings.

What about you? Are you already familiar with the series? What have been your thoughts thus far? Should books like this be more focussed on delivering a solid narrative, or is the exploration of an idea sometimes enough to speak for itself? Share your thoughts in the comments. If you haven't already, you can also find me on Twitter, @mastergeorge

The Long War

In a rare piece of reading consistency, I followed up my reading of The Long Earth immediately with the sequel - The Long War (on my shiny new Kindle, mwhaha). This is partly down to the quality of the first one, but also because I wanted to read it with the Pratchett/Baxter author talk still fresh in my mind.

The Long War is pretty consistent in both quality and style with the first one. The theme of an exploration novel which came out so strongly in the first one is still very prominent. At times, it actually gives off a very Star Trek vibe - not something I want to go into too much (discover it for yourself), but I'm sure I can't be the only one to have found this.

The strength of the setting is still very obvious. Not too many new elements are introduced to shake up the formula. Since the book is set a decade further down the line, it's more of a continuation of the 'thought experiment' of how the phenomenon of stepping affects humanity 10 years on. Again, as I said last time, there's clearly still a lot more scope for the series inherent in the setting.

This setting is hung around largely the same group of characters. A few new ones are introduced, both to expand the 'core group' from The Long Earth, and to provide some new perspectives and storylines. It's nice to see a half-decent proportion of good female main characters. I actually enjoyed reading Maggie's arc the most, which is one of the most separated from the main plotline.

This bring me onto my last big thought. As with The Long Earth, I felt that there was an odd narrative structure to the book. While a lot of time is spent establishing the context and backdrop to the events, not much actually happens throughout. There's a comparatively low sense of threat throughout The Long War - it's still present, and is strong than in the first book, but it's disarming. 

Parts of the section towards the end left my scratching my head slightly in terms of character motivations relating to what actually takes place. Again, I'm avoiding details because it would be spoilers, but I didn't quite sit right with me. That's not enough to significantly negatively impact on my impressions of the book. 

I certainly don't think that these books should follow some cookie-cutter recipe to hit all the beats we are expecting (thus becoming more predictable) - and I get the sense that avoiding this and reaching a different pace is intentional - but it's noticeable. The stakes don't seem to be all that high until the very last chapters of the book. That's something I quite enjoy - Baxter and Pratchett have made it a setting worth exploring, and it is on the whole enjoyable to do so with their characters, but I know that it's not for everyone. 

Week 28
28/52

Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman (2006)
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern (2011)
The Revolution of Saint Jone - Lorna Mitchell (1988)
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - John Le Carré (1974)
I Can Make You Hate - Charlie Brooker (2012)
Looking For Jake and Other Stories - China Miéville (2005)
The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett (1989)
The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter (1979)
Jobs* - Walter Isaacson (2012)
The Plague - Albert Camus (1947)
Ready Player One* - Ernest Cline (2011)
Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut (1969)
The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ - Phillip Pullman (2010)
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (1931)
Storm Front* - Jim Butcher (2000)
Anansi Boys - Neil Gaiman (2005)
Fool Moon* - Jim Butcher (2001)
Iron Man: Extremis - Warren Ellis (2006)

Ultimate Thor Vol.1 - Hickman, Pachego & Vines (2010)
How To Eat Out - Giles Coren (2001)
How To Be A Woman - Caitlin Moran (2011)
In The Garden of Beasts* - Erik Larson (2011)
Pirate Cinema - Cory Doctrow (2012)
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury (1953)
The Long Earth - Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter (2012)
The Illustrated Man* - Ray Bradbury (1951)
The Long War - Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter (2013)
The Player of Games - Iain M Banks (1988)
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card (1985)

Currently Reading:

The Knife of Never Letting Go* - Patrick Ness
Stardust - Neil Gaiman

A Million Parallel Earths

I feel like I've got my momentum back. It's a good feeling - I would attribute much of this to giving myself freer choice of books, and to happening to have picked a few awesome ones recently.

Today, I'm mostly focussing on one of these - The Long Earth, written collaboratively by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter.

Sir Terry casts aside his hat

I picked this up almost on a whim, with the generously-loaded Waterstones card which was a birthday gift from the team at work (thanks, guys!). I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to pick up, but this caught my eye on a display stand, and looked like good flight reading. 

I had assumed that this was a new book, having not heard of it previously, but it transpires that it was being promoted just ahead of the launch of the second book in the sequence. 

It's very a sci-fi novel, making it feel like a bit of a departure for Pratchett. At a recent talk at the Institute of Engineering and Technology, he revealed that the concept was something he came up with even before Discworld, but her set it aside and only rediscovered it recently. He decided that it had been a great idea, but that he would need someone with a working knowledge of the 'quantum bollocks' (actual quote) to execute it - hence the collaboration with Baxter.

The premise is actually very simple, but opens up so many questions and interesting scenarios to explore that the series, I'm sure, could feasibly be spun on and on and still remain interesting. Pratchett and Baxter indicated that they've got solid material to explore for about five books, and are not sure about going beyond that at this point.

Right from the start, we are introduced to the 'Long Earth', on what becomes known as 'Step Day', the population of earth discovers an unknown number of parallel earths, trivially easy to reach from this one (dubbed 'Datum Earth'), through a process called 'stepping'. Each is effectively a copy of this world, with some small changes - most notably, that each world is untouched by the presence of humanity.

This makes each world a rich haven in its own right, a sort of natural paradise, rich with life and animals. There turn out to be some simple but crucial limitations around stepping which make the inevitable exploration and expansion more interesting - people aren't just able to port their entire houses across.

This turns the book into an exploration of frontiers and survivalism for humanity, and raises plenty of interesting questions - suddenly, scarcity is not the issue it once was. What does that mean for how people develop and fan out across the long earth. It is a great representation of what sci if can be - a sort of thought experiment with a relatively simple concept (though one with interesting characters and story to hang it together).

The main plot of the book follows a few characters aiming exploring the Long Earth and answer some of the many questions that it raises. This gave it, for me, a very 'Jules Verne', adventure novel feel - venturing out in the unknown. This is part of the reason I'm trying to discuss it rather elliptically here (with mixed success, I'm sure), to avoid answering too many questions, and leaving that for you to discover, if you choose to explore the book yourself.

From the title of the sequel 'The Long War', I'm expecting to find something rather different. I'm very much looking forward to breaking into that - though I'm reluctant to pick it up in hardback, so it will be one for audiobook or ebook formats.

If you've enjoy science fiction or adventure stories, or Pratchett or Baxter's previous works (though this feels nothing like Discworld), I'd recommend that you give this one a try.