By Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
Another story about the multiverse, this time with an infinity of Earths to choose from, ranging from very slightly different to majorly different, including at least one where there is no Earth at all, just black space.
A man invents a device that allows people to flip a switch and travel instantly to the nearest version of Earth. To get to the next version, they have to toggle the switch again. So traveling to the further versions can take weeks, months and even years. Especially since iron metal doesn't transfer which means no equipment or machines made with iron and iron components. Also no livestock such as oxen and horses can be brought across. (Weird conditions the authors set up to make things more challenging and interesting, I guess.)
Oddly, none of these alternate Earths have their own naturally occurring populations of humans and are pristine wildernesses waiting to be exploited. Because of course that is what we do. Masses of people flee our planet to try their luck in a new world of their very own. I must admit it does sound appealing, but of course it is not as wonderful as it seems at first. Trying to carve a living out of a virgin wilderness is hard work.
It also turns out that there are some people who don't need a device to "step" as it is called in the story. It is an innate ability in some humans, most of whom are not at first aware they have that ability. But one who does is a young orphan being raised by the nuns in a childrens home, Joshua Valiente.
The man who invented the stepping device released the blue print online without telling people what it does. Of course, people start building their own copy of it, just to see what it does, especially since it is intriguing powered by a potato battery. Who could resist that? It turns out that most definitely the kids in Joshua's local area can't and, when they flip the switch, they end up lost in a strange wilderness. But Joshua is not one of the disorientated kids when he steps and helps rescue the lost and frightened kids and discovers, in the process, that he doesn't need the device to step. He also doesn't suffer the debilitating side effects most people experience when they step.
Joshua's heroism creates interest in the public and he finds the attention unwelcome and uses his newfound skill to escape the scrutiny. Eventually he comes to the attention of a major multinational corporation and they make him an offer he decides not to refuse: a voyage of discovery using an amazing flying blimp to transit the earths effortlessly. He will be accompanied by an artificial human linked to a supercomputer that claims to be a reincarnated Tibetan motorcycle repair man. So the adventure into the plethora of alternate Earths begins.
The story is mainly about the voyage, with a few encounters with some creatures and beings, but not much else happens. Joshua and Lobsang encounter beings that they decide to call trolls because the beings are large and hairy. And beings they call elves because they are small and extremely vicious. Both trolls and elves have the stepping ability and have probably visited human Earth in the past. There is some mystery about why none of the Earths have native humans. There is also a mystery about why the trolls and elves are suddenly on the move, stepping from Earth to Earth. A further mystery is the presence that Joshua has sensed haunting his brain since he was a kid. And it also turns out that some people, a few, do not possess the ability to step, whether inborn or using the stepping device. This has created a natural resentment that has matured into a rebellion against the steppers.
This book was a struggle to read because I found it so boring. Most of the story is centered on the voyage of Joshua and Lobsang in the blimp. They had one violent encounter with the elves but other than that, not much happens. At one point, they pick up a passenger, a woman who turns out to be the daughter of the man who invented the stepping device. There was some mystery in the story about that man and how he came to invent the device.
But I trudged through the book to the ending and it seemed pretty clear to me that The Long Earth is the first in a series. Also, unrelated though, Terry Pratchett is the coauthor of the book which is strange because it is lacking in the whimsy and humor that is what I was expecting from a Pratchett book. All in all, it was disappointing. And way too long, over 400 pages in paperback form.
Despite this, it had a couple of passages that I did enjoy a lot. The first when Joshua is checking in at an airport to board a plane sent for him by a very important corporation:
"Once the clerk had entered his booking reference he went very quiet, and picked up the phone, and Joshua began to realize what it meant to have a friend in Lobsang, as he was whisked away from the lines of passengers and led along corridors with the politeness you might observe when dealing with a politician belonging to a country that had nuclear weapons and a carefree approach to their deployment."
And where the story is speaking of how various nations decided to rule their equivalent territories in the other Earths, some amusing words on how the French decided to handle it:
"The French, for example, declared that all the French footprints [territories] were available for colonization by anybody who wanted to be French, and was prepared to accept a carefully put together document which outlined what being French meant. It was a brave idea, slightly let down by the fact that despite a nationwide debate it appeared that no two Frenchmen could agree exactly on what being French did mean."
Here is a review of the novel by Kirkus Reviews.
