''The Long Earth'' is the first novel in a collaborative science fiction series by British authors

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his '' Discworld'' series of 41 novels. Pratchett's first no ...

and Stephen Baxter.

Plot summary

The "Long Earth" is a (possibly infinite) series of parallel worlds that are similar to Earth, which can be reached by using an inexpensive device called a "Stepper" – designs for which are one day posted online suddenly allowing humanity to explore worlds "East" and "West" of "Datum Earth". The worlds are mostly familiar, though others differ in greater and greater details, but all share one similarity: on none are there, or have there ever been, ''

Homo sapiens Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

'' – although the same cannot be said of earlier hominid species, especially '' Homo habilis''. The book deals primarily with the journey of Joshua Valienté (a natural "Stepper") and Lobsang, who claims to be a

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

an motorcycle repairman reincarnated as an

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...

. The two chart a course to learn as much as possible about the parallel worlds, travelling millions of steps away from the original Earth. They encounter evidence of other humanoid species (referred to as trolls and elves); of human settlers who learned their gifts early – including Sally Linsay, daughter of the inventor of the stepper, who joins them on their expedition; and of an extinct race of bipedal dinosaur descendants. They also encounter warning signs of a great danger, millions of worlds away from "our" Earth, causing catastrophe as it moves. The book also deals with the effects of the explosion of available space on the people of Datum Earth and the new colonies and political movements that are spreading throughout the Long Earth. A young girl, Helen Green, and her family (with the exception of her brother, Rod, who is unable to step) trek across the long earth to form a new community, Reboot, on Earth West 101,754. After stepping across "The Gap" – a universe around two million steps from the Datum where the Earth no longer exists – Joshua and Lobsang encounter the threat that has caused the slow migration of Trolls away from the gap. First Person Singular is a being that absorbs other sentient life forms, eventually taking over everything on earth before stepping to the next. It currently cannot pass The Gap. Lobsang elects to stay in First Person Singular's universe and commune with it, in the hopes of convincing it not to advance further, or at least to not absorb all other sentients. Joshua and Sally return to Datum Earth back the way they came. Upon reaching Earth West 101,754, they hear news that Datum

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

has been destroyed in a nuclear explosion, the result of a bomb planted by a terrorist group of humans incapable of stepping (called "phobics" in the book's terminology). The book ends with the two of them briefly seeing the explosion site, before retreating to Earth West 1 Madison, where a backed-up instantiation of Lobsang contacts Joshua by phone.

Characters

*Joshua Valienté: an orphan, born on another world when his mother stepped during childbirth. A natural stepper. He is antisocial but has an altruistic nature. *Lobsang: an

who claims to be a reincarnated Tibetan motorcycle repairman. *Sally Linsay: daughter of the inventor of the Stepper box, a device that allows the majority of humans to step between parallel universes. A natural stepper and later romantic interest to Joshua Valienté. Like Joshua, she usually prefers the tranquillity of uninhabited worlds to the "noise" of Datum Earth and their close counterparts. *Monica Jansson: A Madison Police Officer who helps the disappearing children on Step Day, the day when the blueprint for the Stepper Box is released on the internet. *Helen Green: a young girl who sets off across the long earth with most of her family to start a new community. She keeps a diary of her travels. *Rod Green: brother to Helen Green, a boy who cannot step and is left on Datum Earth by his family as they travel across the long earth. He later helps in the bombing of Madison where he is captured and imprisoned. *Sister Agnes: a nun who looks after Joshua during his younger years at the orphanage. *Douglas Black: founder of the Black Corporation, a high-profile research based weapons and technology company and manufacturer. Creator of Lobsang. *First Person Singular: a being found on the far side of The Gap, more than two million steps from earth, that absorbs all sentient life. *''Mark Twain'': an

airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

with a certain level of artificial intelligence granted by the Black Corporation and Lobsang, allowing it, and those within it, to step. The ''Mark Twain'', named after the

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

who penned the adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, carries Joshua and Lobsang on their journey across the long Earth.

Reception

Reviewing the book in''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Adam Roberts found it to be "much more like a Baxter novel than a Pratchett one." It was also said to be "a charming, absorbing and somehow spacious piece of imagineering." The book reached 13th on the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' hardback best-sellers list on 8 July 2012. The novel won the

Goodreads Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and read ...

Choice Awards 2012 for Science Fiction.

Sequel

Sequels of the novel in the series are: # '' The Long War'' (June 2013) # '' The Long Mars'' (June 2014) # ''

The Long Utopia ''The Long Utopia'' is a science fiction novel by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter published on 23 June 2015. It is the fourth in the five-book series of the sequence ''The Long Earth''. Plot ''The Long Utopia'' further follows the adventu ...

'' (June 2015) # ''

The Long Cosmos ''The Long Cosmos'' is a science fiction novel by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter published on 30 June 2016. It is the final installment in the award-winning five-book parallel-Earth series ''The Long Earth''. It is the fifth book in the ...

'' (June 2016)

References

External links