Read: The Long Earth, by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter.
Strange: I started reading this on the evening of March 11th, and the next day, one of its authors had died. It made reading this book a strange experience - Terry Pratchett’s voice is keenly heard in this novel, and I got the impression of being spoken to from beyond the grave, especially given the existential questions that this novel delves into.
This is a grand, sweeping book that takes a relatively simple concept - that overnight, most people on earth gain the ability to step onto infinite parallel Earths - and spins it out in a few different directions. The bulk of the plot concerns an expedition undertaken to find the furthest possible world, led by a man who can step without the help of an external device and a Tibetan motorcycle repairman reincarnated in the form of a hyper-intelligent artificial intelligence. The characterisation is rich, the worlds are beautifully described, and the plot goes through various twists and turns that keep you guessing as to what might come next.
The book does end on a cliffhanger of sorts, which would be a problem if I didn’t have the next novel ready whenever I want to pick it up, but in general it poses a larger question for the future of the series. The fourth of five parts, The Long Utopia, is set to be released this June, suggesting that it’s already finished, but that same reassurance doesn’t apply to the fifth. Stephen Baxter is, of course, an enormously gifted writer on his own, but one wonders if he has the confidence - or even the desire - to finish the series by himself. I hope he does. In a funny way, there’d be no better way to honour Pratchett’s memory than by picking up where he left off.