Summer Reading: Sci-fi Adventure

Summer reading recap: I set goals for this summer to 
-  re-read an old favorite
-  read a sci-fi/fantasy adventure
- a nonfiction memoir
- several short stories or poems
- the first in a new series
-  a spiritual growth devotional

 Science-Fiction: The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

Terry Pratchett has long been one of my favorite authors. His hilarious, satirical (and yet surprisingly moving at times) Discworld series is nearly 40 books long and spans a 30-year writing career. The series is strictly fantasy, involving wizards (thought not very good ones), guards (band of misfits), imps, trolls, etc., all set in a medieval-ish time with plenty of anachronistic inventions and technological advances. Pratchett loves to poke fun at pop culture, history and social norms, yet never with a cruel or demeaning tone. He is very British and very, very funny.

So, when this much more serious sci-fi adventure popped up as the Nook Daily Find a month or so ago, I snapped it up. It isn't Discworld, and it's a co-written piece, so I was very interested to see how how Pratchett's style translated away from anything-goes fantasy to a more technical and serious science-fiction world.

The premise: Earth is discovered to be just one in a countless string of parallel worlds, worlds suddenly accessible through a process called "stepping." With the help of a stepper device, humans can travel East or West to undiscovered, unsettled Earths. Each Earth is unique, in major or minor ways: different climates, different landscapes, different forms of life. No one knows how far out the Long Earth goes. Resources are suddenly endless, and pioneers set out to travel tens of thousands of worlds away and rebuild their lives from scratch.

As the story begins we jump back and forth between several characters and time periods - historic episodes of accidental stepping, the ground-breaking Step Day when the Long Earth is first accessed by the masses, and the introduction of key characters. Monica Jansson is a police officer investigating the apparent suicide of the inventor of the Stepper, and Joshua Valiente is an orphan with the hidden ability to step naturally, without a device. Their lives intersect and then continue on, both vital to this strange new world and the challenges it presents.

I was glad to find that Pratchett's humor and witty wordplay remained intact inside the world created by science-fiction writer Baxter. It's a good combination, creating an even and intriguing journey through time and space. The book keeps a steady pace, building tension slowly. As the end drew near I found myself racing through the last few pages, desperate for a conclusion. A few questions were answered while other vital ones were not, and I ranted and raved at the final and extremely inconclusive paragraphs. There had to be more! Rushing to the internet, I was thrilled to find that a sequel entitled The Long War had arrived on shelves less than a month ago. I purchased it today.

The only complaint I have about The Long Earth is the occasional bad language and that one of the major characters is twice hinted to be a lesbian, even though it has absolutely nothing to do with her character or personality. It is only mentioned in passing, as if to say, "oh look, we're being modern and hip by saying she's gay." Nothing in the story so far had anything to do with her sexuality and therefore it was completely pointless to make that sort of observation. So that's annoying, but at least not big enough of a deal to make the story problematic.

A reviewer of The Long Earth called it "a genuinely thoughtful and entertaining exploration of a profoundly changed universe," and I completely agree. If new worlds were found, would I strike out with the brave beginners? I think I would itch with restlessness knowing all that was out there, waiting to be discovered. Pratchett and Baxter have opened up a new world that I hope will be explored for many more pages and by many more adventurers.