Book Review: The Long War (2013) by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

The Long War by Pratchett and Baxter is a sequel novel to the Long Earth (by the same authors) that feels like it falls flat in a way The Long Earth did not. In the world that these books are set in, humans have discovered the means to “step” into parallel universes that are essentially copies of this universe (and Earth) but mostly free from humans and other sapient life forms. There are essentially unlimited numbers of these worlds for humanity to spread across.

In The Long Earth, the hero of the book, Joshua, travels with an artificial intelligence, Lobsang, to explore the limits of these parallel dimensions. This kept the book relatively tightly focused upon the main plot while also having interweaving storylines of the characters and other species (such as Trolls) that they meet along the way. The Long War, in contrast, starts to feel like a war between the many disparate elements vying for page time and the attention of the reader. Even the final attempt to tie them all together feels very flat and forced, almost as if the authors realised the monster that they have created.

The main problem with so many different elements is that many of them don’t tie into what I gathered was the main plotline of the book (the Trolls fleeing from human-occupied worlds). Allot of characters were introduced (such as the geniuses Robertta and Lobsang’s new companion Nelson) which we spent quite a bit of time with that have no bearing on the main plotline.  In fact, these characters didn’t seem to have any impact on any of the many plots introduced.

This books suffers from a distinct lack of focus from the many stories it tries to tell. Having roughly five poorly developed stories is not the equivalent of telling one good story, and this is painfully clear here. The Long War seems to pick up new story arcs, spends a few chapters on them, and then drops them without a satisfying conclusion (or any conclusion sometimes).

Ultimately, this book feels like it spends all of its pages trying to set-up characters and stories for some sort of continuation of the story. While the writing still manages to entertain with Pratchett’s usual dry humour and observations about society, I do think the authors forgot to make sure that the characters had a purpose for this book or to have a consistent story arc and focus to make this a compelling read.

1.5 out of 5 step-wise waffles.