In the hours since I finished “The Long Earth” ($25.99,
Harper) by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, I’ve struggled a little with how
to approach the review. My love of most things Pratchett is no secret, but this
is my first encounter with Baxter since I’m not a big science fiction reader.
While I, in general, enjoyed the book, I didn’t walk away from it feeling
really satisfied.
The premise is that there are many Earths, in various states
of development and evolution, layered on top of our Earth, sort of like
different dimensions. None of them seem to have humans – though there are some
humanoid species out there – and many of them have moved along different
evolutionary paths. Over the course of history, people have “stepped” into
these worlds by accident, but it’s not until the day known as Step Day that it
becomes a widespread phenomenon.