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sylw's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
rjea's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
librarydoc's review against another edition
3.0
I loved the first book in this series so much that I keep working through the rest to see where it goes. This one almost stopped me, though. It was SLOW. I found myself skipping through pages to get to the good parts. I will go on and finish the series but am hoping for som new life in The Long Cosmos!
timinbc's review
3.0
Better than I feared ... that's the best I can say about it.
Before I forget, I must credit the sly inclusion of having Lobsang say that one thing he knows about is sweeping. Those who have read Pratchett's Thief of Time will have appreciated that. Now let's see, which Lobsang said that?
So. Long Utopia? The Utopia concept is mentioned only slightly more than Mars, which is to say in about eight words. And buh-bye beanstalks, because we spent a lot of time writing them in only to realize that we can't DO much with them, so let's handwave reasons why they were feasible but suddenly aren't.
We have a lot of characters and groups of characters to wrap up here. So let's start slowly and not get the reader all excited. Remind readers that Sally is Mysterious and Important. Maybe some flashes from the moon. Mention Yellowstone a lot so we don't forget it.
Let's have a whole bunch more of Agnes and Lobsang sighing and all "I just want .." With the occasional reminder about Sally. Now a tedious aside, which was predictable because any time Nelson appears the air is sucked out of the room. Let's read about a man named Valiente in Victorian times, then puzzle through the clues as Joshua is shown his ancestry. And completely fails to say to Nelson, "That's nice, so what?" Steppers have been around a while. Why does that matter? Sally is what matters!
And now here's Stan. Stan's special. That's a good idea, because this series didn't have anyone special in it till now. No dead people in android bodies. No one who can step through soft places. But I will accept that a Next Next is a reasonable extrapolation.
We need a crisis if we're ever going to get out of this plot. So here we are at world 1,243,567, because Sally "just knew." And she just knew who she'd need.
But first, let's explain the beetles and the pathways. Let's drop in a huge new idea completely out of nowhere, an idea that could easily carry a new series all by itself. There's our crisis! Cue the stunned military guy, who is a complete idiot but somehow rose past the geniuses below him, as they always do in novels. Cue the rabble, with the "No! This is our home!" even when the place is demonstrably disintegrating.
The book does develop the crisis well, from here's what's happening to uh-oh, here's WHY it's happening.
Suddenly, foot-in-mouth fools-rush-in Stan has become a demagogue [aside: it is possible, ref. Donald Trump] whose honeyed words can move masses. Well, we can't be having with that, can we? Would Stan be torn apart by the mob, or do the authors have something bigger lined up for him? We don't know. Bet Sally does. I'm starting to find Sally rather annoying.
OK, the authors do a good enough job of tying things together, especially the soft places. And the key explanation -
The ending? Pure schlock. Melodrama. Cloying. Twee. And probably the only way out of the narrative corner the authors painted them into.
But really. Pfui. The only POSSIBLE explanation is narrativium: it had to happen for dramatic reasons. One: you can't top a Noble Sacrifice. Two: They've become so powerful that we can't leave them in the plot. They've almost gone beyond Superman spinning the world backwards to make it didn't happen.
Even if Sir Terry were still with us, I don't see how this series can go anywhere from here. Oh, wait, yes I do. At the end, there's at least one Lobsang left, spinning through space into the sequel galaxy. He has a matter printer (but no way to collect raw material for it). He can probably make broom, though. He'll end up landing on a flat, circular world supported by turtles. It will be one of many such worlds ...
Before I forget, I must credit the sly inclusion of having Lobsang say that one thing he knows about is sweeping. Those who have read Pratchett's Thief of Time will have appreciated that. Now let's see, which Lobsang said that?
So. Long Utopia? The Utopia concept is mentioned only slightly more than Mars, which is to say in about eight words. And buh-bye beanstalks, because we spent a lot of time writing them in only to realize that we can't DO much with them, so let's handwave reasons why they were feasible but suddenly aren't.
We have a lot of characters and groups of characters to wrap up here. So let's start slowly and not get the reader all excited. Remind readers that Sally is Mysterious and Important. Maybe some flashes from the moon. Mention Yellowstone a lot so we don't forget it.
Let's have a whole bunch more of Agnes and Lobsang sighing and all "I just want .." With the occasional reminder about Sally. Now a tedious aside, which was predictable because any time Nelson appears the air is sucked out of the room. Let's read about a man named Valiente in Victorian times, then puzzle through the clues as Joshua is shown his ancestry. And completely fails to say to Nelson, "That's nice, so what?" Steppers have been around a while. Why does that matter? Sally is what matters!
And now here's Stan. Stan's special. That's a good idea, because this series didn't have anyone special in it till now. No dead people in android bodies. No one who can step through soft places. But I will accept that a Next Next is a reasonable extrapolation.
We need a crisis if we're ever going to get out of this plot. So here we are at world 1,243,567, because Sally "just knew." And she just knew who she'd need.
But first, let's explain the beetles and the pathways. Let's drop in a huge new idea completely out of nowhere, an idea that could easily carry a new series all by itself. There's our crisis! Cue the stunned military guy, who is a complete idiot but somehow rose past the geniuses below him, as they always do in novels. Cue the rabble, with the "No! This is our home!" even when the place is demonstrably disintegrating.
The book does develop the crisis well, from here's what's happening to uh-oh, here's WHY it's happening.
Suddenly, foot-in-mouth fools-rush-in Stan has become a demagogue [aside: it is possible, ref. Donald Trump] whose honeyed words can move masses. Well, we can't be having with that, can we? Would Stan be torn apart by the mob, or do the authors have something bigger lined up for him? We don't know. Bet Sally does. I'm starting to find Sally rather annoying.
OK, the authors do a good enough job of tying things together, especially the soft places. And the key explanation -
Spoiler
that our sheaf of worlds has intersected anotherThe ending? Pure schlock. Melodrama. Cloying. Twee. And probably the only way out of the narrative corner the authors painted them into.
But really.
Spoiler
Stan and Sally can break the skein of worlds, snip out the offending planet, reconnect the skein .... and they can't pop themselves out to safety?Even if Sir Terry were still with us, I don't see how this series can go anywhere from here. Oh, wait, yes I do. At the end, there's at least one Lobsang left, spinning through space into the sequel galaxy. He has a matter printer (but no way to collect raw material for it). He can probably make broom, though. He'll end up landing on a flat, circular world supported by turtles. It will be one of many such worlds ...
athryn's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Sadly, the quality on these books is definitely continuing to decline. There's no real focus, or feeling of overarching story going on. Pretty much keeping on because of sunk cost fallacy.
berni396's review
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.75
fsantoriello's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
socialamoebaemily's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Still good but the series isn't as strong the longer it goes on. Would recommend this book and series though!
runningdowndelaney's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Book Four of The Long Earth series. Lobsang and Agnes have adopted a child and fled to a far off world to live off grid and try to have a nice time. As is always the case, something is amiss. Sally Lindsay continues to play vigilante against those who would disrupt the harmony of the Long Earth. And Joshua Valienté is finally given the opportunity to explore his ancestry, to see if any others before were like him. Unlike it's immediate predecessor, this book does have some more effort with regards to keeping plot threads aligned. Having the past as part of the book assists with that; we finally have roots for the characters to grow from. In the present, we discover the world Lobsang and Agnes moved to had been chosen for them by Sally. And something is wrong. The world's rotation is speeding up. Eventually, it is discovered a species of self replicating machines have travelled across the galaxy by Stepping 'North' rather than the usually defined East or West . Joshua meanwhile connects with his ancestors and reconciles it with his present. On another world, a new member of the Next rises, quickly touted as a prophet. All parties converge on the spinning world, where Sally, Messiah Next and an iteration of Lobsang remains behind and seal the world off. No one can step into it, and the Von Neumann machines can't escape. It's a very bleak ending, with Sally dying (and Joshua feeling the very moment millions of world's away), and Lobsang left in a small satellite box on an endless journey through the depths of space. A much stronger contender than previous books, and builds on some nest concepts.
olityr's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The sci-fi ideas are getting bigger. It's amazing how many different sci-fi themes they're able to address in this one series.