A review by runningdowndelaney
The Long Utopia by Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter

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.