Title: The Long WarPublisher: Corgi
Book 2 of 'The Long Earth'
Blurb:
A generation after the events of The Long Earth, mankind has spread across the new worlds opened up by Stepping. Where Joshua and Lobsang once pioneered, now fleets of airships link the stepwise Americas with trade and culture. Mankind is shaping the Long Earth -- but in turn the Long Earth is shaping mankind... A new ‘America’, called Valhalla, is emerging more than a million steps from Datum Earth, with core American values restated in the plentiful environment of the Long Earth – and Valhalla is growing restless under the control of the Datum government... Meanwhile the Long Earth is suffused by the song of the trolls, graceful hive-mind humanoids. But the trolls are beginning to react to humanity'’s thoughtless exploitation... Joshua, now a married man, is summoned by Lobsang to deal with a gathering multiple crisis that threatens to plunge the Long Earth into a war unlike any mankind has waged before.
Synopsis:
Joshua, Lobsang and a multitude of characters deal with how mankind is treating the trolls.
At 1.4 million steps from earth a new America named Valhalla declares its independence from Datum Earth.
What more can I say....
Verdict:
You would think from the book title and the blurb that this book is about a war. I obviously missed that bit of the book, hang on a minute, no I did not miss it as it wasn't there. The Datum Earth send out a fleet of ships to Valhalla, but nothing happens. To come to think of it, nothing much happens in the whole book!
Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter have delivered a mediocre second book in this series. It moves the story along, although in what direction is not quite certain. I am hoping that the third book will bring the story to a conclusive end, as although the Long Earth series opens lots of possibilities, it seems that Mister's Pratchett and Baxter are not exploiting any of them.
Rating: 3/5
