TERRY PRATCHETT and STEPHEN BAXTER The Long Mars: Long Earth 3. Reviewed by Folly Gleeson
This rich and far-ranging epic continues to explore new worlds and ethical problems.
Before beginning this book it is necessary to know that in the previous books, The Long Earth and The Long War, the authors dealt with something that Pratchett calls quantum. For him this is a metaphor for anything weirdly scientific, and in these books it takes the form of parallel earths – millions of them – which ‘steppers’ can traverse using a device made from a potato. I recommend that you read them before beginning this one, if only to meet the characters; there are many.
The plots of the two first books could reasonably be called convoluted but in The Long Mars there are only three main trajectories, which makes things a little more restful.
On Datum Earth – the basic planet – a vast volcano has erupted in Yellowstone National Park. This has created chaos, and most of the inhabitants have moved to parallel worlds, thereby disrupting the hegemony of the United States government. The President sends Captain Maggie Kauffman and two crewed gondolas, Armstrong and Cernan (which can traverse the many planets at the rate of two a second) to explore the millions of earths, more or less as a morale-building exercise.
A second group, Sally Linsay, her rather spikily enigmatic father, Willis, and a friend, Frank Wood, aim to get to Mars and to explore all the parallel Marses, using gliders. Willis is interested in an artefact that he believes is on one of the Marses. This is an artefact that Pratchett has described in the Science of Discworld books and one he is rather fond of.
With the advice of Lobsang, a sort of god of technology who has discovered Buddhism, Joshua Valiente, the inventor of the first potato stepper, has to contend with an alarming force: stunningly intelligent and at times viciously hostile youngsters who see themselves as a new evolutionary development.
This bald outline gives no idea of the many discoveries and interactions that occur as the vessels travel over the Earths and the Marses; beagle people and crab people for starters.
When reading a book by two authors it is tempting to try to see who owns certain themes or concepts, and it is fairly clear from previous works that most of the imaginative technological information probably belongs to Stephen Baxter:
Maggie roamed further with Harry, even outside the gondola. She went into the cathedral-like belly of the envelope itself, within the aluminium frame, clambering up ladders and along gantries in the smoky light admitted by the fine translucent hull. The ship carried no ballast; it adjusted its lift by means of huge artificial lungs, into which additional helium could be forced from compressed stores. In all, it was able to lift more than six hundred tons.
The ship’s main power came from a compact fusion reactor hung from the structural frame at the stern, a good distance from the habitable section to reduce radiation risks, its weight balancing the big gondola. The engine room itself was heavily armoured and shielded, designed to survive even a high-velocity crash.
There are many, many hints of the possibilities of science and technology featured in the adventures; plenty for one’s inner geek and nerd.
Pratchett, I think, deals with the characters but is hampered by the fact that there are so many of them who are perforce ciphers: engineers, soldiers, victims, other races and so on. Most of them are rather one-dimensional. I think, too, that a great deal of the characters’ interaction smacks of Pratchett’s well-known concern for meaning and the vagaries of human nature. And really much of the book is about ethics – the final chapters offer a very serious debate indeed, concerning genocide.
Throughout the series there has been a not too subtle criticism of the glorification of unbridled military power and nationalism. Even humorous exchanges have messages:
‘… What are you laughing at?’
Agnes tried to look solemn. ’At you. For segueing from arguing that humanity deserves extinction to politely asking me whether I would like something so cheerful and normal as a cup of tea! Look – I understand everything you have been saying. Humanity is pretty shallow. It took a trip to the moon for most people to understand what the Earth really was: round, finite, precious and endangered. We can’t organise ourselves for toffee. But isn’t humanity showing more common sense, even at this late hour? Look how well we’re coping with the Yellowstone disaster – well so it seems to me.’
Some problems with this book are because it is more like a documentary than a novel with a clear narrative. The constant movement over the planets lends itself to the travelogue style: Oh look, another weather pattern! Oh look, another evolutionary dead end! The character development is limited by the extraordinary range of new situations in which the protagonists find themselves; no time for depth.
But having said that, there is a huge degree of pleasure to be found in unravelling the various complexities of the plot. Each aspect of the various trips and excursions is explored in order to provide ideas concerning humanity. There is a definite pedagogical feel, and the ideas provide a challenging read with a constant stimulus to imagine what effects such a universe might have on us, on our behaviour and our thought.
The fact that such an extraordinarily rich and far ranging epic is held together at all is due to the combined skills of two experienced and very competent writers. I think that they must enjoy their discussions immensely.
Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter The Long Mars: Long Earth 3 Doubleday 2014 PB 354pp $32.99
Folly Gleeson was a lecturer in Communication Studies. At present she enjoys her book club and reading history and fiction.
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