Book Review: The Long Earth

My creative writing teacher always said the best way to get better at writing is to read. Luckily, I love reading—and I love reading different genres. Somewhere—in my mind of course—these genres blend to form some super plot I'm still waiting on. So, I like to read as often as I can. Then I wondered—why haven't I done any book reviews???? 

The Long Earth 

by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

I just began this book today, so this is not an overall review so much as an initial impression, as I'm only 1/3 the way through the story.

Summary

This book follows the events on Earth after what becomes known as "step day"—the day in which the world discovered a seemingly infinite number of other Earths that anyone can "step" in to. These Earths are not inhabited by humans and while they are essentially the same as our Earth, they have had slightly different evolutions. 

What I Really Like

The concept of "infinite" Earths, possibilities had evolution gone one way or another, the societal impact of governing multiple planets, population control, and the meaning of solidarity are all explored in this story. I find the idea of being able to literally step away from a situation or run away from life as we know it, to be very interesting. When resources are infinite and become devalued, how does this effect society, but also how does that effect one's desire? If you can just leave this Earth and live unbothered in another Earth? It is very interesting!

What I Don't Like

The written structure has taken me some time to get use to. Many of the sentences read funny to me. I'm no grammar expert so I'm hesitant to point fingers in this regard, but I find myself doubling back over a sentence every so often trying to figure out what is being said. Also the only real drive of the plot (at least for me) is the who, what, when, where, and how of these infinite earths: Who discovered them? When did they become available to our Earth? Why are they there? Why didn't we know about it before? How did they form? How were they discovered? I suspect (because this is a series) all these questions will be answered eventually, but for now the plot is a bit slow in terms of answering these questions.

Overall

So far, I say this is a decent read. It's not the I-can't-put-this-down, I'm-prepared-to-stay-up-all-night, type of book I'm used to but interesting nonetheless. I'm curious to know if it picks up as the story continues and still interested in most of the characters introduced in the story. At this point I would definitely recommend checking out the free sample (usually available on Nook or Play Books), from there you can decide if it;s your cup of tea or not.