Reviews

Echoing many others, this book is as aggressive in avoiding action as any science fiction novel ever written (with the possible exception of some of Stanislaw Lem's more philosophical works?). As a change of pace, this is an interesting idea, but The Long Earth already broke this ground. Here, we have some compelling personalities and some interesting ideas, but to put it mildly very little happens. No war, just the various issues posed by the long Earth constantly writ small. It's neat to think about, but at some point what you have is the material for a novella expanded out to a novel through landscape and filler. Looking forward, it's awfully hard to convince myself to read #3, given that all of the reviews seem to indicate it is mostly more of the same. At some point, there needs to be some kind of narrative payoff, and it isn't clear it happened here.

alan_g's review against another edition

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3.0

The main plot was interesting but some side plots seemed to be there to flesh out characters to be featured in future books with no real reason to be in this one. Rebeccas plotline could have been removed completely with no effect on the book. Weird

ismisebrendan's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

stephaniemsyed's review against another edition

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4.0

I enjoyed this novel, though, as many other reviews note, the titular War never really happens.

I can be thoroughly immersed in this universe and I'm attached to enough characters, so I don't mind the vignette style and relative lack of plot.

If you're looking for complicated plot lines, you should probably look elsewhere; however, if you enjoyed the world laid out in the first book, you'll be wrapped up in the new and familiar species of the long earth.

librarydoc's review against another edition

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3.0

I’m still a huge fan, but this one wasn’t nearly as good as the first. And I am still unsure about the point of the book, as the title is super misleading. Still, I’m going to attempt the third book and hope the story comes back around.
3.5/5 stars
Adult Fiction (although appropriate for hush school)

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