Like its prequel, The Long War is a slow burn. It builds the story slowly (and seemingly haphazardly, if you haven't read Pratchett's multi-plotted Discworld series). However, the end of the journey is well worth the wait. TLW picks up several years after The Long Earth leaves off, and Joshua Valiente is in a very different place in his life. However, he once again finds himself embroiled in one of Lobsang's schemes to untangle the web of consequences created by mankind's discovery of the stepwise worlds.

Almost the entire cast of the last book returns along with some new characters who add more depth to an already multilayered story. The hodgepodge comes off beautifully overall, although we don't get much as much insight in Joshua and Sally as I would have liked. But TLW offers a much better picture of what it might mean to politics, faith, and our individual sense of importance and security to suddenly discover that neither our universe, nor or place in it as sentient beings, is unique. While several questions from TLE are resolved, the final act throws a curveball that nicely sets the stage for another installment.


I highly recommend this book. It's a wonderfully thoughful and witty take on the parallel worlds trope with enough science to feel grounded, but not so much that the characters stop being the most compelling part of the story.