The Long Utopia (Long Earth Series #4)

by Terry Pratchett, Stephen Baxter

Overview

“Their trademark world building and questions of morality remain intact . . . The explosive cliffhanger ending—also now something of a trademark—promises one final return to the series.” — Booklist

The fourth novel in Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter’s bestselling series, which io9 calls “a brilliant science fiction collaboration.”

2045-2059. Human society continues to evolve on Datum Earth, its battered and weary origin planet, as the spread of humanity progresses throughout the many Earths beyond.

Lobsang, now an elderly and complex AI, suffers a breakdown, and disguised as a human attempts to live a “normal” life on one of the millions of Long Earth worlds. His old friend, Joshua, now in his fifties, searches for his father and discovers a heretofore unknown family history. And the super-intelligent post-humans known as “the Next” continue to adapt to life among “lesser” humans.

But an alarming new challenge looms. An alien planet has somehow become “entangled” with one of the Long Earth worlds and, as Lobsang and Joshua learn, its voracious denizens intend to capture, conquer, and colonize the new universe—the Long Earth—they have inadvertently discovered.

World-building, the intersection of universes, the coexistence of diverse species, and the cosmic meaning of the Long Earth itself are among the mind-expanding themes explored in this exciting new installment of Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter's extraordinary Long Earth series.

The complete list of books in the Long Earth series include:

• The Long Earth
• The Long War
• The Long Mars
• The Long Utopia
• The Long Cosmos

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062297341
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/26/2016
Series:	Long Earth Series , #4
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	448
Sales rank:	457,877
Product dimensions:	4.10(w) x 7.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) was the acclaimed creator of the globally revered Discworld series. In all, he authored more than fifty bestselling books, which have sold more than one hundred million copies worldwide. His novels have been widely adapted for stage and screen, and he was the winner of multiple prizes, including the Carnegie Medal. He was awarded a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to literature in 2009, although he always wryly maintained that his greatest service to literature was to avoid writing any.

Stephen Baxter is an acclaimed, multiple-award-winning author whose many books include the Xeelee Sequence series, the Time Odyssey trilogy (written with Arthur C. Clarke), and The Time Ships, a sequel to H. G. Wells's classic The Time Machine. He lives in England.

Hometown:

Salisbury, Wiltshire, England

Date of Birth:

April 28, 1948

Place of Birth:

Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England

Education:

Four honorary degrees in literature from the universities of Portsmouth, Bristol, Bath and Warwick

Editorial Reviews

[T]he co-authors have created a tighter, more focused narrative that moves faster than its predecessors. The explosive cliff-hanger ending—also now something of a trademark—promises one final return to the series.

Booklist

08/31/2015
The fourth installment of Baxter and the late Pratchett's ambitious Long Earth saga (after The Long Mars) makes it clear that their imagination and world-building know no limits. In the years since the Yellowstone eruption devastated the original Earth, humans have spread out across the millions of parallel worlds known as the Long Earth, taking advantage of ample resources and near-infinite room. The AI Lobsang has faked his death and now lives a simple life on Earth West 1,217,756 along with his partner, Agnes, and their adopted son. However, that idyllic world hides a bizarre secret: metallic alien bugs have infiltrated from a previously unknown location and are steadily destroying the planet. Lobsang, along with old friends Joshua Valiente and Sally Linsay, must find a way to stop them before the entire Long Earth is imperiled. Despite the epic scope and attention to scientific detail, the authors never lose sight of the human touch—even if that human is an AI. Even so, the text is infused with an introspective air of loss, undermining the story's ultimate impact. Agents: (for Pratchett) Colin Smythe, Colin Smythe Ltd. (U.K.); (for Baxter) Christpher Schelling, Selectric Artists Literary. (June)

Publishers Weekly

“[T]he co-authors have created a tighter, more focused narrative that moves faster than its predecessors. The explosive cliff-hanger ending—also now something of a trademark—promises one final return to the series. — Booklist

From the Publisher

[T]he co-authors have created a tighter, more focused narrative that moves faster than its predecessors. The explosive cliff-hanger ending—also now something of a trademark—promises one final return to the series.

Booklist

Michael Fenton Stevens gives a spirited narration of the fourth title in the Long Earth series. The setting is a parallel Earth universe that is one of a seemingly endless chain of parallel Earths, some of which were visited in the earlier books of the series. Stevens has an opportunity to present the many major characters of the “homo-superior” race, along with a few aliens and terrorists as well. In addition to his seemingly never-ending store of accents, he relies on tone to give dimension and attitude to the characters. Stevens’s well-paced narration stays fresh throughout exposition and dialogue. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

SEPTEMBER 2015 - AudioFile