Book Review: The Long Utopia

Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter's Long Earth has been quite a treat for me since The Long Earth was published back in 2012. Taking place on an Earth where citizens can "step" into parallel Earths, (basically the same as ours, excepting the fact that human's don't appear to naturally exist on any other Earth discovered so far), the series looks at how, over the course of decades, society would deal with the sudden appearance of effectively unlimited resources and land, simply a step away from everyone.

This book, the fourth of a projected five, was a little melancholy for me, as co-author Terry Pratchett passed away earlier this year, it's hard to read the book without realizing that you are coming down to the last few novels from this writer.

The Long Utopia continues the story from the third book in the series The Long Mars, but in this one an interesting twist is added. New creatures begin to appear in a parallel earth, but unlike humans who've got there by either stepping "east" or "west", these creatures have stepped in from somewhere else altogether, kind of like the sphere who tries to explain his three-dimensional world to a square in Edwin Abbott's Flatland.

Following along with the conceit from the previous novels, all of the main characters are now in their later fifties and early sixties, which definitely adds to the one dimension not benefited by the introduction of the Long Earth, time. No matter how much exploration the characters have been able to do across millions of parallel Earths in the series to date, they are all getting older and their stories will be ending soon.

A good read.

Genre Character of the Week: Thomas

One of my favourite things about speculative and genre fiction is how something so strange and different can be made relatable by a great author and a receptive reader (or viewer or player, depending on the medium).  Whether an alien, machine, or even a simple shape, 

In my latest video game obsession, Thomas Was Alone, developed by Mike Bithell, the main character is a red rectangle called Thomas.  Although Thomas has no face or voice, and is indeed, simply a red rectangle, the game's narration anthropomorphizes the little guy into an intriguing character desperate to help himself and his friends move through a strange and sometimes alarming world.

The game is a pretty simple platformer/puzzle game, wherein you move Thomas and a growing number of his friends through each maze-like level, but is brought to life through great visuals, music and a whimsical narration that demands the game be played with sound, rather than silence.

I'm not quite finished the game yet, but at the rate of five to ten levels a day, I'll be finished soon, and honestly, it ends up being an experience I'm likely to want to replay in the future.

Genre Character of the Week: A Square

Have you ever wondered if there was more to our world than just what you could see? Ever since I saw the film The Matrix, the idea that my world was not necessarily the same place I assumed it was has haunted me. It's kind of funny, because that idea, that there is more to perceive if we only knew how to look has been around for a pretty long time. Take for example, this week's genre character, A Square, from the 1884 novel Flatland, by Edwin Abbott Abbott.

Basically the plot goes as follows; living in a two dimensional world (length and width, but no depth) our main character, A Square, describes his world to us. Basically he explains how the social system works, why circles are better than squares which are better than triangles, etc., then one day he is visited by a creature from another dimension – the third.

This visitor, (called simply – A Sphere), tries to explain to our narrator how his view of the world is limited and just how much is available if you only look for it.

The book itself is a satire on society in the Victorian era, but for the modern fantasy reader, the concept of a three dimensional being visiting a two dimensional world is pretty cool all on its own. What I like most about the Square is his sense of wonder as he begins exploring the different dimensions throughout existence.

The book itself is pretty short, basically an afternoon’s read, and as far as fantastic fiction that also gives an education on mathematic principles, it’s pretty darn cool.