Series finale provides food for brain

Terry Pratchett. Photo by ODT.
Terry Pratchett. Photo by ODT.

THE LONG UTOPIA<br><b>Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter</b><br><i>Doubleday/Penguin Random House</i>
THE LONG UTOPIA<br><b>Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter</b><br><i>Doubleday/Penguin Random House</i>
This is the fourth and final book in the Long Earth series, written by the late, great Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, a British science fiction writer whose works definitely fall in the ''hard SF'' category.

They are a odd couple, I will admit; Pratchett has always struck me as an optimist with a keen eye for the absurd while Baxter has a more cynical, detached view of humanity.

You can pick out references to their previous works; one main character is Lobsang, which is also the name of one of Pratchett's more quirky creations.

This book and the series are about exploring big ideas so, alas, there is no Discworld-style hilarity.

There are a few touches of Pratchett's humour brightening the proceedings however.

The setting is an endless number of parallel Earths; people have learned to travel to these other dimensional worlds via a home-made device or in the case of a few, a natural talent known as stepping.

With literally endless worlds to choose from, civilisation is slowly stretching itself apart, with most people content to found their own private colony on an untouched world.

However, a discovery of alien life - previously unknown - has been made on a remote Earth, with dire implications for humanity.

At the same time, a gifted ''stepper'' uncovers the history of his family with ties to the father he never met.

All of this ties into humanity's ongoing evolution and what sort of society may evolve from this.

This feels more like Baxter's book than Pratchett's; much care and attention is given to the big concepts, such as an entire planet being converted into a gigantic engine.

Less goes to the characters, who tend to come across as two-dimensional and making unlikely decisions for the sake of advancing the plot.

Even so, this is still worth reading: there are many awesome scenes and plenty of brain food concerning humanity's future and our survival in a vast universe.

This is one that will be enjoyed the most by the fans of both authors; storylines from the previous three books are tied up and there is a definite sense of conclusion.

 Doug Anderson is a former public service worker, recently returned to Dunedin.

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