Should you read The Long Mars? Yes. Resoundingly yes.
Once again, Messrs Pratchett and Baxter have woven a worthy
addition to the series that began with The Long Earth. In case you’re a late arrival to the
series, the
titular book that started it all dealt with the discovery of a linked
series of parallel long earths that run “east” and “west” of our own “datum” earth and could only be reached by “stepping.”
A few people – like the series’ chief protagonists, Joshua
Valente and Sally Lindsay are “natural” steppers, while the rest of humanity must rely upon stepper boxes that are powered by – this must be an example of Terry
Pratchett’s whimsy at work here – the lowly potato.
So that’s it for The Long Mars. Suffice it to say, you
should read it.
Call the Grammar Police!
Now I want to get to something that’s been bugging me since I wrote last month’s review of Taylor Anderson’s Deadly Shores. You know
how much I love his Destroyermen series.
And I did like Deadly Shores. So I’m puzzling over what I found
repeatedly in his book, such as this admittedly small example:
“But what about me?” Keje demanded. “What of Salissa?” Matt looked at Keje and
couldn’t stop a grin from forming. “You, Admiral, will stay the hell out of
range of anything they can throw at you from shore and keep your planes in the
air.”
Get it? This is
what I saw throughout the novel. I’m no grammar guy, and I know it may seem
like a small thing, but each line of dialogue is its own thought as expressed
by the character, and needs be treated as its own paragraph. The exchange should’ve gone like so,
with each line of dialogue starting on its own sentence:
“But what about me?” Keje demanded. “What of Salissa?”
Matt looked at Keje and couldn’t stop a grin from forming.
“You, Admiral, will stay the hell out of range of anything they can throw at
you from shore and keep your planes in the air.”
I write this with the greatest respect for Anderson, who has
put together a riveting ten-book series that has so far held my admittedly
short attention span. Was he
trying to simulate the give-and-take of an argument? If so, it didn’t work. It
merely forced me to re-read the dialogue, which for me slows down the action.
It bugs the hell out of me.
Meanwhile, you can help out a poor unemployed writer by purchasing Elvis Saves JFK! for just 99 cents and War Plan Crimson, A Novel of Alternate History, for $2.99 and now The Key to My Heart, also $2.99 (all are free to preview). All books -- which are already on Smashword's premium distribution list -- are also available through such fine on-line retailers such as Sony, Chapters Indigo, Barnes & Noble and Apple's iTunes Store. Thanks.