Book Review: The Long Mars, by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

What can I say: I enjoyed this book. 

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.

I won't say much more, except to say during the intervening years between The Long Earth, its sequel, The Long War, and now, The Long Mars, there have been some serious doings afoot. Drawn by her father with an agenda of his own, Sally is off to explore Mars – which has its own chain of long worlds. Meanwhile, Joshua is also just as much drawn in by a mysterious young man who may be much, much, more than he seems.

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.