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The Long Mars

The Long Mars

Science FictionAlternate History
Pages
361
Published
2014
Language
English

Synopsis

While Datum Earth deals with the political fallout of the Long War, Sally Linsay travels to the Long Mars — a series of parallel versions of Mars, each radically different from the others — alongside her father and a crew of researchers. Meanwhile, Joshua Valienté investigates a community of 'Next', the post-human children of the Long Earth who are developing in directions humans cannot easily follow. The third novel in the Long Earth series by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter.

Prose complexity
5/10

Vibe

AdventurousThought-ProvokingAtmosphericIntellectual
QuestFirst ContactSurvivalRoad Trip

Genres

Science Fiction Alternate History

Authors

S
Stephen Baxter

Stephen Baxter (born 13 November 1957 in Liverpool, England) is an English hard science fiction author. He holds a degree in mathematics from Cambridge and a PhD in engineering from Southampton, and taught mathematics, physics and information technology before becoming a full-time writer in 1995. His work includes the Xeelee Sequence, the Manifold trilogy, The Time Ships (a sequel to H. G. Wells's The Time Machine), the Time Odyssey trilogy co-written with Arthur C. Clarke, and the Long Earth se...

T
Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) was an English author best known for the Discworld series, a sequence of forty-one comic fantasy novels set on a flat world carried through space on the backs of four elephants standing on a giant turtle. Across four decades, the Discworld grew from a parody of sword-and-sorcery fantasy into one of the most sustained works of social satire in English literature, examining politics, religion, science, gender, race, capitalism, and the nature of stories themselves. Pra...

Characters

Sally LinsayProtagonist

Leading the Mars expedition — more capable and more guarded than the human characters around her.

Joshua ValientéProtagonist

Following a different thread on Datum Earth, investigating a new kind of human.

All characters in The Long Mars

Frequently asked questions

  • Is The Long Mars a standalone story?

    This book is the second installment in The Long Earth series, and while it continues the overarching narrative, it can be enjoyed without having read the first book, The Long Earth, as it introduces new characters and a distinct plotline.

  • How does this book connect to Terry Pratchett's other works?

    The Long Mars is part of a science fiction series co-written with Stephen Baxter, which is a significant departure from Pratchett's well-known Discworld fantasy novels. It explores hard science fiction concepts rather than the satirical fantasy he is famous for.

  • Do I need to read the first two books before The Long Mars?

    Yes. The Long Mars is the third novel in a continuous series and requires both The Long Earth and The Long War.

  • What is the Long Mars?

    The Long Mars refers to a series of parallel Mars-equivalents that exist alongside the parallel Earths of the Long Earth. It is explored for the first time in this novel.

  • Who are the Next?

    The Next are a new kind of human child, born with cognitive abilities that exceed normal human range — a post-human development that Joshua investigates in parallel with the Mars expedition.

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