I enjoyed reading The Long Mars very much. It wasn't an amazing page turner but it was still very good.
The one this that bugged me the most was that often the writers chose to skip parts that, in my opinion, would've been interesting to read. I can't give examples without spoilers so if you want to avoid spoilers stop reading now.









Spoilers ahead!






The chapter that ended with Maggie sending Mac to treat the creature that Cutler had shot would've been much more interesting if we knew what happened when Mac went down to help it.
Same goes for knowing what the crew members that were left on the Crab world experienced there. ( )

My public library owns The Long Earth (1) but not The Long War (2). Thanks to LibraryThing reviews, it appears that (cliffhanger ending notwithstanding) TLW pretty much ignores the exciting stuff at the end of TLE and goes off on its predecessor's same plot-free, episodic path. Fine then. I can just read TLM (3) now since I own it... (Actual review to follow)

Stuff clearly happened in TLW (2). But I have to wonder if it was mostly on or offscreen, because the episodic, skipping, of TLE (1) is very much in evidence in TLM (3). The first thirty pages skips through four years of events, touching down briefly and flitting on. It's dizzying.

Like its predecessor, TLM draws on familiar tropes from Golden Age science fiction. I found it reminiscent of Hal Clement, Heinlein, and of course (Mars!) Bradbury. Barsoom is mentioned by the explorers, as well.

I have to observe here that reading His Majesty's Airship (S. C. Gwynn) last month was detrimental to my enjoyment of TLM. In the course of TLE, I managed to suspend disbelief because the airship in that book was basically the avatar of "Lobsang", a unique artificial intelligence who is, or may contain the experiences of, a reincarnated human. It is imaginable that a self-aware airship with access to data from many worlds, and more intelligent than humans, could react fast enough and creatively problem-solve to overcome the difficulties encountered in heavier-than-air flight. But by the time of TLM we are told that there are many airships with AI capabilities traversing the Long Earth, the chief method of cargo transport; problematic. AND THEN we're introduced to an expedition with two military airships, one larger than the Hindenburg. Technically unlikely and unsafe for many reasons. It wasn't just the hydrogen that made the airships hazardous, it was their vulnerability to weather and the difficulty of landing and mooring... a single thunderstorm, or a gust of wind for that matter, is a deadly threat to an airship. The metal-cased, helium-filled airships described would not have sufficient lift, either. Especially with a multibillionaire, his entourage, extravagant luggage and weighty medical equipment (hyperbaric chamber for goodness sake) STOWING AWAY. That kind of arrogance and excess baggage is, in part, what scuppered the R101 and the entire British airship program with it on its maiden flight in 1930.

And by TLM we are no longer getting explanations about the difficulty of life without the element Fe (iron). People can mine and shape iron within the confines of a single alternate earth but not step it to the next. The Mars trip depends upon building next to the Gap Earth and stepping through. How easy is a non-ferrous space program? I really don't know, but I'm curious. And incidentally, the iron-can't-travel plot point is fascinating with regard to the fae, who if they exist, presumably Step from earth to earth; perhaps this is addressed at some point in the series, but at this point it's just one of many dangling loose ends.

TLE had super-annoyingly smug Lobsang the AI pilot. There's less of him in TLM, but lots and lots of equally annoying and smug Willis Linsay, one of three on the Mars mission. His hubris causes chaos and deaths, but does not lead to any character growth. And now, waiting in the wings are the Next, a group of youngsters even smarter and more arrogant than Lobsang or Linsay. I think two books of this will be enough for me.

The cover design of the book (and jacket, different and complementary) are exquisite.

This is the third book in The Long Earth series. In this one, we are introduced to The Long Mars, though you have to wait until almost the middle of the book to get there.

There are some novel ideas in this book, but some just seem to be a repeat. Still I enjoyed this book and will continue on with the series. ( )

Start was a bit slow but nevertheless the book picks up pace and then it is unputdownable. The end leaves you asking for more. ( )

good addition to the series. sorta has the same feel as the others where the build up to a plot point has an anticlimactic end. but loved the ideas and worlds that are introduced. if you liked the others you'll like this one as well ( )