Book:The Long War

Book:The Long War
Co-author(s)	{{{coauthors}}}
Illustrator(s)	{{{illustrator}}}
Publisher	Doubleday
Publication date	Jun 20 2012
ISBN	0857520091
Pages
RRP	£18.99
Main characters	Percy Blakeney, Monica Jansson, Willis Linsay
Series	[[:Category:|]]
Annotations	View
Notes	with Stephen Baxter
All data relates to the first UK edition.

The follow-up to The Long Earth...

Blurb

A generation after the events of The Long Earth, mankind has spread across the new worlds opened up by Stepping. Where Joshua Valienté and Lobsang once pioneered, now fleets of airships link the stepwise Americas with trade and culture. Mankind is shaping the Long Earth , but in turn [[the Long Earth|The Long Earth] is shaping mankind. A new ‘America’, called Valhalla, is emerging more than a million steps from Datum Earth, with core American values restated in the plentiful environment of the Long Earth - and Valhalla is growing restless under the control of the Datum government.

Meanwhile the Long Earth is suffused by the song of the trolls, graceful hive-mind humanoids. But the trolls are beginning to react to humanity’s thoughtless exploitation. Joshua, now a married man, is summoned by Lobsang to deal with a gathering multiple crisis that threatens to plunge the Long Earth into a war unlike any mankind has waged before.

Characters

• Sister Agnes
• Nelson Azikiwe
• Brian the Beagle
• Carl the troll.
• Bill Chambers
• Captain Ed Cutler
• Monica Jansson
• Finn McCool the Kobold
• Herb Lewis
• Li-Li, a Beagle.
• Lobsang
• Sally Linsay
• Petra the GrandDaughter
• Shi-Mi, a Cat who isn't all she seems.
• Snowy, another Beagle.
• Helen Valienté
• Joshua Valienté

Things and Concepts

• The Neil Armstrong
• The Benjamin Franklin
• The Game

• The Shillelegh
• The Troll-Call
• Stepping

Locations

• Earth East 1-6 prove people just can't be trusted with brand spanking new planets to colonise.
• 191,248 - a slightly shop-soiled Long Earth.
• 485,671: a Joker World.
• 831,264: a Joker.
• 1,176,865
• 1,349,877
• 1,400,013
• 1,617,848
• 1,617,524 The home Long Earth of the Beagles.
• 2,217,643: the nearest Long Earth to the Gap.
• Datum Earth
• Hell-Knows-Where
• Rectangles
• Valhalla

Annotations

Lots and lots. As a general remark, it would seem that Terry is slyly slipping in lots of references to people and events in the Discworld series to delight the fans, or else to see if anybody notices.

• Corgi paperback page 400: - Carl the troll is outraged at an ignorant and malicious human downgrading him to the status of a mere mindless animal. He grabs the hapless youth by the ankle, lifts him upside down, and bounces his head off the ground until a human he respects politely asks him to let go. It appears that trolls are incensed by use of the A-Word.
• Corgi paperback page 431: the speculation about the Huge God that fell to the Long Earth known as 1,349,877 and whose body changed the face of the very planet. Hmm. The Fifth Elephant reference here?
• The Joker world 1,617,848 was home to an advanced civilisation, who had access to technology and who were religiously-minded, who used a Pyramid as a power source and storage point for a lot of energy. It is implied the Great Pyramid was responsible for bringing about the end of their civilisation. Hmmm. A shout-out to Pyramids?
• Corgi paperback page 466 and on: Joshua Valienté is forced to run for his life and escape capture from pursuing Beagles. the deal is, if he wins he gets peace between humans and Beagles, If he dies he becomes a trophy head on the wall. Effectively he is playing The Game as it is known in Überwald. And against creatures who have all the attributes of Werewolves.