The Long Earth Series Number 2
From Goodreads
A generation after the events of The Long Earth, mankind has spread across the new worlds opened up by Stepping. Where Joshua 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 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 gathering multiple crises that threatens to plunge the Long Earth into a war unlike any mankind has waged before.

The Long War by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Bit of a disappointment but a continuation of the ‘long saga’. The end was not very satisfying but clearly has been set up for the ‘long arc’ and a television series in due course.

Still has some fascinating pseudo-scientific conceptual notions that if they don’t become too outrageous will allow a lot of future exploration and possibly spin-off stories. The Lobsang story, stepping on other planets, stepping North or South, the gap, and what happens if you keep going? Do you come back to the beginning? Is it all one big cycle? What’s the story of the ray guns and the pathways? So much to develop but I hope they do not lose their – narrative strength – way will be interesting to follow.