Humanity has mastered stepping between the parallel worlds that make up the long earth, and new colonies and trade is springing up. These new world are staring to flex their muscles against the datum earth now, and the sentient creatures that inhabit some of these world are starting to disappear. As the threat of war starts to build, Joshua who was a pioneer in the first book, is called upon once again Following from The Long Earth, which I really enjoyed, I was looking forward to this. However I was really disappointed. There is a lot to like, such as the technology, the stepping, the airships and the worlds that have split that are so near to our world and so alien at the same time. But there is precious little main plot here, lots of little sub plots, but nothing to get you teeth into. I also feel that this was mostly penned by Baxter, as whilst there is some hints of Pratchett, sadly it is few and far between. As with other sequels by Baxter, they don't live up to the promise of the fist book.