Very much enjoyed this first book in the series. The premise... there are millions of outher universes almost identical to ours (except only ours contains human life with all of it's trappings like buildings and technology), and if you know how, all you have to do is just "step" sideways to enter them. It also means, however, that people could step sideways near (for instance) parliament house, or ANYONE'S house, walk a few meters and "step" back into a private or secure area.
It contains enough clever sillyness to remind you that Terry Pratchett is involved and enough mind-opening, jaw-dropping concepts to remind you that Stephen Baxter was in the mix too. I haven't read any of Pratchett's stuff before - not to self, must fix that - but have read Baxter's Manifold series and loved it so this sounded worth the try. And it was.
The pairing of Pratchett (known predominantly for quirky fantasy) and Baxter (hard science fiction) might sound a bit odd but it works. I can't guarantee who wrote which bits but when you find a piece of implausiably logic or a dad joke passed off as a credible idea, I'm blaming Pratchett.
The thing that kept me readiung was finding out just what they'd find out in the most distant Earths and I liked it the idea that some species were running away from what was down towards the end of the line although I'm still a bit iffy about what they actually find. I assume the sequels will follow through with more info and I'm keen to see where it finishes up.
Anyway, great ideas and a good story well told.
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