The Long Earth

So after typing this all out, I realized I have a number of thoughts....if you haven't read the Discworld, or much of Terry Pratchett, this probably won't feel relevant to a critique of this book,  it's a subjective review, I realize. 
Disclaimer done, onto the ranting! 

Solidifies my preference for Terry Pratchett's fantasy over his sci-fi. I was unwilling previously to come to any solid conclusion as to the strength of his sci-fi as his previous SF books are among his earliest works, but given the publishing date on the start of this series, I feel safe in saying it just doesn't have the same life as his fantasy.
 I acknowledge that the Discworld books, especially the earlier volumes are usually more about the adventure than the people involved. While wonderful exceptions in the persons of Moist Von Lipwig, Tiffany Aching and my fave, Samuel Vimes exist, personal development always felt secondary to larger social commentary, which, don't get me wrong, worked very well. 
But in this sci-fi series, about 50% of the social commentary space is now speculative science, and that combined with the very shallow reaches at interpersonal storytelling leaves it feeling a bit empty. 
I don't know the level of Stephen Baxter's influence on this overall vibe, I've never read from him solo and I could not detect a unique voice.
 Even more distressing, there's almost no evidence of the quirky, cheeky, even hilarious warmth I so love about Pratchett's writing in the Discworld series. 
This book was published between Snuff and Raising Steam so I KNOW it can't be down just to the tragedy of Pratchett's final years managing the effects of his Alzheimer's. 
As a series starter, it ends disatisfactorily, not quite on a cliffhanger, presumably to get you to read on, and because so much was covered there was no way it would all be tied up in one book. But even being desperate for those remaining works written by an author now passed, I'm not sure there's enough of his voice evident here to make me want to continue. 
This also makes me lean further towards my developing hypothesis that rather than having a preference for either sci fi or fantasy, I need works in either genre to not go so high concept that they lose moments of human warmth and humour. 
If you have an interest in archaeology/the evolution of early man, the potential of AI/reincarnation, whatever branch of physics multiverse is covered under, or politics/manifest destiny BS there's a number of interesting threads explored here. 
Do not get me started on why the two British authors decided to set not only the bulk of the action, but the bulk of the characters as American (without being able to leave some of their palpably English idioms behind)?!
Perhaps as a result of my difficulty in staying invested in the story, it struck me that the premise could make a good video game (don't trust my assessment, I never got the hang of that form of entertainment): traveling between parallel worlds, not always very different from modern earth, so not too much a strain on the design department, with an option to either explore further, encounter species, OR set up a new civilization/pioneering on a certain world. 

Perks: badass Harley riding, fed clobbering nun; robot cat that acts as a humane live trap for rodents; the times I could count on one hand that AI/reincarnated Lobsang was amusing in his incongruity i.e. sampling experiences/interacting with humans
 
Definite NOs: the ‘for the plot' basically unexamined abandoning of one kid to go off and explore the universe, a family we barely hear from in relation to this kid after the abandoning, a kid we don't hear from until the resentment has reached catastrophic proportions;
 I don't need the guy in his twenties appraising the attractiveness of the girl who ‘looked in her late teens' 😑 ; Sinister ‘paradise filter' on one world apparently ableist as well. 

Even in Ankh-Morpork, the famously corrupt city of the Discworld, I felt like the best bits of humanity were shining among the worst, and even the worst had the option for redemption.  Maybe it's a function of speculative sci fi that the worst case scenario is examined a little more often, but I felt like there were a lot less moments to remember humanity's positive as well as negative traits in this book. 

Will I eventually cave and sample the next book in the series? Probably. Although the fact that it's called The Long War is not making me more enthusiastic. 🤷🏼‍♂️