The Last Hero - starts slowly but gains momentum all the way to the end
Written: Oct 01 '09
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Doesn't start out too well...
Cons: ...but definitely reaches its quota of belly laughs by the end.
The Bottom Line: The Last Hero is a very good read for Discworld fans. Not sure how much the illustrations add to it (even though theyre extremely good).
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| captaind's Full Review: Terry Pratchett - Last Hero: A Discworld Fable |
The Last Hero is one of the shorter Discworld novels and (possibly) the only one that's only available as an illustrated novel (not sure if you can get it without illustrations). It starts off a bit weakly - some good laughs certainly but the change of narrative viewpoint is simply too frequent. Changing between 2 or 3 main narratives to maintain suspense is something Terry Pratchett normally excels at, but he loses the plot a little here for about the first third of the book - fortunately the rest of the book is priceless.
The plot features Cohen the Barbarian and the Silver Horde who decide that, as fire was taken from the Gods and given to mankind, they want to return the favour - with interest. The Silver Hoarde are a bunch of very old adventurers with tons of experience, so that despite all appearances they just have an ability to be in exactly the right place at precisely the right time.) The wizards of Unseen University are a little against this idea as one of the side effects will be to destroy the universe. Three hapless individuals are left with the task of stopping them - Rincewind, Captain Carrot, and Leonard of Quirm - a mad wizard, a king in waiting who doesn't particularly want to be king, and a mad inventor who's hopeless as coming up with names for his inventions, but has the most brilliant - and dangerous - mind that the Disc has ever seen. The Librarian (an orang-utan, as fans of Discworld will know) also manages to end up on board - which is a little tricky as it's designed to hold a maximum of 3 people.
As the aging barbarians complete with an evil overlord who's quite a nice chap really but must keep down appearances and an old lady who is absolutely deadly with a pair of knitting needles, make their way to the top of the mountain where the deities reside, Rincewind and co. must somehow contrive a way to stop them. It's all good fun, and there are a lot of good jokes thrown into this. It's not particularly recommended for those who are very easily offended, but as with all Pratchett books, pretty much everything in sight gets parodied in the name of humour (so no-one can really feel victimised!). Much of the humour comes from parodying Greek mythology, so I guess having at least a little knowledge of that subject will add to your enjoyment of this book.
The latter half of the book is as good as (almost) anything in the Discworld series, but the first half stutters a bit before it gets going. Still, if you've ever read a Discworld book and enjoyed it, I'm pretty certain you'll like The Last Hero a lot. Once it gets going the storyline moves at a cracking pace, and there are a good few surprises along the way. It's a good mix of characters - Rincewind, the Librarian and Carrot are reliable characters and always good for a few laughs, and Leonard of Quirm is definitely one of my favourite characters in the Discworld series - his brilliance combined with a complete lack of appreciation for what happens in the real world is a great combination for Pratchett's amazing imagination to work with.
Although Paul Kidby's drawings are very good and often quite funny, I have to admit that to me that didn't add a great deal to the book - I'd probably have been happier just reading it. You'll have to decide whether you think the addition of illustrations is a good thing or not. Mostly the drawings a mad, colourful illustrations of a scene in the book, or quite frequently a diagram or design of something Leonard has been working on.
It might seem because of the length and illustrations (and the fact that it's subtitled a "Fable" if Discworld rather than a Novel of Discworld) that this is more a book for children, but that isn't really the case - sure they might find parts amusing and like the mad drawings, but most of the humour will be lost on them. Definitely one for adults, albeit maybe for adults who've never grown up!
Cohen the Barbarian also had a starring role in The Light Fantastic and Interesting Times.
Recommended:
Yes
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