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The Last Hero
If you're the second type, though, be warned that the illustrations in this book are still incredibly, incredibly beautiful. If you're a comic book afficianado, then think of Alex Ross painting caricatures. This isn't the first time artist Paul Kidby (not to be confused with Josh Kirby, who illustrated Eric and most of the British Discworld covers) has tackled Terry Pratchett's Discworld characters, but it is the first time he's tackled an entire story. His art appears next to, above, below, and behind the story on every single page of this oversized book, and despite his habit of giving each character exactly one expression for the entire book, they're always a joy to look at. They're lavish, detailed, stylized, detailed, believable, real. You'll have to be hard-set against having your literary characters drawn for you to object to how Kidby renders them here.
Of course, as they say at Pixar, all the pretty pictures in the world won't rescue a bad story. Which brings us to Pratchett's half of the book. This is a short novel even by Discworld standards, about the same length as Eric, which is probably why the art is there (instead of vice versa). The plot goes something like this: Cohen the Barbarian and his octagenerian cohorts have decided to embark on one last heroic expedition, to return fire to the gods. Specifically, fire in the form of a very large explosive keg, which he intends to detonate inside the home of the Discworld gods atop the mountain at the center of the Disc.
Impossible, you say? Probably not -- after all, Cohen hasn't gotten as old as he is by failing to kill people. And the residents of Ankh-Morpork, magical and non-magical alike, all have reason to believe that his success will mean the end of the entire Disc. So the ingenious Leonard of Quirm is given the assignment of getting himself and a select team to the center of the Disc as quickly as possible in order to intercept Cohen before he gets what he wants.
That "select team," it turns out, consists of Carrot Ironfounderson, the six-foot-tall, red-headed, large-muscled captain of the City Watch, and Rincewind, the worst wizard the Disc has ever seen and the only citizen of Ankh-Morpork who has anything approaching a friendship with Cohen. (They spent half of The Colour of Magic and most of The Last Continent together.) It's the first "crossover" story Pratchett has written with these two major characters, and has probably been demanded by fans for years.
You'd expect the embodiments of perfect courage and perfect cowardice to have some pretty interesting dialogue in this story, but surprisingly, they don't seem to interact that much. Rincewind doesn't have much patience with brave heroes, and Carrot is too polite to force his views on Rincewind. On the other hand, Leonard's relentless imagination and total faith in his own radical inventions makes him a far, far more interesting companion for Rincewind. The two of them get along absolutely dreadfully.
There's also a new villain by the name of Evil Dark Lord Harry Dread, but he's really just a supporting role. Mostly this book is an exercise in giving Rincewind and Cohen another story together, with Leonard and Carrot thrown in to make it all possible. But as Pratchett himself has said in the past, Rincewind just isn't a compelling enough character. His gimmick is that he's a coward, and a very good one, and while it's certainly funny, it's hard to write great stories around a character that refuses to be developed. Both Eric and The Last Hero star him, and both are about half as long as Pratchett's usual novels; I doubt this is a coincidence.
So Cohen's character is really the only one that sees any interesting growth in this book, which is probably why it's named after him and why he's the only one illustrated on the cover. And while it's short, it's still plenty interesting and chock-full of the humor and insights Pratchett's fans have come to love. It's a little annoying that the two teams of characters spend almost the entire book not interacting with each other, because the lack of a united plot has wrecked a few Discworld novels for me. (Soul Music comes immediately to mind.) But this time, the ending redeems it.
Diehard Pratchett fans will buy this regardless of how it's reviewed, of course. But the non-diehards and even non-fans should enjoy it, too -- it's a solid story that gives a quick, fun look at several recurring Discworld characters, and the artwork is so lavish it's almost impossible to say "no" to. The price tag is a bit higher than an ordinary Discworld hardcover, though, so it's really not for first-timers. Give them a paperback copy of Wyrd Sisters or The Light Fantastic instead, to get them hooked on the early stuff. The Last Hero isn't a literary main course, but it's an excellent dessert.
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... (and films?)
:) I pity anyone who watches the Lord of The Rings and then decided to read the book for the first time! That said, I'm really looking forward to it. :)
It's kind of a question of imagination, and how much you like to be told about the authors vision before creating your own.
I am one of the latter[1] non-graphical novel fans, though I wouldn't go as far as to say I hate them. I read a book to enjoy imagining the characters and setting, what they look and sound like etc. It's one of the reasons I never spent much time playing either of the Discworld games, the voices particularly clashed with my own imagined versions, and I didn't think that they did them justice.
It also applies particularly to films: I abhor seeing the film of a good book and then reading it afterward - at least when you read it beforehand and are then disappointed with the film you can also bring out the old cliques, and can re-read the book without fear of being disappointed
1. Latter, as in the 2nd type mentioned in his review.
I can't speak to that, but Pterry's novels aimed towards kids (the Nome books and the Johnny books) are excellent. And far from being dumbed down or simplistic, they are as rich and deep and subtle as any of his other work, just written to subjects that children would identify with more (also both series are set in the modern world).
Although I found "Thief of Time" to be a little tedious in places, I am still amazed at how after 26 or Discworld books, he can still pull exciting and new stories out of his hat.
The main reason, is that like Tolkien, Frank Herbert, David Eddings and very, very few others, the Discworld stories feel like they take place in a real world that exists beyond what is talked about in the stories. It's like he doesn't have to make up anything new, he just needs to describe something we haven't seen yet, and as silly or parodic as it can be, to me, the Discworld is one of the "realest" places in literature.
Take "Star Wars" for instance. To me the "Star Wars" movies never feel like they're taking place in a real world. It always feels to me like nothing exists other than what we see, and despite its aspirations to grand and epic proportions, always comes across as a story about very few people. That doesn't stop me from enjoying them, but it makes it seem less "real" to me. I think the Star Trek movies suffer from it even more, which is interesting because the show (TOS, TNG, and DS9 anyway) generally did not.
Around about ST3, it seems that each story was contrived to get the major characters off on some wild or interesting (or stupid in the case of 5) adventures completely on their own (often against orders), when in the TV shows, they always operated with a crew and under the auspices of Star Fleet.
I think the Hitchhiker's Guide books feel the same way. They occur on a vast scale of space and time (and probability) but never feel like anything really exists other than the few main characters (don't get me wrong, they're some of my favorite books ever).
Anyhow, I seem to have strayed a bit from my original topic. I can only say that sex is more fun than logic. This cannot be proved, but it is. Just like Mount Everest is and Alma Kogen isn't.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.