The Last Continent - Terry Pratchett

“Against the stars a turtle passes, carrying four elephants on its shell.” And so begins ‘The Last Continent’, the 22nd Discworld novel by bestselling author Terry Pratchett, which takes as its starting-point the satirical target of Australia. Having once been a massive Discworld fan, going back to the series after so long a gap reminded me of the reason why I tired of the books in the first place, and probably the same reason why the series has now become so perennially popular. Discworld, you see, is a series which has become respectable in a somewhat middle-aged sort of way; reading a new volume feels more like sliding on a ...

At the end of 'Interesting Times', a slight magical miscalculation sees the unfortunate 'Wizzard', Rincewind, end up on the continent of EcksEcksEcksEcks (or FourEcks, if you prefer). It's a large uncharted area of the Discworld, where - as Death's library informs us - the list of dangerous creatures comes in 23 very heavy volumes, whereas the un-dangerous ones consist of "some of the sheep". How on earth - I mean Disc - will the most unmagical wizard ever survive?! For those who haven't been paying attention, Terry Pratchett - recently hailed by the BBC as the saviour and most important modern-day writer of fantasy fiction (although personally ...

Well this month I have sat down and read two Pratchett novels; THE TRUTH was the first one which I really enjoyed and which I have already reviewed, this was the second one. All I can say is that after such a brilliant predescessor, this entry into the Discworld series that is not really a series was nothing but a great big let down. The libarian of Unseen University is suffering from some form of magical ailment (In an earlier book he was transformed into an orangutan(don't ask) and now can only say "ook") and so the Professors of Magic decide to try and come up with a cure-which is a problem because none of them can remember his true ...