The Last Hero - Terry Pratchett

If you’re a hardened Terry Pratchett fan, you will undoubtedly be eagerly waiting each year for the next instalment of the Discworld series. It generally arrives right before Christmas, and makes the perfect present for your Disc loving friends or family members, hey that’s my excuse. Last year came The Last Hero, and the first thing I noticed was that is was a bit on the short side. I was a little perplexed by this and I felt a little cheated out of my yearly Pratchett dose. But then again, The Last Hero is not a Discworld novel, is it: it’s a fable, or “short story with a morale” or “ a legendary tale”, and is beautifully ...  Read the complete review

Terry Pratchett seems to be very much a love him or hate him kind of a writer. I’m glad to say I fall firmly into the former category, and the release of a new Discworld novel is always a bit of an event. I must say, though, even I’m a bit concerned about just how many new releases there are these days – it used to be a new book in time for Christmas (very handy), and probably another one midway through the year, but (despite all the decorations in the shops pointing to the contrary!) we’ve yet to hit the festive season this year. Ah well, never mind. Terry Pratchett is a nice light-hearted read whatever the time of year. The Last Hero ...  Read the complete review

I was about to write a bad review about this book. I was about to say how much of a disappointment it was - when I found out there was another Pratchett / Kidby collaberation on the way I was expecting a repeat of the fantasticness of Eric, and Last Hero fell somewhat short. I was about to say how formulaic the book was. But then I thought, well I've more or less kept up with the comic fantasy world this year - the Tom HOlts, Andrew Harmans, Robert Rankins and other wannabes - so what have I read that was better. The answer was, only the other Terry Pratchett novels on my annual re-reading of them. Nothing else came close - in fact Tom Holt's last two ...  Read the complete review

'The Last Hero' is a picture book for adults. At first appearance it seems a bit like a book for young children since it's bigger than a normal novel, and the story is interspersed with some fabulous and inspired art. Unlike books for small children however, there's a fair amount of text, and some of the artwork consists of amazingly complex and detailed diagrams. The story is set on the Discworld. This is Terry Pratchett's imaginary world which is shaped like a disc, and travels through space on the backs of four gigantic elephants, who stand on an even more enormous turtle. It's peopled with wizards, trolls, dwarfs, vampires... indeed, just about every ...  Read the complete review

With somewhat of a change in format, Terry Pratchett brings us a Discworld Fable, as opposed to the usual novel. So what you might ask, is the difference? Fable:- a) A story, esp. a supernatural one, not based on fact. b)a myth or legendary tale. Novel:- a) A fictitious prose story of book length. That's that cleared up nicely then! So back to the 'fable' in question. The Last Hero opens with a glimpse of the universe from the turtle's eye. And a rather teasing allusion to the story, especially the bit involving a cucumber. Then it's on to Ankh-Morpork, and the delivering of a message by the Pointless Albatross. The message ...  Read the complete review