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As anyone who has read my reviews may have realised by now, I am partial to a morsel of Pratchett before retiring at night. Or with my lunch. Or even with breakfast. In fact, any time is a damn good time to devour some Discworld. Terry Pratchett has been delighting his readers for many years now with his books in which he presents a distorted reflection of our own Terra in the entity of the fantastic Discworld universe. Just in case there is any reader out there who is not aware of the singular circumstances comprising the world, Discworld is carried on the back of four elephants which are, in turn, supported on the shell of the giant tortoise, the Great A'Tuin. The Discworld novels, in turn, are supported on the back of gentle satire together with vast humour. The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic introduced now avid fans of that unique world to the glories existing there. The cowardly and not very magical wizard (or wizzard, as was later seen to be emblazoned on his pointy hat) Rincewind experienced great adventures in those first two books, reappeared in some later works, such as The Last Continent but his appearances tapered to nothingness in more recent books such as The Truth and The Thief of Time. Pratchett's style of writing likewise evolved over the series : the first narratives had a sort of innocence which altered to an almost sniggering knowingness of late. The Last Hero finds Rincewind playing a great role as well as revealing a return to the more innocent style of writing. In view of this latter fact, I found myself wondering if Pratchett had written the piece early in his career but since it was too short by itself for a book, held onto it until a suitable opportunity presented itself. Paul Kidby has taken part with Pratchett in many happy collaborations since his own discovery of the Discworld in 1993 (most recently The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents) and has perhaps given fans of the covers illustrated by the great Josh Kirby a perception of the denizens of Discworld as suffering a degree of multiple personality disorder. Whatever. Whether the reader thought he/she could not possibly imagine Rincewind as other than the terrified, white haired and bearded fleeing person pursued by the terrifying multi-legged Luggage, no doubt he/she will be able to have her/his imagination expanded to include the rather younger, and more cowed looking, Rincewind of the later artist. This adventure begins right back in the, well, the beginning, when the hero Mazda stole fire from the gods (who now live in their home, Dunmanifestin, on top of the high mountain, Cori Celesti). Mazda was chained to a rock, as we all know, condemned to the eternal agony of having an eagle come to peck away at Mazda's liver during the daylight. Every day, that is, since the liver regenerated during the night. In the modern day a group of antique heroes bearing such delicious names as Truckle the Uncivil, Boy Willie, Mad Hamish et al. are led by the arch-hero himself, Genghiz Cohen the Barbarian band together to perform one last valiant deed : to return fire to the gods in their own unique manner. On the way, the heroes kidnap a bard who is ordered to write a saga (and be sure to get the names right) and are also joined by formerly lusty Vena the Ravenhaired (whose hair is now rather white) and the Dark Lord, Evil Harry Dread. Of course, so many years after their careers of derring do the heroes now present rather a superannuated appearance - Cohen uses a walking stick as well in addition to his enormous sword and sometimes forgets where he has stowed his false teeth, and Mad Hamish is very deaf and has to be helped in his wheelchair - but all have doughty hearts, notwithstanding. Some of the old heroes, such as Old Vincent the Ripper, who choked to death on a concubine (or was that a cucumber?) are merely there in memory rather than in person, but the gallant band of surviving heroes clings mightily to life. Pratchett, as usual, pokes gentle fun at things of Terra -the genius, Leonard da Quirm has handwriting remarkably similar to that of Leonardo da Vinci, and his sketches also resemble the art of that long dead genius. Rincewind's landing on the Discworld Moon has some parallels with Earthman's own landing on the Terra-bound satellite The Luggage makes a brief appearance, as does Death. Many other characters from past Pratchett sagas materialise, too. While the narrative, when stripped of the art, could perhaps be classed as a novella rather than a novel (I was too busy gulping the words to count them) there is no doubt it is a worthy descendant of its predecessors. As usual, the author/artist combination will leave their ravenous admirers baying for more.
Reviewed by Denise Wels, July 2002
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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