Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (2560)

Content

David McK (3734 KP) rated The Last Hero (Discworld, #27; Rincewind #7) in Books

Jan 28, 2019

<i>Fable (noun): a story about supernatural or extraordinary persons or incidents; legend: the fables of gods and heroes.

[from http://dictionary.reference.com]</i>;

This short story by Terry Pratchett ticks all those boxes with the blurb on my edition reading:

"He's been a legend in his own lifetime.

He can remember the great days of high adventure.

He can remember when a hero didn't have to worry about fences and lawyers and civilisation.

He can remember when people didn't tell you off for killing dragons.

But he can't alwyas remember, these days, where he put his teeth ...

He's not really happy about that bit.

.... He's going to climb the highest mountain in the Discworld and meet his gods. He doesn't like the way they let men grow old and die ... "

What ensues is, by the standards of Discworld novels, perhaps a return to the earlier novels that featured the gods (and Cohen the Barbarian) more prominently than the more recent. Also involved prominently in this story are the Wiz(z)ard Rincewind, Captain Carrot and Leonard of Quirm, with that latter character given more of a role than in the few previous he has been in (excepting, maybe, Jingo).

This is also unusual in that it is an illustrated story: whereas I've always found illustrations to be inferior to imagination when it comes to visualising events and characters, it does add an extra layer to this story - particularly where it concerns Leonard's creations.