4 November, 2001
The Last Hero
Pratchett, Terry
Kidby, Paul (Illustrator)
2001
160 pp (HC)
I am SUCH a sucker for extravagenly-illustrated storybooks. A random stranger pointed this out to me in 57th Street Books, and I couldn't resist, not even with a price-tag of $35.
Fortunately, it's a good book. Maybe not worth $35, but very nice, nonetheless. (On the other hand, I've always regretted not buying the illustrated Eric, so maybe it is worth $35.)
Short summary: Back in the mists of time, the first Hero Mazda stole fire from the gods. Now, the world's last Heroes, Cohen the Barbarian and his Silver Horde, have set out to return what was stolen. With interest. Problem is, blowing up the home of the gods will cause the end of the world. Bummer.
The book features scads of Pratchett's characters from previous books: Carrot, Rincewind, Lord Vetinari, Leonard da Quirm, the wizards of Unseen University, Cohen, Death, plus some new ones: Evil Harry, Vena Raven-Hair, the nameless bard kidnapped by the Horde to write the saga of their quest, and an assortment of gods.
Kidby's illustrations are swell-- most of the characters are exactly how I imagine them in my own head. (Except for Rincewind, I imagine him to be older than Kidby draws him.) Like in a good graphic novel, the art is an integral part of the story.
Pratchett is a consummate humanist. It's evident in all his Discworld books, and especially so in this one, where mortals challenge the gods, threaten them, and save the world, ignore the rules of the afterlife, and so forth. Even though it's all supposed to be a game played by the gods, with mortals as pawns, one comes away with the distinct impression that the humans are really in charge of the whole shebang. It's great, really. Usually, you have a fanstasy-land based on some real-world mythology or other. Pratchett's take is refreshing, in that he takes a generic fantasy-land and applies humanist philosophy to it.