The Last Continent: A Novel of Discworld by Terry Pratchett (MOBI)

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Ebook Info

  • Published: 2009
  • Number of pages: 390 pages
  • Format: MOBI
  • File Size: 1.20 MB
  • Authors: Terry Pratchett

Description

Something is amiss at Unseen Unversity, Ankh-Morpork’s most prestigious (i.e., only) institution of higher learning. A professor is missing—but a search party is on the way! A bevy of senior wizards will follow the trail wherever it leads—even to the other side of Discworld, where the Last Continent, Fourecks, is under construction. Imagine a magical land where rain is but a myth and the ordinary is strange and the past and present run side by side. experience the terror as you encounter a Mad Dwarf, the Peach Butt, and the dreaded Meat Pie Floater.Feel the passion as the denizens of the Last Continent learn what happens when rain falls and the rivers fill with water (it spoils regattas, for one thing). Thrill to the promise of next year’s regatta, in remote, rustic Didjabringabeeralong. It’ll be asolutely gujeroo (no worries).

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Always enjoy reading the exploits of the wizards of unseen university. Great book from beginning to end. Excited to open the next discworld novel.

⭐Quick – what do you know about Australia?I reckon if you live in Australia, you probably know quite a lot. If you’ve known someone from Australia or perhaps have visited there, you might know a few things. If your experience is limited to a few “Crocodile Dundee” movies and the Crocodile Hunter, then you could probably stand to know a little more. No matter what your level of Australiana is, though, you probably know at least enough to get a lot of enjoyment out of this book, Terry Pratchett’s homage to the strangest continent on Earth.Now keep in mind, Pratchett does state quite clearly that this is not a book about Australia. “It’s about somewhere entirely different which happens to be, here and there, a bit… Australian.” So that’s okay then.Really, this is Pratchett’s homage to Australia, a country that he clearly likes a lot. In reality, Australia is a pretty strange place. It’s a giant island, most of which is barren desert. It’s been disconnected from the other continents for so long that evolution has given us species unlike any others on Earth. Pretty much anything that you come across, from the lowliest spider to the cutest jellyfish to the weirdest platypus, is deadly. The country is a tribute to Nature, both in its beauty and its danger, and really deserves more attention than it gets.In one memorable scene, Death asks his Library for a complete list of dangerous animals on the continent known as XXXX, aka Fourecks. He is immediately buried under books, including Dangerous Mammals, Reptiles, Amphibians, Birds, Fish, Jellyfish, Insects, Spiders, Crustaceans, Grasses, Trees, Mosses and Lichens of Terror Incognita, volume 29c, part three. A slight exaggeration? Perhaps. He then asks for a complete list of species that are not deadly, and gets a small leaflet on which is written, “Some of the sheep.”This book isn’t about Death, though, as much fun as that may be. This is about the worst wizard on the Disc. The classic inadvertent hero, who had seen so much of the world but only as a blur while he ran from danger. The hero who truly just wants to be left alone, perhaps with a potato – Rincewind.What you most need to know about Rincewind is that he absolutely does not want to be a hero. He craves a boring life, one in which the most he has to worry about is whether to have his potatoes baked, mashed, or deep fried. He does not want to be chased by mad highwaymen, put in prison for sheep theft, or required to completely change the climate of an entire continent. He doesn’t want to time travel, be guided by strange, otherworldly kangaroos or fall in with a troupe of suspiciously masculine female performers. He just wants peace and quiet.The universe, of course, has other ideas. And so it is up to Rincewind to once again save the day. The continent of Fourecks has never seen rain – in fact, they think the very idea of water that falls from the sky is ludicrous. But there are legends of what they call The Wet – the day when water will be found on the surface of the ground, rather than hundreds of feet below it. And while they don’t know how it will happen exactly, they do know it will happen. Lucky for Rincewind, the universe has chosen him to make sure that it does.I really can’t list all of the Australia references because there are just too many. From drop bears to Vegemite, Mad Max to Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, they’re pretty much all there.This book is, like so many other Discworld, books, a lot of fun to read. One of the more interesting sections in the book is one that’s not strictly necessary. Exploring a strange window in the University which, for some reason, leads to a beach, the Wizards of the Unseen University find themselves marooned thousands of miles away and thousands of years back in time. On this weird little island, they meet one of the most unusual gods on the Disc – the god of evolution.This god isn’t interested in the normal godly things – lolling about and being worshiped, occasionally smiting a few followers here and there. As Pratchett puts it, “It is a general test of the omnipotence of a god that they can see the fall of a tiny bird. But only one god makes notes, and a few adjustments, so that next time it can fall further and faster.” This god of evolution is devoted to making life forms better, often one at a time, and lives on a strange little island where there’s only one of everything, but everything yearns to be useful. With him, the wizards are able to explore evolution and natural selection and figure out why sex is just so darn useful.I say that this section isn’t strictly necessary because it just isn’t. It’s certainly interesting, and I suppose the god’s island is a nice echo of the real Australia, where evolution has had a long time to tinker and come up with some really weird stuff, but in terms of the story, it’s not all that important a plot point. In fact, the wizards in general don’t contribute much to the story other than to make it longer and funnier. Their exploration of evolution and Rincewind’s unwilling quest to bring rain to the barren land of Fourecks are almost wholly unrelated to each other, up until the very end.This isn’t to say that they’re unwelcome – I love watching the wizards explore the world. The combination of personalities whenever all the wizards get together is one that offers endless hours of reading fun, and I think that without them, the book would have been less enjoyable. They’re just not essential to the plot, is all, and if that kind of thing is important to you, then you might not enjoy this book so much.Me, I love science and I love Discworld. While the actual Science of Discworld series was kind of dry and boring in the end, I love it when Pratchett explores real-world science through the eyes of his Discworld characters. By looking at science from another perspective, he is able to make it perhaps a little more understandable to people who otherwise might write science off as “too hard.”This book is a trip through time and space and Australia. It’s a long, strange trip, to be sure, but an entertaining one.—————————————————-“It’s not many times in your life you get the chance to die of hunger on some bleak continent some thousands of years before you’re born. We should make the most of it.”- The Dean—————————————————–

⭐I know way too many adults who, if they read at all, only read off the New York Times best sellers list. Not that there is anything wrong with most of these books; what’s bizarre is there attitude toward other sorts of books. Part of this phenomenon has to do with being socially adept. Heaven forbid that someone at a cocktail party should start talking about the newest book by Christopher Hitchens (note the comic irony; ‘heaven forbid’/Christopher Hitchens – it’s funny ’cause he’s an atheist) and you haven’t read it yet. Worse yet from my point of view are those people who rave about the latest and ‘greatest’ novelists. They insist that you read these gems of brilliance immediately. It’s not that I have a problem with a book about how a quadriplegic, lesbian, feminist with a learning disability finds love and professional fulfillment saving the whales and discrediting the Republican Party. It’s just that more often than not these books and their authors are forgotten in ten years; and in the mean time you still have not read Middlemarch.I suddenly find, having just looked at the clock, that I have to run off to my next thing. Thus I shall be brief.There are certain books that children are not prepared to read. I would not suggest handing Mein Kampf to an eight year old and suggesting that they read it and ‘Get back to me with you thoughts on its message.’ (Yes, Virginia, monsters do exist). The difference is that as adults we have already been children, and thus retain, sometimes hidden way back in the deep recesses of our minds, the unrestrained joy of reading like a child. It’s sort of like the NEWS. Of course you should read the newspaper (Sarah Palin take note) and watch Washington Week, but that does not mean you shouldn’t put it all in perspective by watching the Daily Show and South Park. And this is why I love books by Terry Pratchett. Not that they are, strictly speaking, for children or young adults. But they are presented in such a way as to not make you feel that you are being crushed under the weight of Saturn. I am not yet through his entire Discworld series but I am far enough along to be merrily convince that we are all quite, utterly, stark raving mad (and quite doomed if not for the efforts of Lord Vimes, Granny Weatherwax and the like). I don’t neglect my ‘adult’ reading (no; I don’t mean dirty books – get your heads out of the gutter) but I decompress by still seeing the world through my younger, more hopeful, puckish eyes. This is something we who are adults can and should do, because while a child does not yet have the intellectual tools to deal with more mature themes, we as adults still do have the ability to get great pleasure from lighter fare.Terry Pratchett’s books do this wonderfully. I whole-heartedly recommend, at the very least, his first twenty-two Discworld books. I suspect I could go farther than this and give a blanket recommendation but one does not recommend that which one has not read. In the vernacular of his homeland ‘He’s bloody brilliant’.

⭐The continent of Ecks Ecks Ecks Ecks is not Australia. Just let’s make that clear up front. The Kangaroos are entirely coincidental.Anyways, Rincewind the wizzard pitches up in Australia for no obvious reason, and this book explains stuff. It may be because Sir Terry fancied a holiday somewhere sunny, and which he could put down to research expenses. Good on yer Tel.

⭐This is another great book in the famous Discworld series, in this book we are transported to the magical, mystical world that Terry Pratchett has created. We meet characters such as: Rincewind, Luggage, The Libarian, DEATH and Mustrum Ridcully.In the book we go on another great adventure with Rincewind (the wizard who can’t quite spell wizard) and his faithful companion Luggage, this book can be read as a stand alone book which is great if you havent managed to track down all of the series yet. It is full of funny moments that will have you laughing and maybe even crying with laughter, the writing style is done in a way that makes you be able to visualise the conversations that the characters are having with each other as if you are actually there in the room with them. This is a great book for young adults and adults, it is sure to make your imagination stretch and expand. It is one that is also very hard to put down and step away from, you are sure to find yourself back reading it. I love this book!

⭐How is it that every Discworld book ever written is, besides being a rattling good yarn, also a very shrewd commentary? The invention of Vegemite, the gestation of one of the oldest continents, the place of the aborigine and many, many other characteristics of life in Oz are covered. I loved it.

⭐Terry Brooks was such a brilliant writer. This book is a standalone story with characters from the disc world series. Some of the wizards have got themselves lost in time and the world is suffering from a drought. Mayhem ensues and the hero of the hour has lost his luggage. A tale full of twists and humour.

⭐I am sure if you are a discworld fan, this will fall into line of a great discworld book for you.Reading the series again, {and going through the themes this time!} This story focuses on the wizzards and Rincewind on a place that has a surprisingly resemblance to Australia.It does what Pratchett does best by making the mundane magical, and a book so full of anecdotes that you often read back over lines again, to get the joke a second time.Rincewind is great as ever as a character on the run. The book is fast paced and does “run” through the story. The wizards side story is definitely needed to slow it down or pad it out maybe.Not the best Wizzard story and I think Rincewind is running out of steam, I doubt he could have done much more with him after this book. The ending does come together abit too quick for me too with not an awful lot of explanation.One not to start with but definitely not one to miss.RIP the legend that always will be. Terry

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