The Last Hero: A Discworld Fable (Discworld, 27) by Terry Pratchett (MOBI)

Description

Cohen the Barbarian.He’s been a legend in his own lifetime.He can remember the good old days of high adventure, when being a Hero meant one didn’t have to worry about aching backs and lawyers and civilization.But these days, he can’t always remember just where he put his teeth…So now, with his ancient (yet still trusty) sword and new walking stick in hand, Cohen gathers a group of his old — very old — friends to embark on one final quest. He’s going to climb the highest mountain of Discworld and meet the gods.It’s time the Last Hero in the world returns what the first hero stole. Trouble is, that’ll mean the end of the world, if no one stops him in time.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: About the Author Sir Terry Pratchett was the internationally bestselling author of more than thirty books, including his phenomenally successful Discworld series. His young adult novel, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, won the Carnegie Medal, and Where’s My Cow?, his Discworld book for “readers of all ages,” was a New York Times bestseller. His novels have sold more than seventy five million (give or take a few million) copies worldwide. Named an Officer of the British Empire “for services to literature,” Pratchett lived in England. He died in 2015 at the age of sixty-six.Paul Kidby became a freelance illustrator in 1986. Since then he has worked on projects ranging from computer game packaging to magazine covers. He began reading the Discworld novels in 1993 and was immediately inspired. He has produced, with Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs, numerous Discworld items, including Discworld Diaries, The Discworld Portfolio, cards, book covers, and calendars. He lives in England.

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

⭐”The Last Hero: A Discworld Fable”, is a basically Discworld novella by Terry Pratchett that is lavishly illustrated by Paul Kidby, coming in at around 160 pages, about half of which are in large-font text which tells the story, and the other half are illustrations, character portraits, and other fun stuff.Back in the 1980’s, I discovered Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels not too long after he began publishing them, and I eagerly bought each new book as it was released. My favorite leading character was Rincewind, but as time went by, Mr Pratchett centered his books around other, different leading characters and poor Rincewood faded mostly away. Nothing wrong with that, as to a certain extent, Rincewind is pretty much a one-trick pony, and Mr Pratchett couldn’t grow the Discworld universe around just one character, but I wasn’t as interested in many of the newer characters. After about 20 or so books, I kind of lost interest in the series, but I’ve generally kept my eye out for any stories containing Rincewind in any significant degree. So, I was pleased to recently discover “The Last Hero”.The story focuses around the aged Cohen the Barbarian and his Silver Horde’s attempt to return fire to the gods by delivering the Discworld equivalent of a nuclear bomb. Unknown to Cohen, this act basically would destroy Discworld. Cohen is old, and having basically beaten, robbed, or conquered everything on Discworld at one time or another, is bored and doesn’t want to die of old age. He doesn’t really believe he can beat the gods, though, and just wants to go out in a blaze of glory. However, Cohen being Cohen, he could potentially pull it off.Various well-known characters and factions on the planet find out about Cohen’s attempt, and band together to put a team forward to attempt to deflect Cohen from his purpose. (Rincewind, happily, is an involuntary part of the team.) The story is well written and entertaining, and the illustrations fit well with the text. My favorite illustration is of Verna the Ravenhaired, who basically looks like the kindly (but still deadly) grandmother she’s become, but is dressed in chainmail and clutching a long, well-used sword.I enjoyed the book and enjoyed re-visiting Discworld again after so long of an absence.

⭐The Gods are on notice as the greatest heroes of the Disc are headed for their heavenly abode on a quest to return the fire stolen by the first hero, except there’s a catch. The illustrated Discworld novella The Last Hero is the twenty-seventh in the humorous fantasy series written by Terry Pratchett and assisted by artist Paul Kirby. And once again Pratchett follows his first protagonist Rincewind racing to save the world.Cohen the Barbarian and his Silver Horde have left their imperial possessions on the Counterweight continent and are heading for the home of the Disc’s Gods with the gift of fire first stolen by the legendary First Hero, unfortunately the old men are planning to blow the place to smithereens which would have the unfortunate side effect of destroying the Disc. To the rescue is Leonardo da Quirm, Captain Carrot, and a reluctant Rincewind—who only joins because if he didn’t he’d find himself on the journey by some horrible twist of fate—traveling the quickest way they can get to the abode of the Gods, over the Rim and through space. This short story is given a remarkable boost with the illustrations of Paul Kirby who brings to life so many great characters from all over the Disc, as well as two new secondary characters. Yet not only do characters get a stunning portrayal but so does the geography of the Disc as well in stunning pictures that makes you just want to stop reading and stare at them to take in all the details.The novella itself is pretty straight forward unlike a regular Discworld novel in which little sidebars populate the narrative to humorous effect, but with The Last Hero the illustrations more than make up for that. While considered a part of the Rincewind series, the Disc’s worst wizard is more a tag along character in a story dominated by usually secondary characters. However for longtime fans this won’t be a problem given the story and the amazing illustrations.

⭐(…) First, let me say what I do not like about the book. It is a coffee table sized book, with too many illustrations. It is too expensive (though I paid about half list with coupon). Some of the illustrations are really great, some are very funny, really, the only problem is that there are way too many, sometimes two pages. I did not realize this when I purchased the book. I thought it was like previous ones, just shorter. The size of the book makes it awkward to take places…..With that said, the writing style is pure Pratchett, very funny in places. It is not the best of the series, but perhaps in the top ten. I am almost finished with the book, and it actually is getting better as I go. I was not too happy with it at first, but there are at least 5 different times when I burst out laughing, and then re-read the paragraph and started laughing again. The characters are all old favorites, I just wish the story line did not jump around quite so much. For the price, the book deserves 3 stars. For the literary content a 5. The art work is great, but too much. So over all, I think a 4 is fair. If you are a die hard fan like me, you have to buy the book now. You can’t wait. I know. I needed my fix right away. If you are not a die hard fan, I would suggest you wait until this ends up in the bargain bin/discount rack. At half the list price, I am happy. Anywhere close to list and I would have felt cheated. (Of course, this may be more personal than anything else). In any case, if you are reading this, you have already pretty much decided to buy the book, and are already one of the poor, addicted fools, like me. So, buy the book already and enjoy! 😉

⭐This is the second illustrated Discworld novel from Terry Pratchett after Eric, his collaboration with sadly missed Josh Kirby. It’s hard to know how to describe it – Pratchett has written a story and Paul Kidby has illustrated it, but the illustrations are essential to the story and the story essential to the illustrations. It isn’t really a graphic novel or an illustrated book, but somewhere between. And it is a true collaboration between two great talents to produce something quite brilliant.Pratchett weaves a tale around one of my favourite Discworld characters – Cohen the Barbarian, a lifetime in his own legend. Generally pissed off with the world and the Gods, he decides to go out with a bang. It’s up to Rincewind, Carrot and Leonard of Quirm to stop him and save the world! It plays on themes of old age and the challenges it brings, whilst simultaneously playing around with themes of the heroic saga and the battle between good and evil.It’s a great tale, and the pictures really do bring it to life. Highly recommended, 5 stars.Note; this review is for the 2001 hardback edition. It was re-released as a paperback in 2002 with 16 pages of extra illustrations. I have bought both, and the extra pictures do add to the enjoyment. The downside, of course, is that the softback is less robust to repeated readings. I would, however, have to say that if you are buying for the first time then the paper back is the one to get.

⭐The Last Hero is by Interesting Times out of Men at Arms, and it’s Terry Pratchett at his inimitable best. Although short (I read it in one morning), the book is a wonderful concoction of Nordic saga, Greek myth and Renaissance ingenuity, with a bit of Apollo 13 thrown in for good measure.As always, Pratchett combines pure comedy with razor-sharp observation of human foibles, combined with an ability to cut through to the essence of things: ‘People think that it is strange to have a turtle ten thousand miles long and an elephant more than two thousand miles tall, which just shows that the human brain is ill-adapted for thinking and was probably originally designed for cooling the blood. It believes mere size is amazing…There’s nothing amazing about size. Turtles are amazing, and elephants are quite astonishing. But the fact that there’s a big turtle is far less amazing than the fact that there is a turtle anywhere.’Paul Kidby’s gorgeous illustrations are a tour-de-force, and, quite apart from the ingenious story-line, make this a must-have for Pratchett fans.

⭐I have never read a discworld novel that doesn’t make me laugh, even coming back to books i have read and re-read literally hundreds of times.The series gets funnier the more involved in it you become. This is a very rare thing, and while I wouldn’t call the author genius, I’d say he’s close enopugh to have quite a lot of the light from genius shining on this work, and all of the others in the discworld saga.Add that to the fact that he’s now got the Wee Free men to play with as well, and the opportunities are endless.I await his next book with the same anticipation I had for the first. Possibly the greatest author who ever looked round at the world and wet himself laughing!!All I can say is thank you Terry Pratchett!

⭐Lots of the old characters in the story,but only the odd mention of them.Very much a half-hearted attempt at a novel, although it does have itsfunny moments.

⭐I bought this book for its pictures – they stir something in me. The picture of the bard singing his saga holds the essence of romantic wildness – the heavy moon, the crags, the lyre made of a human skull, the bard’s flowing hair and streaming tears. I also loved the notebooks of Leonard of Quirm, full of jokes and yet copied from the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci – but with the writing the right way round, and in English. I prop the book open to a different picture each day. The story’s good, too.

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