The books covered so far:
- The Colour of Magic
- The Light Fantastic
- Equal Rites
- Mort
- Sourcery
- Wyrd Sisters
- Pyramids
- Guards! Guards!
- [del]Faust[/del] Eric
- Moving Pictures
- Reaper Man
- Witches Abroad
- Small Gods
- Lords and Ladies
- Men at Arms
- Soul Music
- Interesting Times
- Maskerade
- Feet of Clay
- Hogfather
- Jingo
- The Last Continent
- Carpe Jugulum
- The Fifth Elephant
- The Truth
- Thief of Time
So… we finally come to the last adventure of Cohen the Barbarian. Featuring Evil Harry, the not-so-raven-haired Zena the Raven Haired, assorted odds and gods, Carrot, Rincewind, Leonardo, and miscellaneous monster fish and mad monks, the Silver Hoard (at least the ones who haven’t choked to death on [del]concubines[/del] cucumbers) are determined to die grandly while at the same time giving the finger to the universe.
I re-read my brother’s copy of TLH for the first time in ages this afternoon, and I must say, I found myself giggling hysterically throught most of it. I think I even spotted a Monty Python reference in one of the illustrated footnotes. And the picture of the, er, God of Being Sick is to me worth the whole book. Mind you, I’m easily amused.
One of my all-time favorites. The balance between humor and seriousness is perfect. Here are some examples.
(Re: Mazda stole fire for mankind…and the gods chained him to a rock and an eagle picks out his liver.)
Cohen: ‘He brought fire to everyone, and the gods did that to him, eh? Well…we’ll have to see about that.’
(Re: Leonard faces the gods, who are pissed that he built a flying machine.)
Blind Io: …if we had wanted people to fly, we would have given them wings…Why did you do it?
Leonard: You gave me wings when you showed me birds.
–and–
Leonard: I think I believe in the secret geometries, and the colours on the edge of light, and the marvellous in everything.
Blind Io: So you’re not a religious man, then?
And, of courseAfter they die, mugging the Valkeries and stealing their horses, so they can find other adventures on other worlds.I doesn’t get much better than that, except when your evil foe is killed by a flying tortoise. 
This would have been a great book had Rincewind been left out of it. Cohen the Barbarian and his group are some of my favorite characters, as are the Unseen University staff. It is always a shame that Rincewind has to come with.
I disagree. If it had just been “Carrot saves the universe with help from Leonard”, it would not be as funny. Rincewind bring the funny, he’s the really sensible one in all the craziness. He’s the Everyman.
I’ve loved Rincewind as a fantasy character since* tCoM*, and that has *never *wavered. He ranks up there with Bilbo & Gandalf, Fafhrd & Mouser, Elric and Steerpike to me in the pantheon of greats of Fantasy.
I like Last Hero because I so much prefer Kidby to Kirby, plus it was a nice send-off for the Horde - not too sentimental, but definite.
It was long rumoured that Terry was going to kill off a character, and there was much speculation about who it would be. Terry’s response was always along the lines of “It won’t be who you’re probably thinking.”
When The Last Hero finally came out, I was surprised that the reveal wasn’t met with any fanfare. Most people were more interested in Paul Kidby’s spectacular art, and all the past speculation was forgotten.
Anyway, it’s clear that the whole story, jamming in as many iconic characters as possible into an infeasible plotline, was designed to push the visual storytelling to the fore. But I don’t care - much like Eric I think it works on that level and beyond.
My only problem is, because of its physical dimensions, it’s not such an easy book to casually consume.
“Ankh-Morpork, we have an orangutan…”
Leonard de Quirm
One of my favourite discworld novels – though, as always, I prefer to listen to Stephen Briggs boosting the funny with his reading.
Rincewind had to be in it but I could have lived without Carrot who is one of the characters Pratchett kept to long in a balance between contradictory traits. In contrast to Vimes he more and more become a (plot) tool and ceased to be a personality.
Please, do ignore my orthography. :o