Has anyone else read this yet? Yes Kabbes - I’m looking at you.
My impressions:
[li]It’s a HUGE change of formatting. Following the death of Josh Kirby, Paul Kidby has been upgraded from illustrating the Discworld diaries and has taken over the illustrations of the book. Colour illustrations on every page - it’s pretty damn impressive. I understand that in the past UK and American editions have had different covers, but it appears that this time the same edition is being released on both sides of the Atlantic.[/li]
[li]The artwork is beautiful. I was worried that it would be distracting, but after changing gear a little and taking time over every page I loved it. Some of the illustrations are truly stunning and I’m hoping they’ll release one or two as prints on their own. Death petting a kitten is particularly good.[/li]
[li]It’ll be interesting to see how the story fares on its own when it comes out in paperback without the illustrations. It’s much shorter than recent novels and the story did occasionally feel a little shallow, although there are the genuine laugh-out-loud moments and sneaky little references to things like the space programe and Catch 22 we expect from Pterry.[/li]
[li]I felt that it’s less a book to read than a book to take in. I’m not sure that I would be happy if all his future books were done in this format, but I did enjoy this little foray.[/li]
Further thoughts?
So, this is an “illustrated Pratchett” on the same lines as Eric, is it? I have the picture-free paperback copy of Eric, and, though it’s entertaining, it’s notably thinner than the other books, and there were places where I stopped and thought “There’s an illustration to go with that bit, I betcha.”
So, if The Last Hero is a similar format, maybe I’d better go for the coffee-table version. Except of course I haven’t got room and I can’t afford it. But these are details I can usually work around, when it comes to buying books.
I havn’t read it yet, The cost initially put me off. . . . . but I’m sure I’ll find a way around it. I usually buy the paperback version. I just finished The Truth about a week ago. Very good, then I re-read The Fifth Elephant which I think is better.
It’s a great book and well worth the money. Beautifully illustrated and a great story.
That said, I’ve got to quibble with the title: The Last Hero - the new Pratchett
It should be The Last Hero - almost the newest Pratchett
The newest Pratchett is The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, which so far is very good but has a strange Diggers/Truckers/Wings-esque flavor for a Discworld book. Not that that’s bad…
Ah, in the UK Maurice has been out a little while. I expect you know this but in case you don’t, the truckers/diggers/wings feel is because it’s aimed at a younger audience - we stock it in our children’s section. I haven’t had the chance to read it yet. I was thinking I might get it on audio.
I got both books - Last Hero and Amazing Maurice - on the same day. I opted to start with Maurice, largely because it’s easier to read in bed than the picture book.
I have to admit I was surprised by LH - I saw the words “new Terry Pratchett” on Amazon in September and pre-ordered it without checking the details. I haven’t looked at it enough to have an opinion yet, but I do hope it’s not a precedent - otherwise, I’m going to need a bigger bed.
Got it three weeks ago and absolutely adored it. Not as long as one of Pratchett’s “regular” books, but more than made up for by the beeeeeeeeeyooooootiful artwork. I was hesitant about the price at first, but after determining that it was going to be crammed with Kidby’s art, decided to splurge.
I was a bit worried initially that Terry was going to try and cram in cameos from all of the major Discworld characters, but he didn’t, and I eventually accepted that the folks who did appear in the story had very good reasons for doing so.
Francesca, I’m sure the super-sized format is special to this occassion. I don’t think Pratchett plans to slow down any time soon.
And Fenris, I’m very sure that The Amazing Maurice is being advertised as another of Terry’s “young adult” book, which is probably why the writing feels more juvenile to you. Not that it bothers me, personally – I adored the Nomes books, and the Johnny Maxwell stuff…
Anyone else read The Science of Diskworld? It’s a collaboration between Pratchett and some science writers, and it alternates chapters between science essays and a story set in Unseen University. It seems that the wizards have accidently created a miniature universe (ours!) and they get to watch billions of years of physics and evolution unfold.
I too loved the Nome books, but they, the Discworld books and the Johnny stuff all have different “feels” that can’t be explained by saying “young adult” or not. Johnny Maxwell’s stuff is far darker than the Nomes. Not that that’s bad. What I was trying (and apparently failed) to say is that the humor and tone, rather than the target age group has a weird Nomes feel that’s nice, but unexpected given the sharper humor of a Discworld book. The Johnny Maxwell tone would be less unexpected.
Lumpy: Read and loved The Science of Discworld, but avoid the Pterry’s co-author like the plague. I tried one of his solo science books and it was horrible. I suspect Pterry had a large hand in making Science as fun as it was, even the science bits.
Well, the Johnny Maxwell titles tend to deal with weightier issues than the Nomes books, so I’d expect them to be a bit darker in tone. I don’t know if I’d say they were “far” darker, though, since I think the Johnny Maxwell books could be given to a twelve-year-old without any problems.
As a video-game player, I loved probing the morality of the games in Only You Can Save The Universe… Where’s my “Don’t shoot” button?
I have been reluctant to get The Last Hero. This is the first Pterry since Reaper Man I haven’t bought in hardback the week it has come out. Why? Because I don’t trust it. Frankly, I thought Eric was crap. Oh sure, it had its funny moments but there was no depth to it. The philosophical musings and reach-into-your-soul ten-pages-without-drawing-breath moments simply weren’t there. I don’t think they lend themselves to a picture book style.
I’ll probably get it anyway, mind you. Cos I’m obsessed and all. But I don’t expect to particularly like it.
(For those interested: I’m normally rereading one or t’other of the Discowrld books - currently rereading Carpe Jugulum. Just finished the passage where Granny Weatherwax tells Oats her views about religion. By heck, we could do with some of that in GD).
And now I can’t get the thought of a disco world out of my head. A planet entirely populated by John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, Robin Gibb and Disco Stu.
There’s already been a claymation series of Truckers on children’s tv in the UK. I don’t know if they ever carried on though.
I read a good book on mathematics by Ian Stewart, one of the Science co-authors. It was called Nature’s Numbers, or something.
Alex B
More Ian Stewart trivia: he’s a professor at Warwick University. The kabbess had a few lectures with him IIRC. She says he was crap, again IIRC.
He gave a guest lecture at Cambridge once too - bloody awful, it was. It was on an esoteric field relating to dispersion patterns in animal coats (think: why does a leopard have spots) and he mumbled and bumbled his way through. I don’t think anyone in the room understood the half of it.
Which was a shame, because he gave the childrens’ Christmas Lecture at the Royal Society once and was brilliant. And I thought his books were also pretty good.
Yup, and I loved it. The story is perhaps not his very strongest (Am I alone in having the feeling that it’ll be kept “outside” the universe ?), but the illustrations are beautiful. The “realistic” shots, the Leonardo drawings and the Bayeux tapestry style - it all comes together. Excellent book.
Death playing with the kitten was a great painting, as was the one of the dead Discworld. Now, if someone would print “the collected sketches of Leonardo of Quirm”, whoah!
I agree with you that Eric was rather lighthearted, but IMO there’s definitely a good dose of that soul-searching stuff in The Last Hero. Without getting into spoiler material, Cohen’s motivations were genuinely moving, Leonardo’s observations were beautiful, and the final confrontation floored me with the realization of where The Code resides. And, of course, the ending (and the fates of the assorted characters) were all perfectly appropriate without being maudlin.
And I’ll have to disagree with Spiny Norman – this book is definitely going to be an integral part of the universe. It’s way too cool to ignore.