The Last Hero - Terry Pratchett

*I'm a huge Pratchettaholic and have almost everything he's written on my shelves, this is a book I've read before, but never reviewed.*

The Last Hero is a graphic novel, illustrated by Paul Kidby, but not set out in the usual style of graphic novels. It mixes text with pages of Kidby's wonderful illustrations, his one of The Great A'Tuin and the elephants with the Disc on top is spectacular, he does an amazing job of bringing Pratchett's world to life.
It centres on Cohen the Barbarian and his Silver Horde as they travel to the gods' home of Dunmanifestin' atop Cori Celeste at the centre of the Disc, to return what the first hero stole, namely fire.
Lord Vetinari, Patrician of Anhk-Morpork assembles a crack team (inventor Leonard of Quirm, wizzard Rincewind and Captain Carrot of the Watch) to stop them. Along for the ride is the Unseen University's unusual librarian, a kidnapped bard, Evil Lord Harry Dread and his bumbling henchmen, Vena the Raven-haired and a whole host of wizards, deities and dragons. Just another day on the Disc really.
As always there are echoes of our world, inside jokes for the fans (although nothing that alienates the new reader), references to stories that sound a little familiar and with the added pictures it's almost like you can see inside Pratchett's head!
The book works as a stand-alone text or as part of the Discworld narrative as a whole. It's a lot shorter than most of the other books, so would work as an introduction to the wonderful world Pratchett has created.

Terry Pratchett

Sir Terry Pratchett is a wonderful writer, entertaining person and fascinating thinker. He gave a recent lecture (broadcast on the BBC) entitled Shaking Hands with Death (readers of his Discworld books will see the funny side of this). It was an interesting addition to the debate on assisted suicide. Pratchett was diagnosed with a form of early onset Alzheimer's, which is slowly diminishing his mental prowess and changing his ability to continue doing what he does best, writing witty, insightful and at times completely bonkers books. (I recommend everyone reads Nation, it's wonderful stuff). There's an extract of his talk here. But I recommend you take an hour to watch him make his case.
 Not only am I a huge fan of his books, I once had the honour of meeting him when The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents was nominated for the Carnegie award (which it won). In person he is funny, intelligent, wry and friendly. And yes, he always wears that hat.
His website is here.

Shortcuts

Zadie Smith on the death of the novel.

I write about my love of books, once more!

The wonderful Tamora Pierce sums up her year in books.

Terry Pratchett talks about his latest book, Unseen Academicals

Speaking of, there's a really good review of Nation by Sir Terry, which I highly recommend everyone reads if they haven't already, and if you have, read it again!

Read This!!

Whatever books you read, whatever genre you prefer, read Terry Pratchett's Nation and prepare to do some serious thinking. It's a wonderful book, and there are some big ideas being discussed. It's meant to be a children's book, everyone should read it.

New Book!

Just read Terry Pratchett's new book Unseen Academicals, and it was brilliant!! Funny and clever and just a little silly. Wonderful stuff. I feel the need to re-read all the Discworld novels...

Why I read what I read...

Different people read different things for various reasons. Some people only read a certain genre, like crime or history, some people only read non-fiction or biography. I tend to read pretty much anything, although there are some writers, and some genres that I stay away from, generally because I don't like the subject matter or the writer leaves me cold. If it doesn't hold my interest I can't read it, so I don't.
Having said that, even within a genre I read a lot of (like fantasy or historical fiction) there are some authors and books I go out of my way to avoid. There are also some classic novels I can't stand even though other people adore them (Jane Austen, the Brontes, Dickens, Hardy).
So, it all boils down to personal preference. I love certain fantasy novels/writers (for example) because of their writing style, content, humour, and mostly their ability to draw me in and keep me reading, and if there's a series, to make me want to read more. I've read every Terry Pratchett Discworld novel, because even though they're not exactly sequential, they are so funny, and so clever that I can't wait to read another one. I had to ban myself from reading his books in public as they make me laugh so much, and there's very few writers who can do that to me. Yet some people have probably never read one of his books and have no inclination to.
For me it's Harry Potter, I find them boring, derivative and just frankly, weak. Nothing about them appeals. I did try, I read the first few, but when I realised I could read one of the really thick ones in an hour and a half, I decided not to bother anymore. When I'm really enjoying a book I linger over it, and try to resist finishing it too fast, as with the latest Tamora Pierce, I read it in more or less one sitting, but I tried to pace myself, to wring every tiny bit of good writing, of the fantasy world she created. Potter just doesn't hold me in it's spell in any way.
I know lots of other people adore Potter, but a lot of people would think the same of some of the books I hold dear, Potter's popularity is encouraged by a really good publicity machine, not all writers get that lucky, but perhaps they are the ones people treasure more, the writers and novels we think we have discovered for ourselves, and that only we love. That is one of the reasons I read, perhaps the most important reason, the books themselves and the place they can end up occupying in my heart.