The Last Hero
Terry Pratchett
Ilustrations by Paul Kidby
158 pages
published in 2001

This is the last of the three Terry Pratchet novels published this year and also the one I read the last, starting and finishing it on New Year's Eve. This was possible because it's really more of a novella in length then a real novel.

Like Eric, this is an illustrated novel, but this time the illustrator is Paul Kidby instead of Josh Kirby. Amongst Discworld fans, Kidby is very much a favoured artist, due to his far more realistic drawings. He has worked on the various Discworld calendars and spinoff books.

The plot of the book is simple: the last hero, Cohen the Barbarian, is on his way to Dunmanifestin, the home of thegods, to return fire to them, in the form of a very dangerous explosive. This will lead to the disruption of all magic and the destruction of the entire discworld.

The Patrician wants to stop this from happening of course and has asked for a team of volunteers to do so. In able to reach Cohen on time, this team has to travel in Leonard of Quirm's latest invention, a dragon powered space rocket to Dunmanifestin. Amongst the volunteers are Leonard himself, captain Carrot (of course!) and Rincewind!

This is very much an "oh boy oh boy" book, a book for the fans. Rincewind teams up with Carrot! Death and a cute kitten! Dragon powered jetpacks! Cohen's last stand! The return of the Silver Horde! The Patrician being sarky! "Actually, I am a rocket wizard"! Paul Kidby's drawings!

Very, very enjoyable.