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The Last Continent

The Last Continent

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.29
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: 2 better than 1
Review: It is great to see Rincewind back in action. His part of the story is realy fun. But the part about the UU wizzard is not very good.

I will give it a 4 starts for Rincewind part alone

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Best Discworld Book EVER.
Review: How could people not think Rincewind is SO FUNNY? This is definately the funniest Discworld book, all the Rincewind ones are so funny, Terry Pratchett sould be arrested on the charge of making everyone's sides split. It's like a sequel to Interesting Times, when after the Wizards accidentally send him to Fourecks. Anyway, the Librarian is sick and Rincewind is the only person who knows his name so they can cure him. They end up on an island with a Creator who creates anything that seems convenient at the time. Rincewind is told by a talking kangaroo that he has to set things right in Fourecks, while the Wizards try to get to the continent. The Wizards have never been a funnier bunch of absent-minded old, fat men, especially the Senior Wrangler. Whenever Mrs. Whitlow appears, he's saying "Mwaaaaa..." There's refrences to drag queens, and the dangers of practically everything in Fourecks.

Okay, so it's a little like Australia. Okay, it's a lot like Australia, but who doesn't like Australian jokes?

Terry Pratchett's humor is just brilliant, and I have no idea how he came up with such a funny and absurd character like Rincewind.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Quite a fun read
Review: Being Australian, I was a little worried that non-Australians might not get many of the Aussie-themed jokes and cultural references -- fortunately, this seems not to be the case. (Although, having met Terry at a book-signing for "Last Continent", he was at pains to find out if I had picked up all of the Oz-references, and was delighted that I had, so he obviously took a great deal of care and did much research for them).

Last Continent is an interesting mix of Pratchett's usual style, with slightly more characters and slightly fewer clear plot points than normal. As a result, there is less of a "story" to follow but more fun people and more scope for one-liners. I found it slightly less enjoyable than, say, "Hogfather" (roughly of the order of "Jingo", which had more of a moral and political tinge to it) but still a very fun read.

Readers new to Pratchett should probably read the other Rincewind books (particularly "Colour of Magic" and "Light Fantastic") to get a feel for the main characters, as knowledge of their personalities adds a great deal to the enjoyment of this book. Reading it cold would probably give a bit of a distorted feel for the series. And remember, if RIncewind is not your bag (baby), there's always the Guards series (my favourite -- try "Small Gods") or the witches (try "Equal Rites").

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Evolution?? No worries!
Review: Terry Pratchett has finally taken us to the far side of Discworld. At the end of Interesting Times, Rincewind found himself on a red-soiled beach, confronting four black-skinned blokes who offered him a gift - a painted, strangely bent, stick. Disgusted with such a tainted offering, the failed wizard threw it away . . .

We never find out if the boomerang actually returns to bash our hero, but he's obviously in a land novel to his experience. The Four Ecks continent could be described as the world upside-down. Except that's impossible on the Discworld and hemisphere-centric on ours. The trees shed their bark instead of their leaves and an amazing number of animals have pockets. The place is dry, dry, dry. In fact, it's Rincewind's destiny to bring the current drought to an end. He's informed of this by a animal with a face like a rabbit, but with legs that can disembowel you. The kangaroo talks, but he's a hopping thesaurus of body language. Rincewind, of course, flees. There are many places he can go, such as Dijabringabeeralong. The Last Continent "isn't about Australia, it's just vaguely Australian."

Pratchett's knowledge of the model for Four Ecks is astonishing. And he presents it to us in wonderful prose and engaging wit. Our first encounter with Rincewind is while he's seeking a meal. "Grubbing for grub" in "the Bush" can only mean one thing. Rincewind's soliloquy dances around the identity of a major Outback protein source without ever actually naming it. Later, Rincewind encounters the memory of Tinhead Ned, meets someone named Clancy who's a wealth of Four Ecks homilies, and brews up a foodstuff unheard of in North America. But any school child in the model for Four Ecks knows it intimately. Vegemite is a staple there.

While Rincewind is fleeing from a destiny not clearly understood, the Wizards have an adventure of their own. This lightly attached second plot book provides Pratchett with an opportunity for more serious matters. Having disrupted the flow of time, the Wizards find themselves on an isolated island. Strange events occur - the emergence of cigarette trees, an inordinate number of beetles crawl and flit about. The most bizarre of all is the toga'd figure who appears and seems to be the cause of all these manifestations. And well he might, he's a god. Unlike all other gods, he urges his followers to ask questions, to challenge whatever is "established" and to see change as normal. He uses the world's smallest screwdriver in tinkering with his creations. He's the god of evolution.

Pratchett's research in this area shows him at his best. He knows that for millions of years life on our world multiplied without sex. When evolution produced sex, life on our planet changed forever. A recent spate of books on the evolution of sex shows how challenging the can be, and Pratchett's hilarious presentation in this book could lead you to believe he's read every one of them. It's a superb effort of scholarship, delivered in a way that only PTerry can shape. It would be enlightening to wander into his study and view his reading collection.

Those who grizzle about this book are either unaware of the models he uses or are challenged by the fact that Terry is not always "just funny". Many of his books relate the tale with some deep, serious undertones. Pratchett's one-liners are among literature's best. His characters are stunning outtakes on people we encounter daily, sometimes to our distress. But he's a wise, caring man who, as a clever writer, deals with a full range of issues. That the Discworld "is a mirror of worlds" should be taken seriously. If you're looking in that mirror and don't like what you see, you'd better look a little harder. Perhaps something in the image needs adjustment.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: not for me
Review: There are numerous books in the discworld series that I have enjoyed and some that I loved reading (eg. Hogfather and Guard,Guards). The Lost Continent is not of them. In fact, I have not liked any of the Rincewind novels that I have read. I found this one rather excruciating actually. It was cliched and it was dull. I am surprised by the positive reviews it has received here. Different strokes for different folks I guess. In future I will stick to the guards and the witches.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the best
Review: I really liked this novel, but then that was probably because I bought a copy to read on the flight back from Sydney to the US. :) It's one of his better works, with plenty of inside jokes and fun references. Hard to follow the actual story at times, but still one of the funnier books in the ongoing saga of the DiscWorld.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Pretty good...
Review: I think the thing that clinched this book for me was finding out there's a place called Didyabringyagrogalong in real life. It's in Queensland, Australia.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very funny
Review: Witty dialogue, clever story line, imaginative characters, this book has them all! I just love the way Terry Pratchett transplants pieces of our world into the Disc World, he makes it all so damn funny and thought provoking.

I was actually fotunate enough to attend a book reading by the author while he was visiting New Zealand to promote this book, so my copy contains an autographed dedication on the title page (oh, and for those that haven't had the fortune of meeting Mr Pratchett, he is every bit as delightful as his books!)

For all lovers of the Disc World, this book should enjoy a place on your bookshelf along with all the others in the series.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Bugarup? ...No, he didn't. This is great.
Review: As an Aussie myself, I'm naturally going to get a few more of the jokes than say, an American. But I don't care what nationality you are, if you can get through this book without cracking up, you need to find a very good psychiatrist.

Ignore anyone who tells you otherwise, this is worth your while. But if you haven't read Pratchett before (what's wrong with you?) I would recommend reading,say, "Reaper Man" first, to get you into the Pratchettian style.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Number 1 choice for Australian Discworld fans!
Review: 'The Last Continent' takes it's place in the Discworld series as another hilarious political insight into different cultures. I found that this book was certainly one of the more clever additions to the series, since in every sentence a little jewel of social comment into Australian culture is buried. For all you Aussie Discworld fans, and I know there are a lot of you out there, if you could only read one book this year, make it this one. For all you non-Australian fans, and I know there are probably more of you out there, your opininon of this book can range from the fantastic, to the totally lame. One begins to wonder if this book was written especially for Pratchett's Aussie fans, for they're the only one's who will get all the hidden gags. So if you really want to enjoy this book to it's absoloute fullest (and let me tell you, it has great potential) brush up on your Australian folklore, dialouge, beer, traditions, animals, landscape, geography, politics, foods, opera singers, cities, plants, television, movies, ballads, buildings, sports, haunted breweries, gay festivals, myths, and natives. But if you're not up to it, just enjoy the wizard jokes put in it just for you, ok?


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