The Last Continent

Read, Journal & Release
by Terry Pratchett | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
ISBN: 0061050482 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingGoryDetailswing of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 10/11/2014
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2 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingGoryDetailswing from Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Saturday, October 11, 2014
I found this good-condition hardcover at a local Goodwill store, and was glad to find another copy of a Discworld book for release!

"Discworld is a world and a mirror of worlds. This is not a book about Australia. No, it's about somewhere entirely different which just happens to be, here and there, a bit...Australian. Still...no worries, right?"


Another entertaining Discworld romp, this is most definitely NOT about Australia - but one can't help noticing that nearly every recent motion picture set in Oz is somehow echoed here. (I won't list any, though, because stumbling across the references is part of the fun - sometimes I didn't recognize one until several pages later, and then it would pop into my head.)

This book's a continuation of the "Rincewind" subseries, and it picks up shortly after the events of "Interesting Times," in which Rincewind was accidentally transported to a strange, barren, desert land, inhabited by big hopping creatures. The wizards of Unseen University, whose slight miscalculation sent him there, have not been very interested in his fate - until they find that they need him to help cure the Librarian of a slight shape-changing problem. [Rincewind is the only person who knows the Librarian's original, pre-orangutan name, and without the name some magics just can't be done.] So off go the wizards to try and find Rincewind... but magical transportation can not only err by distance but also by time. So where - and when - do they wind up?

As with most of the Rincewind books, this one's largely a prolonged chase sequence. Along the way, Rincewind invents vegemite, studies Austral- er, I mean, EcksEcksEcksEcksian, learns about beer, mate, in the pub of Dijabringabeeralong, and in general has a somewhat better time than usual even though he runs just as fast as ever.

Will Death catch up with him? Will the Luggage be reunited with him? Will we find out what it's like inside the Luggage, and do we really want to know? [Side note: the Luggage actually has a smallish role in this book, but it's choice.] Will Rincewind reveal the Librarian's real name? Will everybody - will *anybody* - get home safely? Read it and see...

Since I can't resist posting a quote or two for any Discworld book, here are some.

***

"Apes and humans are related, accordin' to young Ponder here."....

"I don't think I'm related to any apes," said the Senior Wrangler thoughtfully. "I mean, I'd know, wouldn't I? I'd get invited to their weddings and so on. My parents would have said something like, 'Don't worry about Uncle Charlie, he's supposed to smell like that,' wouldn't they?"


***

And, for "Robinson Crusoe" fans:

***

"I had this book when I was a little lad," said the Chair of Indefinite Studies. "It was about this man who was shipwrecked on an island such as this and he thought he was all alone and then one day he found a footprint in the sand. There was a woodcut," he added.

"One footprint?" said the Dean, sitting up, clutching his head.

"Well...yes, and when he saw it he knew that he -"

"-was alone on an island with a crazed one-legged long-jump champion?" said the Dean. He was feeling testy.


***

Believe it or not, despite all the hilarity and exceedingly broad humor, Pratchett managed to summon a bit of awe here and there as well; I even got a wee bit sniffly at the end...

[The TV Tropes page on the book is quite entertaining, but do beware of spoilers.]

Released 9 yrs ago (10/13/2014 UTC) at Chelmsford (See Notes For Details) in Chelmsford, Massachusetts USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I left this book, bagged against the elements, on a lightpost in the parking lot of the plaza on Summer Street, near the "3 Trolls" puzzles-and-games shop. Hope the finder enjoys it!

*** Released for the 2014 TICK TOCK release challenge. ***

Journal Entry 3 by dronan at Chelmsford, Massachusetts USA on Thursday, October 30, 2014
Found the Last Continent by Terry Pratchett outside of the 3 Trolls game shop on October 17th. Been meaning to read a Terry Pratchett book for a while now. I bought Going Postal but never ended up reading it.

So far I am only 50 pages in, and this is a pretty weird book.

I can't wait to release this book out in the wild. Hopefully I finish it before it get's too cold. My plan is to take a long bike ride and leave it somewhere on a bike path.

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