The Last Continent

by Terry Pratchett | Science Fiction & Fantasy |
ISBN: 0061059072 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingGoryDetailswing of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 11/10/2017
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Journal Entry 1 by wingGoryDetailswing from Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Friday, November 10, 2017
I found this good-condition softcover at a local Savers thrift shop, 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.]

Journal Entry 2 by wingGoryDetailswing at MC Square (formerly Carriage Depot) in Amherst, New Hampshire USA on Saturday, November 11, 2017

Released 6 yrs ago (11/11/2017 UTC) at MC Square (formerly Carriage Depot) in Amherst, New Hampshire USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I plan to leave this book in or near A&E Roastery in MC Square on the cold afternoon; hope the finder enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in NH here.]

*** Released for the 2017 The The release challenge. ***

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