The Last Hero (Gollancz S.F.) (Hardcover)

Unsurprisingly, word of this latest development has reached the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork. This news has caused no little amount of panic, as the destruction of Dunmanifestin and the Gods will lead to the end of the world. So, as the Gods sit back, throw dice and have some fun, Lord Vetinari sends out a team to try and stop Cohen and his cohorts. Supported by the head wizards of the Unseen University - including the newly appointed Head of Inadvisably Applied Magic, Ponder Stibbons - Rincewind, Leonard of Quirm, Captain Carrot and a certain hairy stowaway take a trip few Ankh-Morporkians have ever taken.

While "The Last Hero" may be shorter than most of the Discworld novels, it's still well worth reading. The new “villain” Evil Harry Dread, The Evil Dark Lord, would be an asset to any future book and Paul Kidby's illustrations are a superb addition. While it may be better to have read a couple of the Discworld books previous to this –just to “know” the characters a little better - I'm not sure it would be any great disadvantage if you hadn't. Pratchett’s books are simply fantastic, and this matches anything he has written.

The latest novel brings back all your favourite characters such as Rincewind, the luggage, Captain Carrot and of coarse Death. Cohan and the Silver Horde are on one final adventure, to give back to the gods what the first hero stole, and it is up to a crack team of Capt. Carrot, Rincewind and Leonard da Quirm to stop them... The Discworld could not be in unsafer hands!

From James Bond style rocket packs to zero-G toilets and the first discworld spacecraft, Da Quirm is constantly inventing to make sure they succeed in stopping the silver horde... What could possibly go wrong especially with a mission motto of "We who are about to die, don't want to!.."

The art of Paul Kidby is amazing, setting it apart from other novels and bringing an extra dimension to an already great story by the Master storyteller himself, Terry Pratchett.

Go Forth and buy this book, you don't want to be the only one without it!

Of course, bringing all these characters together in one book could have been a weakness; The Gang's All Here, sort of thing. But Pratchett does it all so convincingly, and the story is so enjoyable, that this is a minor quibble.

It would be hard to say whether I enjoyed the pictures or the story more, as they are so complementary, but I would say that Kidby is the star of the book. Some of his pictures will really take your breath away. His great talent is an ability to draw both comic characters and great sweeping landscapes with the same style. And there is a wealth of detail in his Leonardo Da Vinci- style sketches (including one for a Velcro frying pan).

Compelling storyline combined with amazing pictures. It can only get 5 stars. One warning though; this is not a good starting point for reading the Discworld novels. And the story itself is quite short; I had it read in a day. But I can't deduct any marks for that, I'm too much of a fan, as you may have guessed.
Please, more Pratchett-Kidby collaborations.