Last Continent (Discworld Series) » (Reprint)

A beloved British author who genre-jumps from humorous fantasy to science fiction to young adult books, Terry Pratchett is perhaps best known for his series of novels set in the fantastical setting of Discworld.

Terry Pratchett returns with The Last Continent , the witty latest set in his magical Discworld, a place where anything -- and everything -- is possible. When the librarian at the prestigious Unseen University for Wizards begins morphing uncontrollably (one minute he's an ape, next he's a table, then a book), several ambitious faculty members set forth on a search for the only man who can help. Terry Pratchett's Discworld romps are self-contained, wild, wacky, and at times laugh-out-loud funny. There's nothing else like them in fantasy today.

KLIATT

Pratchett's Discworld series continues with a jaunt through time, space, creation and the equivalent of Australia, known as EcksEcksEcksEcks. Discworld is a flat, circular world of myth and magic that rests on the back of four giant elephants, which in turn ride through the stars on the shell of the Great Turtle. In this story, the wizard Rincewind (the most cowardly hero in the universe) has unhappily found himself on EcksEcksEcksEcks where the Ecksian creator god has chosen him to save the rainless continent. In an attempt to run from this destiny, Rincewind meets up with a Mad Dwarf Road Warrior, Death, and a mysterious talking kangaroo. Meanwhile, back at Unseen University, the Librarian has a terrible magical cold. The bickering faculty of wizards sets out to find Rincewind to help effect a cure and accidentally end up on Mono Island thousands of years before they were born, with potentially disastrous results for their own future. Pratchett tosses in liberal amounts of parody, satire and mayhem to create a story as strange as Dibbler's Meat Pie Floater and as wonderful as a boomerang rainbow. But, no worries, mate, the ending, in typical Pratchett style, has a satisfying sentimental twist. (A Discworld Novel) KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 1999, HarperCollins, 390p, 18cm, $6.50. Ages 16 to adult. Reviewer: Lynn Rosser, Freelance Writer, Asheville, NC, July 2000 (Vol. 34 No. 4)