Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Last Hero

Oh, it is technically long enough to be considered a novel, even if it is one on the short side. But the plot it contains is most definitely a short story. Cohen the Barbarian and his elderly adventurers go to confront the gods. This will result in the destruction of the world, so Rincewind takes an untested dragon-based flying contraption (along with Captain Carrot of the Ankh-Morpok City Watch and the contraption’s inventor Leonard of Quirm) to get to the city of the gods fast enough to stop him. That’s it.

Even though it’s a short story, it’s not a bad story. There were several of Sir Terry’s signature one-liners, and themes of the trials of getting older and the nature of heroism (although the book is far too short to actually do any interesting exploring of said themes). Despite being fairly straightforward and feeling even shorter than it is, it’s perfectly entertaining.

However, I did find it disappointing. I was really starting to enjoy Rincewind in Interesting Times, and after The Last Continent put him in a rather lackluster setting, I was hoping to get a lot more of him in this book. The way he ended up on this voyage to stop Cohen showed some character growth, even, and I was excited.

But then for the rest of the story, he was a side character. If this story has protagonists, they are Cohen the Barbarian and Leonard of Quirm (who I gather has been seen in the Discworld books before, just not ones I’ve read yet). You could argue that the science-curious wizard Ponder Stibbons was a minor protagonist, or even Captain Carrot (who is presented like you should already know him, and I assume I would if I’d read any of the Ankh-Morpok City Watch books yet). But Rincewind is just … there. He has no particular reason to come along on the voyage and he doesn’t even say anything in the climactic scene. He could have just as easily not been there and this book been one of the few books not part of a sub-series, and it wouldn’t have made much of a difference.

I really hope Unseen Academicals is a lot better, because it’s the only Rincewind book left. From looking at the reviews on The StoryGraph, this appears to be an unpopular opinion, but I actually like Rincewind as a character. The Last Hero wasn’t bad, but it really squandered the potential that’s been built up over the past seven Rincewind books. I hope his series within the Discworld ends on a stronger note.

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