TERRY PRATCHETT - "THE LAST CONTINENT" (CORGI)
It's a good thing I read the review of "Jingo" before sitting down to this one, or else I would quite spontaneously and coincidentally have come up with just about the same.
Early this year saw the release of "The Last Continent" in paperback. On principle I don't buy fiction in hardcover unless they're by Douglas Adams, so for me Pratchett's latest, "Carpe Jugulum", doesn't even exist.
"The Last Continent" is not about Australia. In fact, it's about a country called EcksEcksEcksEcks, time reversals and time disturbances, quite an intricate puzzle that doesn't seem to have the tiniest vestige of cause and effect until you get to the end. More so than with most of Pratchett's recent Discworld novels, I found myself constantly wondering how the heck he was going to wrap this up halfway credulously. But he did.
Again there's quite a few laughs, though I did find myself laughing more at the language jokes and fitting observations than actual funny situations. This time there's somewhat less of a plot (you always have that when Rincewind and the other wizards are the leading characters).
Discworld fans will, and I know I've said this before, not be disappointed.
Released 1998, ISBN 0-552-14614-5
RK
Written March 1998