‘The Last Continent’, 22nd in the late Sir Terry Pratchett’s lengthy Discworld series, was published in 1998. We have the hardback edition, so must have acquired it soon after publication; possibly I read it aloud to my sons, or we might have read it separately. In any case, it was before I started this blog in the spring of 1999, and I haven’t read it since then. So it’s not surprising that my memory of it was almost non-existent.
I did recall that the continent of the title, Fourecks (or XXXX) is broadly based on Australia, although at the start of the book the author insists that it isn’t actually that country - just rather loosely Australian. And, as is the norm with the Discworld series it’s full of references and allusions, many of which are to animals, plants or cultural norms in Australia, albeit in a highly caricatured sense.
‘The Last Continent’ is a story about the Discworld wizards, and as such continues from where ‘Interesting Times’ left off. Rincewind was sent to Fourecks, and we see him trudging through the desert, finding what food he can from local wildlife, falling into rapidly emptying waterholes. He’s watched over by the creator, and accompanied, at times, by a talking kangaroo.
Rincewind might not be a very good wizard, but he is excellent at surviving impossible circumstances, and escaping from danger. He uses these skills many times in this book, including an episode where he is wrongly arrested for sheep-stealing, and sentenced to be hanged. The creator wants him to discover what’s happening to all the water, but nobody will believe him when he talks about rain.
What Rincewind doesn’t know is that the Unseen University wizards want to find him. The Librarian (who has been an ape for as long as anyone can recall) is very ill. But they can’t help him with magic because nobody knows his name. It’s suggested that Rincewind might, as they used to work together. So they decide to track him down… and in the bizarre way that the Discworld functions - and even more so in the Unseen University - they discover a kind of portal to a tropical island, which just happens to be not too far from Fourecks.
Of course nothing is straightforward, and the book switches from Rincewind to the other wizards - and many other folk met along the way - before they finally meet up. The Librarian keeps changing shape as he’s unable to control his morphic field, and the geeky Ponder Stibbons figures out that they’re not just on another continent, but are back in time, many thousands - or possibly millions - of years earlier. The wizards encounter one of my favourite of Pratchett’s inventions, the God of Evolution; one part of the book which I had remembered was the creature considered the pinnacle of his creation (shudder).
It’s not the kind of humour to appeal to everyone; satire abounds, cultural references are everywhere, and fun is poked not just at Australians but at human nature, at religious belief, and even at reproduction. Pratchett never minced words. I always like spotting the references - many of them obvious in this, including finally discovering just why the platypus is as it is… and the way the author plays with history, and the idea of time travel, and whether or not people can affect their own futures by changing history. Or prehistory, perhaps.
I didn’t entirely follow all the plot developments but it doesn’t much matter. The Discworld books are meant to be light and frivolous - although deeper truths are regularly uncovered, and in poking fun at the wizards, the author points out many inconsistencies and fixed ideas that are all too prevalent in everyday life.
I liked this book very much, and hope it won’t be another twenty-four years before I read it again. Best read after at least a few of the earlier Discworld books.
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