Review of The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett

For people who have been to Australia, they will know it's almost like another planet. The people, culture, society, etc. are all recognizably human, of course, typically European in descent or Aboriginal. But everything else is otherworldly. The flora looks and smells different. The landscape is largely flat, unforgiving, with occasional strange bumps of rocks. And the fauna covers a spectrum of unique to just plain weird. It's clear things evolved differently compared to other continents on Earth. Looking to take humorous and insightful advantage of this fact is Terry Pratchett's The Last Continent (1998).

The Last Continent follows two wizardly plotlines. Plot A features Mustrum Ridcully, Ponder Stibbons, the Lecturer in Recent Runes, and the Dean as they attempt to help the Librarian return to orangutan form. Every time the ape sneezes he turns into an orange hairy something—book, chair, tree, etc. and wants to return to form The group arrives at the bedroom of the one wizard who may be able to help them, only to discover a dimension to another world, one millions of years older than the Disc. Plot B features our unlikely tourist hero Rincewind as he finds himself bouncing around the Ecksecksecksecks-ian (Australian) outback, sometimes literally, trying to get back to Ankh-Morpork. DEATH is ready and waiting in the wings, but Rincewind somehow manages to avoid the snakes and spiders and bandits. He does, however, find himself a sheep thief awaiting the gallows.

There will be people who accuse Plot B of being a tour of Australian stereotypes. I hear those arguments. I agree with them. But would temper them with a little literal reality. Many of the things Rincewind encounters are part and parcel of Aussie flora, fauna, and history. They are inescapable. Koalas, kangaroos, billabongs, “Waltzing Matilda”, sharks, duckbill platypuses, sharks, wool gathering, vegemite, Uluru, surfing, etc. Some stereotypes exist for a reason.

Some, however, are sure to get some people's panties in a twist (you know who you are). Aussie slang, Aussie similes, Aussie drongo behavior, Aboriginal culture—there are going to be elements to the novel more subjective nature. I can't stop the tight-pantie crowd from being upset, but I can say Pratchett proceeds as he always does, with good intentions, high spirits, and with humor the main aim. Whether or not these riffs are funny is up to the individual reader. You call that a knife? Yes, it's in there. But on the flip side, Unseen University's professors have never had such... frank... blunt... conversations on... procreation.

Last note on stereotypes: some are presented in such creative fashion they can only be appreciated. Discworld's version of Mad Max is spot on, as is the way Pratchett manages to work hats with dangling corks into the denouement. Cleverer readers may pick up on the creation of vegemite before I did, but when it clicked, I couldn't help but smile.

Last-last note on stereotypes; Pratchett was reserved. There are a number which could have gone into the book, but didn't: AC/DC, deadly sea snails, Men At Work, the coral reef, etc., etc., etc. The land down under is unique for many, many reasons, and Pratchett picked and chose his reasons why. No more talk of stereotypes.

The primary thematic thrust of The Last Continent is Darwinian evolution, spiced and stirred with Aboriginal Dreamtime. Pratchett utilizes the unique zoological and geographical state of Australia to highlight the manner in which evolution worked... differently there. Behind this is a variety of deities which the wizards interact with, and in some cases, play a funny role in the creation of something particularly singular. Pratchett a naturalist, the theme fits into the wheelhouse of his worldviews, and reveals itself in a fashion synthetic to plot.

The Last Continent does, however, face some challenges. Plot A is slippery in its “reality”, and can be hard to follow. Dreamtime, magic, gods' creations, talking kangaroos, and... What's going on again? While Plot B—Rincewind's bumble through the Outback—can be seen as a stereotype tour. What's next? the reader finds themself asking. The opera house? Koalas? Budgie smugglers? Technically Rinceiwnd's tale is unpredictable, but inevitably the reader will start to create a list of things the wizard should/could encounter, which lessens interest when he ultimately does.

In the end, The Last Continent is a tour of/homage to Australia realities/stereotypes (your choice), mixed with Pratchettian observations of species evolution through the eyes of aboriginal dreamtime. The author was clearly smitten by what makes the continent and its cultures unique. Ridcully and crew attempt to explain it, Rincewind tours it, and the reader enjoys it.