The Last Hero is a return to the swords and sorcery pastiche of early Discworld. Everybody knows the First Hero stole fire from the gods, and Cohen the Barbarian is on one last quest to return it with interest. His Silver Horde of aged conquerors has a keg of powerful high explosive and a mission to blow up Cori Celesti and the gods.

Of course, if the plan does go off, it will break the magical field of the Disc and everything will die. Anhk-Morpork has to improvise a mission to the home of the gods, with brilliant inventor Leonardo da Quirm, Rincewind, and Captain Carrot on a mission to stop Cohen. Their story apes the Apollo program as they launch a primitive spacecraft under the disc.

The writing is quality Pratchett, but the illustrations by Paul Kidby are sublime, mixing grand vistas, humorous caricatures, and detailed jokes of Leonardo's inventions. There's a line in the Discworld appendices that 'you can't map a sense of humor', and yet somehow Kidby does, bringing the universe perfectly to life.