The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett

An "antihero" is a central character/protagonist in a book or movie who is devoid of all the usual characteristics of a hero. One of Pratchett's main characters, Rincewind, is an antihero. Rincewind is a self-proclaimed coward. He's refined running away to the level of a sport. As a wizard, he's abysmal. The closest thing to a heroic skill he's got is a natural facility for learning different languages. Every book with Rincewind in it involves a lot of running away and ending up in the right place anyway.

This might be the best Rincewind novel so far out of the six I've read. I like Rincewind any way. I didn't when I was a teenager, Rincewind is one of those characters that requires the reader to have a certain amount of life experience before he can be appreciated.

At the end of last novel, Interesting Times, Rincewind washed up on the hypothetical/lost continent of Ecksecksecksecks (also written XXXX). This continent is the Discworld corollary to Australia. As it turns out, Rincewind's bizarre life and exposure to large amounts of magical energy has left him with a personal field that tends to warp reality a little around him. In this case, because he washed up in Ecksecksecksecks in the present, he causes something to happen far back in the past at the creation of the continent that he now has to fix. He's told this by a giant anthropomorphized kangaroo. Rincewind responds by running away. Of course, he accidentally runs in the direction he needs to go in order to fix it anyway, so no worries.

In the meantime, the Librarian of the Unseen University is very sick and the wizards need to know his name in order help him. However, as an orangutan he can't tell them and no one seems to have it written down. Because Rincewind used to be the Librarian's assistant, the wizards figure they need to find Rincewind. In the process the wizards get themselves stranded on Mono Island in the distant past and meet the God of Evolution who is the only god on the disc that doesn't require believers to exist.

Pratchett also plays with aboriginal dreamtime and I spotted a reference to Crocodile Dundee in there. As always, I'm sure I missed as many references as I caught. However, I really enjoyed this one and would generally recommend it to Pratchett fans.

The House With the Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs

This is a book Ryan bought for me to read in aid of my general goal of getting a handle on a broader base of YA lit. Published in 1973, this book is a great deal older than many of the things I've been reading and so describes a world that many of my students would find odd, even above the ideas of magic clocks and wizarding uncles.

Lewis's parents have died and as a result he must now live with his notorious Uncle Jonathan. Jonathan lives in huge house in Zeebedee, Michigan. Jonathan is also a wizard. Lewis is overweight and awkward. He doesn't play sports and he doesn't make friends easily. So when he does make a friend, Tarby, he'll do anything to keep a hold of him. This includes sharing the secret of his uncle's power and trying a few tricks of his own.

Of course, things go wrong. Ancient evils unleashed. All that fun stuff.

Good solid read with a well imagined world. In many ways the relationships between the characters make it seem like a precursor to Harry Potter.