'The Last Human' was written by Red Dwarf's co-creator, Doug Naylor. Rob Grant had decided he wished to write a Red Dwarf novel by himself and Doug quickly decided afterwards he would do the same. 'The Last Human' is the result.
'The Last Human' follows Dave Lister and the rest of the ... Read review
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The Last Human
All that Lister had ever wanted was to be a soft metal guitar icon yet at the start of ... more
this third novel based on the BBC Television series "Red Dwarf" we find him gazing out of a porthole of a prison ship bound for the most inhospitable penal colony ...
to this point in space and time: the bad decisions, the poor career choices, the unreliable friendships that had led him on a prison ship bound for the...
A review by BlueMidget on The Last Human - Doug Naylor September 9th, 2006
Author's product rating:
Would you read it again?
Absolutely
Story
Good
Characters
Good
Readability
Good
How does it compare to other works by the same author?
Very good
Advantages:
Enjoyable, easy read which rewards with plenty of humour
Disadvantages:
Uses a little too many ideas from the show
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
'The Last Human' was written by Red Dwarf's co-creator, Doug Naylor. Rob Grant had decided he wished to write a Red Dwarf novel by himself and Doug quickly decided afterwards he would do the same. 'The Last Human' is the result.
'The Last Human' follows Dave Lister and the rest of the Dwarf crew as they try and navigate their way back into their own universe having picked up Lister and Kochanski from the Backwards reality. Having made a mistake with the navi-calcs, the crew find themselves to have passed through the omni-zone, (the point in spacetime where alternate Universes meet) and into the wrong reality, where they find another version of their ship, which in turn leads them on a hunt to find and rescue Lister's otherself - at least, they think he needs rescuing...
I found this book very easy and enjoyable to read. Doug's style of writing flows very well and the structure of the book keeps the read interesting. Divided into three parts, at the beginning of each section there's some black and white artwork, which I thought was a nice touch. I've been unable to find out who drew this images, but regardless I thought they're a nice touch, not found in other Red Dwarf books.
The book itself is written as a self-contained entity, so prior knowledge of the Red Dwarf universe isn't essential in order to enjoy reading the book; that said, anyone who is a fan of the television series will be rewarded with additional information about certain aspects that appear through the 8 series' of the show.
One criticism I have of Naylor's writing style, (compared to the Grant's) is that he uses too many ideas that actually appeared in the show. Whereas Grant tried to move away from things previously covered in the television series in his book, Naylor adapts things that have already been seen in the show into the novel. That's not to say that the book is merely a written version of the show, but a lot of the situations that occur in the book have already been done elsewhere in Red Dwarf. That said, Naylor adapts the pieces in such as way as to make them seem "new" to anyone who is perhaps a little less obsessed with Red Dwarf than this particular reviewer. Also, despite the use of ideas from the show, I thought the way in which Doug marries them together creates an alternative version of the Red Dwarf "history" which is fascinating and engaging. I never found myself growing bored of the story or wondering why I'd ever started reading the book. Although I would have preferred some more new ideas, I thought the book overall works well. Having said all that, there are some original ideas that didn't appear in the series - in particular the Simulant's role in the book was never covered in the television series and I thought this was particularly interesting and showed that, when he puts his mind to it, Doug could be very creative. It's just a shame there weren't more moments like this I thought.
Where Doug does shine through is in the actual jokes. Whilst Rob Grant is clearly the more "imaginative" one of the pair (no offence to Doug, as he is clearly an imaginative person himself), Doug is very much more the comedian and, although he uses themes and ideas from the series, he does expand them and provides new and refreshing jokes which I thought we lacking from Grant's attempt. In particular I enjoyed Rimmer's character in this book and the internal thoughts provided describing his cowardice.
This isn't a life-changing book, but it is certainly an enjoyable read. It should definitely appeal to fans of the show, but I also thing general science-fiction/comedy fans would be able to enjoy it. People unfamiliar with science-fiction as a genre might struggle with some aspects, (for example the notion that the universe splits into alternate realities at the Omni-zone), but I think there's a strong enough "human" element that non-sci-fi fans would be able to get some amount of enjoyment from reading 'Last Human'. Science-Fiction is just one aspect of the book - there's much more in terms of character and plot than merely being lost in space. Also, Doug's style of writing is thoroughly enjoyable and is not at all taxing. Whether you're a seasoned reader, or someone who struggles to read a whole novel, you should be able to enjoy 'Last Human'.
Recommended to Red Dwarf, comedy and sci-fi fans, as well as anyone who is unfamiliar with Red Dwarf but is curious as to what all the fuss is about. A book I've read several times and always enjoyed.
Advantages: Good story, characters Disadvantages: Cat and kryten are gimmicks
Last Human is one of the Best Dwarf novels because it combines areas from the TV show more subtly then the previous two novels and has a lot of extra stuff thrown in. For the first time it actually reads like a proper novel. It injects a new flavour into the boyz from the dwarf. The characters really feel like there on screen counterparts particulaly rimmer and lister, cat and kryten being used more for laughs and plot points. However this really ...
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Advantages: A must for all Red Dwarf fans Disadvantages: May bea bit tongue in cheek for some
...that it was one of the funniest books I have read in a long time.
I had already read both of Rob Grants books which are colony and backwards, and I found them both hysterical, so I decided to see if Doug Naylors contribution was of the same calibre, and I certainly was not disappointed.
Below is a brief description of the story: -
Dave Lister - the last human. The future of the species is in the hands of one man. And all he has to help him are ... ...mail order catalogue
Somewhere along the line, he'd made a major mistake. Why else would he find himself on a prison ship bound for Cyberia, the most inhospitable penal colony in Deep Space -- sentenced to eighteen years Hard Thought.
This book may not be to every reader's taste, but fans of Red Dwarf and sci-fi novels will not be disappointed.
There are so many sub-plots that eventually role into one brilliant ending, For example when the president ...
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Advantages: Strong plot Disadvantages: Addition of Kockanski
In a similar way to the other three novels, this one uses ideas from the series. The story moves back and forth between Lister's incarceration in an inter-galactic prison and how he wound up there.
The whole prison part is wrapped up a little too quickly and it moves on to a part about a point in the universe called the "omni-zone" and a planet with a thing called "The Rage" which kills people. This novel doesn't really follow directly on from the ... ...end of the previous novel, Cat and Lister did a dimension jump however the additon of Kristine Kockanski is unexplained and like in the TV series, ruins the chemistry between the men.
I wasn't really all that satisfied with the book. It was a real let down after reading the other three. I suppose the ending is there to wrap up the whole story of getting back to Earth but I still feel a little cheated. Although I was happy to see the return of Rimmers ...
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Advantages: New Material Disadvantages: Not Like the Boyz from the dwarf
...This book continues where the previous two left off and while they were episodes from the series put together cleverly with some extra stuff thrown in this is almost a completely new novel. It suffers from the fact that it will be too unfamiliar for someone not used to the series but too unlike red dwarf for those that do. It is quite funny in places but does not really come together and feel like dwarf, the characters being a little thin unlike DougNaylor's LastHuman. Also the end leaves something to be desired leaving it open for acontinuation that never came....
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Advantages: Well plotted, hilarious, ties in well with the series Disadvantages: Likely to baffle non-fans
...suffered noticeably in his absence (coincedentally or not) but this is a great book, albeit one really for fans of the series only.
As with the previous two spin-off novels, Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Red Dwarf: Better Than Life, and DougNaylor's Red Dwarf: LastHuman, Backwards takes a number of new ideas and integrates them with characters, scenes, situation and dialogue from the T.V. series. Also like the other books, Backwards seems to have a darker fell to it than the cheap-and-cheerful sitcom which spawned it, with death, rejection and inadequacy coming to the forefront and sharing the spotlight with the franchise's trademark humour and one-liners. The plot picks up where the second novel left off. Dave Lister, the lasthuman being alive having been suspended in a stasis booth for a few million years, is dead...
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