Customer Reviews

Last Human (Red Dwarf)

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"Last Human" is the third instalment in the Red Dwarf saga, picking up from where "Better Than Life" left off. While the first two books were collaborative efforts, this novel is a "solo" work by the Naylor half of that writing gestalt known as "Grant Naylor".

When the book begins Dave Lister, or rather "a version" of Dave Lister, has been sentenced to eighteen years Hard Thought in the penal colony Cyberia: eighteen years imprisoned in his own virtual hell. Hard Thought is a punishment where the prisoner's most dreaded fantasies are made real. In Lister's case, being trapped in a world where neighbours play Neil Diamond records full blast. That, and a whole lot of other nasty tortures.

Meanwhile the Lister we know, along with Rimmer, Kryten, Cat and a recently resurrected Kristine Kochanski, are flying in Starbug towards the Omni-zone, the point in space where all the different realities converge. They are diverted from their course back to Red Dwarf when they come across a derelict craft: another Starbug. One where the crew have been slaughtered and Lister is missing.

A dying version of Kochanski tells the others that someone took Lister. They take it upon themselves to find this other Lister and rescue him. This marks the beginning of a series of hilarious misadventures, wrong turnings and bad, bad choices, as we travel across a galaxy populated by genitically engineered lifeforms, broken down 'droids and homicidal villains.

"Last Human" makes you think about what it would be like to meet another version of yourself. Decisions are made that could produce a personality completely different from your own. This is by no means a new idea, but in this case the writer treats it with great wit and humour. Certain ideas and scenes in the novel are based on things that happened in the TV series, but it has all been rearranged and augmented. This is where print can achieve what a limited TV budget can't.

This is science fiction writing at its most humorous. Irreverent, zany and wild.

A tad more serious, in some ways, than the other two novels, this is still a great adition to the Red Dwarf universe. Many of the parts are based on the TV series, but there is a lot of new material and a lot of wiggle-room for Doug Naylor to play with. With over 300 pages, there is a lot of humor and ideas packed into each chapter. Being published in 1995, I am a tad sad to see there are not more books out there!

There's a few last humans in Doug Naylor's Red Dwarf book "The Last Human". There's Lister, there's a Lister from an alternative reality, there's Kris Kochanski (whose ashes had been revived thanks to the physics of the backwards universe), there's Michael MacGruder, a stranded space marine who has connections to one of the Red Dwarf crew, there's a lifeform that can transform itself into humans, and a character that is genetically transmogrified into a human. Quite a lot of humans! There's also a variety of other life, mainly the Gelfs (Genetically Engineered Lifeforms), with their odd shapes and bizarre customs, a few viruses and a gestalt entity made of pure rage.

There is a fair bit of action in the book, which kept things entertaining, and it was interesting finding out more about the Gelfs and their culture, even though techincally they're not really aliens. I enjoyed the Cyber Hell segments, where Lister is punished by experiencing a virtual reality made up of things he doesn't like (kind of a reverse of "Better Than Life"). I did notice a couple of plot threads lifted from the TV series, and they're fine bits to have in the book, as they're funny. In some ways the ending was sweet, but it left a little bit of a bad taste in the mouth due to what happens to one of the characters. It's a bit like the problem I had with Rob Grant's book "Backwards", though in "Backwards" the endings a bit more grim.

I've only read a couple of the books, but I don't think the characters are as vivid or as lively as they are on the TV series, so it's hard to get as involved sometimes. The stories that make up the book series are a seperate story to the TV series, they don't really tie in together. Might just warn you too, the book does get a bit explicit in places, a bit more than the show...

It's a all right read, but I do prefer the atmosphere of the TV series.

This is a fun read--difficult to put down. It's a book in reverse in that the writing team of Rob Grant & Doug Naylor wrote the award-winning BBC TV series, Red Dwarf, before they began composing books based on it. The books include most of the major activities in the show but also more. The 1st two books (of the 4) they wrote together under the name Grant Naylor (a composite of their last names). These were: "Red Dwarf--Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers" & "Better Than Life" (which are available in one book called "Red Dwarf Omnibus"). Then the two authors split up. This is the 3rd book (Doug Naylor's). The 4th book is Rob Grant's "Backwards" which I just bought. Enjoy the ride!!!

The space bums are back with another tale of Lister, Kryton, Cat, Kochanski and Rimmer finding their way through deep space. This book is a re-write of some of my favorite episodes in the TV series. There are enough twists to make this book different from the TV series. There are new sub-plots to keep it interesting and of course quite funny.

"The Last Human" continues the adventures of Lister, Rimmer, The Cat, and Kryten. It also adds in the Kochanski character also is added as a member of the cast. Overall, the characters have devolved from being fully formed and enjoyable, to being bland and fairly dull. The plot leaps, of course, from improbability to impossibility, but with little of the humor that make "Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers" or even "Better Than Life" enjoyable. Fans of the series will want to read this entry in the series, but those who are looking to have a casual read will probably want to pass.

J.Ja