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The Last Hero
The last hero is Henry Morton Stanley, the world's most celebrated explorer, summoned one final time into the service of the British Empire, now in the twilight of its imperial power. His to rescue the mysterious Emin Pasha, the empire's valued ally, from the savage, dervish legions that have recently defeated England at Khartoum.
729 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
April 14, 2013
I bought this book in 1989, when I was 20, but for some reason never read it. I always held on to it and brought it with me every time I moved, always thinking I'd eventually get to it. Now that I finally picked it up I realise that I've been keeping a true gem on the unread shelf.
This is a fictionalized account of a true expedition by Henry Morton Stanley, an explorer of particularly the African Congo who had become a legend in his own lifetime. In 1887 a relief expedition is launched in order to save a political ally, Emin Pasha, whose people are holding out against the bloodthirsty army of the Mahdi. In order to reach him, an expedition of about a thousand men has to penetrate the dark Ituri jungle where no white people have ever ventured.
This highly readable story is exciting, interesting, memorable and truly a joy to read. Anyone with an interest in adventure, Africa or historical fiction should try to get their hands on this one.
This is a fictionalized account of a true expedition by Henry Morton Stanley, an explorer of particularly the African Congo who had become a legend in his own lifetime. In 1887 a relief expedition is launched in order to save a political ally, Emin Pasha, whose people are holding out against the bloodthirsty army of the Mahdi. In order to reach him, an expedition of about a thousand men has to penetrate the dark Ituri jungle where no white people have ever ventured.
This highly readable story is exciting, interesting, memorable and truly a joy to read. Anyone with an interest in adventure, Africa or historical fiction should try to get their hands on this one.
October 4, 2018
One of the best books I have ever read. Amazing story. Amazing characters. Amazing life lessons about leadership. Perhaps one of the most underrated books I have ever seen.
January 23, 2017
This book is a great read. It's a bit lengthy and at points you really wonder if there's every going to be an ending to the story, but it's all worth it. The story itself is terrible, considering it all (or most of it) is based on the truth: so much desparation, so many dead people. Everything is described so detailed and life-like - I don't think anyone could have done a better job in writing down this savage adventure.
If you ever start reading this book (and I recommend it to everyone who likes epic stories) don't judge it by the prologue, because the prologue is rather boring and I'm not sure if it's even necessary to read.
If you ever start reading this book (and I recommend it to everyone who likes epic stories) don't judge it by the prologue, because the prologue is rather boring and I'm not sure if it's even necessary to read.
August 20, 2026
The Last Hero
By Peter Forbath
Published: 1988
729 pages
Era: Victorian Age 1841-1904
An exceptional adventure story layered with utterly engrossing detail. It follows the famous explorer Henry Morton Stanley on a grueling 5,000-mile expedition through the uncharted Congo jungle to rescue Emin Pasha, a vulnerable British ally in Sudan.
Intense and sweeping, it explores the full spectrum of human experience—good and evil, right and wrong, honor and sacrifice, and love. Few novels capture the nuances of life so completely. So often in life as in art, much is left to perception. Perception is reality. The gap between propaganda and reality is stark, and even those walking the same path day after day can emerge with profoundly different views of the world.
The writing was outstanding. Here’s a passage in the last chapters that felt like a perfect parallel to the expedition’s own journey through the wilderness—an ordeal of searing hardship that seemed impossible to endure, yet somehow kept going on and on, until at last it stopped.
“And still, they kept coming… It couldn’t go on. There was no way this hell could go on. But it did go on. It started at ten in the morning and went on through the worst heat of the day.
Three hours, four… of searing heat and deafening noise. Of blinding smoke and storms of dust. Of suffocating stench and unslakable thirst. Of steaming blood and rivers of spilled guts. Of ceaseless pain and death and dying…
And then at last, it stopped.”
Finishing the book left me with only one regret: that we never received more from this writer. Yet what more could he have given? In this single, truly exceptional work he has already captured so much of what and who we are as human beings.
Without question The Last Hero was one of the finest books I’ve ever read.
In the end, who was the “hero”? I have a good idea, but I’ll leave it to you to decide.
Note: I experienced this book via both book AND audio (Audible) simply because I could not put it down. The narrator was the great Simon Vance who brought much to my enjoyment of this exceptional work.
By Peter Forbath
Published: 1988
729 pages
Era: Victorian Age 1841-1904
An exceptional adventure story layered with utterly engrossing detail. It follows the famous explorer Henry Morton Stanley on a grueling 5,000-mile expedition through the uncharted Congo jungle to rescue Emin Pasha, a vulnerable British ally in Sudan.
Intense and sweeping, it explores the full spectrum of human experience—good and evil, right and wrong, honor and sacrifice, and love. Few novels capture the nuances of life so completely. So often in life as in art, much is left to perception. Perception is reality. The gap between propaganda and reality is stark, and even those walking the same path day after day can emerge with profoundly different views of the world.
The writing was outstanding. Here’s a passage in the last chapters that felt like a perfect parallel to the expedition’s own journey through the wilderness—an ordeal of searing hardship that seemed impossible to endure, yet somehow kept going on and on, until at last it stopped.
“And still, they kept coming… It couldn’t go on. There was no way this hell could go on. But it did go on. It started at ten in the morning and went on through the worst heat of the day.
Three hours, four… of searing heat and deafening noise. Of blinding smoke and storms of dust. Of suffocating stench and unslakable thirst. Of steaming blood and rivers of spilled guts. Of ceaseless pain and death and dying…
And then at last, it stopped.”
Finishing the book left me with only one regret: that we never received more from this writer. Yet what more could he have given? In this single, truly exceptional work he has already captured so much of what and who we are as human beings.
Without question The Last Hero was one of the finest books I’ve ever read.
In the end, who was the “hero”? I have a good idea, but I’ll leave it to you to decide.
Note: I experienced this book via both book AND audio (Audible) simply because I could not put it down. The narrator was the great Simon Vance who brought much to my enjoyment of this exceptional work.
November 20, 2023
Lijvig werk over Stanley die Emin Pasha in een district van Soedan, Equatoria, wil redden van het Derwisj leger van de Mahdi.
Het is een wreed verhaal van de trotse blanke man die de wereld voor zijn eigen belang veroverd. Het leven van de zwarte telt niet.
Het is 125 jaar later hetzelfde in Soedan alleen qua aantal doden vele malen erger
Het is een wreed verhaal van de trotse blanke man die de wereld voor zijn eigen belang veroverd. Het leven van de zwarte telt niet.
Het is 125 jaar later hetzelfde in Soedan alleen qua aantal doden vele malen erger
April 7, 2009
this was a surprise. I only got it at the last minute from the library. Okay, it isn't even kept on the regular dewey shelves. It is kept on the general "audio"shelf, meaning it was donated and not deemed worth enough to be assigned a number.
I listened to this on audio, which was great, because the story is told by one of those crisp clear British readers who can do great voices.
I felt like I was there! As Dr Stanley went to his last expedition into the congo, to save some Amin, to keep England's interest there etc. HOwever, one doubts he was motivated for England as much as he was for himself, as he took the hardest route, "through the Etruirian woods".
You know, if I was British, I would probably be getting into these explorers, especially Stanley and Livingston. There were parallels between the African expedition and the first expeditions of fur trappers into our great Northwest, esp Oregon.
For one, both countries had native tribes, both friendly and hostile. For another, both countries had tribes that hated the whites due to their experience with other whites. This book, it wasnt' an exposure to whites, but, whenever Stanley's party tried to blaze, the slavers would go right before. They would burn villages etc, and soon Dr Stanley's party was assoc with this.
Most came from "lower class" backgrounds. Stanley certainly did and so did a lot of the trappers.
How exciting it must have been to explore where no white man had ever been!
When I am hiking in the woods and we often find places not many people go around, I try to "blaze" a trail, in my peevy amateur way, going where there isn't one. Even if there is one close hah a.
It's the closest thing I have heard of that parallels the history of my beloved Oregon, and around the same time as well. Accuenting that there really aren't many differences when it comes to conquering the land, enduring things one can't control like weather, and water. Learning to get along iwth the indegenouse people or you can't really make it.
there is a sort of tragic ending, and you sort of are left to wonder what it was all for, those loss of lives and so forth. However, the purest motive for exploration is exploring for the sake of exploring! and a little fame in doesn't hurt
finally, the explorere's personality. had they not been so cocky, so focused, despite the hardship on those with the leader, could they really get anywhere??
I listened to this on audio, which was great, because the story is told by one of those crisp clear British readers who can do great voices.
I felt like I was there! As Dr Stanley went to his last expedition into the congo, to save some Amin, to keep England's interest there etc. HOwever, one doubts he was motivated for England as much as he was for himself, as he took the hardest route, "through the Etruirian woods".
You know, if I was British, I would probably be getting into these explorers, especially Stanley and Livingston. There were parallels between the African expedition and the first expeditions of fur trappers into our great Northwest, esp Oregon.
For one, both countries had native tribes, both friendly and hostile. For another, both countries had tribes that hated the whites due to their experience with other whites. This book, it wasnt' an exposure to whites, but, whenever Stanley's party tried to blaze, the slavers would go right before. They would burn villages etc, and soon Dr Stanley's party was assoc with this.
Most came from "lower class" backgrounds. Stanley certainly did and so did a lot of the trappers.
How exciting it must have been to explore where no white man had ever been!
When I am hiking in the woods and we often find places not many people go around, I try to "blaze" a trail, in my peevy amateur way, going where there isn't one. Even if there is one close hah a.
It's the closest thing I have heard of that parallels the history of my beloved Oregon, and around the same time as well. Accuenting that there really aren't many differences when it comes to conquering the land, enduring things one can't control like weather, and water. Learning to get along iwth the indegenouse people or you can't really make it.
there is a sort of tragic ending, and you sort of are left to wonder what it was all for, those loss of lives and so forth. However, the purest motive for exploration is exploring for the sake of exploring! and a little fame in doesn't hurt
finally, the explorere's personality. had they not been so cocky, so focused, despite the hardship on those with the leader, could they really get anywhere??
November 9, 2016
This is the story of Henry Stanley’s last campaign in Africa to rescue Emin Pasha who was fleeing the onslaught of the dervishes in the Sudan. It is fiction but carefully based on diaries of the five English personnel who led the group of over a thousand. It is a gripping tale as they wended their way up the Congo from West Africa to the source of the White Nile at Lake Albert. It tells in detail the suffering and the heroism of those involved. A long book, over 700 pages, it is a compelling read and earned my highest five star rating.
September 1, 2019
I bought this book for a project of mine. This book is based on the true story of the expedition to save Emin Pasha and his people from Mahdi and his dervishes after the fall of General Gordon in the Sudan in Africa. American HM Stanley leads the expedition into the undiscovered Ituri Forest. The book so thoroughly pulled me in that I researched the original event. There were liberties taken in the book but it was still really, really good. If you want to learn anything about British history in the wilds of Africa this will give you a taste.
June 19, 2014
I thought I was the only person to have ever discovered this book and am so happy to see that others have not only picked it up, but loved it as much as I did. It was a bit slow at first and I almost gave up on it, but then it got better and better with a fabulous ending, Can't say enough about this book, it had everything I love about reading all within it's pages.
March 10, 2011
This book is so superbly written that I could almost feel the heat of Africa - and almost started slapping mosquitoes off my skin!
August 22, 2012
One of the best books ever written about Henry Morton Stanley's exploration of the Congo.
August 6, 2013
A surprisingly very good read. I had never heard of this book and am very glad I picked it up.
September 19, 2017
Wow! The most hardcore African mission I've read of yet!!! Stanley you are crazy.
July 28, 2019
Read this in 1989 and loved it. It brought alive a time and a world I would not have thought myself interested in. Have always remembered it and will read again one day.
May 25, 2026
I was pretty close to DNFing this book, but in the end I'm glad I stuck with it.
Agreed with everyone else that it is an immersive journey through the African wilderness. I really felt like I was there with them, dealing with short rations and bad weather and everything else.
This book is about the 1880s, written in the 1980s. The characters are mostly English. It's understandable that the characters would be really racist. Disappointingly, the omniscient third-person narrator is right there with them, hyping up the alien nature of the "dark continent" full of "drum-beating savages". Also shock and dismay that the slaver double-crossed our guys. Who would have suspected someone who kidnaps slaves for a living might not be of impeccable character? Not our narrator!
I am glad I hung in there, however. There are several major twists at the end, and they payoff is worth it.
Agreed with everyone else that it is an immersive journey through the African wilderness. I really felt like I was there with them, dealing with short rations and bad weather and everything else.
This book is about the 1880s, written in the 1980s. The characters are mostly English. It's understandable that the characters would be really racist. Disappointingly, the omniscient third-person narrator is right there with them, hyping up the alien nature of the "dark continent" full of "drum-beating savages". Also shock and dismay that the slaver double-crossed our guys. Who would have suspected someone who kidnaps slaves for a living might not be of impeccable character? Not our narrator!
I am glad I hung in there, however. There are several major twists at the end, and they payoff is worth it.
June 12, 2020
If we had a 10 star I would give it to this book.
I read it in 2012, and first thought we wouldn't get along since it was history(and I was a teen). It turned out I would rather read it 100 times and relieve the expedition.
Inspired my love for adventure.
HM Stanley is a beautifully crazy man with captivating style of leadership that commands allegiance. Salute.
I read it in 2012, and first thought we wouldn't get along since it was history(and I was a teen). It turned out I would rather read it 100 times and relieve the expedition.
Inspired my love for adventure.
HM Stanley is a beautifully crazy man with captivating style of leadership that commands allegiance. Salute.
October 6, 2020
It was ok. I wanted to like it more. The first half was pretty good fun as the group plans for, travels to, and enters the never ending jungle. Then it got very repetitive because the jungle literally never ends. After part of the group makes it to the destination, and then some have to double back into the jungle I just couldn't read it anymore. Good luck guys, hope all turns out well!
May 18, 2022
I got this book in a thrift store bag during Covid. Just got around to picking it up-- not the typical book I would have chosen. Oh my, to think this treasure has been sitting there for months waiting for me to discover it. I was immediately captured by the story, tragedy. I felt like I really knew the characters. The interplay of personalities as they faced devastating crisis after crisis, felt real.
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July 8, 2009back in the odd days of high school this was the book that turned me on to books and libraries. I remember it being quite the awesome historical fiction novel...but then again I was 16 so if I read it today who knows -
January 29, 2010
I read this a while ago, but recall it being a powerful story of Livingston....it provides a slightly different look at his journeys and his motives. Really good.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews