Hello, it is Reviewsday Tuesday and it's time for a new episode of Discworld Discourses.
Today we are going to be talking about Raising Steam.
This is the 40th and penultimate Discworld novel, first published in 2013.
In this book we meet Dick Simnel, a young engineer who has invented the steam locomotive.
He brings his invention to Ankh-Morpork where he joins forces with Sir Harry King
And Lord Vetinari tasks Moist von Lipwig with managing the new railway,
Made difficult by dwarvish fundamentalists
Who oppose the railway and the clacks and anyone who doesn't adhere to their beliefs.
The first time I read this book, I didn't know that this would be the final adult Discworld book,
Which I imagine was the case for a lot of people,
So reading the book now, I was reading it with quite a different lens,
It was a different experience this time.
I really enjoy Raising Steam as a Discworld book from both times that I've read it.
I wouldn't say that it's the finest example of Terry Pratchett's writing in terms of humour and plot,
But it has so many of the things that I love in the Discworld series
And it does feel like a mildly fitting end,
A last hurrah for so many characters and places.
Of course, we still have The Shepherd's Crown to come, it isn't the final Discworld book entirely,
But because The Shepherd's Crown is one of the young adult books
I guess Raising steam is kind of the last of the main series.
I really love the Moist von Lipwig books just generally,
For their nods to the Roundworld.
Moist von Lipwig is always tasked with improving some kind of industry
That we recognize very well from our world.
I love the themes of changing minds and changing lives through ideas and innovation.
I really enjoy in Raising Steam seeing the railway expand before us.
Dick Simnel is a really good character, I think. I also love the lawyer, Thunderbolt.
This is also a really big novel for Sir Harry King
Who I think has waited quite a while for his big moment in the spotlight.
And as a big Vetinari fan, I'm also happy with the amount of Vetinari in this book.
There's also in this book the whole plot with the Grags, the fundamentalists,
Who want to undo all the work done in previous books
To bring peace between dwarves and the trolls.
It adds a serious tone to this book.
It's yet another Discworld book with quite a strong message of tolerance
And moving forward and not being stuck in the past.
In some ways I think it's an interesting change for the Moist von Lipwig series
Which is so often Moist bluffing his way to success, and being the catalyst for everything.
But in this book he is so often the support for other characters
Changing the world, or taking charge and responsibility,
Whether that be Simnel or Harry King, or the goblins, or Sam Vimes, or the Low King.
Speaking of the Low King, it was nice to have a bit of closure for their story
Which has been going on for quite a lot of books now.
We've been involved with the dwarves and their conflicts with others and with themselves
For a long time, mainly through City Watch books,
So I think it was a good plot strand to be able to delve into in this book
And get a little bit of resolution and hope for things to come.
And a fair amount of closure just generally comes in this book,
Or if not closure exactly then we get to see how things have progressed
Or are progressing in several different storylines and with many different characters,
For instance it was nice to see how things have changed for the goblins
Since the events of Snuff, the previous book.
We even get to see Feeney briefly.
There's a brief trip to the University, and we even saw Lu-Tze which was awesome.
And as a big City Watch fan there was a good amount of City Watch and Sam Vimes
For a not City Watch-centric book,
Although there were many characters who we didn't see from the City Watch,
Carrot being the most obvious example.
There are obviously a lot of loose strands left over with the end of the Discworld series,
Many open questions,
But we would be worse off without Raising Steam,
Because for one book, it does cover an awful lot of ground.
That's kind of my main takeaway I guess from my reread of Raising Steam.
It's not Pratchett at his very best
But it has a lot of things that are great about the Discword in it
And it gives us a last look at so many characters and places and plots.
As such, I will give raising steam 4.1 out of 5.
I would really love to know what you think about Raising Steam if you have read it.
If you enjoyed Raising Steam, what should you read next?
I'd say to read the other Moist von Lipwig books, Going Postal, Making Money,
And of course, the final book in the Discworld series, The Shepherd's Crown.
If you didn't get on so well with Raising Steam then I would also recommend The Shepherd's Crown,
Or moving to sort of the late middle of the series
Which in my opinion is sort of the peak Terry Pratchett, the peak Discworld bit.
Some facts about Raising Steam.
This book was originally due to be published in October 2013
But it was pushed back a month in the UK, and all the way to March 2014 in the US.
The next Moist von Lipwig book was originally hinted to be about raising taxes
But things obviously changed and we got the railway instead.
This book is one of the few with a map in it.
The Doubleday edition features a map of the railway line from Ankh-Morpork to Uberwald.
There's also an extra short story at the back called Humphrey Newt's Thunderbolt carriage,
Which was originally published in 1967 and is not Discworld-based.
Two cut scenes from this book were featured in Terry Pratchett's Folio, a convention exclusive.
They were called 'The Skeleton in the Cavern' and 'Counterblast.'
Mrs Georgina Bradshaw is a nod to Mr George Bradshaw,
A chronicler of the railway network in the 1800s.
He wrote meticulous travel guides across Europe, India, Australia, New Zealand, and the Middle East.
That is it for today. The final book in the Discworld series is The Shepherd's Crown
And I'll be talking about that on 15th September.
That won't be the end of Discworld Discourses, however, I do have a few other things I want to talk about,
But I will be taking a little break after that review.
And there's a link to the full list of Discworld books in the description below.
Thank you so much for watching, let's move across to the end screen.
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