Book Review: Raising Steam

Author: Terry Pratchett
Title: Raising Steam
Publisher: Doubleday
Publish Date: March 18, 2014
Buy: Amazon

Review Copy Provided By: Edelweiss
Book Blurb: 

Steam is rising over Discworld, driven by Mister Simnel, the man with a flat cap and a sliding rule. He has produced a great clanging monster of a machine that harnesses the power of all of the elements-earth, air, fire, and water-and it's soon drawing astonished crowds.

To the consternation of Ankh-Morpork's formidable Patrician, Lord Vetinari, no one is in charge of this new invention. This needs to be rectified, and who better than the man he has already appointed master of the Post Office, the Mint, and the Royal Bank: Moist von Lipwig. Moist is not a man who enjoys hard work-unless it is dependent on words, which are not very heavy and don't always need greasing. He does enjoy being alive, however, which makes a new job offer from Vetinari hard to refuse. Moist will have to grapple with gallons of grease, goblins, a fat controller with a history of throwing employees down the stairs, and some very angry dwarfs if he's going to stop it all from going off the rails…

Review: It is hard to believe that Raising Steam is Pratchett's 40th Discworld novel.  This novel stars one of my favorite characters from this series, Moist Von Lipwig.

Thanks to the tv movie for Going Postal, I've a perfect picture of Moist and his wife

This novel shows Discworld coming into a more modern age, with the steam engine build by Mister Simnel. This book doesn't have quite the laughs that Pratchett's earlier works have, but we must remember that there are forcing beyond his control that affect his writing.

However that doesn't stop this from being a powerful novel about how new technology affects people, whether embracing the new ideas or being fearful of them. Pratchett does a wonderful job bringing those emotions to life.

I love that Moist is the character he chose to help this story along. I love this guy and it was great to see his relationship with Adora Belle. Oh and when Moist saves the kids from the train tracks! Splendid.

If you haven't ventured to Discworld, you'll want to start further back, because there are so many people you need to meet before you get here, but if these characters are old friends, you'll enjoy the ride with this one.

Rating: 4 flowers