Raising Steam (Moist Von Lipwig, #3) (Discworld, #40)

by Terry Pratchett

To the consternation of the patrician, Lord Vetinari, a new invention has arrived in Ankh-Morpork - a great clanging monster of a machine that harnesses the power of all of the elements: earth, air, fire and water. This being Ankh-Morpork, it's soon drawing astonished crowds, some of whom caught the zeitgeist early and arrive armed with notepads and very sensible rainwear. Moist von Lipwig is not a man who enjoys hard work - as master of the Post Office, the Mint and the Royal Bank his input is, of course, vital...but largely dependent on words, which are fortunately not very heavy and don't always need greasing. However, he does enjoy being alive, which makes a new job offer from Vetinari hard to refuse...Steam is rising over Discworld, driven by Mister Simnel, the man wi' t'flat cap and sliding rule who has an interesting arrangement with the sine and cosine. 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 going off the rails...

• ISBN13: 9780857522276
• Publish Date: 7 November 2013
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 14 August 2014
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd
• Imprint: Doubleday
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[pamela]

These are words I never thought I'd say...and it pains me to have to say them. This book was boring. It has taken me two weeks to slog through it, and I literally had to force myself to turn the pages.

Raising Steam touches on some pretty big topics. It's essentially about the industrialisation of the Discworld, and continues on with the themes of social and gender enlightenment raised in previous Discworld novels. Where novels like Snuff had a lot to say on social politics (at least to my mind) Raising Steam just failed to say anything worthwhile. There were hints at religious extremism and feminism but they were just flown over without the usual satirical wit that Pratchett is so famous for.

Almost every major character group from every Pratchett novel makes an appearance in Raising Steam. It was oversaturated with people from previous novels, to the definite detriment of the pace. Instead of following just one character through the narrative it jumps constantly between the new character of Dick Simnel, Moist von Lipwig, the Patrician, and sundry other Discworld staples. Because of this none of the characters or their motivations were really fleshed out, and the book felt incomplete. The action sequences were rushed, and the tension lacked subtlety.

The characters were unrecognisable. They had the names of the characters I know and love, but felt like completely different people/goblins/golems etc. It was like visiting a friend you've known for years only to find someone else watching their TV, wearing their clothes and reminding you of all the good times you've had together. It was disorienting. Pratchett's writing has always been consistent. Vimes has always been Vimes. I simply didn't recognise any of the characters I've come to love in the narrative of Raising Steam.

There were brief moments of Pratchett's wit through the novel, but they were few and far between. The plot wasn't engaging enough to keep me interested without it. In short, the book was boring.