''Raising Steam'' is the 40th ''

Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a fl ...

'' novel, written by

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...

. It was the penultimate one, published before his death in 2015. Originally due to be published on 24 October 2013, it was pushed back to 7 November 2013 (and March 18, 2014 in the U.S.). It stars Moist von Lipwig, and features the introduction of

locomotives A locomotive is a rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for longer and heavier freight train ...

to the ''Discworld'' (a concept mentioned already in '' Death's Domain''), and introduces Dick Simnel as a new character. The cover of the novel was exclusively revealed on Pratchett's

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

page on 6 August 2013. An update to Pratchett's website late October 2013 revealed that characters include Harry King, Moist von Lipwig, Adora Belle Dearheart, Sgt Fred Colon, and others.

Plot synopsis

Dick Simnel, a young self-taught engineer from Sto Lat (and whose father, Ned Simnel, appeared in '' Reaper Man''), has invented a

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

. He brings his invention to Ankh-Morpork where it catches the interest of Sir Harry King, a millionaire businessman who has made his fortune in the waste and sanitation industry, as he wishes to create a legacy disassociated from the source of his wealth. Harry promises Dick sufficient investment to make the railway a success. The Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, Lord Vetinari, wishing to ensure that the City has appropriate influence over the new enterprise, appoints the reformed fraudster turned civil servant Moist von Lipwig to represent the government in the management of the railway. His skills soon come in useful in negotiations with landowners along the route of the new line. Throughout the story, Dwarfish fundamentalists are responsible for a number of terrorist attacks against the new Ankh-Morpork railway, including murder and arson. This campaign culminates in a palace coup in Uberwald, while the King is at an international summit in Quirm, over twelve hundred miles away. Vetinari declares that it is imperative to return the King to Schmaltzberg as soon as possible in order to restore political stability, and gives Moist the task of getting him there via the new railway. Moist protests impossibility on the grounds that the railway is nowhere near complete, but is told that achieving this target is non-negotiable. On the journey there are numerous attacks by Dwarfish fundamentalists, but eventually the train reaches its destination and the King retakes Schmaltzberg with little resistance. Back in Ankh-Morpork, there are honours and medals all round except for Moist who is told that his reward is to remain alive.

Characters

* Dick Simnel – inventor of Iron Girder, Discworld's first steam train (Discworld's answer to Roundworld's

Richard Trevithick Richard Trevithick (13 April 1771 – 22 April 1833) was a British inventor and mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He ...

). * Lord Vetinari – Patrician of Ankh-Morpork * Moist von Lipwig * Harry King * Low King Rhys Rhysson * Adora Belle von Lipwig * Samuel Vimes * Of the Twilight, the Darkness - Goblin

Reception

Science fiction author

Cory Doctorow Cory Efram Doctorow (; born 17 July 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog ''Boing Boing''. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of th ...

in his review on ''

Boing Boing ''Boing Boing'' is a website, first established as a zine in 1988, later becoming a group blog. Common topics and themes include technology, futurism, science fiction, gadgets, intellectual property, Disney, and left-wing politics. It twice wo ...

'' remarked that Pratchett "never quite balanced whimsy and gravitas as carefully as this, and it works beautifully. This is a spectacular novel, and a gift from a beloved writer to his millions of fans."

Ben Aaronovitch Ben Dylan Aaronovitch (born 22 February 1964) is an English author and screenwriter. He is the author of the series of novels '' Rivers of London''. He also wrote two ''Doctor Who'' serials in the late 1980s and spin-off novels from ''Doctor Who ...

for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' noted that while ''Raising Steam'' may be "heavy-handed" in its moralising, Pratchett "can be forgiven" because he remains one of the most consistently funny writers in the business. Sara Sklaroff for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' praised Pratchett's innate ability to balance the silly and the serious. Pratchett "blasts fundamentalists who resist all progress", but mostly he seems to be "having fun with words in the very British strain of absurdist humor." Karin L Kross for

Tor.com ''Reactor'', formerly ''Tor.com'', is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on specul ...

praised ''Raising Steam'' as "the latest transformation of a remarkable fictional world that has evolved and grown with its creator." Far Beyond Reality was more critical and found the writing "not as crisp as it used to be" and the characters "starting to blend together".

References

External links

*
Raising Steam review
on

Raising Steam review
on SFReader {{Authority control 2013 British novels 2013 fantasy novels Discworld books British comedy novels Doubleday (publisher) books