''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 Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a flat pla ...

'' novel, written by

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English humourist, satirist, and author of fantasy novels, especially comical works. He is best known for his ''Discworld'' series of 41 novels. Pratchett's first nov ...

. 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 Moist von Lipwig is a fictional character from Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' series. A "reformed con-man" who is one of the major characters of the series, von Lipwig is the protagonist of the novels ''Going Postal'', ''Making Money,'' and ''R ...

, and features the introduction of

locomotives A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the u ...

to the ''Discworld'' (a concept mentioned already in ''

Death's Domain ''Death's Domain'' is a book by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Briggs, and illustrated by Paul Kidby. It is the fourth in the ''Discworld Mapp'' series, other publications of which include ''The Streets of Ankh-Morpork, The Discworld Mapp'' and& ...

''), and an entirely new character. The cover of the novel was exclusively revealed on Pratchett's

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page on 6 August 2013. An update to Pratchett's website late October 2013 revealed that characters include Harry King,

Adora Belle Dearheart This article contains brief biographies for characters from Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' series. This list consists of human characters. For biographies of noted members of the Discworld's "ethnic minorities" (dwarfs, trolls, undead, etc.), ...

and Sgt

Fred Colon The Ankh-Morpork City Watch is the police force of the fictional city of Ankh-Morpork in the ''Discworld'' series by the English writer Terry Pratchett. The Watch, its growth and development, and its inner workings are explored through a series ...

amongst others.

Plot synopsis

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

Reaper Man ''Reaper Man'' is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett. Published in 1991, it is the 11th ''Discworld'' novel and the second to focus on Death. The title is a reference to Alex Cox's movie '' Repo Man''. Plot The Auditors of Reali ...

''), 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, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

. He brings his invention to

Ankh-Morpork Ankh-Morpork is a fictional city-state which features prominently in Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' fantasy novels. Overview Pratchett describes Ankh-Morpork as the biggest city in Discworld and its corrupt mercantile capital. In ''The Art o ...

where it catches the interest of

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

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 Lord Havelock Vetinari, Lord Patrician (Primus inter pares) of the city-state of Ankh-Morpork, is a fictional character in Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' series, a series of forty-one books describing a parallel universe whose main world has ...

, wishing to ensure that the City has appropriate influence over the new enterprise, appoints the reformed fraudster turned civil servant

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, including the murder and arson. This campaign culminates in a palace coup in Überwald, whilst 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

George Stephenson George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians a great example of diligent application and thirst for ...

). *

– Patrician of Ankh-Morpork *

* Harry King * Low King Rhys Rhysson * Adora Belle von Lipwig *

Samuel Vimes His Grace, The Duke of Ankh, Commander Sir Samuel "Sam" Vimes is a fictional character in Terry Pratchett's ''Discworld'' series. Vimes is depicted in the novels as somewhere between an Inspector Morse-type 'old-school' British policeman, and ...

Reception

Science fiction author

Cory Doctorow Cory Efram Doctorow (; born July 17, 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 ...

, 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 won ...

, 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 ''Peter Grant (book series), Rivers of London'' series of novels. He also wrote two ''Doctor Who'' serials in the late 1980s and spin-of ...

for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 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'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', 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 ''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 speculative fiction. From 20 ...

, 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