Raising Steam (by Terry Pratchett)

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I have been re-reading the entire Discworld series, written by the brilliant Sir Terry Pratchett, over the past few years, at a rate of about one per month. I have just finished the fortieth book in the series, ‘Raising Steam’, which was published in 2014. I was given a copy for Christmas that year, and read it in April 2015. I remembered that it involved the Discworld invention and adoption of a railway, but nothing else. 

It opens with a general explanation about people becoming more impatient, and wishing that products from the other side of the Disc might be fresher. And then we’re taken to the home of Dick Simnel, whose father managed to explode himself when Dick was ten. His father was an engineer, experimenting with steam, recognising its potential but not entirely harnessing it. Dick is more meticulous as he grows up, and studies his father’s research as well as trigonometry and the use of the ‘sliding rule’. 

Eventually the first Discworld train, ‘Iron Girder’, is unveiled. Lord Vetinari sees the potential, as does the self-made millionaire Harry King. Harry agrees to fund further research and development, and Vetinari appoints Moist von Lipwig as overseer and negotiator. Moist is already the manager of the Post Office, and the Bank and Treasury; he’s a visionary, excellent at persuading people to do whatever is necessary to achieve a goal. 

At the same time there’s an undercurrent of insurrection, as some of the dwarfs start objecting to the democratic way that people in Ankh Morpork are all considered equal. Despite having come to an agreement to live side-by-side with trolls, some of the ‘grags’ want to remain traditional in their habits. And they take this to a fundamentalist, sometimes violent degree. One of them wants to depose the ‘Low King’ of the dwarfs, who they believe is too liberal.

I also appreciated the many goblins who appear in this book: in the last couple, they were acknowledged as sentient beings and given the same rights as other races. Goblins were excellent at running the ‘clacks’, and it turns out that they have a gift for working in the railways, too. I very much liked the way that quite a few goblins in this book are working in different capacities, treated much better than in the past, and given names. 

I had assumed that this was the last of the Discworld books; when it was being written, Terry Pratchett was already showing signs of illness, and forty seemed like a good round number. However there is one more Discworld book, published posthumously, which I'm already looking forward to reading in another month or two. 

'Raising Steam' includes several of my favourite characters from the series: not just Moist von Lipwig and Lord Vetinari, but Sam Vimes and some of the Watch. The book encompasses many areas of the Disc as a brave venture begins, to run a train all the way to Uberwald. This has to be done even though tracks haven’t been laid all the way, and there are some dangerous areas to pass through...

As with all Pratchett’s writing, there are references to the ‘real’ world, and other random allusions, some of which I probably missed. But I was amused by the many synonyms for ‘moist’ used by one of the goblins, and also by some pointed references to the classic children’s novel ‘The Railway Children’. Some have said that this doesn’t read like classic Pratchett, possibly because he was no longer able to type, and had to rely on dictation for most of this novel. But I didn’t have any problem with it, and thought it made an excellent read.  

It could stand alone, as most Discworld books do, but it’s much more enjoyable for having read the previous books, particularly those involving the Watch and Moist von Lipwig. There are references to events in previous books which would make little sense to someone who had not read any of them.

Definitely recommended if you like the Discworld series and have not yet read this one.

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