Raising Steam
"Change is afoot in Ankh-Morpork--Discworld's first steam engine has arrived, and once again Moist von Lipwig finds himself with a new and challenging job"
Stats for nerds
4recommend
17mentions
17people
2015–2026years
24% recommend41% neutral35% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I remember reading 'Raising Steam' with more and more alarm and dispair. I loved all the other books, and there was something so obviously going wrong mentally in this book. Dementia sucks.
Strangely, 'The shepherds crown' was much less impacted, even if wikipedia places it a bit later in the timeline.
- To me, Lobsang and Sister Agnes (even as they appeared in The Long Cosmos) felt much more Discworld-y than did almost any part of Raising Steam.
I have fond memories of the ascendant of the Discworld series, Strata, which is IMO better than the book it’s riffing on (Ringworld). Likewise I enjoyed The Dark Side of the Sun, which riffs off a different theme from Known Space (though I don’t recall any of that theme ending as a theme in Discworld).
Good Omens was also another fantastic collaboration, between Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.
- The Vimes series is amazing... I think it's a bit above the Moist series but I absolutely love Raising Steam and, to a lesser extent, Making Money - because both characters are coming together. Still, I think my top pitch is somewhere within Night's Watch, Men at Arms & Jingo - I think Guards! Guards! is also quite good but Night's Watch did nearly everything Guards! Guards! did... but did it better.
Honestly, his books are just amazing though, quite worth a read.... possibly skipping to start at Equal Rites since The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic were less polished than his later works - but do check out the Tim Curry having movie covering those first two books... maybe bring a power point presentation or two along to appease any power hungry wizards though.
- Discworld: Going Postal, Making Money, and Raising Steam (3 books total)
The Lies of Locke Lamora (and sequels, 3 books total so far)
The Name of the Wind (and sequels, 3 books total so far)
Ancillary Justice (and sequel, 2 books total so far)
All of Iain M. Banks Culture series
Old Man's War (and sequels)
- I still haven’t read Raising Steam. One last time to experience a new Discworld novel, I’m saving it for a rainy day.
- Since some people seem to have missed it: the final Discworld book, and Pratchett's deliberate "signing off," is the last Tiffany Aching book (The Shepherd's Crown), not Raising Steam.
I can't really say much about the central theme without giving away a disc-shaking change to the world, because it's about that event and the next generation (Tiffany) carrying on. It's a very sad story, but also meant to be encouraging, and clearly intended to be his last book.
