Scan barcode
A review by madmooney
Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett
4.0
I have always loved Pratchett, initially because of his unique way of treating the fantasy genre (as part parody, part real-historical allegory). Given his recent decline in health, I have always read his most recent books with trepidation, always asking the question: could this be his last?
When I read "I Shall Wear Midnight" (his Tiffany Achling YA series), I had honestly felt that this was his goodbye-book to his readers; not only had it incorporated most of the elements from the majority of his Discworld threads, but the ending has a feel of 'and now its time for the Discworld to grow up, as the GReat A'tuin sails off into space, fare-thee-well'.
This book, Raising Steam, had a similar feel to it.
The Discworld, the jacket of the book proclaims, has finally entered the Steam Age. The steam engine has been invented, and its inventor has great ambitions for it. Vetinari, the Tyrant Lord of Ankh-Morkpork, has decided to attach series-favourite Moist Von Lipwig to the process of uniting the entire continent under a web of steel. Unforutnatly, there are forces out there on the Disc that don't want this to happen: unwanted ideas come along with the people travelling railroad, ideas that are dangerous to these smaller fiefdoms. The process of making the disc 'a small world after all' won't be easy, with truant dwarves destroying clack-towers in defiance of the natural progress of civilization.
This will be seen as a definitive, must-read, Discworld book when the series is done.
When I read "I Shall Wear Midnight" (his Tiffany Achling YA series), I had honestly felt that this was his goodbye-book to his readers; not only had it incorporated most of the elements from the majority of his Discworld threads, but the ending has a feel of 'and now its time for the Discworld to grow up, as the GReat A'tuin sails off into space, fare-thee-well'.
This book, Raising Steam, had a similar feel to it.
The Discworld, the jacket of the book proclaims, has finally entered the Steam Age. The steam engine has been invented, and its inventor has great ambitions for it. Vetinari, the Tyrant Lord of Ankh-Morkpork, has decided to attach series-favourite Moist Von Lipwig to the process of uniting the entire continent under a web of steel. Unforutnatly, there are forces out there on the Disc that don't want this to happen: unwanted ideas come along with the people travelling railroad, ideas that are dangerous to these smaller fiefdoms. The process of making the disc 'a small world after all' won't be easy, with truant dwarves destroying clack-towers in defiance of the natural progress of civilization.
This will be seen as a definitive, must-read, Discworld book when the series is done.