Moist von Lipwig is called upon by Lord Vetinari – this time to deal with something most dastardly indeed: steam locomotion.
Raising Steam
Discworld 40
by Terry Pratchett
read by Stephen Briggs
Doubleday / Randomhouse Audio
March 2014
Dick Simnel is a bright chap who happens to figure out how to contain, and utilize steam for locomotion. The question is will this help bring the world together or help to tear it down? Moist is joined by Adora Belle Dearheart, of course, and finds himself at work for Sir Harry King and Lord Vetinari as Ankh-Morpork struck up a deal with the railroad to move, among other things, Vetinari to Überwald to visit a certain someone.
At the same time, Dwarfish fundamentalists seek to overthrow the current Low King of the Dwarves in a palace coop. The problem is that the current king needs to get home as quickly as possible, which means the railroad. Enter Moist and Commander Vimes and a race against time and external threats to make right the Low Kingdom.
Of course, Pratchett fans will love this. Specifically fans of both the Vimes and Moist series. What’s interesting is that Pratchett threw most of the protagonist from his last several series together in this one in a sort of all star cast of funny and it worked! Vimes and Moist play off each other very well. Vetinari gets to exercise his awesome evilness at times, although unseen, of course. And characters from all over the Discworld make an appearance. All that to say that anyone who enjoys any of the Discworld series will love this one. Funny as always but building towards more.
A note about the audio book: Stephen Briggs is once again magnificent in his dry, wry delivery of every silly pun and sarcastic note. It is a pleasure to listen to him and if you have the time the audio book remains my recommended method of reading Discworld.
@ashertopia is the Managing Editor of BookGateway.com. He is an avid reader and a lifetime learner. His favorite genres include science fiction, fantasy, as well as theology and Christian living. His personal blog is AshertopiA – a land flowing with milk and honey… and a lot of sticky people.
This book was provided by the publisher as a review copy.