Dit is het veertigste Discworld-boek dat ik van Terry Pratchett heb gelezen. En ja, dan is de verrassing van deze schrijver er wel een beetje af. Niet dat dit erg is, helemaal niet. Het is vertrouwd en de auteur weet toch in elk boek weer de wereld op zijn eigen originele manier te laten zien.

Als lezer was ik binnen enkele woorden weer gelijk in de wereld van de night watch, de alleen-heerser Vetinari, de gollems, de tovenaars en noem maar op. En daar startte het nieuwe avontuur met dit keer de uitvinding van de stoomtrein en alles wat daarbij komt kijken zoals het aanleggen van rails in onbegaanbare streken en de commercie met eettentjes op de stations.

Ik heb wekenlang moeite gehad met me voldoende te kunnen concentreren om een verhaal te lezen. Een boek als dit is dan wel ideaal omdat het niet zo erg is om een deel niet mee te krijgen. Het is makkelijk om het verhaal weer op te pikken zodra ik de woorden wel weer meer tot me door kon laten dringen. Het gaat dan ook meer om de kleine grappen dan het grote verhaal. En op die manier is er altijd wel wat te genieten. ( )

To the consternation of the patrician, Lord Vetinari, a new invention has arrived in Ankh-Morpork - a great clanging monster of a machine that harnesses the power of all the elements: earth, air, fire and water. This being Ankh-Morpork, it's soon drawing astonished crowds, some of whom caught the zeitgeist early and arrive armed with notepads and very sensible rainwear.


Moist von Lipwig is not a man who enjoys hard work - as master of the Post Office, the Mint and the Royal Bank his input is, of course, vital... but largely dependent on words, which are fortunately not very heavy and don't always need greasing. However, he does enjoy being alive, which makes a new job offer from Vetinari hard to refuse...

Steam is rising over Discworld, driven by Mister Simnel, the man wi' t'flat cap and sliding rule who has an interesting arrangement with the sine and cosine. Moist will have to grapple with gallons of grease, goblins, a fat controller with a history of throwing employees down the stairs and some very angry dwarfs if he's going to stop it all going off the rails...

This is number 40 in the discworld series and we're back in Ankh-Morpork, with the the usual suspects, and the tension betweens the humans, trolls, dwarves continues with the added complication of goblins. Once again the Dwarf state is in shards, each faction splintering into smaller pieces as soon as two or more have a disagreement, and there is an attempt to overthrown the Low King, who appears to be too progressive. Meanwhile, Mister Simnel has found out how to harness steam, and the railway is not far behind, with impetus to have a track to Uberworld to resolve the Dwarf Question.

This has everyone in it (even DEATH gets a one-liner) and could be viewed as the start of Practhett's handover of the world to Rosanna before he becomes unable to continue. With so many presiously established characters making an appearance, it's certain that some favourites will not get the exposure that some people want. It could be seen as perhaps too-crowded with characters, and could one or more of them have been dropped without anyone noticing? I dont know.

Anyway, story covers change, factionism, new technology, religious doctrine, feminism, being true to ones self, bigotry, racisim, in such a way to still make it enjoyable to read. Plus plenty of footnotes. Whilst we still have him, Pratchett's at least working at his best here.

It's been a while since I read one of Sir Terence's books. As much fun as they always are. Recommended. ( )

The last book Pratchett had published before his death, but not the last Discworld book ever. I quite like Moist Von Lipwig as a character, so I quite liked this one, but it felt a bit frantic and fast-paced. It's not as well-structured as his older ones are, which is a shame. But I did like that Pratchett could showcase his love for trains and nerd out over things. ( )

After dozens of Discworld novels, Terry Pratchett only needs to crank out another in the series to be sure of an instant best-seller. These days, Discworld novels tend to provoke wry smiles of recognition rather than uproarious laughter. Earlier books in the series such as Eric and Guards, Guards took the franchise in unexpected new directions, but these days the books tend to follow well-worn paths and touch on familiar tropes.

Raising Steam is a Moist Lipwig novel, so we know what to expect. Lord Vetinari requires Moist to take over and run some public utility - in this case the railway that is inevitably coming after the invention of the steam locomotive. Moist resists the notion until the Patrician yet again offers to separate his head from his neck, at which point Moist agrees. Moist encounters chaos which needs to be sorted out and runs up against an implacable adversary - in this case fundamentalist reactionary dwarfs. Moist uses his con man's charm and resourcefulness to resolve a series of reverses, supported by his unrealistically intelligent, sexy and voracious wife Adora Belle (yuk!).

Death puts in the expected appearance in a scene that serves no other purpose than to allow Pratchett to tick a box in the recipe that Discworld readers now demand. In a way, Pratchett is now stuck in a formula that he cannot easily vary without putting his fans offside, and his days of surprising us with something different may be over. Raising Steam is a typical Discworld novel that lots of readers will enjoy, but it's no more than that. ( )