Raising Steam – Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett has continued his prolific output in spite of being diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2007 and this is the Fortieth book in the Discworld series.

Steam power and most importantly Steam trains have come to the Discworld and Ankh Morpork in particular. Moist Von Lipwig (of previous novels Going postal and Making money) is tasked by the cities benevolent despot Lord Vetenari to ensure the Ankh Morpork Hygienic Railway drags the population into the century of the fruitbat. But deep in hidden caves and bolt holes there are events being set in motion by conspirators that look to sabotage progress and upset the entire political landscape.

After being bitterly disappointed in the long earth and the Long war that he co-wrote with Stephen Baxter I’m glad to report this is Pratchett at his riffing, pun-loving best. If I had to make a criticism it would be that towards the end of the book the characters get a bit lost within the grand scope of the plot itself and that I think a smaller cast of characters would have given more face time to the main proponents of the novel. There is the sense almost of shoehorning in as many of the recognisable characters that the fans will want to see, as possible. Also Pratchett writes heroes and anti-heroes really well but seems to struggle when it comes to three dimensional villains. But these are just quibbles, there’s a three page chapter that is just a build up to a magnificent Punch and Judy joke and if that sounds like your kind of thing you won’t be disappointed.