Clara’s Verdict
Raising Steam is the fortieth Discworld novel, and it arrives with the steam age itself, as a locomotive named Iron Girder comes clanking into Ankh-Morpork and changes everything. Moist von Lipwig, by now a fixture of the city’s civil service, is handed the railways to manage, and Pratchett uses the coming of the trains to write about progress, resistance, and the restless human urge to build. It is a warm and ambitious book with a real engine at its heart.
I will be honest, as I always try to be: this is late Pratchett, and some readers feel the prose runs a little differently here than in his earlier work. What I find, though, is a novel still bursting with affection for its world and its people, still delighted by invention, and still able to make the arrival of a railway feel like a genuine wonder. If you love the Disc, there is a great deal here to love.
For all the debate about its style, the novel’s central image is irresistible. There is something genuinely stirring in Pratchett’s vision of a world discovering the railway for the very first time, the wonder and the danger of it together, and the way a single new machine can remake a whole society almost overnight. It is a fitting subject for one of the last full Discworld novels.
About the Audiobook
Moist von Lipwig is a con man turned civil servant, and as head of both the Royal Bank and the Post Office of Ankh-Morpork he really does not want or need another job. But when the Patrician Lord Vetinari hands you a task, you carry it out or face the consequences, which in Moist’s case means death, so once again he finds himself pressed reluctantly into service.
A brand new invention has arrived in the city in the form of a steam locomotive, precisely named Iron Girder, and with the railway comes rapid, unstoppable expansion. Vetinari enlists Moist to represent the government and keep the whole enterprise on track, but as with every new technology there are those with objections, and Moist will need every trick in his considerable arsenal to keep the trains running. This is the fortieth Discworld novel, arriving late in the series, and it can be listened to in any order.
The story is as much about people as about engineering. Iron Girder becomes a kind of character in her own right, an object of fascination and near devotion, while Moist does what he does best, smoothing the path, charming the doubters and keeping a very large and very new enterprise from sliding off the rails. Not everyone welcomes the change, and that resistance drives a good deal of the drama.
The Narration
Richard Coyle narrates across thirteen hours and fifty seven minutes, once more bringing his television Moist to the microphone. His long familiarity with the character keeps this lengthy listen grounded, and he lends the arrival of the railway a real sense of momentum and excitement.
The production keeps the established Penguin Audio ensemble in place. Bill Nighy reads the footnotes, Peter Serafinowicz voices Death, and James Hannigan’s theme sets the tone. Across almost fourteen hours Coyle sustains the sweep of the story, giving the many returning characters their due as the Disc thunders headlong into a new age.
At nearly fourteen hours this is among the longer listens in the series, and Richard Coyle’s steady, familiar reading is well suited to the journey. He gives the sweep of the railway’s arrival real momentum, and the many returning faces are handled with the ease of a narrator thoroughly at home on the Disc.
What Readers Say
Raising Steam holds an average of 4.6 stars from 12 ratings, a slightly larger and more mixed pool of opinion than some of its neighbours, which feels fitting for a later and more divisive book. One reader, moved to write a first ever review, admitted that the more critical notices had given them pause, but they simply could not resist a book by their favourite author, and were very glad they did not.
Another kept it short and glowing, calling it a brilliant book by a brilliant author. A thoughtful four star review placed it carefully as the fortieth Discworld novel and reflected on the deep affection Pratchett inspires in his readers. Even a reviewer who granted that the critics were not entirely wrong about the shifting style still awarded the book five stars, and a lifelong train enthusiast loved seeing so many familiar faces gathered around the railway.
Who Should Listen?
This is for devoted Discworld readers who want to follow the series into its later years, for anyone with a soft spot for steam and railways, and for listeners who enjoy a story about change meeting resistance. Newcomers can follow it, though it means most to those who have travelled with Moist and the city this far.
If the coming of the railway to Ankh-Morpork sounds like a journey worth taking, you can Listen to Raising Steam on Audible and climb aboard Iron Girder.
