# New Discworld novel "Raising Steam" comes out 03/18/14
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 13, 2013, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770 "2013-11-13T01:33:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2013, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770/1 "2013-11-13T01:33:58Z")
You can read a few pages already [on Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/Raising-Steam-Discworld-Terry-Pratchett/dp/038553826X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1384306307&sr=1-1&keywords=raising+steam).
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### Author:  [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2013, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770/2 "2013-11-13T01:34:46Z")
Ah, good. Moist von Lipwig returns.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2013, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770/3 "2013-11-13T01:36:34Z")
My copy arrived about 3 hours ago.
š
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2013, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770/4 "2013-11-13T01:48:28Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> My copy arrived about 3 hours ago.
>
> š
:mad: I hate your kind!
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770/5 "2013-11-13T02:01:39Z")
BTW, I heard Pratchett interviewed on NPR the other day. Because of his unusual form of early-onset Alzheimerās, he can no longer read; so he writes by dictating to voice-recognition software.
I hope he has a good editor. My boss dictates everything with Dragon NaturallySpeaking and the results are bizarre ā all the words are spelled right, but many are homophones or near homophones for the apparently intended words; it is sometimes an effort to puzzle it out. And no proper name will ever be spelled right if it is in any way unusual ā it might even appear as two or more words roughly homophonous to the syllables.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2013, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770/6 "2013-11-13T02:04:52Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> :mad: I hate your kind!
Itās called [Amazon.uk](http://Amazon.uk).
Brave new world!
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2013, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770/7 "2013-11-13T02:26:37Z")
So how was it?
š
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2013, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770/8 "2013-11-13T03:01:54Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> Itās called [Amazon.uk](http://Amazon.uk).
> Brave new world!
Thanks, but, of course, [itās priced in pounds](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Raising-Steam-Discworld-novel-Novels/dp/0857522272/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1384311619&sr=1-1&keywords=raising+steam). Can I buy it with an American credit card?
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2013, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770/9 "2013-11-13T04:00:36Z")
Sure. I have hte last 20 books or so in uniform cover editions from Amazon UK.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770/10 "2013-11-14T00:40:17Z")
> [@DSeid](#):
>
> So how was it?
>
> š
Mixed feelings so far. Itās like another author has picked up the story lines, _and he isnāt quite as good._ The āvoiceā is different. But Iām liking it better than **Snuff** and **Unseen Academicals** (a low bar, because I actively _loathe_ those two books).
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2013, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770/11 "2013-11-14T01:04:33Z")
Does anyone else get the impression from the first two Moist books that Vetinari is grooming him as his successor? I guess weāll find out in this one, if at all.
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### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2013, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770/12 "2013-11-14T03:34:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Does anyone else get the impression from the first two Moist books that Vetinari is grooming him as his successor? I guess weāll find out in this one, if at all.
I got that idea from āMaking Moneyā. When I read āGoing Postalā, I thought Moist von Lipwig was just going to be another William de Worde; an occasionally recurring but not that important of a character.
I downloaded āRaising Steamā yesterday and just started in on it today and havenāt gotten too far yet. Itās obviously an [Industrial Revolution](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/273523377341457454/) novel.
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### Author:  [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)
#### Post date: [November 14, 2013, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770/13 "2013-11-14T04:26:16Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#):
>
> Ah, good. Moist von Lipwig returns.
Not necessarily good - _Making Money_ sucked.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2013, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770/14 "2013-11-17T15:29:13Z")
Actually, very good. If not a return to top form, at least a few levels up from the junk that was _Unseen Academicals_ and _Snuff_. It was a pleasure to read as opposed to a slog. Hell, even Rincewind gets a couple of shout-outs in passing! A solid B+. You can tell that Pterry has had to change the way he writes, but some of the old Master shines through in spots.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2014, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770/15 "2014-02-06T07:05:06Z")
Ordered it from [amazon.uk](http://amazon.uk). _Raising Steam_ is . . . how to put his . . . quite disturbingly optimistic and upbeat. Not like Pratchettās usual stuff at all, no tragic-sense-of-life here. Partly because its mostly POV of Moist von Lipwig, who is endlessly excited at being involved in the next big thing and on fire with its potential. I suppose thatās appropriate when introducing a setting analogous the early Age of Steam. But, while he worked hard to put in a lot of action, thereās no real suspense, the ending is entirely predictable.
Of course I read the book unwillingly watching for signs of Pterryās senile decline. ā¹ And I did perhaps find one ā this is the first Discworld novel where some of the footnotes are not funny, not even intended as jokes. Before they were **always** jokes.
Something else ā in earlier Discworld novels, Status Quo Is God. In _The Colour of Magic,_ Rincewind dreams of a ādifferent kind of magicā ā heās thinking of technology ā and thinks heās found it when he meets Twoflowers and his camera; which it turns out just has a picture-drawing imp inside. In _Holy Wood,_ the world-changing film industry is gone by the end of the story and never heard of again. But then, recently, the printing press was introduced, and then the clacks was introduced, and they stayed and changed the world; and now rail.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770/16 "2014-02-06T16:38:20Z")
> [@](#):
>
> And I did perhaps find one ā this is the first Discworld novel where some of the footnotes are not funny, not even intended as jokes. Before they were always jokes.
Are you sure? It seems to me that _Monstrous Regiment_ had a few that were quite serious, though I canāt remember specifics.
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### Author:  [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2014, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770/17 "2014-02-06T16:41:42Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#):
>
> BTW, I heard Pratchett interviewed on NPR the other day. Because of his unusual form of early-onset Alzheimerās, he can no longer read; so he writes by dictating to voice-recognition software.
>
> I hope he has a good editor. My boss dictates everything with Dragon NaturallySpeaking and the results are bizarre ā all the words are spelled right, but many are homophones or near homophones for the apparently intended words; it is sometimes an effort to puzzle it out. And no proper name will ever be spelled right if it is in any way unusual ā it might even appear as two or more words roughly homophonous to the syllables.
IIRC, heās thrilled with it and wishes heād had the software before he had Alzheimers, and thatās itās made the whole writing process much easier for him.
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770/18 "2014-04-05T21:23:18Z")
I got it from the library today. Itās now sitting on the table with a bookmark on page 57 while I read a different book instead.
Iām having a very hard time getting into it, obviously. Pratchettās voice has completely changed over the last few novels. Understandably, but even so. . . I think heās losing his ability to write humor.
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### Author:  [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770/19 "2014-04-05T23:51:58Z")
For me his characterisation has deteriorated badly, to the point where everybody is just vaguely well-intentioned and cooperative: Moist and Vimes should not be amiably on the same team, and Harry King has lost his edge of wide-boy menace.
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### Author:  [@Two\_Dollar\_Tallboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Dollar_Tallboy)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2014, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-discworld-novel-raising-steam-comes-out-03-18-14/673770/20 "2014-04-19T00:22:18Z")
I finished the book a couple days ago & thought it was decent. Better than Snuff and way ahead of Making Money. Glad to see Moist get a better story than his previous adventure.
One thing I didnāt getā¦
When the train was crossing the bridge into Uberwald, how was it āflyingā? Did the golems that were sent to the bridge pick up the train and run it across?
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