Raising Steam

A Discworld Novel

By: Terry Pratchett

Narrated by: Stephen Briggs

Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

The new Discworld novel, the 40th in the series, sees the Disc's first train come steaming into town.

Change is afoot in Ankh-Morpork. Discworld's first steam engine has arrived, and once again Moist von Lipwig finds himself with a new and challenging job.

©2014 Terry Pratchett (P)2014 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

Advance Praise for Raising Steam

“A spectacular novel, and a gift from a beloved writer to his millions of fans. . . . A tremendous synthesis of everything that makes Pratchett one of the world’s most delightful writers.”
—Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing

“From the first, the novels demonstrated Pratchett's eye for telling detail and the absurdities of the human condition. . . . He remains one of the most consistently funny writers around; a master of the stealth simile, the time-delay pun and the deflationary three-part list. . . . I could tell which of my fellow tube passengers had downloaded it to their e-readers by the bouts of spontaneous laughter.”
—Ben Aaronovitch, The Guardian

"Terry Pratchett’s creation is still going strong after 30 years. . . . Most aficionados, however, will be on the look-out for in-jokes and references from previous novels—of which there is no shortage. Discworld’s success, like that of Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster stories, has never been driven by the plots. . . . It is at the level of the sentence that Pratchett wins his fans.”
—Andrew McKie, The Times (London)

Praise for Terry Pratchett

“Terry Pratchett may still be pegged as a comic novelist, but . . . he’s a lot more. In his range of invented characters, his adroit storytelling, and his clear-eyed acceptance of humankind’s foibles, he reminds me of no one in English literature as much as Geoffrey Chaucer. No kidding.”
—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post Book World

“Given his prolificacy and breezy style, it’s easy to underestimate Pratchett. . . . He’s far more than a talented jokesmith, though. His books are almost always better than they have to be.”
—Michael Berry, San Francisco Chronicle

“Nonstop wit. . . . Pratchett is a master of juggling multiple plotlines and multiplying punchlines.”
—Ken Barnes, USA Today

one of my favorites

love it. this one kind of wraps up the various Ankh Morpork storylines and brings back many of my favorite characters.

a jolly good time

I love Terry Pratchett and Steven Brigg does an excellent job of bringing individuality to the characters.

Wish Stephen Briggs Did all Discworld Books

Great story.
Great Narrator.
I only wish Stephen Briggs narrated the entire set of Discworld books!

After all the other books still the best!

I have read all of the series preceding this book and they just keep getting better.

love it!

moist von lipvig is amazing, this story is one of terry pratchett's best!

lots of action, and even more humor

love Pratchett

Stephen Briggs always does a great job narrating and I have not yet met a Pratchett novel I didn't like.

One of His Best!

There is no other author quite like Prachett! This is fun a fun and engaging story with the addition of containing such cleaver and tight communication that you can probably open it to any page, start to read, and be thoroughly entertained! Definitely a book I'll read more than once.

The perfect Swan Song for the Discworld

Pratchett is wonderful as always, and Briggs breathes life into the characters. This book involves an enormous ensemble that a cast of voice actors would struggle to do justice to and make distinct. Briggs handles it effortlessly, bringing back the voices for familiar characters as well as creating new variations for slew of new characters. Incredible book, incredible job!

Predictable

What made the experience of listening to Raising Steam the most enjoyable?

Advancement of the Discworld continues, and the overall Universe grows with both technological and social expositions.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

No real plot twists or core character development. Just more of the same...

Which scene was your favorite?

The fact that I had to think really, really hard to come up with one clear winner says a lot. While the writing of Pratchett is IMHO above average, the entire book is 'average' for him.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Again, I enjoyed the read, but nothing specific stood out.

Most enjoyable!

The narrator made the story come alive. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys satire!