Raising Steam

(Discworld novel 40)

By: Terry Pratchett

Narrated by: Richard Coyle, Bill Nighy, Peter Serafinowicz

Brought to you by Penguin.

Over 1 million Discworld audiobooks sold – discover the extraordinary universe of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld like never before.

The audiobook of Raising Steam is narrated by Richard Coyle, who starred as Moist von Lipwig in the television adaptation of Going Postal. BAFTA and Golden Globe award-winning actor Bill Nighy (Love Actually; Pirates of the Caribbean; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) reads the footnotes, and Peter Serafinowicz (Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace; Shaun of the Dead) stars as the voice of Death. Featuring a new theme tune composed by James Hannigan.

'THE WORLD LIVES BETWEEN THOSE WHO SAY IT CANNOT BE DONE AND THOSE WHO SAY THAT IT CAN . . . IT'S JUST A MATTER OF THINKING CREATIVELY.'

Moist von Lipwig is a con man turned civil servant. As head of the Royal Bank and Post Office of Ankh-Morpork, he doesn't really want or need another job. But when the Patrician Lord Vetinari gives you a task, you do it or suffer the consequences. In Moist's case, death.

A brand-new invention has come to the city: a steam locomotive named Iron Girder, to be precise. With the railway's introduction and rapid expansion, Vetinari enlists Moist to represent the government and keep things on track.

But as with all new technology, some people have objections, and Moist will have to use every trick in his arsenal to keep the trains running...

The first book in the Discworld series-The Colour of Magic-was published in 1983. Some elements of the Discworld universe may reflect this.

'The most serious of comedies, the most relevant and real of fantasies' Independent

©2013 Terry and Lyn Pratchett (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

Laugh-out-loud funny...A chuffing wonderful book.

Terry Pratchett’s creation is still going strong after 30 years as Ankh-Morpork branches into the railway age…There are sly nods to the history of railways and a cheeky reference to The Railway Children. Most aficionados, however, will be on the look-out for in-jokes and references from previous novels – of which there is no shortage…It is at the level of the sentence that Pratchett wins his fans.

The genius of Pratchett is that he never goes for the straight allegory. . .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)

Strong third book for Moist.

This was a great third book for Moist van Lepwig. Not as good as the first two, but still very entertaining and funny. Hard to put down. Worth the time to finish the Moist trilogy.

Whit, humour and imagination

Brilliant story with characters that have become friends during the industrial revolution plot twists. Truly enjoyable listening

a masterpiece

another gorgeous philosophical treatise and epic tale full of lovable and hilarious characters by the master of comedic fantasy. I adore thr narration.

Get original narrator version if possible

This new redone method is absolutely horrible compared to the original. Narrators and editor need to go. Bill Nye constantly cutting in. Character voices have no depth. If the narration means anything to you and you heard the original i would avoid it. Otherwise great story and awesome book.

Lovely to listen to this book again

Unlike some, i personally find the new narrations better than the old ones. I don't see why Pratchett shouldn't benefit from multiple voices and little sounds. Sure, they're in no way necessary, but they don't ruin the books in any way, as some "purists" seem to think. Audiobooks are for audio enjoyment, so i don't mind the little music at the beginning and small sound effects here and there. They're not distracting like in other books. I always imagined the characters having different voices, and the little footnotes beeing spoken in Terry's voice, so for me at least it's nice to have the distinction. I guess for some it clashes with their own imagined narration, but you still have the old narrations so I don't see why you feel like you need to put down the work of these voice actors. It's a bit petty. Just read the books in paper if that's what works best for you.
I found that in the new recordings i can enjoy Terry's amazing writing style and humor just as well as before, and i find all the voice actors put in wonderful performances for this series. Unfortunately i found the old narrations were a bit tired by the end. Steven Briggs did a great job narrating all the books but to be honest on some books it was obvious he wasn't interested. I haven't had this feeling with these recordings. I believe a varied cast makes more sense. Reading 40 books on different story lines can be pretty much for one person, even between fans there are some who don't like some books etc. Anyway, i am loving having a second edition of my favorite book series of all time.