I’ve read maybe a quarter of the Discworld novels (started randomly, got to Lords and Ladies and realized maybe I should go in order – that slowed me down) and really enjoy them. Thanks for the review.
And on a side note, Pratchett is one of those people that I look at and realize when I’m complaining about my minor issues in life. Here’s a guy who’s busted out 40 novels in just the Discworld series, and a bunch of other stuff, then keeps going when he gets a rare version of Alzheimers. I’m crabby because I had to get up early today.
Hats off to him, and if this is the last Discworld novel (or any Pratchett novel for that matter), 40’s a good number to stand on. Unless he of course hits 42 as a nod to Douglass Adams, but seriously, I’m not so selfish that I won’t let the poor guy take a rest.
Yeah, that’s ridiculous. Particularly since this is a clear evolution from the style he used in Thud and continued in Snuff. Whether intentional or due to circumstances, it’s a much more flowing, graceful, grand style; not so much stop-and-smell-the-comedy. That’s neither a pro nor con, it just is.
That said, this is a great book. My (US-based) family is addicted to Discworld, so we ordered it from the UK (amazon.co.uk) as soon as we could, and it was totally worth it. If this is the capstone to Discworld (I hope not), it’s a fine one.
In the Discworld series, I do think Thud is his best writing, and Going Postal his most compelling, but if you liked either of those, this one should make you happy.
Hmmm - it’s been out here in NZ for a couple of weeks, Amazon happily sold it to my kindle, must be that timezone thing I guess, or maybe they just can’t print enough copies for all the kindles in the US that fast
A few years ago, this particular Pratchett fan in California found the Science of Discworld books on amazon.co.uk when I was given a gift certificate from an anglophile friend who already knew what I was about to discover: that some truly wonderful things are available in the UK that are inexplicably absent from American shelves. Now those books are to be had through amazon.com (I guess due to the “international edition” being published last May), but before finding them on the British site I’d never seen them anywhere in the States (I guess 'cause we love our Intelligent Design so much out here in the hintercolonies). I’m gonna go ahead and pay extra to get Raising Steam now from amazon.co.uk.
After Unseen Academicals and Snuff, I thought each book would get progressively worse, as his mental health declines. Reading Raising Steam made me cry. It’s like he’s had a burst of creativity, some kind of revelation, reached out from the murk of despair and punched Alzheimer’s in the face.
The pacing’s a little off at times and there’s still a few too many one-sided conversations, but overall, it’s a great read.
‘Strata’, and I can’t remember the name of the other one off the top of my head. It was his first novel; I’ve got a copy somewhere. Not sure if it’s still in print.
I can’t condemn such an assumption completely. I am a vivid Pratchett fan, I’ve read every Discworld novel at least 4-5 times and also many of his other works. And I, too, couldn’t shake the feeling while reading the book that something was off. While “Thud” and even “Snuff” were clearly recognizable as Pratchett’s works, “Raising Steam” contains a number of things that don’t really work - or rather are weird for his books.
Some examples:
Completely unnecessary camoes: I love Lu-Tze, I really do, but his appearance in this book looked like fan-service and served no purpose. Same with Ridcully, Rincewind, etc. Many parts feel like fan-service - which is great in general, but not really Pratchett’s style
Too many explanations: In almost all of his books, Pratchett rarely explicitly mentions intriguing details but rather hints at them. In “The Fifth Elephant” Rhys didn’t say she was female, she just hinted it. Here she openly declares it to ■■■■■ without any need to do so.
Characters acting contrary their established nature: ■■■■■ was established as someone who’d avoid fighting at any cost and yet he heads into battle without trying something else. Adora Belle never showed much emotion before and yet in this book she is almost sappy (in “Making Money” she didn’t even ask him how he’s been when sending him a clacks).
Happy endings: Almost all of his books end well but almost never as smoothly as it did here. Rhys arrives back home, announces he’s back and - oh, he is female btw - and everyone just went “fine with me”. That is nice but contrary to everything we have heard about dwarfs before
I don’t think this book was written by a ghost writer but I think it was written by someone who knows that this might well be his last book ever and who wanted to write a parting gift for his fans. That’s really nice of Pratchett but unfortunately the result does not fit completely with the rest of his books. But it’s nevertheless very enjoyable.
2.5 seems a bit low but I understand your reasoning. I’d probably settle for 3 to 3.5.
And that’s not because he became more serious in the later years. “Night Watch” is possibly the best Discworld novel and yet one of the most serious ones.
