Raising Steam
(Discworld #40)
by Terry Pratchett
humour, fantasy
copyright 2013
read in February 2016
rated 8/10: really quite good
"Warm, silly, compulsively readable, fantastically inventive, surprisingly serious." That's a quote from the Evening Standard, on the back cover of this 40th Discworld book.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
Discworld began with the rather cruel adventures of Wizard Rincewind. Terrible puns, enormous imagination, magical action and adventure. With poor Rincewind as the eternal loser. Saving the world but suffering all the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. I laughed at the humour but wished that Rincewind could occasionally -- or ultimately -- win.
With Raising Steam, Pratchett has moved to the opposite end of the "nice" scale... Every single person is nice ! Well, okay, there is one character who drives all the nastiness in the book. We don't really see much of him.
It's all about the usual Ankh-Morpork crowd, doing what they do best -- in a very nice way :-)
And the plot is so very, very positive ! There are risks, there are dangers. Risk takers will win through, dangers will be overcome. Ambushes will be anticipated, attacks will be repelled, little children will be spoken to... and you just know that they will go on to be model yet innovative citizens.
Does this all sound a bit too saccharine ? Don't worry ! Sure, it's sweet... but there's action a-plenty to stop it being too cloying.
There are, however, lots and lots of minor side-stories. Perhaps too many. Lots of little incidents -- to illustrate minor aspects of the effects of the railway -- without adding much to the central story. The author had lots of ideas -- and was not willing to drop any one of them.
The ideas revolve around the two main themes of the book: progress is good, and, everyone can be friends with everyone else. There's nothing subtle about these themes. They are pushed. Hard...
Discworld has always been about social satire. The books have always included social commentary. There are always messages about accepting all people as being... well... people. Raising Steam pushes acceptance. Not so much, Why ? More, Why not !
This book is cheerful, imaginative and occasional-chuckle funny. There's action and adventure and a lot of very nice -- and not so nice but fair -- characters. The social messages are slathered on like marmalade. And sometimes the message is laid on a bit thick, making reading just a tad tedious. Sometimes !
I finished reading and thought, Ah shucks, that was fun :-) The cynic in me also thought, Ah, if only :-(
I enjoyed the reading. I'm smiling at the end.
That, to me, makes this a good book.
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