“Raising Steam” brings the railway to Discworld and turns its arrival into a fond tour of that world. In this fortieth and penultimate novel Moist von Lipwig shares the stage with a crowd of familiar faces, and the delight in steam engines is infectious. Some readers miss the bigger laughs of earlier books or find the plot short on conflict; it is best met after a good many of the others.

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About the book

Raising Steam is the 40th Discworld novel, written by Terry Pratchett. It was the penultimate one, published before his death in 2015. Originally due to be published on 24 October 2013, it was pushed back to 7 November 2013. It stars Moist von Lipwig, and features the introduction of locomotives to the Discworld, and introduces Dick Simnel as a new character.

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Reading order · Discworld

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Where the score comes from

The sources average 7.8 across 305 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 67% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Humour average of 7.8. That is how 7.8 comes out.