Having introduced a variety of modern conveniences to
the Discworld, from films (in Moving
Pictures) to the clacks (in Going
Postal), Terry Pratchett continues to alter the landscape and society
in his one-time satire on fantasy novels, now reflection of our own world
with Raising Steam, in which the
iron horse is introduced to the Discworld.
Years after his father was killed in a steam explosion, Dick Simnel has
tamed, or at least reached an agreement, with steam power and harnessed
its use for the invention of the Disc’s first railway. As an aspiring
young inventor, he knows that he must go to Ankh-Morpork to seek
investors, but despite his rural upbringing, he demonstrates a wariness
and eventually falls into business with Sir Harry King, one of Ankh-Morpork’s
greatest entrepreneurs. Lord
Vetinari appoints a reluctant Moist von Lipwig to oversee their enterprise
and make sure that everything will benefit his city, which he rules as an
enlightened tyrant.
Having recently introduced goblins to the Discworld, Pratchett is now
making full use of them, portraying them as natural born mechanics who can
help build the railway along with the natural brute strength of trolls and
golems, which is a good thing for Pratchett’s plot because it means it
leaves dwarves available to be the novel’s antagonists as a small band
of dwarf terrorists attempt to derail the railway (and in fact, the clacks
system) in an attempt to undo the Koom Valley Accord hammered out by
Samuel Vimes in Thud.
Although his focus is on the rise of the railways,
Pratchett is well aware of the impact the railways had and shows how it
leads to the rise of hostels, changes to the food industry, marketing, and
decentralization. While Sir
Harry King and Dick Simnel are making the most profit off of Simnel’s
invention, everyone wants a piece of the pie and comes up with their own
angle to extract money (and power) from the railway. In some ways, Raising
Steam causes the Discworld to come full circle.
In the premiere novel, The
Colour of Magic, Pratchett introduced Twoflower, the Disc’s first
tourist. In Raising
Steam, tourism has taken off and Pratchett introduces Mrs. Georgina
Bradshaw, the Disc’s first travel writer.
About two thirds of the way through Raising Steam, the novel bogs down as
Pratchett gets a little too involved with the nuts and bolts (spikes and
ties?) of railway construction at the expense of the characters in the
story. Although he introduces
Simnel, Simnel mostly appears to drive the mechanical processes, and
although we know he is dating Harry King’s niece, their romance is only
discussed, not shown. Similarly,
the constant flitting back and forth between Moist von Lipwig, Sir Harry
King, and Lord Vetinari means that none of those characters really takes
center stage for more than a few pages at a time, leaving Raising
Steam with an aimless feel, as if it had gone off the rails.
Even a revolution and the main characters' role in trying to correct the
balance of power fails to get the novel back on track.
Raising Steam has almost all of the
standard indicators of a Discworld novels. Rincewind, Commander
Vimes, and Lord Vetinari all make appearances of various lengths and much
of the action is set in Ankh-Morpork. The novel deals with issues of
race and diversity as well as the march of technological progress and the
influence it has on society. While Pratchett handles his subject
matter well, the pacing seems a bit off and, while the novel does have
some laugh out loud moments, the humor is not as pronounced as usual.
