Raising Steam cover art

Raising Steam

(Discworld novel 40)

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Raising Steam

By: Terry Pratchett
Narrated by: Richard Coyle, Bill Nighy, Peter Serafinowicz
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About this listen

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

Action & Adventure Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Humorous Literature & Fiction Satire Fiction Railroad Funny Comedy Technology

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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)
All stars
Most relevant
As a book, Raising Steam is a love letter to the wonderment of all those little boys who saw a train and knew in that instant they needed to know how it worked, and become engineers to find out. It will forever have a place in my soul.

This version of the audiobook is of course fantastic, Richard Coyle without any shadow of doubt understands the context and flow of each scene. Plus y'know, he's Moist!

A love letter to Engineers

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I love all the Discworld novels. I grew up learning about life from the likes of Sam Vimes and Esme Weatherwax. I cried when Granny Weatherwax died and also at the end of this book. The embuggerance was a cruel monster, it robbed us of such a great man. I’m wiping my tears away as I’m writing this, as I do every time Raising Steam ends.
Being a bit of a purist, until recently, I would read all the books again when a new one came out. Until I discovered the joy of the sub series anyway.
I especially like to listen to the books by sub series but I insert the Moist books into the Watch series as I feel they work well together. Richard Coyle and John Culshaw bring the Discworld denizens to life in a way that enhances them far more than my imagined character voices. I seem to pick up much more of the less obvious humour listening to the books and never, ever get bored repeating them.
I miss Terry Pratchett and I mourn the fact that there can be no true continuation or expansion of the characters lives, but Terry definitely left the world better than he found it.
I think I’ll start again with the Witches……

Endings

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This is the best voice to listen to when delving into the world of Terry Pratchett! love the multiple accents and the amazing range that you could ever wish for in a good storyteller!

Best reader ever! with a delicious slice of Serafinovich!

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A very entertaining continuation of the adventures of Moist and the innovation of steam locomotion.

Another delve into the Discworld

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I liked it all. Wonderful :) a great progression of the Moist Von Lipzig story I will need to go back to the ones before going postal to see where it all started :)

Great story in the spirit of the series

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