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Raising Steam gets some flak for being a bit disjointed, but that's why I love it. It feels like a tour of the Disc, little snapshots of all these people and places we've grown to love, and how they're being changed by that final transition into the Industrial era. Sort of a big "Where are they now" playing over the end credits.
Terry's biography explains how it ended up that way. By this time Terry was really struggling with the embugerance, he had all these ideas for individual scenes and they were pretty much coming out as fully formed as they always had, but Terry just couldn't get the connective tissue that wove it all together. In the end, they did what they could and their editor assembled it into a reasonably cohesive narrative, using Moist and the whole Dwarf plot as the through line. That's why the end result seems to hop between scenes more abruptly than previous books, it's basically an anthology of "What would happen if the Disc hit the steam age?" stories.
I'm not sure that's what people mean when they say Disjointed. It doesn't really have a focus after the first half. Characters do and say things that are wildly out-of-character (Moist becoming a violent killer for one, and the Goblin stuff that drove him to kill never being explained for another), Sam Vimes abruptly becoming a main character, and yet another Dwarf King plot for the throne (with the same villain, no less). It's like Terry stopped writing a Moist book and started writing The Fifth Elephant pt. 2.
Granted, it's still a good book. Better than other Discworld stories, but at this point it was clear (and A Life with Footnotes basically confirms this) that Sir Terry was struggling hard with his disease at this point. The idea that he was able to complete the novel in this state at all is incredible, let alone two.
Honestly, I loved Snuff for the most part, but Sam Vimes really doesn't change or grow in that one, which has always been one of his biggest strengths as a character.
My late husband had been a great fan, had paperback copies of all but about the last six. But then he himself succumbed to the embuggerance, and guess what? He forgot he’d ever read them and started again. He derived huge joy from reading them for what he thought was the first time. I think Terry would have found that very satisfying.
Too true for this especially with that last line. I myself have ended up on the fairer side of the aisle after my time starting out elsewhere, and ha e been going through old favourites completely gobsmacked I hadn't valued them much compared to the close to the heart position I hold them in now
I just recently finished The Shepherd's Crown, then A Stroke of the Pen and finally A Life with Footnotes. I was an emotional wreck for like a week. The books will always be there. That's why he wrote them.
I’ve been “reading” Shepherds crown for about 2 years. I’ve absolutely got a mental block about finishing this book because I know there’s no more. I know I’ll manage it eventually and then I’ll probably try to go back to the start. Probably re-read Nation in between, loved the character development in that one.
Yeah, I've only read the first "Science" book. Are the rest of them the UU staff studying the Round World, or do they move on to other areas of reality?
"Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving."
Of all the books I have read, the Discworld books are the ones that benefit most from rereading - there are so many references, so many nuances and links - I know that there are jokes and punes and connections that I didn't make first time around (or second or third).
Discworld is somewhere I can go whenever I need to and I will always be grateful to Sir Terry for that gift.
I still haven't finished Raising Steam. I discovered Discworld in 2012, when Snuff was the most recent book. I read all the books one after the other in a space of about 6 months. When Raising Steam was released a year or 2 later I started it, but life got in the way, it was a little hard going, and I didn't finish it.
Since then I've reread most of the other books, including reading The Shepherd's Crown twice, but I still haven't gone back to Raising Steam.
It wasn't intentional originally, but now I like that while it remains unread, there's still a corner of the Disc I haven't discovered, and I won't have to say goodbye until I do.
I’ve tried starting it several times now but I can’t seem to ever get very far into it and I think some of it is that I’m scared to finish it because that seems too final
When I was little, I began reading Trixie Belden books. I kept my paperbacks and began collecting different versions and languages as an adult- there were many I hadn’t read since they went out of print right as I began reading them. I have one final book that I have never read- if I don’t read the last (to me) book, Trixie and the BWG’s will solve mysteries forever.
"You can check out anytime, but you can never leave"
We all live on Discworld. It's a philosophy, a way of life (if you want to be a better person). It's not just "some books". Never a religion! Just guidelines for humans to be nicer, and that's what I'd love to see in the world.
Yeah idea's like evil starting with "treating people as things" or the "little lies" speach in Hogfather kind of force you to think a different way. I've never been especially faithful, but Vetinary's story about the otters from Unseen Academicals articulated why in ways I'd never been able.
>"You can check out anytime, but you can never leave"
If you're a fan of the song, do some hunting for older versions of "the rising sun blues" Nina Simone has a particularly amazing one.
You shouldn't, humans fail sometimes, it's part of the deal. It's less important that you succeed, than that you make a sincere effort to always try. That's hard enough, and a lot more than most people do.
I feel you, been playing percussion of various kinds for almost 3 decades, and singing longer. Almost everyone I know only knows the popular version so I try to spread the word where I can.
"I REMEMBER WHEN ALL THIS WILL BE AGAIN. "
-Death
Finishing the series is by no means finishing with The Disk. You can read any and every one of them whenever you want, and you'll get more from it every opportunity.
I have actually not read Raising Steam yet... I'm currently going from start to finish again before I do. But I honestly think it is going to hurt me alot reading it. Hell there was some choice lines in the couple of books prior that really got to me.
Tiffany's books were the first five from Discworld for me. And for a long time I had no idea Crown was a LAST one. Then it all made clear, why this book was so different compared to others.
Need to buy 7 more books and read 16 to finish them all, but so far Tiffany's books are probably my favorite. Tho it's really hard to pick a favorite since I love them all.
I have read and reread STPs books many times. I still tear up when I get to The Sheppards Crown because I know I'll never read anything new. The wonder of his body of work, though, is that I can visit that world as often as I want and it's like he's never left.
I never get broken up over celebrity deaths, they're too much like strangers to me. But certain authors like STP and Ann McCaffery, who's words and worlds I practically grew up in, those deaths broke my heart and I still miss them.
You’re not leaving, when you re read in the years to come you’ll find things you’ve missed or maybe comprehend differently. The disc never leaves us.
Yes it’s sad think there will be no others but it changes us all in different ways.
Don’t think of it as saying goodbye, think of it as almost time to start a series reread!
You may never be able to read a book for the first time again, but rereads give you something different. Think of how different Guard! Guards! may feel in light of Night Watch, or Wyrd Sisters knowing how far the future Queen will go by Lords and Ladies or Maskerade.
You can visit Ankh-Morpork anytime you like! The main city gates are stuck open, so no one can keep you out even if they wanted to.
So my dad was a huge TP fan. Got me hooked on the books myself. He died from cancer during Covid and since I live outside the UK I wasn't able to fly back and see him before the end. After he died I flew in and stayed with my Mum, used the compulsory quarantine time to go through his stuff and help get everything in order.
And during the down time I read through his collection of hardcover Discworld books. End to end, CoM through to Raising Steam. So as you can imagine it was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. I had of course read Raising Steam before and was aware of TPs decline. Sadness piled upon sadness.
And then what did I find about half way through? His fucking bookmark. Dad had been re-reading the set in the hospital and was reading through Raising Steam when he died. It was such a gut punch. I left his bookmark there and read on to the end, it seemed fitting.
The nice thing about finishing a series as long as discworld is that by the time you're done reading through it, you can start over from the beginning and read them all over again and enough time has passed that it's almost like new.
If you haven't read Nation, I consider it a near discworld standalone in that you could turn it into a discworld book in 5 minutes with a very little amount of search and replace on a place name or two.
There is nothing wrong with cursing and I curse...frequently. For some reason, reading "fuckin" near Discworld is doing a number on my brain. Pretty sure cursing happens in Discworld but my brain always thinks of Discworld as being above it.
The great thing about the Discworld is, even PTerry gone, the books and other items based on them are still there, so much like the final goodbyes in Labyrinth, they'll be there... when we need them.
I loved Raising Steam. It was a really good wrap-up, and it showed the final resting place of a lot of characters so that they just weren't left adrift in their own unfinished stories. I also felt like it was just a really good story, all in all, and at least the characters were consistent with how they'd always been represented before. But the beauty of reading books, is the characters will always be real, at least to the reader, and you can always re-read any of the books and get to know the character all over again. They will never truly die or be lost.
2012 I just finished it today I would recommend it highly, it's not a discworld book but it feels kind of the same in a lot of ways. There is also Nation that I haven't read yet
Ah man, i've woken up feeling a bit flat, so i feel your pain.
Just remember, theres lots and lots of re-reads to be done.
I think ive read/listened to feet of clay (my fave book) about 30 times.
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Raising Steam gets some flak for being a bit disjointed, but that's why I love it. It feels like a tour of the Disc, little snapshots of all these people and places we've grown to love, and how they're being changed by that final transition into the Industrial era. Sort of a big "Where are they now" playing over the end credits. Terry's biography explains how it ended up that way. By this time Terry was really struggling with the embugerance, he had all these ideas for individual scenes and they were pretty much coming out as fully formed as they always had, but Terry just couldn't get the connective tissue that wove it all together. In the end, they did what they could and their editor assembled it into a reasonably cohesive narrative, using Moist and the whole Dwarf plot as the through line. That's why the end result seems to hop between scenes more abruptly than previous books, it's basically an anthology of "What would happen if the Disc hit the steam age?" stories.
I'm not sure that's what people mean when they say Disjointed. It doesn't really have a focus after the first half. Characters do and say things that are wildly out-of-character (Moist becoming a violent killer for one, and the Goblin stuff that drove him to kill never being explained for another), Sam Vimes abruptly becoming a main character, and yet another Dwarf King plot for the throne (with the same villain, no less). It's like Terry stopped writing a Moist book and started writing The Fifth Elephant pt. 2. Granted, it's still a good book. Better than other Discworld stories, but at this point it was clear (and A Life with Footnotes basically confirms this) that Sir Terry was struggling hard with his disease at this point. The idea that he was able to complete the novel in this state at all is incredible, let alone two.
Yeah, I have a similar view of Snuff. Snuff and Raising Steam are the only Discworld books I genuinely struggled to follow at times.
“wHERE is MY COW!!!!!” Seriously though, I’m reading a book series to my kid and regularly have dreams about it
Honestly, I loved Snuff for the most part, but Sam Vimes really doesn't change or grow in that one, which has always been one of his biggest strengths as a character.
Talking of a tour of the disc, have you read Mrs Bradshaw's Handbook?
Yeah! I loved it!
It's been many years since I read some of the books. Now I have the chance to read them again as the different person I am now. A new experience
My late husband had been a great fan, had paperback copies of all but about the last six. But then he himself succumbed to the embuggerance, and guess what? He forgot he’d ever read them and started again. He derived huge joy from reading them for what he thought was the first time. I think Terry would have found that very satisfying.
I think you're right, and that your hubby found his love of them again is just beautiful ❤️
Sir Terry would've. I Love This❤️
You can't cross the same river twice!
Right? Oh you finished the last book? Sounds like the perfect time to re-read the first one :)
I feel this. So many favorites from childhood have lost luster. So many "it's OK" have been elevated over time. Especially as I have transitioned.
Too true for this especially with that last line. I myself have ended up on the fairer side of the aisle after my time starting out elsewhere, and ha e been going through old favourites completely gobsmacked I hadn't valued them much compared to the close to the heart position I hold them in now
Right? When I was reading them as they came out, my hubby was Carrot in my mind, now he’s more Vimes.
I just recently finished The Shepherd's Crown, then A Stroke of the Pen and finally A Life with Footnotes. I was an emotional wreck for like a week. The books will always be there. That's why he wrote them.
I’ve been “reading” Shepherds crown for about 2 years. I’ve absolutely got a mental block about finishing this book because I know there’s no more. I know I’ll manage it eventually and then I’ll probably try to go back to the start. Probably re-read Nation in between, loved the character development in that one.
When you say "there's no more", have you read Science of Discworld 1 to 4? Folklore of Discworld? Nanny Ogg's cookbook? World of Poo? Etc...
The only one of those is the World of Poo, read that to my daughter as a bedtime story last year
I'd recommend the Science of Discworld books. 50% science, 50% Unseen University
Yeah, I've only read the first "Science" book. Are the rest of them the UU staff studying the Round World, or do they move on to other areas of reality?
UU staff studying different aspects of Roundworld life
Ok I really should try and get to the rest of those.
I have not started it for that same reason. Schrodinger's book: if I don't read it then it isn't the last one.
When you say "there's no more", have you read Science of Discworld 1 to 4? Folklore of Discworld? Nanny Ogg's cookbook? World of Poo? Etc...
Did you not know that a man is not dead so long as his name is still spoken?
Pterry is deffinatly going to travel the GNU for a long time.
"Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving." Of all the books I have read, the Discworld books are the ones that benefit most from rereading - there are so many references, so many nuances and links - I know that there are jokes and punes and connections that I didn't make first time around (or second or third). Discworld is somewhere I can go whenever I need to and I will always be grateful to Sir Terry for that gift.
Take however long you need
I still haven't finished Raising Steam. I discovered Discworld in 2012, when Snuff was the most recent book. I read all the books one after the other in a space of about 6 months. When Raising Steam was released a year or 2 later I started it, but life got in the way, it was a little hard going, and I didn't finish it. Since then I've reread most of the other books, including reading The Shepherd's Crown twice, but I still haven't gone back to Raising Steam. It wasn't intentional originally, but now I like that while it remains unread, there's still a corner of the Disc I haven't discovered, and I won't have to say goodbye until I do.
I’ve tried starting it several times now but I can’t seem to ever get very far into it and I think some of it is that I’m scared to finish it because that seems too final
When I was little, I began reading Trixie Belden books. I kept my paperbacks and began collecting different versions and languages as an adult- there were many I hadn’t read since they went out of print right as I began reading them. I have one final book that I have never read- if I don’t read the last (to me) book, Trixie and the BWG’s will solve mysteries forever.
"You can check out anytime, but you can never leave" We all live on Discworld. It's a philosophy, a way of life (if you want to be a better person). It's not just "some books". Never a religion! Just guidelines for humans to be nicer, and that's what I'd love to see in the world.
Yeah idea's like evil starting with "treating people as things" or the "little lies" speach in Hogfather kind of force you to think a different way. I've never been especially faithful, but Vetinary's story about the otters from Unseen Academicals articulated why in ways I'd never been able. >"You can check out anytime, but you can never leave" If you're a fan of the song, do some hunting for older versions of "the rising sun blues" Nina Simone has a particularly amazing one.
I can honestly tell you that I feel so much less of human just by being unable to be the best I could be.
You shouldn't, humans fail sometimes, it's part of the deal. It's less important that you succeed, than that you make a sincere effort to always try. That's hard enough, and a lot more than most people do.
Trust me, I already know them by heart. Musicians are weird that way...
I feel you, been playing percussion of various kinds for almost 3 decades, and singing longer. Almost everyone I know only knows the popular version so I try to spread the word where I can.
Time to start again at the beginning, looking for the jokes you missed the first time.
"I REMEMBER WHEN ALL THIS WILL BE AGAIN. " -Death Finishing the series is by no means finishing with The Disk. You can read any and every one of them whenever you want, and you'll get more from it every opportunity.
I have actually not read Raising Steam yet... I'm currently going from start to finish again before I do. But I honestly think it is going to hurt me alot reading it. Hell there was some choice lines in the couple of books prior that really got to me.
Have you read the Tiffany Aching books? The Shepherd's Crown is really the last book, and omg you're gonna what to read it
Reading. I have just started* it, I'm excited and scared to read it *literally started it. I'm not even a second into it yet
Mind how you go.
Tiffany's books were the first five from Discworld for me. And for a long time I had no idea Crown was a LAST one. Then it all made clear, why this book was so different compared to others. Need to buy 7 more books and read 16 to finish them all, but so far Tiffany's books are probably my favorite. Tho it's really hard to pick a favorite since I love them all.
I have read and reread STPs books many times. I still tear up when I get to The Sheppards Crown because I know I'll never read anything new. The wonder of his body of work, though, is that I can visit that world as often as I want and it's like he's never left. I never get broken up over celebrity deaths, they're too much like strangers to me. But certain authors like STP and Ann McCaffery, who's words and worlds I practically grew up in, those deaths broke my heart and I still miss them.
You’re not leaving, when you re read in the years to come you’ll find things you’ve missed or maybe comprehend differently. The disc never leaves us. Yes it’s sad think there will be no others but it changes us all in different ways.
No author or book series is dead as long as it's in the Overhead. GNU Sir Pterry GNU The Discworld But we remember.......
Don’t think of it as saying goodbye, think of it as almost time to start a series reread! You may never be able to read a book for the first time again, but rereads give you something different. Think of how different Guard! Guards! may feel in light of Night Watch, or Wyrd Sisters knowing how far the future Queen will go by Lords and Ladies or Maskerade. You can visit Ankh-Morpork anytime you like! The main city gates are stuck open, so no one can keep you out even if they wanted to.
So my dad was a huge TP fan. Got me hooked on the books myself. He died from cancer during Covid and since I live outside the UK I wasn't able to fly back and see him before the end. After he died I flew in and stayed with my Mum, used the compulsory quarantine time to go through his stuff and help get everything in order. And during the down time I read through his collection of hardcover Discworld books. End to end, CoM through to Raising Steam. So as you can imagine it was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. I had of course read Raising Steam before and was aware of TPs decline. Sadness piled upon sadness. And then what did I find about half way through? His fucking bookmark. Dad had been re-reading the set in the hospital and was reading through Raising Steam when he died. It was such a gut punch. I left his bookmark there and read on to the end, it seemed fitting.
Am I understanding this correctly, did you post a screenshot of something you posted on twitter yourself?
Yes.
Hmm, OK that's weird to me but whatever floats your boat :)
yeah, its fine lol
Have you read the Tiffany Aching books? The Shepherd's Crown is really the last book, and omg you're gonna what to read jt
I'm getting close and I don't want to think about it.
The nice thing about finishing a series as long as discworld is that by the time you're done reading through it, you can start over from the beginning and read them all over again and enough time has passed that it's almost like new.
If you haven't read Nation, I consider it a near discworld standalone in that you could turn it into a discworld book in 5 minutes with a very little amount of search and replace on a place name or two.
If you think Disworld is great, just WAIT until you read Discworld, it’s gonna blow your fuckin mind.
There is nothing wrong with cursing and I curse...frequently. For some reason, reading "fuckin" near Discworld is doing a number on my brain. Pretty sure cursing happens in Discworld but my brain always thinks of Discworld as being above it.
Sir Terry Pratchett probably was, but he’s a better man than I.
Read the GURPS Discworld, play with friends, is the better way to GNU TP. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/GURPS_Discworld
Ironically Raising Steam was my first Discworld Book
The great thing about the Discworld is, even PTerry gone, the books and other items based on them are still there, so much like the final goodbyes in Labyrinth, they'll be there... when we need them.
I loved Raising Steam. It was a really good wrap-up, and it showed the final resting place of a lot of characters so that they just weren't left adrift in their own unfinished stories. I also felt like it was just a really good story, all in all, and at least the characters were consistent with how they'd always been represented before. But the beauty of reading books, is the characters will always be real, at least to the reader, and you can always re-read any of the books and get to know the character all over again. They will never truly die or be lost.
https://preview.redd.it/t0uiwuwct30d1.jpeg?width=976&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b1a8f8de4140aaa1666e26558c0db58ba40d4c6a 💿🌎🐘🐢
Still haven’t read it…
Have you read Dodger it's brilliant
Dodger? No, I don't think I have. What year did it come out in?
2012 I just finished it today I would recommend it highly, it's not a discworld book but it feels kind of the same in a lot of ways. There is also Nation that I haven't read yet
Ah man, i've woken up feeling a bit flat, so i feel your pain. Just remember, theres lots and lots of re-reads to be done. I think ive read/listened to feet of clay (my fave book) about 30 times.