"Raising Steam" by Terry Pratchett

Plot summary: In which a guy named Dick Simnel unleashes upon Discworld... steam trains. The dwarves are not happy about this (well, some of the dwarves; Discworld dwarves can't agree on anything). Lord Vetinari is also not particularly happy about this, mostly because he's not in charge of it, so he assigns a guy named Moist von Lipwig to oversee the creation of the new railway.

(Note: Lipwig. Lip wig. Fake moustache. I finally got that joke halfway through the book.)

Dick Simnel's dad makes a brief cameo in Reaper Man (probably the review after this one) inventing the combine harvester, which I like as |he's dead in this. He exploded himself trying to make a steam engine before the book started|.

This makes me want to find and read Going Postal, the book that I'm pretty sure introduces Moist von Lipwig, solely because I want to find out how he met his wife. Moist himself is a conman / thief / jack-of-all-trades-as-long-as-they're-not-particularly-legal-and-don't-involve-manual-labor who somehow got pressed into service by Lord Vetinari to run various parts of the government.

Also, Commander Samuel Vimes shows up in this. He really is very good at his job.

Were this a videogame, I'd rate it: T15+ for swearing and crude humor.

4 stars. Because trains.

Favorite lines:

    ...steam was here to stay.

    Page 34. This line isn't particularly hilarious, but what it is is a reference to "The Big Race", a story Pratchett wrote when he was in his teens (I think) and much later included in Dragons at Crumbling Castle. And which we quote a lot.

Appearances of Death count: 5

(Endnote: In this one, we are also introduced to possibly Discworld's newest goddess: |Iron Girder, the first steam engine Dick Simnel built. She appears to have ascended to goddesshood via the collective fanboying and fangirling of Discworld's nascent train enthusiasts.|)