{"id":5156,"date":"2020-04-06T05:00:23","date_gmt":"2020-04-06T12:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/?p=5156"},"modified":"2020-04-06T16:01:20","modified_gmt":"2020-04-06T23:01:20","slug":"mark-reads-raising-steam-part-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/2020\/04\/mark-reads-raising-steam-part-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Reads &#8216;Raising Steam&#8217;: Part 19"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the nineteenth part of <i>Raising Steam<\/i>, Moist does his part to protect the Low King. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read <i>Discworld<\/i>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>This is going to be a <i>very<\/i> long train ride, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m getting this sense because Pratchett is slowly ratcheting up the tension on this ride. We haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even gotten to anything the dwarfs said they were going to do, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m now guessing we won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see the train deprived of water and coal until later. This whole sequence\u00e2\u20ac\u201din which Moist spots two dwarfs who are spies or operatives for the grags\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwas something I should have anticipated but clearly didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. It also appears to hint at more: If there were dwarfs hiding <i>on<\/i> the train, what was their purpose? When were they supposed to leap into action?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m getting ahead of myself, but I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help it. I know this train is on a collision course (not sorry) with the grags, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just trying to piece it all together. So while this is all very suspenseful (I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122M SO NERVOUS THE WHOLE TIME), I also love just how <i>fun<\/i> it is. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in large part to the fact that Pratchett was clearly having the time of his life writing Moist in disguise. While Moist has long used his skills as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153scoundrel\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to get things done for the city of Ankh-Morpork, this all feels so blatantly within Moist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wheelhouse. He gets to wear a disguise. He gets to talk and interact with people he thinks are suspicious, and he does so in a way that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s basically a conduit for all his old scam tactics. We get to watch him have a painful (and hilarious) conversation with a dwarf who was far too nervous for Moist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s liking. What unfolds is BRILLIANT. I loved that Moist didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let up with his whole \u00e2\u20ac\u0153train spotter\u00e2\u20ac\u009d technique. He just kept doubling down, pushing the dwarf into more and more uncomfortable territory, and what happens because of it?<\/p>\n<p><i>Moist finds another one<\/i>. IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SUCH A BRILLIANT TACTIC. He doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t involve a single person in this who shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be involved; other passengers will just see him as a train nerd talking to a fellow like-minded train spotter. But someone who is also supposed to be hiding? They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll reveal themselves, just like the other dwarf does here. At this point, the plan switches, and Vimes is the one who gets to take center stage, and IT IS ALSO VERY, VERY ENTERTAINING. His technique is remarkably similar to Moist\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, in that he poses himself as an ally or a friend, except Vimes has to get these dwarfs to believe he is <i>actually<\/i> on their side, while Moist only did it to root out the potential spies. Vimes makes no threats of violence and doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even touch the dwarfs; instead, he just conveniently shows off the mark of the Summoning Dark, and then he utilizes that fear to twist the dwarfs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 expectations. Now, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not as worried about Ardent or what the other grags might do to them; they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re worried what <i>Vimes<\/i> might do. God, Vimes even alters his tone between the younger and older dwarf:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The words that Vimes used had more menace in them now\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That menace is most likely because the younger dwarf is more impressionable, while the older one probably <i>believes<\/i> what Ardent does. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already seen in the <i>Discworld<\/i> books how younger folks are manipulated by those older than them to be part of these extremist groups. So I get why Vimes applies just a <i>little<\/i> more pressure on the older dwarf. However, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one passage I want to quote because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just so fucking GOOD:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thank you very much, Mister Lipwig, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a loss to crime prevention, but you recognized the process because you recognize yourself\u00e2\u20ac\u201disn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t that right? How useful, so do I. The mark must always think of you as his friend and you yourself must be as a sorrowful yet loving father. The mark\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shield from the dreadful darkness outside.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I love that inversion there: not the dark <i>inside<\/i>. After Vimes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s recent books (especially since <i>Thud!<\/i>), I can now see why Vimes would also be able to recognize this similarity between himself and Moist. There <i>is<\/i> a darkness in the two of them. I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easier to find and more pronounced in Vimes (and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve definitely spent way more time in Vimes\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s head), but Moist has long had a dark cynicism about humanity\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 until Vetinari saved him from the gallows, that is, and Moist was forced to re-examine what he thought of humanity and his role within it. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just a different side from what Vimes struggles with. But I also don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to ignore that Vimes has been choosing to fight that darkness for a long, long time, much longer than Moist. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a moment here where he offers understanding and sympathy towards the grags, particularly those who have been manipulated by fear. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s exactly what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen in those scenes down below, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all! If someone doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t \u00e2\u20ac\u0153toe the line and do what they are told,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d then their own life (and their loved ones\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 lives) are threatened. Or just flat out taken!<\/p>\n<p>Anyway: wow, I love Vimes and getting to dissect his way of thinking. You know what I also love? How Pratchett takes trolls and bridges, a very common motif in fantasy literature and mythology, and he makes it an INCREDIBLY MEANINGFUL WAY FOR THE TROLLS TO LIVE. I still can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get over how they let the trolls have real homes under the bridges they constructed\u00e2\u20ac\u201dmeaning they earn value from their labor aside from just compensation in wages. They build something that has great value to the public AND IS ALSO THEIR HOME. Oh my god, Effie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153best-kept-bridge contest\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? The prize is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153no fewer than twenty goats\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? THIS MIGHT BE THE SINGLE MOST IMPRESSIVE THING PRATCHETT HAS EVER COME UP WITH, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL. How have y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all dealt with this happening all the damn time??? Like, if you were a lifelong <i>Discworld<\/i> fan and you just kept having your soul ripped out of your body with good shit like this? I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been doing this almost six years and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s too much!!!<\/p>\n<p>(I still haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t forgotten horse d\u00e2\u20ac\u2122oeurves and <i>never will.<\/i>)<\/p>\n<p>Amidst the tension and the character moments, Pratchett still makes sure this book comments on the wonder of travel by train. I recognize that a lot of this is regional, too. The UK has a much more rigorous, expansive, and socially acceptable train system than we do, even though I was taking commuter rail and Amtrak when I was younger. (Still all paling in comparison to trains in the UK.) One aspect of this that I did relate to\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut still acknowledge is different in the UK, where many trains <i>do<\/i> pass the kind of places that Moist sees\u00e2\u20ac\u201dis that there really is nothing quite like the experience of being on a train. I prefer it over flying ANY day, especially since it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nowhere near as expensive <i>and<\/i> the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153basic\u00e2\u20ac\u009d seats on our national train system are way more comfortable than airline seating. I just love the experience of staring out the window and watching the world go by. Since moving to the East Coast, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve taken the 3.5 hour trip down to D.C. more times than I can count, and there are a couple gorgeous stretches over inlets and bays that I look forward to crossing every time.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not just that, though. Entire cultures crop up around these railway lines. We have that here, too, though\u00e2\u20ac\u201dagain\u00e2\u20ac\u201dit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very limited because we have so much less rail. But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been to so many places in the middle of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153nowhere\u00e2\u20ac\u009d where there are little cafes or restaurants that serve JUST the people who get on and off the train. I was just recently at one in Louisiana that was SO ADORABLE. And it closed two hours after the last train came in because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, why stay open?<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, a few last things. First: I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so glad that Moist drank something the goblins gave him and it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t RUIN HIS DAY WITH CHAOS. Apparently their coffee is just good! Well, not just that, but it inspired Moist to do something he had long wanted to do and finally had the time (and courage) to try. HE DANCED ON TOP OF THE TRAIN. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such an expression of unabashed joy, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so happy that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s smack in the middle of this tense train ride. Steam is not to be taken lightly, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all, and that means you should give it the respect of <i>happiness<\/i>, too.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Also: here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another thing Pratchett wrote that took me the fuck <i>out<\/i>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had hatred on your tongue for such a long time, you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how to spit it out.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I love that after all these years\u00e2\u20ac\u201din book <i>forty<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u201dPratchett still had his brilliance and his ire on display. My gods, WHAT A SENTENCE.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/youtu.be\/o5T1necEkBA<\/p>\n<p><b>Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/us.macmillan.com\/books\/9781250169211\">You can now pre-order my second YA novel, <i>Each of Us a Desert<\/i>, which will be released on September 15, 2020 from Tor Teen!<\/a><br \/>\n&#8211; Not only that, but my very first pre-order campaign is now live for North American readers! <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/EachOfUsADesertPreorder\">If you submit proof of pre-order, you can get a limited edition print that comes with the book<\/a>.<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>&#8211; If you&#8217;d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, <a href=\"http:\/\/eepurl.com\/ey636\">sign up for my newsletter<\/a>! DO IT.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the nineteenth part of Raising Steam, Moist does his part to protect the Low King. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read Discworld.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[451],"tags":[463,566,248],"class_list":["post-5156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-raisin","tag-terry-pratchett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5156\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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