It's all aboard (and mind the gap please) as the traditionally horse-powered Discworld is introduced to the age of steam in the form of Iron Girder, the Disc's first locomotive.
And wealthy Harry King (aka the King of the Golden River - don't ask why!) looks set to become its first railway baron as he bankrolls the infant enterprise.
Add a cowardly scheme to overthrow the low king of the dwarfs (concocted by characters remarkably resembling some of our world's religious terrorists) while he is away from home and
Pratchett's latest offering rattles along, navigating the bends and gradients nicely under his sure touch, as the plot thickens and the pace quickens.
It would make an excellent Christmas present, if you can bear to part with it after you have read it first yourself!
- René Nol is a Dunedin reader.
