This is, finally, the last of the books I finished reading in hospital, but never reviewed (until now). I guess this follows Going Postal and Raising Steam as a Moist von Lipwig book, but moreover it's his last non-young-adult Discworld book. Somehow it feels like it.
The Moist von Lipwig series is interesting as it represents a transition from a stable medieval-like fantasty world where the threat of change has to be defeated (e.g. Moving Pictures) to an Industrial Revolution-like society where change happens - with Vetinari quite explictly weighing up the pros and cons of this change, trading certainty for growth.
I read the book months ago, and enjoyed the plot, but at this stage I'm probably best talking about the lasting impressions. Vetinari is maybe too much like a superhero. Overall, though, I had the feeling of more looseness in the book, of impending real change in the world (in books never to be written). I had a sense of Pratchett, a little like Vetinari, letting the Discworld off its lead after many years of service. Setting it free. A fitting conclusion.
Posted 2022-08-21.