Unlike any other of Pratchett's books, I found myself drawing parallels with ideas like East vs West cultures (and terrorism) and and civil rights. I suppose these themes have always been present but they were so prominent in this book. 
 The sheer fun and mayhem of Going Postal wasn't present in Raising Steam. Moist has matured, sure, but grown up Moist is boring (and Moist knows this, and tries to change this, but he's still not as exciting as younger Moist). We see more of his morality but we see far less of his tricks. Although almost all of the main characters are known to prior readers of the series, it felt like there were too many main characters in this volume, which neglects characters such as Adora-Belle who was hardly seen and out of character when she was seen. Characters like Vimes offered nothing new. Moist is one of my favourite characters but most of the book just wasn't as fun (but as a Pratchett loyalist I read every word, and will continue to read his books even as they change). I will be revisiting Going Postal for the laughs and holding out for the rumoured Moist as a tax collector.