Making Money (Discworld Novels)on Amazon.com
Terry Pratchett
2007
I almost didn't include this book in my list of readings because I can't give it five stars. I mean, this is Terry Pratchett we are talking about here. THE Terry Pratchett. Normally reading a Discworld novel is a matter of holding on as you are pulled along. With Making Money, I had to make an effort to finish and even peeked at the last chapter. I won't be offended if someone can tell me that I have it all wrong.
Making Money is a sequel of sorts to Going Postal. Lord Vetinari "offers" Moist van Lipwig the Royal Mint as his next clean-up task after he successfully reformed the Ankh-Morpork Post Office. Making the job interesting are greedy heirs to the banking fortune and the fact that the chairman of the board is a dog, Mr. Fusspot. Moist's fiancee, the chain-smoking Adora Belle Dearheart who runs the Golem Trust, is also a prominent character as are the golems.
Basically, Moist is trying to introduce paper currency and get Ankh-Morpork off the gold standard. This is the bit I found plodding and somewhat akin to reading an economics text. Not as much sardonic humor as one might expect in this book. To be fair, I found myself skimming whole pages so I may have missed some of the subtle humor. There seems to be a lot of filler between the snort-out-loud parts. I found myself hoping that would be more opportunities for Moist and Adora to visit the Unseen University where you do get the weirdness we associate with Discworld (like the squid that appears in the hallway).
Making Money ends with the promise of another adventure for Moist. Having fixed the post office and mint, there is always the tax system to reform.
Mack,
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with you on this one, as much as I like Pratchett. It was not one of his best efforts. But, even Homer nods, as they say. Even at his less than stellar, Pratchett still provides laughs and a fun read.
Barry
You're right Barry. I'll never give up on pTerry and I felt guilty being less than enthused about Making Money. Given the choice of living in Middle Earth or Discworld, I would choose Discworld without a doubt. And Pratchett has certainly caused me to look at hedgehogs in an entirely different light. I do miss the extensive footnoting of earlier works though.
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