REVIEW

Making Money, Terry Pratchett

Reviewed By
Karen Chisholm

Only in Ankh-Morpork would Lord Vetinari solve the problem of his conman of choice's boredom at the Post Office by putting him in charge of the Royal Bank and Mint. I mean why not a self-declared, out and out conman, known to his boss Vetinari for exactly what he is, in charge of the central banking system. Why not indeed. After all Moist von Lipwig somehow managed to turn the Post Office into a thriving business, no longer in need of his guidance, even the Clacks are continuing apace, despite being the Post Office's main competition. von Lipwig as a banker, and chief walker of the Chairman of the Board, makes sense. To somebody, somewhere. It certainly made for a lot of laughs as he works our how a Mint can possibly be losing money, what it is lurking around in the cellars, and the best times to walk the Chairman, all the while dealing with a Golem with a bit of an identity crisis, and a chief cashier who is almost certainly, probably, a vampire.

Terry Pratchett does the Banking / Financial system in other words. With his normal, inimitable style, when it comes to von Lipwig, involving quite a bit of rushing about, a fair amount of daring doing, some life-threatening moments, a cross-dressing Golem and a banking system that definitely needed a good dusting off, and the obligatory barking mad opponent of the Patrician, in the personage of Cosmo Lavish. One of the all time incompetent, barking mad, persistent "villains" you're going to come across in quite a while.

Following on from GOING POSTAL, MAKING MONEY really sets the character and styling of Moist von Lipwig firmly in place. There's a similar sort of concept at the heart of both novels, but the methodology, outcomes and .... obstacles ... are different here, as is the sense of jeopardy. Loved listening to this one - the capers made me laugh out loud at lot.

 

BOOK DETAILS
BOOK INFORMATION
ISBN
9780385611015
Year of Publication
Series
Book Number (in series)
36
BLURB

The Ankh-Morpork Post Office is running like . . . well, not at all like a government office. The mail is delivered promptly; meetings start and end on time; five out of six letters relegated to the Blind Letter Office ultimately wend their way to the correct addresses. Postmaster General Moist von Lipwig, former arch-swindler and confidence man, has exceeded all expectations—including his own. So it's somewhat disconcerting when Lord Vetinari summons Moist to the palace and asks, "Tell me, Mr. Lipwig, would you like to make some real money?"

Vetinari isn't talking about wages, of course. He's referring, rather, to the Royal Mint of Ankh-Morpork, a venerable institution that has run for centuries on the hereditary employment of the Men of the Sheds and their loyal outworkers, who do make money in their spare time. Unfortunately, it costs more than a penny to make a penny, so the whole process seems somewhat counter-intuitive.

Review Making Money, Terry Pratchett
Karen Chisholm
Monday, November 15, 2021
Review MAKING MONEY - Terry Pratchett
Karen Chisholm
Tuesday, November 13, 2012

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