Making Money

A con-man by trade, Moist Von Lipwig was rescued from the hangman's noose in Going Postal by the Patrician Vetinari, the tyrant who runs the city of Ankh-Morpork. Seeing a use for a man of Moist's talents, Vetinari puts him in charge of the city's crumbling post office. In Making Money, we find Moist growing listless and bored at the now efficient and smoothly running Ankh-Morpork Post Office. Fortunately the Patrician has another job in mind for the former con-man: running the city's mint. Moist, forced into the position, suddenly finds his life far more exciting as he fends off the aristocratic owners of the bank and mint, rebellious clerks, mad scientists, the City Watch, an old "friend" from his con-man days, and more.

I felt there were a few problems with the story that left me feeling vaguely unsatisfied at the end. Pratchett seemed to spend nearly half the book getting Moist into a position to run the bank, but then we don't seem to do all that much with the bank once we get there. The Lavish family, while entertaining, didn't seem to be particular menacing as the villains. The golems that appear late in the book seem out of place, as if they stumbled into the wrong story. Despite these criticisms, I really did enjoy the book. While the story was perhaps not as strong as some of the other Discworld books, but it's the humor and characters, both new and old, really make the book enjoyable.