Review: Making Money (Discworld, #36; Moist Von Lipwig, #2)

Making Money by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lots of fun! This is the second Discworld novel featuring Moist Von Lipwig, a former con-man turned "hero of the city". And in fact, it reads a lot like the previous novel (Going Postal), which is good because I liked the first one a lot! This story has the same elements of adventure and of "how is he going to solve that?" to it. The novel also features the Patrician, who is great as always, very Machiavellian.

The one bad thing is a jarring switch of the plot in the second half, when a subplot about golems takes front stage. Suddenly, Moist is the hero at the center of the golem crisis - but there is no reason for this, no set up. With all the heroes in Discworld, and a big crisis happening in Ankh-Morpork, why is he the hero? Why isn't anyone else doing anything? Eventually the novel connects this subplot to the main plot, but still feels forced. Also, at that point the main plot starts getting more and more convoluted, and the mysteries are multiplied and dragged out as much as possible. It's a bit frustrating, really. The reveal of Mr. Bent's secret was absolutely ridiculous, which is perfect for Discworld. But I have to say that I was disappointed, I was expecting something more serious, grander, because of the tone of the narrative around this.

In the end, it was still a good adventure, with some good challenges and solutions, quick thinking to get out of sticky situations, and a good ending.

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