Moist Von Lipwig returns in Making Money. Lipwig (for short, and who wants to be called Moist?) is bored. He has the post office running like clockwork but with a back ground like his being bored will only lead him down the path of trouble, and, of course, it doesn’t help that his fiancé Adora Belle Dearheart is out of town.
With Lord Vetinari’s asking Lipwig to take over the Bank and the Mint with it Lipwig of course refuses. Thing is, it’s not as easy as it sounds with the Lavish’s running the place. Topsy Lavish (chairman) put it in her will that Mr Fusspot (her dog) should be chairman upon her death.
Then Death visited her, leaving Mr Fusspot in charge but of course he needed a carer to feed him, take him for walkies and make sure he was in his tray at night to say nothing of keeping him alive so that the Lavish family do not get their paws on the Bank. And thus Moist Von Lipwigis in charge, with the help of Mr Bent who, as it’s told, actually runs the Bank.
To make matters worse, Cosmo Lavish is insane, well insane enough to want to be Lord Vetinari. With the aid of rings, shoes and eyebrow trainers Cosmo does his best to ‘be’ Vetinari. Unfortunately this doesn’t help him to recover the bank.
Making Money is a fun book but it does run into one of Pratchett’s problems, he’s great at writing characters and introducing them but after that it all gets a bit hazy. You keep reading if you enjoy the characters, Moist, Mr Bent, Adora Belle, Cosmo and even Mr Fusspot but the plot and the big finish are just things to read about. When Pratchett writes, it’s not really about the story it’s about the characters in the story.
In true Discworld style you get names dropped fromother books, CMOT Dibbler for instance, Vimes is there among manyothers. Half the fun of reading a Discworld book is seeing who shows up and where and there’s plenty of ‘Oh him!’ moments here.
If you enjoyed Going Postal then giveMaking Moneya shot, at worst you’ve read about a bank and some folks caterwauling about lost gold, at best you’ve enjoyed some great characters and had a laugh.
Sabrina Peyton- Newly migrated to the UK to be with her husband. After working for Diamond Comics for a short time she ended up immersed in a few comic book forums and ended up moderating two of the largest, the Warren Ellis Forum (WEF) and Mark Millar’s forum Millarworld).
She’s written for Sequential Tart, The Vampirella Magazine, and is Editor in Chief of Fractal Matter.