Making Money

I haven’t read every Discworld novel, but I’ve read many and have always enjoyed them. Especially those centered around Moist Von Lipwig. My personal favorite is Going Postal, and I’m a little sorry to say that Making Money is just a step down from that pinnacle. Although to be fair that’s like saying Everest Base Camp is not as high as the summit. Making Money is still heads and shoulders above many other novels.

But it should be mentioned that there are a few subplots that never really went anywhere, Ms. Dearheart was conspicuous by her absence, and the villain was weaker than most in Discworld. In some ways I enjoyed the audiobook more; the narrator was able to wring the most out of the characters; something that didn’t come across as clearly when I read the book.

So by all means, read Making Money. Just realize that it’s not the best introduction to the wackiness that is Discworld.

Having been a Pratchett fan for so many years I have learnt that his genius lies in not just one but a great many things. Firstly his ability to entertain. Then comes the fact that all his books are unexpected, smart and funny.

BUT, Pratchett has another genius to him: He can look into the past, then into the future and bring it all together in the present. This book was first published in 2007. The banks crashed in 2008 and governments had to spent billions to bail them out, using tax payers money.
We already see all that happening in Making Money. The abuse of power by the “fat cats” and then the government stepping in to try and prevent the man on the street from loosing all their money.

He has the ability to create characters that makes you think: I know someone like him/her, I wish I can meet this person or I am glad I will never have to deal with that person. They have so much depth and are really believable.
I love Vetinari and wish he was my city`s tyrant, and of course Mr Fusspot`s antics are endlessly entertaining. Then there`s Gladys, Igor, Adora Belle, Mr Slant and of course Moist and Mr Bent. There are so many more characters that are entertaining, but just too many to list.

I strongly recommend this book.

I could not help but notice that those who rated the book 1*star, were all early readers (2007/2008) and most of the 5* readers from later years (2009-2014).

I have read almost all the Discworld books on Kindle format. This is perhaps second-level Pratchett, meaning merely delightful. It’s worth 4 stars. However, its handling of footnotes is the worst of the lot so far.

Pratchett uses more footnotes than any other fiction writer I know, obviously because he comes up with several alternate ideas at a time, and, as a craftsman, prunes the story for best effect. Yet he is reluctant to trash a funny thought; thus the footnote.

Kindle for Android does not handle footnotes well. You see a tiny asterisk for the link to the footnote text. If you tap it EXACTLY right you get to see the footnote; if not, you get to see the dictionary definition of the letter “C”. Seriously!

Once you are done, you can get back to the point in the story, occasionally, by tapping the asterisk at the beginning of the footnote. If you tap the Return button/key, you RELIABLY get dumped into your Library. What mental process would make a programmer interpret a return from reading a footnote to be a request to stop reading a story and choose another?

From the Kindle forums I’ve visited, a real Kindle properly responds with a pop-up footnote and return. IOS devices also respond well. The Android version (4.17.0) on my Note 4 RARELY gets me into the footnote, and has NEVER gotten me back in this particular e-book. NEVER.

The 2-star rating reflects my enjoyment of the book partially compensating for the frustration of dealing with this underdesigned product but reflecting the loss of the very entertaining footnotes.

If you try to read a footnote, first choose any unusual word nearby so you can search for it if you get dumped into your Library.

TP has not written ONLY hits, but even his worst was worthy of a read and frankly, only Eric and Pyramids nodded

Until this one. This felt…forced. His humor, while ranging from common to refined, for too much of this, went zany in a Fool’s Guild kind of way.

I believe this is where his daughter started adding her oar into the water and as this book clearly states ‘women aren’t funny’.

I can’t speak for the gender, but certainly this is somehow missing his spark.

Every book past this has disappointed more and more to the point I haven’t read a few of the books. Nor should you.

I love Terry Pratchett and the Moist von Lipwig character/storyline, but this is not one of the stronger discworld entries. Theres a bit too much internal monologue from Moist, which seems like it is there largely to fill some lacking plot elements. Worth reading if you are a Discworld completist but not as mind-knowingly great as some of the other novels.

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