Making Money - (Discworld) by Terry Pratchett (Paperback)

About the Book

Postmaster General Moist von Lipwig, who runs the Ankh-Morpork Post Office, and although he is a former arch-swindler and confidence man, has exceeded all expectations. So it's somewhat disconcerting when Lord Vetinari summons Moist to the palace and asks if he would like to make some real money, he's referring, rather, to the Royal Mint of Ankh-Morpork--a new opportunity or is it?

Book Synopsis

"Outlandish fun. . . . Making Money balances satire, knockabout farce and close observation of human--and non-human--foibles with impressive dexterity and deceptive ease. The result is another ingenious entertainment from the preeminent comic fantasist of our time."--Washington Post

The hero of Going Postal has an even more dangerous job than the mail: overseeing the tanking Royal Bank and the printing of Ankh-Morpork's first paper currency in this brilliant installment in New York Times bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett's beloved Discworld series.

The Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork is facing a crisis, and who better to manage it than the man who turned around Ankh-Morpork's inefficient Post Office, former arch-swindler-turned-Postmaster General Moist von Lipwig. Lord Vetinari once again makes Moist an offer he can't refuse: resuscitate the venerable Royal Mint.

The bank has many problems: the chief cashier is almost certainly a vampire, the elderly chairman and her two loaded crossbows needs a daily walkie, there's something strange happening in the cellar, and running the Royal Mint is costing a mint.

As Moist begins to make some ambitious changes, he accrues some dangerous enemies. Everyone knows money is power--and certain stakeholders will do anything to keep a firm grip on both . . .

The Discworld novels can be read in any order, but Making Money is the second book in the Moist von Lipwig series. The full series, in order, includes:

Going PostalMaking MoneyRaising Steam

From the Back Cover

Amazingly, former arch-swindler-turned-Postmaster General Moist von Lipwig has somehow managed to get the woefully inefficient Ankh-Morpork Post Office running like . . . well, not like a government office at all. Now the supreme despot Lord Vetinari is asking Moist if he'd like to make some real money. Vetinari wants Moist to resuscitate the venerable Royal Mint--so that perhaps it will no longer cost considerably more than a penny to make a penny.

Moist doesn't want the job. However, a request from Ankh-Morpork's current ruling tyrant isn't a "request" per se, more like a "once-in-a-lifetime-offer-you-can-certainly-refuse-if-you-feel-you've-lived-quite-long-enough." So Moist will just have to learn to deal with elderly Royal Bank chairman Topsy (née Turvy) Lavish and her two loaded crossbows, a face-lapping Mint manager, and a chief clerk who's probably a vampire. But he'll soon be making lethal enemies as well as money, especially if he can't figure out where all the gold has gone.

Review Quotes

"Outlandish fun. . . . Making Money balances satire, knockabout farce and close observation of human--and non-human--foibles with impressive dexterity and deceptive ease. The result is another ingenious entertainment from the preeminent comic fantasist of our time." -- Washington Post

"Terrific . . . Pratchett trots out some favorite old characters and delightful new ones as he deftly skewers our economic system and the way in which we view money. . . Go out and buy this book because it's funny and thought-provoking and entirely enjoyable." -- Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Just when you think you've got everything figured out, Pratchett goes in a completely unexpected direction, opening up new questions about power and empire while incidentally laying fertile groundwork for yet more stories to come. Because even though Making Money is the 36th Discworld novel, Pratchett isn't resting on his laurels. . . . What makes this and all the Discworld books special, though, is their humanity. . . . It's [his] big-heartedness that makes these novels so smart, so moral, so good." -- The Guardian

"After 36 books, it's no surprise that Pratchett is adept at maneuvering characters and plotlines to make what could easily be a royal mess run as smoothly as Moist's post office. What is amazing, though, is the consistency with which he does it . . . . This sense of humor is the driving force in Making Money, infusing each sentence with jokes and puns." -- Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Non-stop wit . . . Pratchett is a master of juggling multiple plotlines and multiplying punchlines, and Money is a wondrous farce." -- USA Today

"Pratchett's eye for using and dissecting the cliche is still as much in evidence as ever." -- Financial Times

"No one but Pratchett would have the nerve--or skill--to make the theory of fiat currency the subject of a comic fantasy. He makes it look so easy, as he embeds the economic argument within a swift-paced story involving golems and gold, necromancers and lap-dancers, a set of killer false teeth, political chicanery and lots of good jokes. . . . Clever, engaging and laugh-out-loud funny." -- London Times

"Splendid . . . an educational and entertaining mirror of human squabbles and flaws." -- Publishers Weekly

"Just as Going Postal somehow made the streamlining of mail delivery in a quasi-medieval fantasy world utterly riveting, so too here Pratchett creates fine entertainment out of the machinations of a dismal science . . . Lipwig is a brilliant scalawag of a hero, and Pratchett's taste for dry one-liners remains prodigious." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Highly enjoyable, fast-paced, and funny." -- Library Journal

"[Pratchett] leavens the book with plenty of laugh-out-loud humor, guest appearances by familiar series players, and some lines that rival the best of Oscar Wilde. Anyone who can keep a straight face throughout Making Money needs to have their funnybone examined!" -- Locus