i just can't studyyyyyy

no choice.

MAKING MONEY(:

okayokay.

compared to Terry Pratchett's normal standards, i would say that this is sub-par.

but factoring in the news of his illness, i would forgive him.

the book starts out typical terry Pratchett style, with a short story with no discernible narrator. this story later ties in to a major section of the book and explains alot. but taken out of context, it is a poetic, but meaningless passage.

this lack of narrator is introduced once again to the real start of the book, someone climbing the wall of and breaking into the post office, the last known whereabouts of the "hero" of the last book, moist von lipwig. the mysterious person succeeds in breaking in, and only in the resulting chase do we find out who that was -the post master general, moist von lipwig himself.

in a twisted series of convoluted events, moist is given charge of the bank and then seeks to make money(hence the title).

however, as a terry Pratchett fan, i find the antics are stale and characters flat.

other than moist von lipwig himself, the delightfully entertaining characters of Going Postal do not show up, except for a small mention in name and a lame attempt at being funny involving Stanley.

new characters introduced, though bearing different names and different maladies, seem somehow similar to characters already portrayed in other books, and are rather undeveloped. they are rather like the Igor of the book, stitched together and somehow given life, but not really together.

what does save the book is the intense character of "spike", or Adora belle dearheart, moist's fiancee. unfortunately, she only appears in the later half of the book and is, unfortunately, not given the chance to demonstrate much of her violent nature.

the villain, ironically, becomes a better, more understandable character as he grows more and more insane, and is, ultimately one of the better villains in the books. with unthinkable motives and strange behavior, only the reader, privy to his private scenes, know that he is slowly going mad.

and, of course, there is the star of every new discworld book, the one who is in the background and affecting every move yet who, sometimes, is not glaringly obvious in the book, Lord vetinari.

we have no doubt that he is a "good guy" yet his methods do sometimes give us pause. a personification of power and dubiously good leadership, he leads us to question if the ends really do justify the means.

stupid antics do fall flat after a while, and there are little of terry Pratchett's famous footnotes to save the book from going stale. however, the book does redeem itself with the dramatic final scenes and wraps up the plot nicely.

however, the ending, hinting of moist being given/manipulated into another government job does grow old and, rather than bringing anticipation as it did in Going Postal, makes a seasoned terry Pratchett reader go "oh dear..."

overall, an entertaining read, but if you want more of moist von lipwig's hilarious tongue-in-cheek antics, read Going Postal. for deeper, analysis worthy books, there's thud!

and, for just regular slamming of society's values, susan sto helit's series,

soul music,

hogfather (there's a TV series too(: ) and

thief of time

THERE

now i hope i can study.