Going Postal by Terry Pratchett

A week ago I finished Terry Pratchett's Making Money. It was the second book of what fans call the 'Moist Von Lipwig' trilogy. I didn't have book one and I sure as heck wasn't going to start on book 3. Regardless, starting in the middle, while a good read, it wasn't the best read, especially in terms of having read about 3/4 of the Discworld series. 

The day after I completed Making Money, we were notified that all book stores were to shut down by 5pm. So I rushed off to the book stores in search of some more Discworld books. It was at a Barnes and Noble that I finally found the opening chapter of Moist's adventures in 'honest' business.

Here in Going Postal, Moist Von Lipwig is offered the job of a lifetime. (That's because if he refuses Lord Vetinari's employment opportunity, it will be the end of Lipwig!) Moist is to become the postmaster general for Ankh-Morpork's fledgling post office. Who are we kidding here? The post office had gone way past failed. 

Armed with the Discworld's oldest junior mail sorter, a quality control inspector obsessed with pins and a golem parole officer, Moist Von Lipwig will play the odds (and probably cheat) to make the post office relevant again.

That plan isn't going to be easy as Moist and the post office must compete against big communication in the form of the clacks system. It's a corporation that is just as devious as Lipwig. Only, Lipwig has a heart! And that very well could be the con man's downfall- especially when Moist falls in love!

I wish I had read Going Postal first. It made me appreciate Making Money all that much more. I thought I hated Lipwig. But in a lot of ways, Moist is like me. Not, I am not a shyster. But I do have an amazing ability to remember faces. I might not remember names, but I can always carry on a conversation with anyone I've ever meet as I can remember such details of a person's life just like Lipwig. 

I used to based how I conducted business like Bart Simpson when he turned his tree house into a casino. But I might start schmoozing with folks based on how Lipwig runs the postal service.  

There is one downside to having read this book out of turn. A lot of what Pratchett has planned for Moist is hinted at throughout almost the entire 470 plus pages of the book. Instead of being a surprise, I was more of like 'oh, I see where he's going with this.'

I just started reading the third and sadly final book in the trilogy, Making Steam. With this one, I can see already that same formula as things hinted in the last third of Making Money is already happening here in the last book's opening 25 pages.

When if comes to Pratchett's Discworld books, one is not required to read any of the books in order. Well, I think that rule does not apply here! If you own (and haven't read yet) Making Money and Raising Steam- don't! That is until you get a copy of this novel and read it first. You will enjoy the second book a whole bunch more if you do follow my advice. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.