Multiple meanings there. I got a chance to read Making Money, which is his latest Discworld novel. It was a good story, the main character, Moist von Lipwig, is one that hasn’t been overused (only his second appearance) and the topic was handled fairly well. But the book also has the same problems that I noted when I considered Thud! here.
The book has the same irrational pacifism of Jingo, it finally manages to completely spoil the character of Vetinari (he’s too… nice) and the world becomes a little cleaner, a little more solid, a little more utopian and, most grievously for a book series, a little more boring. At least the end of Going Postal saw Vetinari flexing his muscles as tyrant and arresting people without charge and without much in the way of evidence (though not entirely without cause). But Making Money sees his final transformation from iron-fisted tyrant to “benevolent” EUrocrat.
What’s even more shocking to me is that in trying to make his idealised world a perfectly peaceful place, Pratchett’s pacifism gets the better of him to the extent that he tacitly endorses the espionage of the Rosenbergs, Klaus Fuchs and others. Pratchett has really gone downhill and his books are not what they once were. It’s sad to see a good author in such a decline.
—————-
Listening to: Kenny Wayne Shepherd – 14 – Electric Lullaby
via FoxyTunes
Neh 