Wendy R. (wendybird) reviewed on 1/20/2011 + 14 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 2

The charismatic swindler (forced to take on the Ank Morpork Postal System as the only alternative to a hanging) Moist von Lipwigg ("I'm Moist, please don't laugh...) is right up there with Captain of the Night Watch Samuel Vimes in my list of Terry Pratchett's top characters.

The brilliant, narcissistic and ambitious Moist (I still can't get past that name) is saved from the gallows through a lucky--but not altogether uncalculated--reprieve from Lord Vetinari, and soon finds himself trying to shovel the old post office out from its present heaps of undelivered 50-year old mail, and similarly bounteous piles of pigeon guano.He is aided by Mr. Groat, descendant of the Olde post office families and with an eye for regulations and knack for natural remedies, and by Stanley, an orphan raised by peas (don't ask) and an avid collector of pins (ditto on the asking). Moist soon finds himself in a bitter rivalry with financial pirate Mr. Gilt and his Grand Trunk Company, a Discworld version of an unreliable internet provider that constantly overcharges. Things come to a hilarious head when Moist challenges the Grand Trunk to race his own post-coach to Genoa ("good luck coding those pictures in binary"). The most quotable quote is when Stanley finally goes "unpinned", and holds much relevance to all collectors of random junk": "Ahh! They're all just pins!"

Terry Pratchett continues his bizarre, hilarious, and above all readable commentary on modern society, blurred slightly through the lens of a parallel universe. Fans won't be disappointed, and newcomers should be delighted as well.

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