I don’t actually have a ton to say about this one. As much as the Industrial Revolution sub-series doesn’t tend to be my favorite Discworld sub-series, I do enjoy Moist as a character. He’s entertaining, interest, fun, over-the-top, and pretty much exactly who you’d want to guide you through another zany adventure in the Discworld. 

However, plot-wise, Making Money is remarkably similar to Going Postal. Moist gets himself put in charge of a government institution (although this time it isn’t directly Lord Vetinari’s fault - though you can’t say he didn’t have a hand in it, either). He applies his con man skills towards making the institution more functional. There is a group of wealthy, powerful people who really don’t want him to do this, so he also has to apply his con man skills to keeping himself safe from their schemes. It had unique elements, like Moist not actually being in charge of the mint so much as the caretaker for the dog who technically is in charge. (It’s the Discworld, these kinds of things happen.) And it has elements repeating from Going Postal as well, like the continued presence of Adora Belle Dearheart and her golem obsession. 

The story was still interesting and entertaining, as most of the Discworld books tend to be. But I didn’t like it nearly as much as I enjoyed Going Postal, and I think some of that is because the two books are so similar. But some of it was also that Going Postal was about Moist both figuring out how to be himself in an honest profession and getting himself established in the city, while by the time we get to Making Money, Moist has already established himself as himself. It lacks that “underdog thrust into a new situation” element - while being in charge of the mint was definitely different from being in charge of the post office, the scenarios are similar enough that it didn’t feel all that challenging. I never doubted that Moist would figure it out, and neither did Moist. 

There were some interesting elements to this story. Like most Discworld books, it includes commentary on real-world things - in this case, explicit commentary on how and why money works (not wrong, as entertaining as you would expect a discussion on how monetary value only works because everyone agrees it works would be), some statements on the gold standard, a wild subplot with a guy who wants to be Lord Vetinari and another one with buried golems that didn’t quite feel like they fit.

On the whole, like most Discworld books, this one was good. It had plenty of wittiness and that signature combination of serious-but-in-a-very-silly-way that I love, and it was an enjoyable read. But reading it so close after reading Going Postal meant I couldn’t help but compare the two, and in a direct comparison, this one is unfortunately the lesser of the two. 

The Discworld Series: