'One of the best expressions of his unstoppable flow of comic invention' The Times
__________
The post was an old thing, of course, but it was so old that it had magically become new again.
Moist von Lipwig is a con artist...
... and a fraud and a man faced with a life choice: be hanged, or put Ankh-Morpork's ailing postal service back on its feet.
It’s a tough decision.
The post is a creaking old institution, overshadowed by new technology. But there are people who still believe in it, and Moist must become one of them if he's going to see that the mail gets through, come rain, hail, sleet, dogs, the Post Office Workers Friendly and Benevolent Society, an evil chairman . . . and a midnight killer.
Getting a date with Adora Bell Dearheart would be nice, too.
So perhaps there is a shot at redemption in the mad world of the mail, waiting for a man who's prepared to push the envelope . . .
____________________
The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Going Postal is the first book in the Moist von Lipwig series, which also includes Raising Steam and Making Money.
Imprint: Transworld Digital
Published: 09/10/2008
ISBN: 9781407035406
Length: 496 Pages
RRP: £8.99
Pratchett can make you giggle helplessly and then grin grimly at the sharpness of his wit
'His world, increasingly subtle and thoughtful, has become as allegorical and satirical as a painting by Bosch ... Pratchett's joy in his creations, in jokes, puns, the idea of letters and language itself makes GOING POSTAL one of the best expressions of his unstoppable flow of comic invention.'
'Like many of Pratchett's best comic novels, it is a book about redemption ... There's a moral toughness here, which is one of the reasons why Pratchett is never merely frivolous.'
With all the puns, strange names and quick-fire jokes about captive letters demanding to be delivered, it's easy to miss how cross about injustice Terry Pratchett can be. This darkness and concrete morality sets his work apart from imitators of his English Absurd school of comic fantasy.
'Pratchett ... is the missing link between Douglas Adams and J.K. Rowling. To non-initiates his work is gobbledygook, but dig deeper and you find the wit and imaginationthat have gained him a fanatical readership - among them is A.S. Byatt.'