Night Watch is a masterpiece and Hogfather will always be a personal favourite, but to me, to me, Going Postal will always be as close to perfect as a Discworld book can be. It introduces a new protagonist who immediately knocks it out of the park and establishes himself as one of the most iconic and fantastic Discworld protagonists in a pantheon of heavy hitters. He's a weasel. He's touched by divinity. He keeps getting himself into trouble because he has an unshakeable need to escalate. He's killed 2.338 people. He's apparently very attracted to women who smoke.
He's paired off against the perfect villain, his equal and opposite who has learned to cheat and swindle and con behind the language of corporate speak, "we hope and trust that our valued and loyal customers will bear with us over the coming months as we interact synergistically with changed management and our striving for excellence." It's a story about the capital-fuelled enshittification of a technology that can be good and improve the lives of thousands and how monopolies will literally strangle innovation.
It's a story about delivering a message from the dead.
His name is Moist. I just realized that I spent this whole post without mentioning that his name is Moist and it’s important to me that you know this if you don’t
