Once more, another Discworld novel lands on my doormat, and Lo! there was much rejoicing. Terry Pratchett has been riding a wave of success for many, many years now and this book should maintain it.

Once again, we are introduced to a new character, one Moist von Lipwig, con-artist and bluffer supreme. However, he's just been caught by Ankh-Morpork's notorious ruler, the Patrician, and offered a choice. Voluntarily get the old Ankh-Morpork Postal Service up and running again...or voluntarily go and fall in a huge pit with spikes. From then on, it's Pratchett's usual mix of excellent characters, mostly new with a few old favourites thrown in, humourous situations (the Postman's Walk being a sequence of some particular delight) and dramatic tension.

Interestingly, Terry Pratchett has decided to start writing in chapters for this book, something that's normally only seen in his books for younger readers. With a series of little headings at the beginning of each chapter, you can spend an entertaining few seconds trying to second-guess what he's talking about. Warning - you'll be wrong a fair amount of the time.

Going Postal is a book largely about Hope, in all it's forms. It's also about an extremely skilled con-artist riding a wave of self-belief tinged with panic as he struggles to overcome all the various problems put in front of him. It's imaginative, it's got good jokes, the requisite silly names, golems and it deals with some truly touching ideas about the semaphore towers that long term Discworld readers will be famililar with. As it features an entirely new character, it should be a little more accesssible to new Discworld readers than some of the other recent books, as well.

Another big thumbs up from me, no doubt another large set of royalties to Mr Pratchett. He shows no signs of stopping yet, and when he's writing this well, long may he continue.