Fantasy

Review: Carpe Jugulum

Jay
Cover of the book, featuring two witches, one old and one young, running across the courtyard of a castle - behind them,,through an arch in the castle wall, is a raging fire.

Title: Carpe Jugulum

Series: Discworld #23 (Witches #6)

Author: Sir Terry Pratchett

Genre: Fantasy

Trigger Warnings: Death (mentions), blood, injury, violence, religious bigotry (mentions, in past), body horror (mentions, comedic), animal death (mentions), mind control, fatphobia, body shaming

Spoiler Warning: This book is 23rd in a series, but contains spoilers only of previous Witches books, especially Lords and Ladies.

Back Cover:

In a fit of enlightenment democracy and ebullient goodwill, King Verence invites Uberwald’s undead, the Magpyrs, into Lancre to celebrate the birth of his daughter. But once ensconced within the castle, these wine-drinking, garlic-eating, sun-loving modern vampires have no intention of leaving. Ever.

Only an uneasy alliance between a nervous young priest and the argumentative local witches can save the country from being taken over by people with a cultivated bloodlust and bad taste in silk waistcoats. For them, there’s only one way to fight.

Go for the throat, or as the vampyres themselves say…Carpe Jugulum.

Review:

I have struggled with the Witches sub-series in almost every single book. (Except for Equal Rites, but I read that one several years before I really got into the Discworld books so I don’t think it counts.) I love the ideas, but I don’t so much love the characters or the plots. And that sentiment held with Carpe Jugulum.

Granny Weatherwax is still a mean old lady and one of my biggest issues with the series. Her excessive pride gets in the way so much and she’s incredibly frustrating. But I’m also not used to a Granny who can be scared and defeated and run away, which is also what happens here. There’s a dichotomy between everyone expecting Granny is indomitable and will fix it and the reality of her genuine limitations. It was a weird and not exactly pleasant experience to watch her be mean and prideful while running scared.

This was not a very character-centric story. They were there, but more as vehicles to push the story along than for actually getting any focus. Nanny Ogg was herself, as usual. I loved seeing Magret with a spine, but she was a very minor character. I liked Agnes, but she didn’t get any more nuance or growth here. A random priest of Om who gets dragged along on the witches’ antics got more focus as a person than any of the other characters (although to be fair, his religious consternation was extremely relatable).

The plot had some really good ideas. It was mainly “vampires are trying to take over and need to be stopped,” but these are, in true Discworld style, not your ordinary vampires. They flipped the tropes on their heads, and were neat for that. But the vampires themselves were obnoxious, and the plot dragged until the end. The climax and conclusion were really good, but everything before that was honestly a bit dull.

Reading this book, I generally felt like I was missing the point. There’s so many elements – religion, the power of names and words in general, royalty, tradition, the power of belief, and probably more – but they’re all mixed up together so there was no obvious central theme. I feel like there was supposed to be some point to the first three-quarters of the story, before it actually got entertaining in the last quarter, but I couldn’t find it. The humor traded Sir Terry’s wit and quips for humor in trope subversion, which didn’t always land. And I’m just not sure what I’m supposed to get out of this.

For a Witches book, it’s not bad. I generally find the subseries less fun than other Discworld books. But at least with this one, I never felt the urge to DNF it, and I did quite enjoy the last quarter of it. So on the whole, it’s fine. Not spectacular, but I’ve certainly read worse Witches books.

The Discworld series:

  1. The Colour of Magic
  2. The Light Fantastic
  3. Equal Rites
  4. Mort
  5. Sourcery
  6. Wyrd Sisters
  7. Pyramids
  8. Guards! Guards!
  9. Eric
  10. Moving Pictures
  11. Reaper Man
  12. Witches Abroad
  13. Small Gods
  14. Lords and Ladies
  15. Men at Arms
  16. Soul Music
  17. Interesting Times
  18. Maskerade
  19. Feet of Clay
  20. Hogfather
  21. Jingo
  22. The Last Continent
  23. Carpe Jugulum
  24. The Fifth Elephant
  25. The Truth
  26. Thief of Time
  27. The Last Hero
  28. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
  29. Night Watch
  30. The Wee Free Men
  31. Monstrous Regiment
  32. A Hat Full of Sky
  33. Going Postal
  34. Thud!
  35. Wintersmith
  36. Making Money
  37. Unseen Academicals
  38. I Shall Wear Midnight
  39. Snuff
  40. Raising Steam
  41. The Shepherd’s Crown