Pratchett, Terry - Carpe Jugulum

[oyceter]

Upon the birth of his daughter, King Verence of Lancre decides to have a giant party. Unfortunately, this means he decides to invite Omnian priest Mightily Oats and the Magpyr family, which in turn sets off Nanny Ogg, who takes issues with Omnian past practices of setting so-called witches on fire (the real witches got away, of course), and Granny Weatherwax, who does not approve of vampires attempting to take over Lancre.

I enjoy the witches books, so I'm a little sad to see that this is the last one that directly stars the trio of witches (I like the Tiffany Aching books, but I miss having more Granny Weatherwax). I'm also sad that Agnes/Perdita has not quite achieved the same place Magrat has in my heart (and I am very glad Magrat is in this book), although I suspect she very well could with another book.

I think (?) people tend to like this one better than Maskerade; I may be the exception, largely because I howled at all the parody in Maskerade but was a little meh to the vampire ones in here. They aren't as frightening as Fairy, and the tropes that Pratchett lampoons are tropes that aren't much in play any more.

Now, if he had written this book about brooding, morally conflicted and yet utterly gorgeous, perpetually teenaged hero vampires and the clumsy gorgeous girls they find to save them from their lifetime of misery and angst and squirrel blood, I would have lapped that up!

On the other hand, I had been expecting a more negative treatment of Mightily Oats in the book and was pleased to find that he actually developed as a character. And I very much love seeing Granny Weatherwax being put into a tight spot, from her opening encounter with Death to her battle against the vampires, largely because she always rises to the occasion. Or makes the occasion come to her, sometimes.

Comments

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

I do like the perspective of Granny Weatherwax in the Tiffany Aching books, though. It's a little different than the one in her own books, though probably part of that is just the way she's been growing as a character.

[oyceter]

I think Hatful of Sky is my favorite Tiffany Aching because of Granny Weatherwax. I just love the ending of that one.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Pratchett does sometimes seem to follow a book taking one view of a subject with a more nuanced one, like the differing attitudes to Omnianism and devout faith in this book versus Small Gods. Similarly Monstrous Regiment seems to me to be a bit less absolutely opposed to warfare than Jingo.

[oyceter]

*nods* Yeah, he does seem to iteratively develop his ideas...

[keelieinblack.livejournal.com]

Pretty sure you're not the only one who prefers Maskerade. I've reread that one bunches of times but only gone back to Carpe Jugulum once or twice--it never quite grabbed me, for some reason. Possibly because there's so much vampire parody out there already?

[oyceter]

Yeeaaaah... and it feels like a parody of something that's already rather dead and gone; I don't think people have been writing serious Dracula-esque vampire books for quite some time.

[almeda.livejournal.com]

For the record, at the time he wrote CJ, the tropes you mention weren't really cliches of the 'Vampire Genre' yet. :->

[oyceter]

Well, I'm not sure, since Anne Rice was already fairly well established by then, and CJ was published after all those YA vampire books were going full swing (not Twilight, but stuff like Christopher Pike and LJ Smith and the Vampire Twins series I gobbled up in middle school). So I don't think the tropes were quite as entrenched as they are now, but I think they definitely still existed and were cliches.

[furikku.livejournal.com]

I liked Maskerade better, although only by a shade, since there is a special place in my heart for old-fashioned horror tropes. But there is also a special place in my heart for stuff having to do with opera, and I love Agnes.

[oyceter]

I just cannot resist the lampooning of Andrew Lloyd Webber, because oh, I loved Phantom so, way back when!

[furikku.livejournal.com]

I'm only vaguely familiar with some of the lampooning. :/ My main source of Phantom is the book.

[oyceter]

I suspect that may be best, as the musical is probably most enjoyable when one is listening as a hormonal 13-year-old ;).

[furikku.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I prolly would've been pretty into it (despite its unfortunate lack of vampires) at That Age.

Now I just sort of flail at it and go, "NO HE IS A FREAKING PSYCHO MURDERER AND THAT'S WHY HE IS AWESOME!" It's like right up there with Dracula for books that would be great action movies if people wouldn't stop turning them into romances.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I also tend to like Maskerade better, as I was a Phantom fangirl for a long time, plus I burned out on vampires a while ago. But the Mightily Oats sections of CJ are among my favorite scenes in Pratchett.

[ticketsonmyself.livejournal.com]

I was completely "meh" about the vampires in CJ, but the Mightily Oats scenes are probably my favorites in Pratchett, too. Mightily Oats is one of my favorite minor characters in Pratchett!

[oyceter]

I did like the Mightily Oats sections quite a lot, and I love Granny, as always.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, I like Maskerade better, too.

[oyceter]

Yay, not just me!

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

Carpe Jugulum has the edge in my mind, but that's purely because of Granny Weatherwax's triumph against the vampires. I love her so much.