Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett

 

Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Carpe Jugulum is part of the Witch subset series of novels and while builds upon characters already introduced and adds some significant new ones but it's far more standalone that you might expect. We have seen that Vampires have been a feature of the Discworld for a while and with the introduction of the League of Temperance gave us Otto as a significant supporting character but in Carpe Jugulum the Magpyr family from Uberwald receive an invitation to the christening of Verence and Magrats daughter and they are far more traditional Vampires in a non-traditional way. The big celebration begins to go wrong when Granny's invitation is stolen by a Magpie and Granny being Granny just can't bring herself to ask about the lack of an invite and unlike Nanny is unable to just turn up, Granny is prideful and stubborn and the nagging feeling that with Angus and Magrat in the mix then she may be the odd one out, it's always three witches not four. As it turns out under the influence of Count Magpyr and his family the christening goes quite well however Agnes with her inner persona Perdita are immune to the vampire influence and rally the opposition and search for the missing Granny. The annexation of Lancre goes smoothly in a civilised way with a few small yet significant hiccups thanks in part to their Igor, a visiting Omnian priest ( Mightily Oats ), the arrival of a clan of Nac Mac Feegle and a Phoenix which dies and is reborn under the wing of Hodgesaargh the royal falconer. Ultimately the battle between good and evil through the proxies of the Count and Granny (with ancillary schermishes when and where required) doesn't seem to go well for the good guys but well this is Granny we are talking about.
Overall I always enjoy Carpe Jugulum even though it doesn't really serve the narrative in the long run, yes plot points and characters/people are introduced but in later novels they have been enhanced or fleshed out to be something slightly different in a very good way. A solid four star Discworld novel especially if you have a cup of tea and biscuit while reading.

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