Carpe Jugulum

Inhoud

Mightily Oats has not picked a good time to be a priest. He thought he'd come to the mountain kingdom of Lancre for a simple little religious ceremony. Now he's caught up in a war between vampires and witches, and he's not sure there is a right side.
There're the witches - young Agnes, who is really in two minds about everything, Magrat, who is trying to combine witchcraft and nappies, Nanny Ogg, who is far too knowing... and Granny Weatherwax, who is big trouble.
And the vampires are intelligent - not easily got rid of with a garlic enema or by going to the window, grasping the curtains and saying, 'I don't know about you, but isn't it a bit stuffy in here?' They've got style and fancy waistcoats. They're out of the casket and want a bite of the future.
Mightily Oats knows he has a prayer, but he wishes he had an axe.
CARPE JUGULUM is another throat-biting instalment in the unstoppable and addictive cycle of Discworld. It is Terry Pratchett's twentythird novel in the Discworld chronicle, but the first to star vampires.

Bespreking

A great Discworld novel to set your teeth in

You can say a lot about King Verence, ruler of the kingdom of Lancre, but one is unlikely to claim that his policies are not liberal enough. He is not only married to the beautiful witch Magrat, but he even finds inviting the people from Uberwald to his baby shower a very, good idea. And this would indeed have been a nice gesture of peace, if it was not for the fact that the invitees are actual Vampyres (that do not know how to spell). Everyone knows that inviting Vampyres to your country will lead to not much good. Luckily the witches Nanny, Perdita and Agnes are there to safe the day (again). But what in Om's name happened to Granny Weatherwax?

Carpe Jugulum is already the 23rd instalment of the immensely popular Discworld series and still Terry Pratchett seems far from loosing his magical touch. Like always the plot is not the main attraction of a Discworld novel, but the crazy characters surely are. The central cast this time is given to Granny Weatherwax and her fellow witches, but very early in the story they are pushed aside by the other characters. Igor, the coachman who stitches on body parts if the need arises, and Scraps, his dog made out off -you guessed- scarps, will both play a central role in the story. The Magpyr family of Vampyres, proves that an identity crisis can turn out to be fatal, even for immortals. But also the many other characters make Carpe Jugulum a rich and funny story.

As an extra treat Terry has introduced Mightily-Praiseworthy-Are-Ye-Who-Exalteth-Om Oats, the Omnian priest. When faced with the immeasurable power of the Vampyres, Mightily Oats starts to doubt his own believes. This gives Terry ample opportunities to squeeze in some tongue-in-cheek remarks on how we deal ourselves with religion. Knowing that Terry himself is a true non-believer this leads to one of the most hilarious philosophical discussions ever to occur in the Discworld and beyond.