The reviews here are quite varied on this book, they are all obviously written by Pratchett fans however one of the problems with being a Pratchett fan is that he has SO many novels that you are bound to find a few that aren’t your taste. I personally loved this book. My favorite of Pratchett’s creations include the Witches and the Guards series.An attempt at a short summary:The King of Lancre and his new wife the former Witch Margrat have their first child, and are holding the Christening ceremony. In The King’s usual attempt to be “Modern” he invites the Magpyrs, a family of Vampires from Uberwald. Vampires of course cannot go where not invited, so they capitalize on the invitation to take over the entire country of Lancre. The Vampire clan however, is obsessed with becoming “Modern” and is quite Yuppyish. They have made themselves immune to garlic, sunlight, religious symbols, and just about everything else that normally works against Vampires. Meanwhile Granny Weatherwax’s invitation to the Christening was stolen, so in a typical Granny fashion, she is off in a huff. The soppy priest of Om that comes to do the Christening becomes quite the major character, and the “Wee Free Men” make their first appearance. Add in Igor, the Vampire’s henchman who wishes things would go back to the way they are, and the Falconer who spends most of the tale hunting down a Phoenix and you’re in for a non-stop good time. Nanny Ogg and Agnes/Perditia Nitt are put into the position of attempting to rescue the kingdom from the Vampires without Granny.The witches are all their standard unique selves, Granny stubborn as a mule but with a heart of gold, Nanny with her wild ways and lewd comments, Margrat with her new aged ideas but strong backbone when needed, and the newest of the coven – Agnes Nitt a very big girl with a thin girl trapped inside her. Agnes becomes a major character in this book and really develops her unique personalities. The Priest of Om also becomes quite an interesting character with his on again off again faith crisis. The Wee Free Men are entertaining, but hard to read, Igor is an absolute trip.Some will say that this is a re-write of “Lords and Ladies” I personally didn’t find it so. Sure bad guys arrive and threaten Lancre, and the Witches step up to do battle in their round-about humorous ways. But then again what fantasy/sci-fi/action or horror doesn’t have bad guys showing up and good guys trying to stop them? Of Pratchett’s novels I found this one to be much darker than the others because the Vampires are quite sinister for one of his villains. Still I found this to be an amazingly humorous tale. The bickering between the witches, the family fights between the vampires, Igor’s wanting to make everything dusty and covered in spider webs and longing for the old-school days of his master, the Falconer’s obsession with trying to catch a bird he’s never seen, the Wee Free Men stealing anything they can get their hands on, and even Greebo.The pace of the book is unbelievably quick, numerous characters come and go and you’ll find yourself wondering how all of this will tie in together. But you can’t put it down. I can attest to that first hand, I read way past my bedtime to finish the book because the action never stopped long enough for me to stick in a bookmark. The humor wasn’t as non-stop as in some of his other books, but the funny parts were hysterical. I found that this book had far more meaning to it than many of the others.If you are first time Pratchett reader, I would not recommend this book as a starting place because some of the history of the witches is almost required to get full enjoyment out of this story. I can’t imagine that a first time reader would understand the concept of “Borrowing” from this book or get the humor of the “I ain’t dead” sign. This is one of my favorite of Pratchett’s novels so far.
Well, this is an interesting conundrum - I would call this a 4* book overall, but it's not one of Pratchett's best, I'd say it's a 3* Pratchett. Benefit of the doubt it is, then. I'm in an optimistic mood.So. He doesn't like organised religion much, does he? In 'Carpe Jugulum', vampires invade Lancre, and Granny Weatherwax spends a long time in a cave being serious. This is bad, or at least for the vampires, but good mainly because it gives Nanny Ogg a lot of page time, and I absolutely adore Nanny Ogg. I just love the whole Ogg family. Especially Shawn. I should not write reviews the day I finish a book, because I just end up cooing over the characters. There is also a sappy evangelical Omnian by the name of Mightily Oats who just gets kicked by every character, despite being quietly heroic (...spoilers? look out for it, anyway, bless him), and who I consequently just want to hug.Part of what I love about this book is that it is the ultimate in comfort reading for me: Pratchett does great lines, excellent characters (with such fantastic names!), bucketloads of common sense and some excellent plots. It's true what people say, that you enjoy his books very much when you've read some of the others - and as far as I'm concerned that's because his characters are so loveable. You know how Granny Weatherwax would react to someone saying *that* to her, so you wince along, and feel like they're all your old friends. You cheer when you run into the Nac Mac Feegle because (ahem) you didn't realise they were in any of the other books and this was a really nice surprise. Fortunately, you feel that for other characters you've never read about before - poor Mightily Oats - so I shouldn't think that newcomers to Pratchett will miss out on much.I hear from various places this is essentially a reworking of the premise in 'Lords and Ladies', only with vampires instead of elves, which makes sense. I think I slightly preferred 'Lords and Ladies', on the grounds of Magrat got a bit more to do, but this was perfectly good fun and has a far better name. Isn't it just? I'd read it again just for the title. The book is, as far as I'm concerned, not his best - but it'll do very nicely indeed.
What do You think about Carpe Jugulum (1999)?
Witches and vampires and priests, oh my! It's easy for me, when I'm not reading Pratchett at the moment, to remember how much silliness his books contain, but forget what great storytelling is in there too. But boy, when I'm reading it I sure remember.This is a grand tale about some witches that live in a small kingdom on the rim of the Discworld, one of whom has married its progressive, modern king, and had a baby who's due for a christening. The king, wanting to expand the scope of his kingdom's influence, invites the rulers of the neighboring kingdoms to the christening ceremony. Unfortunately, one of those kingdoms is ruled by vampires, in particular, by a family of very modern and progressive vampires, who understand that garlic is delicious, that the effect of sunlight on them is purely psychosomatic, and that religious symbols are practically everywhere, and don't have to mean a darn thing to them. They do, however, maintain a tremendous ability to control the minds of others. Add to the mix a maybe-not-so-secure-in-his-faith priest of a religion that has rather recently switched from burning everyone that didn't agree with them, to taking their disagreements inward, leading to schism after schism. Can you guess how this turns out? It's a bit of a mess, and great fun!Apparently this is number 23 in the Discworld series. While a publisher's note at front suggests that reading the series in order might increase one's enjoyment, I found this to be thoroughly delightful, even though I'd only read the first couple before this. I recommend it almost without reservation, the reservation being that it might not be great for you if you are offended by humor at the expense of fat people, short people, old people, stupid people, modernists, traditionalists, goths, lispers, lackeys, kings, queens, Picts, peasants, or priests. But other than that it's purely charming :).
—John
Rune wrote: "oh, I thought I was all alone with this feeling... I've started reading about five books the last five days. I only get about 20 pages in before I give up :( BookApocalypse..."Yeah-I mean if it's not working for you, what's the point? Sometimes it's because of things going on in your life, sometimes it's because of certain moods or mindsets, but there is a time and a place for a book and if you're not feeling it, why force yourself?
—Charlene
বিমানযাত্রার সঙ্গে বইপাঠের তুলনা করলে বলা যায়, সব বইয়েরই একটি নিজস্ব উৎগমনকাল আছে। কিছু বিমান যেমন মাটিতে স্বল্প দূরত্ব চলার পর আকাশে ভেসে ওঠে, কিছু বই তেমন কয়েক পাতা পড়ার পরই ডানা মেলে। কারপে জুগুলাম সেরকম বই নয়। ৫১% পড়ে শেষ করার পর এর কাহিনী আমার চোখে আচমকা মাটি ছাড়লো।প্র্যাচেটের মুনশিয়ানার কথা বলতে বলতে ক্লান্ত হয়ে যাই। তারপরও পড়ার মাঝে থমকে যেতে হয়, যখন গল্পে এক শীত আর ঝড়ের রাতে এক বৃদ্ধ ডাকিনীকে আগুয়ান মৃত্যুদূতের হাত থেকে রক্ষার জন্যে পকেট থেকে পবিত্র গ্রন্থ বের করে তাতে আগুন ধরায় এক তরুণ যাজক। এই দৃশ্যটির কারণেই প্র্যাচেট মহৎ।
—হাঁটুপানির জলদস্যু
