Carpe Jugulum (Discworld, #23; Witches, #6)
Terry Pratchett
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.
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0 0He was beginning to form yet another new opinion of the old woman, who caused a new opinion to arise about once every half hour, and it was this: she needed someone to beat. If she didn't have someone to beat, she'd probably beat herself.
Carpe Jugulum is the last book in the Witches sub-series of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books before you have to move to Tiffany Aching to get more Granny Weatherwax. In Carpe Jugulum, King Verence rather foolishly invites the vampires of Uberwald to the naming ceremony of his newborn daughter. The trouble with inviting vampires (or the more hip vampyres) in is that it is very difficult to get them to leave. So it's up to the witches (Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Queen Magrat and Agnes/Perdita) to get rid of them. Given that the new Count of Uberwald has trained himself and his family out of traditional vampire weaknesses in their transition to vampyres, this will push the witches to the very limit of their abilities. But with the kingdom of Lancre at stake, the witches aren't about to back down.
Over the course of my goal of reading all of the Witches books, my opinion of Granny Weatherwax has varied greatly. But I think it's really in this last book that Granny shines. She can certainly be a bit of a bully and downright nasty when she wants to be but that stubborn, "don't tell me what I can't do" nature is exactly what Lancre needs to fight these vampyres. I enjoyed how much this fight required her to really depend on the help of the other witches (even if she won't admit it) and the rather wet priest of Om. It's a bit of a darker story than many of the other Witches books and at no point are you truly certain that it's a fight Granny and the other Lancre witches can win. And the addition of the wee free men was absolutely delightful. I didn't realize they showed up in this series before they do in Tiffany Aching so that had me giggling.
If you're a fan of satirical fantasy or even a fan of Discworld who hasn't read the Witches books yet, Carpe Jugulum is a strong end to a wonderful sub-series in that universe. Now I'm looking forward to the Tiffany Aching series even more!
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