In the first part of\u00c2\u00a0Carpe Jugulum<\/i>, approximately eight thousand things happen at once. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Discworld<\/i>.<\/p>\n
AHHHH, A NEW\u00c2\u00a0DISCWORLD<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0BOOK, AND IT ALREADY STARTS OFF SO GREAT.<\/p>\n
Fairy Folk!<\/b><\/p>\n
I\u00c2\u00a0think<\/i>? See, what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to do is try to keep track of the\u00c2\u00a0ungodly<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0number of things that Pratchett has introduced in the collection of opening scenes of\u00c2\u00a0Carpe Jugulum<\/i>. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot going on here, and it works so well! This is probably my favorite opening section to a\u00c2\u00a0Discworld<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0book, though I recognize that Pratchett had a\u00c2\u00a0lot<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0of practice up to this point. Plus, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s less exposition here! He references Magrat leaving the witches of the Ramtops, but jumps right into Agnes as one of the trio. There are things here that only those of us who had read\u00c2\u00a0Masquerade<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0would understand, which is fun, yet this still doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t\u00c2\u00a0require<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0knowledge of past\u00c2\u00a0Discworld<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0books. Why?<\/p>\n
Because Pratchett hints at a convergence. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of the things he does best: he throws countless plots into his books, and then, through his writing magic, they all come together by the end. Which makes me wonder: who are these fairy people, and where are they headed? I am only guessing they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re fairies because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 blue skin? The red hair thing threw me off, as did the\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 dialect? Is it Scottish? Gaelic? Irish? I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T KNOW YET. Where are they\u00c2\u00a0going<\/i>? To conquer Lancre? I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T KNOW.<\/p>\n
The Witches<\/b><\/p>\n
I was thrilled to get back to the witches because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve generally enjoyed all of their books. All of them have been invited to Lancre for\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 something? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s left ambiguous by Pratchett, and now I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m wondering if it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a trick from the vampires\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
More on that in a bit. In hindsight, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m now realizing how perfectly Pratchett brought us back into the lives of these three women. We see Nanny Ogg as she excitedly prepares for the party that she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s about to attend because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Nanny. Of\u00c2\u00a0course<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be thrilled about this! There will be drink and probably dancing and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll only be a matter of time before she gets to sing. Agnes is re-introduced to us through introspection, which is a perfect fit for her character. Much of what happens in her narrative parts is internal, and Pratchett keeps us close as she struggles with her dual identities of Agnes and Perdita, as someone who wishes she was someone else but can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be.<\/p>\n
And then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Granny Weatherwax, serene, always ten steps ahead of every living creature around her. She can rarely be surprised, and then, PRATCHETT SURPRISES HER. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a brilliant move: she expects someone else at her home and is briefly bewildered when it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Wattley and news of trouble during Mrs. Ivy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s childbirth. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all gone wrong\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the child screams, and it\u00c2\u00a0feels<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0like a hint. Couple that with the reaction of Hodgesaargh\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s birds, and you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got an\u00c2\u00a0atmosphere<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to this book. Already!<\/p>\n
But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m dancing around the real reason this is so unnerving at the beginning.<\/p>\n
Count of Magpyr\u00c2\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
VAMPIRES. A book where vampires are the villains!!! Well, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m assuming that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case, given what happens to the thief, but prior to that scene, I actually wondered where Pratchett was taking this. The introduction of the Magpyr clan of vampires is hilarious because Pratchett wastes ABSOLUTELY NO TIME in making fun of them. I appreciate that because \u00e2\u20ac\u201c spoiler alert! \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I\u00c2\u00a0really<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care about vampires. I was reluctant about doing\u00c2\u00a0Buffy<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0for Mark Watches because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d already had to suffer through the\u00c2\u00a0Twilight<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0books. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thankful that vampirism makes up about 5% of the importance of that show, though, because if it had been higher? Well, I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have cared.<\/p>\n
Truthfully, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really have many supernatural creatures of entities that I actually enjoy. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m largely bored by vampires. And werewolves. And zombies. Never been much of a fairy\/fae person. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve wondered if that was due to my love of science fiction\u00c2\u00a0first<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0as a kid, but you know what? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just not my thing. Vampires, in particular, seem so absurd as a monster, and Pratchett EVISCERATES THEM in the opening of\u00c2\u00a0Carpe Jugulum<\/i>. Like, this is so great:<\/p>\n As if wearing evening dress all day wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t an undead giveaway, why do they choose to live in old castles which offer so much in the way of ways to defeat a vampire, like easily torn curtains and wall decorations that can readily be twisted into a religious symbol? Do they\u00c2\u00a0really<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0think that spelling their name backward fools anyone?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS. First, I agree with it all because vampires have so many ridiculous tropes attached to them. However, Pratchett does the coolest thing with this: he then reminds us that these vampires\u00c2\u00a0are<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0dangerous. The death of the thief is sudden and shocking, and it serves as a demonstration: just because these vampires bicker like a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153normal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d family does not mean we should think of them as harmless. No, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re the opposite of that. They murder because they\u00c2\u00a0have<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to, because they feel like they\u00c2\u00a0should<\/i>. Unlike many of the supernatural and fantastic creatures we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve met in Ankh-Morpork, who resist typecasting and stereotypes, these vampires are\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 well, blood-sucking murderers.<\/p>\n And they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re headed straight for Lancre. Why? To tempt Granny Weatherwax. Right off the bat, that seemed like an impossible task. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0Granny<\/i>. We know she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got a bit of a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dark\u00e2\u20ac\u009d side in her, but\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 come on, you can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t\u00c2\u00a0actually<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0tempt her like they want to, right? I mean, yes, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re sparse about their intentions. This\u00c2\u00a0feels<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0like a coup of sorts, but how the hell are they going to pull this off?<\/p>\n I AM VERY INTRIGUED. What a great start to this book!<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Xf5K7huJP8c<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards. I POST A LOT OF CUTE PHOTOS, OKAY. Think of it like a private Tumblr blog that only SPECIAL PEOPLE get to read.<\/b> In the first part of\u00c2\u00a0Carpe Jugulum, approximately eight thousand things happen at once. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Discworld.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[451],"tags":[526,463,248],"class_list":["post-4087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discworld","tag-carpe-jugulum","tag-mark-reads-discworld","tag-terry-pratchett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4087\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– I have updated my list of conventions and events for the remainder of the year and much of next year.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"