In the eighth\u00c2\u00a0part\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0Carpe Jugulum<\/i>, Agnes and Nanny mount their rescue operation, only to discover just how much the Magpyrs have insinuated themselves into Lancre. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to read\u00c2\u00a0Discworld<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For continuous discussion of mind control and consent, and brief bit about fascism.<\/b><\/p>\n
If I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not conveying it through these reviews or in the videos for\u00c2\u00a0Carpe Jugulum<\/i>, let me just state it outright here: this is probably the most impressed I am with Pratchett\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s writing. So, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m working on a second book (!!!!!) that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s toying with the fantasy genre, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m truly, truly realizing how much work has to go into worldbuilding. This section of\u00c2\u00a0Carpe Jugulum<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0struck me as thoughtful and carefully considered. Why? Because Pratchett has clearly designed a different way of thinking about vampires. The Magpyrs do not merely feed on other humans and rely on the age-old terror of their species. Instead, what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re seeing here is a\u00c2\u00a0system<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s being constructed, an entire methodology that the Magpyrs use to utterly and complete dominate cities. CITIES. BECAUSE GUESS WHAT\u00c2\u00a0THEY\u00e2\u20ac\u2122VE FUCKING DONE THIS BEFORE.<\/b><\/p>\n
More on that later. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s start with this:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They find single-minded people easier to control.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Oh.\u00c2\u00a0Oh<\/i>. Well,\u00c2\u00a0that<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0makes sense! I loved the anaology that Oats: single-minded people have\u00c2\u00a0bigger targets<\/i>. What can you grasp onto when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got a mind like Agnes? Or you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re as uncertain as Mightily Oats? Is that why Magrat is only\u00c2\u00a0sort of<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0under the spell of the Magpyrs, because she, too, is stuck between the worlds of motherhood, royalty, and magic? Anyway, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not that important right now. Here, Pratchett confirms a suspicion of mine, but clarifies\u00c2\u00a0why<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0the Magpyrs are able to control certain people.<\/p>\n
AND THEN HE MAKES IT WORSE. Look, the cart drivers thing is\u00c2\u00a0horrifying<\/i>. I thought that they were just affected by the Magpyrs, until this part:<\/p>\n
Then Agnes realized that there was a squad of men marching behind the carts. They didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t look at all like the carts\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 drivers.<\/p>\n
And these,\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>said Perdita,\u00c2\u00a0are the cattle prods<\/i>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unclear if these men are controlled by the Magpyrs or simply\u00c2\u00a0paid<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to keep watch, but regardlss: FUCKING CREEPY. This allows the Magpyrs to have more complete control, and in this case, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re used to guide the carts full of their own possessions. That should have been the first clue that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d done this before, but it went totally over my head. These vampyres want to stay in Lancre a\u00c2\u00a0long<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0time, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t they?<\/p>\n
And what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unsettling about all this is that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be able to. After Agnes and Oats get into the castle via empty Magpyr coffins, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re treated to another miniature nightmare: Mrs. Scorbic\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0bliss<\/i>. For a woman notorious as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153acerbic\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and unapproachable, it becomes upsetting to see her behave without a care in the world. Nothing matters! Why is she even rolling out dough? Do the vampyres require that their victims be well-fed? I am guessing we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll find out more about this later, reason being that Mrs. Scorbic can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t actually tell Agnes or Oats any of this. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s lost in a haze of mind control, and IT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SO SCARY, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL.<\/p>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m referring to when I say that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m impressed by this. Each new detail that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s revealed of this takeover shows me that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m in for a unique journey.\u00c2\u00a0Carpe Jugulum<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is not going to be like other vampire stories because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an exploration of how these people are able to control an entire city. Even Magrat is under their spell, though I suspect it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not as all-encompassing for her as it is for others. It was fascinating to see her snap out of this once Agnes stated that Granny might be in trouble, so\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 that means she\u00c2\u00a0might<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0be able to resist, right?<\/p>\n
I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know. I hope they can get out of the castle, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m unsure. Why? Because, yet again, Pratchett makes matters worse: the Count is using the hundreds of magpies in Lancre to SPY ON EVERYONE. That was bad enough, of course, but his attack on the phoenix that Hodgesaargh was tracking? Initially, it confused me. It seemed like cruelty for cruelty\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sake. Weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the Magpyrs more calculating than that? Yet as Nanny, Agnes, and Magrat reunite and plot their \u00e2\u20ac\u0153rescue\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of granny, the Count\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s POV section gives way to\u00c2\u00a0another<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0horror:<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Verence was right, oddly enough. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a new world coming, and there won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be any room in it for those ghastly little gnomes or witches or centaurs and especially not for the firebirds! Away with them! Let us progress! They are unfitted for survival!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The whole ending scene of this part is telling. It is not hard to imagine that the purging the Count speaks of was successful in Escrow. Who is left there? Did\u00c2\u00a0anyone<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0survive? Did they move to Lancre because they ran out of resources? My gods, this is AWFUL. And on top of all that, they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re basically setting up a system that has the eerie resemblance to many of the fascist governments we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen in our world. Government takeovers; lying to citizens; expelling or purging people\/races in the name of progress.<\/p>\n
WHAT IS THIS BOOK DOING TO ME.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=0Kd1OkVZNsA<\/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>
\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":"In the eighth\u00c2\u00a0part\u00c2\u00a0of\u00c2\u00a0Carpe Jugulum, Agnes and Nanny mount their rescue operation, only to discover just how much the Magpyrs have insinuated themselves into Lancre. 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-4110","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\/4110","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=4110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4110\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markreads.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}