Reviews with content warning for Fatphobia - Carpe Jugulum

Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett

16 reviews

starsnstitchin's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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kylieqrada's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

It’s been a while since I read the first 22 books in this series, and I had completely forgotten how funny and insightful Terry Pratchett is. Ended up docking a half star for a few dated references, but I really loved this one.

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olma's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I’m never a huge fan of the witches’ books in the Discworld series and this was no exception. I find the formula is always the same with Granny fixing things by the end. (To be fair, I have not read all of the witches’ books.) I also dislike the constant characterization of Agnes as fat as if it’s the only thing that’s important about her.

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saltycoffee's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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leanneymu's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I always enjoy a Discworld novel, and the Witches are all great characters. The only thing that stops this from being a higher-rated book is the fat phobia directed at Agnes. I think it's the kind of thing that seemed OK in 1998, when the book was first published, but that shit aged horribly. Other than that, great plot, fun characters, and a compelling story.

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bebidocrimes's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I can see some of the charms Pratchett's writing has and can understand why he's so beloved, but I have to say this felt like reading a children's bedtime story. There was some interesting dialogue about doubting your religion, but for the most part conversations were built to fit in as many puns as possible. The vampires weren't scary or interesting enough to root for or against. I didn't feel myself wanting to keep picking this up to read.

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woweewhoa's review against another edition

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adventurous funny medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

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questingnotcoasting's review

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

I've listened to the new audiobooks of the last three Witches books and I've really enjoyed them. Indira Varma is great as the main narrator and Peter Serafinowicz and Bill Nighy really enhance the experience as the voices of Death and the footnotes. I very much enjoyed the Pratchett take on vampires. This was also my first time meeting the Wee Free Men and I'm interested to see more of them. I like Agnes but like in Maskerade, there were quite a few jokes about her weight which spoilt this a little for me. However I have loved seeing the character development of Granny Weatherwax and I'm a bit sad to have finished all the Witches books now.

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tiredcreature's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"There's no greys, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is."

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bluejayreads's review against another edition

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3.0

I have struggled with the Witches sub-series in almost every single book. (Except for Equal Rites, but I read that one several years before I really got into the Discworld books so I don’t think it counts.) I love the ideas, but I don’t so much love the characters or the plots. And that sentiment held with Carpe Jugulum.

Granny Weatherwax is still a mean old lady and one of my biggest issues with the series. Her excessive pride gets in the way so much and she’s incredibly frustrating. But I’m also not used to a Granny who can be scared and defeated and run away, which is also what happens here. There’s a dichotomy between everyone expecting Granny is indomitable and will fix it and the reality of her genuine limitations. It was a weird and not exactly pleasant experience to watch her be mean and prideful while running scared.

This was not a very character-centric story. They were there, but more as vehicles to push the story along than for actually getting any focus. Nanny Ogg was herself, as usual. I loved seeing Magret with a spine, but she was a very minor character. I liked Agnes, but she didn’t get any more nuance or growth here. A random priest of Om who gets dragged along on the witches’ antics got more focus as a person than any of the other characters (although to be fair, his religious consternation was extremely relatable).

The plot had some really good ideas. It was mainly “vampires are trying to take over and need to be stopped,” but these are, in true Discworld style, not your ordinary vampires. They flipped the tropes on their heads, and were neat for that. But the vampires themselves were obnoxious, and the plot dragged until the end. The climax and conclusion were really good, but everything before that was honestly a bit dull.

Reading this book, I generally felt like I was missing the point. There’s so many elements – religion, the power of names and words in general, royalty, tradition, the power of belief, and probably more – but they’re all mixed up together so there was no obvious central theme. I feel like there was supposed to be some point to the first three-quarters of the story, before it actually got entertaining in the last quarter, but I couldn’t find it. The humor traded Sir Terry’s wit and quips for humor in trope subversion, which didn’t always land. And I’m just not sure what I’m supposed to get out of this.

For a Witches book, it’s not bad. I generally find the subseries less fun than other Discworld books. But at least with this one, I never felt the urge to DNF it, and I did quite enjoy the last quarter of it. So on the whole, it’s fine. Not spectacular, but I’ve certainly read worse Witches books.

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