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After parodizing just about every other genre of fiction in one Discworld book or other, it was only a matter of time until Pratchett went for the throat of vampire literature tropes.

In this twenty-third Discworld installment, and sixth in the Witches subseries, a family of vampires from Überwald is invited to the princess' naming ceremony in Lancre by King Verence, who wants to extend the hand of friendship to all types of creatures and beings. Except that Count Magpyr and his family declare that they'll move in and take over, something everyone simply accepts, since they have fallen victim to some sort of hypnotism—all except Agnes and Mightily Oats, the Omnian priest who conducted the ceremony, because they are of "two minds". In addition, the Magpyr family are "modern" vampires who have built up a tolerance for the classic methods of vampire-disposal such as garlic, sunlight, and religious symbols, and Granny Weatherwax has decided to retire and has hidden herself away in a cave like some sort of hermit, so who's going to save the day?

There were things I didn't care for in this novel because they were pretty random and served seemingly no purpose. For instance, after all that massive build-up, I have no idea what the point of the phoenix even was, and the Nac Mac Feegle, tiny and rowdy Smurf-type creatures, were completely unintelligible to me with their variation of Scottish speech, and were also a storyline I felt was only inserted so the King wouldn't be completely forgotten.

There were things I loved though. The main characters in the story were all great—this is the last of the Witches books before the appearance of Tiffany Aching, and I'll miss the coven as it is, they work together so well despite their differences. With each book, I learn to love Nanny Ogg a little more, and she was one of the highlights of this one, but I'm also rather partial to Agnes/Perdita, and of course Granny is always a favorite. I loved just about everything about the vampires, especially their Frankenstein's monster inspired servant Igor, with his artificial lisp and the way he so desperately clings to the old traditional ways. I can't go into what I loved the most without spoiling the end, but this is one of the somewhat rare instances where a Discworld plot twist was delightful and even made sense!

Ultimately though, I really liked this because it's essentially a book about choices. Life or death, justice or mercy, obedience or resistance... and make no mistake, some of it is heavy. There's darkness here that I haven't come across in a Pratchett book before—by page 30, Granny has performed a late-term abortion, and there are really insightful exchanges between her and the Omnian priest about faith that while funny, also contained a kernel of that thought-provoking and resonating truth I so appreciate in Pratchett's work.

"The world is... different." Oats's gaze went out across the haze, and the forests, and the purple mountains. "Everywhere I look I see something holy."

—â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä”â¶Ä�

My other Discworld reviews by sub-series (work in progress):

Rincewind / Unseen University Wizards: The Colour of Magic · The Light Fantastic · Sourcery · Eric · Interesting Times · The Last Continent · The Last Hero · Unseen Academicals

Witches: Equal Rites · Wyrd Systers · Witches Abroad · Lords and Ladies · Maskerade · Carpe Jugulum

Death: Mort · Reaper Man · Soul Music · Hogfather · Thief of Time

Gods: Pyramids · Small Gods

City Watch: Guards! Guards! · Men At Arms · Feet of Clay · Jingo · The Fifth Elephant · Night Watch · Thud! · Snuff

Industrial Revolution / Moist von Lipwig: Moving Pictures · The Truth · Monstrous Regiment · Going Postal · Making Money · Raising Steam

Tiffany Aching: The Wee Free Men · A Hat Full of Sky · Wintersmith · I Shall Wear Midnight · The Sheperd's Crown