Carpe Jugulum - The audio tape
                    Corgi audio - œ7.99
  Author Terry Pratchett (who else?!), read by Tony Robinson

                      Reviewed by Sue

I won't say too much about the plot of Carpe Jugulum because I
don't want to steal Andrew's thunder for his BOOK review. He's
busy with college work this issue but will be back next time.
Well, we can't have a SynTax issue without Terry, can we? So it's
up to me to fly the flag, briefly, on Andrew's behalf.

So, Carpe Jugulum, the latest Discworld novel, is already out on
tape. They're getting quicker and quicker. I remember having to
wait months for some of the earlier titles to appear. The story is
as good as Terry's previous ones and takes place in Lancre, so the
witches feature heavily. Great - they're my favourite characters.
It concerns vampires so Tony Robinson, who has read all the
previous tapes, gets a chance to try out some Eastern European
accents.

As I said, I don't want to give away the plot, this article is
more to enthuse generally about the Discworld tapes. I've got
every single one of them and enjoy them as much, in their own way,
as the books. There's obviously much more detail to the books, but
the tapes are abridged well and little of the atmosphere is lost.
They are simply terrific to listen to while dog walking!  Many of
the better quotes are retained - from now on, someone on the wimpy
side will always be as wet as a 'fog sandwich' or 'cloud omelette'
to me!

The recording quality is excellent and Tony Robinson's
characterisations are spot on. Nanny and Granny are perfect foils
for each other, Magrat, though more determined since becoming a
mother, still sounds slightly bemused and the vampires have a nice
balance between seeming terribly attractive and exuding evil. I'd
recommend any of the Discworld tapes, but Carpe Jugulum in
particular.

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