Pyramids (Discworld Novel)

Terry Pratchett has become one of the most popular authors alive today and his popularity is richly deserved. This book was first published in 1989. That means that the Discworld had been spinning around in Terry Pratchet's head for six years and all its avid readers are praying that the series does not end just yet. Little did they realise at the time that the series would still be going nearly 20 years later.

You would think that a fantasy world full of trolls, zombies, witches, vampires would be an alien concept to most readers. Werewolves and dwarves in the Ank Morpork city watch. Wizards running a university. Or with this particular book a country, similar in just about every grain of sand to Egypt. Pratchett's brain must have been working overtime on this one.

The author keeps his reader's laughing throughout the book with the story of how difficult it is being a teenage Pharoah Terry Pratchett gets a laugh out of just about anybody or anything you can think of that relates to Ancient Egypt. Pyramids, high priests, mummies that come to life. Pyramid builders that couldn`t build a brick s - - - house, sacred gods, you name it and it is there in this hilarious book.

Standing On The Shoulders Of My Ancestors (2/2 people found this helpful)

Terry Pratchett's first novel, "The Carpet People", appeared in 1971. "Pyramids" is the seventh novel in his hugely popular Discworld series and was first published in 1989. It's the first - and, to date, only - book to feature Teppic, and is largely set in his home country of Djelibeybi.

As the book opens, Teppic (or Pteppic) is approaching the end of his education at Ankh-Morpork's Guild of Assassins. (The final exam, if failed, tends to be very......final). However, there is more to Teppic than dressing very stylishly and inhuming only for vast amounts of money. With the very recent death of his father, he has also become King Pteppicymon XXVIII of Djelibeybi. Teppic's home country is very obviously based on Egypt : it's two miles wide, one hundred and fifty miles long and runs along the river Djel. It has driven itself bankrupt, having spent seven thousand years building pyramids for its monarchs - invariably on the country's most fertile soil. Having become the first Pharoh to be educated outside Djelibeybi, Teppic finds it difficult to re-adapt to the traditions of his home country. He is technically a God and although he is officially Head of State, it's Dios - the very aged High Priest - who actually runs the country. Teppic isn't entirely impressed about this - he wants to introduce proper plumbing and pillows, for example. However, in spite of the country's debt, he does agree to building a massive pyramid for his late father. (This isn't something his late father - still pottering around as a ghost - isn't too impressed with). The final straw comes when Dios decides to feed Ptraci - the late King's favourite handmaiden - to the crocodiles. Teppic decides to become a little more politically active - and, luckily, he has a helpful education to fall back on.

Like everything else I've read by Pratchett, this is an excellent book. It's easily read, features plenty of likeable characters and there are plenty of laughs. As it's one of Pratchett's stand-alone books, it's a good starting point if you've never read any of the Discworld books before. (In a way, I find that a pity : I'd love to have known what became of Teppic and Ptraci). Definitely recommended !

Biblical (2/2 people found this helpful)

This was the first Pratchett I ever read, I laughed out load on page one and have been reading them ever since. Pratchett's the master of observational humour, even a passing knowledge of current and recent events allows you to see where he's coming from and who he's borrowed from in real life to create the inasanity that is Discworld. This isn't primarily a book for fantasy or sci-fi fans, pratchett breaks too many rules to make them happy, nor is it a childrens book, I don't think they would (or should) get some of the underlying humour, he's a writer for everyone really, unique in his genre and possibly one of the funniest writers in existence (living or inconveniently undead for that matter). If you've not read one before - try it you might just like it; if you have, well he's not written any christmas roaster books yet, and probably never will - enjoy

pyramids review (3/4 people found this helpful)

Pyramids is an imaginative thriller.In Pyramids King Teppicymon XXVII,or Teppic to his friends and Ptraci the serving girl have to deal with mad high priests,incompetent pyramid builders,the Great Pyramid exploding,sphinxes,assassins,wooden horses,marching mummies,Hat the vulture-headed god of unexpected guests,and dreams about seven fat cows and seven thin cows(one of whom is playing a trombone) .If you enjoy reading sci-fi or fantasy novels then try Terry Prattchett's discworld series.

A tale of Teppic's travails (4/6 people found this helpful)

"Heavy hangs the head" goes the old saying. Teppic doesn't wear a crown, but there's plenty else. Besides all the gear he took up while training to be an Assassin in Ankh-Morpork, there's The Reaping Hook of Justice, The Sheaf of Plenty and The Three-pronged Spear of the Waters of the Earth. Oh, yes, there's also a gold mask for identity. All this has been imposed on Teppic since ascending the throne of Djelibeybi at the death of his father. Along with the paraphenalia, Teppic has also inherited a staggering, if unspecified, debt load. In Djelibebi, each monarch is to "rest" in a pyramid, each one larger than that of his/her predecessor. With seven millennia of monarchs, the shores of the River Djel are occupied with these man-made stone mountains. And nobody can remember how long it's been since any of them was paid for.

Teppic, having breathed the foetid air of Anhk-Morpork, misses feather mattresses and plumbing. He is also suspicious of the type of "justice" prevailing in Djelibeybi. Long centuries of "tradition" have conditioned the populace to endure bizaare forms of justice. So conditioned that they will self-inflict punishment, no matter how illogical. Teppic has difficulty understanding this, but Dios, his high priest is there to counsel him on how the system works. There's also another voice, just at the level of perception, addiing to Teppic's uncertainty. Urged by Dios to build the greatest pyramid ever to honour Teppic's departed father, the new king has reservations. Something is telling him it's a bad idea.

The bad idea proves worse than he can imagine. The ranks of pyramids contain the fourth dimension, Time, which can distort the other three if enough accumulates. Events transpire, not the least of which is the disappearance of Djelibeybi, river, pyramids and all. This situation allows Pratchett to make his first drastic departure from the image of "humourous fanticist" pinned on him by uncomprehending critics. He does so with gusto. Employing the assistance of the Discworld's greatest mathematician [not a dolphin!], Pratchett guides us through the world of quantum physics. Far from fantasy, this is serious science brought to life by the one writer who can accomplish it with such finesse. Who but Pratchett could utilise the metaphor of Djelibeybi stretching like "a lead ball on a rubber sheet" in such a context?

What happens when Time distorts the other dimensions? If you're outside, how do you return? If you're inside, what effect will the transformation of those dimensions mean to reality? What will be reality? Pratchett answers those questions in ways that will astound fans of fantasy and confound physics professors who seek ways of awakening their legions of drowsy students. He formulates a new reality in which those things we believe in but never see are given substance. Will we still believe in them when they confront us? How will we cope with the forces they possess? Pratchett poses these questions to prod us into considering them for ourselves. Can you accept his challenge? Read this as a guidebook to the world beyond "reality" and enjoy the immense wit Pratchett uses to describe it. You won't be disappointed. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Terry Pratchett

Reader Reviews:

Terrific Fantasy Writing (1/1 people found this helpful)

Standing On The Shoulders Of My Ancestors (2/2 people found this helpful)

Biblical (2/2 people found this helpful)

pyramids review (3/4 people found this helpful)

A tale of Teppic's travails (4/6 people found this helpful)

Similar Products

Categories