Pyramids

This is a fairly early Terry Pratchett (number seven I believe) and demonstrate his unique ability to lampoon nearly everything at once. We find ourselves with Teppic the heir to throne of Djelibeybi, who has been sent off to Ankh-Morpark to learn a decent trade. Or rather, a lucrative indecent trade of inhumation (otherwise called assassination). Djelibeybi has been building bigger and bigger pyramids for some 7,000 years and is way behind on its payments. Somebody has to bring home a paycheck. Teppic has mastered all the requisite skills (tucking equipment everywhere, wearing black clothes, swinging from buildings, etc) and now, in a flash of accidental good luck, he has passed his final exam. At this crucial moment, Teppic's father develops a sudden urge to fly and our young assassin must return to the world's most tradition bound kingdom (no toilets, no mattresses, and no aqueducts). Having spent years in the most corrupt city on Discworld Teppic must wear a very heavy mask, sleep on stone beds, and be a very bored god. And bankrupt the kingdom building his father's pyramid. Pyramids are the problem. Since each one has to be bigger than the last, they have long since achieved enough mass to bend light and absorb time. This keeps their occupants alive, but the accumulation of present and future time has to be vented off nightly. The reason Teppic's country is so stodgy is that all the present and future is being shot off into space and they only have the past left to live in. Now Teppic decides that his father's tomb will be an order of magnitude larger than its predecessors, and all quantum breaks out. Even before it is finished is becomes a major time hazard and suddenly, in one great big pffft, it folds Djellibaybi into a Hilbert space and leaves Teppic with a camel sized headache. Needless to say this irritates the heck out of Teppic's father (dead or not), all the mummified kings, and a large number of loose gods. Pratchett uses this opportunity to mach fun of organized religion, solipsistic scientists, relativity, archaism, relatives, politics, war, and mathematicians with one or two humps and four stomachs. He spares no one, and it is great fun for the reader. His ability to pull a horrible pun out of thin air is unequalled. Pratchett's message has always been that life is too important to take seriously, By all means hunt this up, you'll be mummified laughing.

Pyramids represents something of a detour in Pratchett's Discworld series. The principal action takes place in the heretofore unfamiliar land of Djelibeybi, located in northern Klatch across the Circle Sea from Anhk-Morpork. This is a unique realm of the Discworld, two miles wide and 150 miles long. It is often referred to as the Old Kingdom for a very good reason-it is quite old, over 7000 years old in fact. It is a desert land whose pharaohs are obsessed with pyramid-building; besides bankrupting the country, this obsession has also had the unforeseen consequence of keeping the country firmly entrenched in the past. Pyramids, you see, slow down time, and there are so many pyramids in Djelibeybi now that new time is continually sucked in by them and released nightly in flares. In a land where the same time is reused daily, it comes as something of a surprise when the pharaoh Teppicymon XXVII decides to send his son Teppic outside of the kingdom to get his education. Just after becoming a certified, guild-approved assassin, young Teppic is called upon to return home after his father suffers the unfortunate consequences attendant upon thinking he can fly. Three months into his reign, he basically loses his kingdom-literally. The Great Pyramid being built for his father's mummy is much too big, and eventually it causes the temporal dislocation of Djelibeybi from the face of the Discworld. Accompanied by the handmaiden Ptraci, whom he rescued from certain death, and a camel whose name would be edited were I to state it here, Teppic must find a way to restore his kingdom back to its proper place and time above the ground. The ordeal is only complicated further by the fact that all of the land's dead and thousands of gods suddenly have appeared in person, acting as if they own the place. While its unusual setting and the fact that it features characters seen here and nowhere else makes this novel seem a little different from its fellow Discworld chronicles, I must admit it is quite an enjoyable read. Pratchett ingeniously incorporates ideas and practices from ancient Egypt and ancient Greece: pyramids, mummification, Greek philosophers, the Trojan War and its Horse in particular, etc. Teppic is an enjoyable enough character, but we never seem to delve deeply enough to understand him properly. I loved the brash handmaiden Ptraci and her fearless contempt for tradition. All of the dead pharaohs are quite funny, particularly in terms of their opinions on an afterlife spent shut inside a tomb inside an escape-proof pyramid. The subplot featuring the history of warfare between two neighboring kingdoms really helps make this novel a true winner. Perhaps the most interesting thing to be found in these pages, though, is the actual identity and thought processes of Discworld's greatest mathematician. There is also much to amuse and delight fans of temporal dislocation theories-the pyramid builders make many incredible discoveries in the proc

Time to turn a sacred cow into hamburger--Terry Pratchett, having established wizards, witches, and cranky policemen in his famed, kooky "Discworld," turns his attention to ancient Egyptianesque surroudings, here the city of Djelibeybi (say it out loud) and its unfortunate pharaoh.Teppic is an unusually educated young pharaoh-to-be, the crown prince of Djelibeybi ("Child of the Djel") whose father has a few seagulls in the attic, and overall is a harmless little guy. Teppic heads off to Ankh-Morpork to train to be an Assassin, but comes back home when his dad unexpectedly dies (it's unexpected because the poor guy thought he was a seagull and leaped off). Teppic is a relatively enlightening young man, who doesn't like feeding people to crocodiles, doesn't want to build a pyramid for his dad, isn't comfortable with being a living god, and doesn't relish the idea of marrying a close female relative. Unfortunately, the high priest (who is clearly insane) is holding the reins and doesn't intend to give them up to an upstart pharaoh. Teppic isn't entirely sure what to do about Dios, but he's sure that Dios's age-old ways are not the best ways. It's the century of the fruitbat, and Djelibeybi should live it that way!Among Dios's proclaimations is that the old pharaoh (who is hanging around with Death, and who wanted to be sent out to sea rather than sealed in a pyramid) be built a pyramid to end all pyramids. Enter some slightly deranged architects, who do their darndest to make it so. The problem is, the bigger the pyramid, the more likely it is to distort space-time ? and this one proceeds to mess up the fabric of all Djelibeybi. Soon Dios is siccing the guards on Teppic and rebellious handmaiden Ptraci, the gods have come to life and refuse to behave ? and over a thousand mummies are lurching out into Djelibeybi from their pyramids.Terry Pratchett is at his best when he takes accepted history/events/fantasy and twists them into hilarity. He takes the most absurd aspects of Egyptian culture and makes them into the bizarre land of Djelibeybi. Not even the Egyptian gods are free from Pratchett's spoofery, running around creating havoc--not to mention the enormous dung beetle carrying the sun.The teenage hero Teppic is an innocent bystander who just happens to be the sole legitimate heir of the old king, and his bewilderment at the various customs and traditions (which all date back centuries) is perfectly done. Ptraci is a typical Pratchett gal -- strong, independent, intelligent, and takes no guff from anyone, revealing handmaiden costume or none. The old king is also an enjoyable character, harmlessly nuts when he was alive, and when he died he ended up on a guided tour watching his own embalming (the poor guy has to watch his own organs being extracted, when all he wanted was to be sent out to sea), thus proving that Death is very willing to be nice. Accompanying them are Dios, the insane high priest who spends centuries controlling pharaohs, a bunc

Pyramids is one of Pratchetts best. It gives abit of a change of scenery and this time is centered on Tepic a assasin who becomes a king. This book lets you understand a little more about the mystery of the discworld. He draws alot of his ideas from Egyptian gods and customs but gives them a twist, like the sun being pushed by a giant dung beetle. If your getting a bit tired of Rincewind or Death then pick up pyramids and you'll laugth till you cry.

I've read many books from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, and Pyramids remains one of my favorites because of the unique setting. Most of his Discworld books takes place in the city/state of Ankh-Morpork. Pyramids, set in a Discworld-type Ancient Egypt, Djelibeibey, or "Child of the Djel", Teppic struggles with the problems of being a teen-aged god. And Dios, the power hungry high priest isn't making matters any easier. It's a battle between old men, set in their ways, and the new boy king who's going to bring Djel kicking and screaming into the Centry of the Fruitbat! I also liked how the author used a teenager for a hero. A great book, and I'd highly recommend it to any Pratchett fan.