Pyramids is yet another Discworld novel from Terry Pratchett, though it doesn’t take place in the same setting as the other novels in the series. Instead, it takes place in “The Old Kingdom,” and is take-off on ancient Egypt. How does it fare?
Let’s call it a triple. It’s wonderfully funny, and definitely a 5-star book. It only suffers in comparison to the other Discworld books that I’ve read, in that it takes awhile before it’s laugh out loud funny. The whole book is definitely worth reading though, and your patience will be rewarded in spades once things actually start happening.
The book is about Teppic, the son of the king, who has gone to Ankh-Morpork to learn to be an assassin. The first section of the book consists of scenes of his final examination intercut with scenes of his joining the assassins’ school. This section has its amusing moments, but it didn’t make me guffaw like the City Watch trilogy of books did. The section gives information on Teppic’s character, which does inform the rest of the book, and is thus valuable. It was just missing something.
There are also scenes back in the Kingdom, where Teppic’s father is going a bit insane. He ends up falling off of a balcony while identifying with the local seagulls. Thus, Teppic is drawn back home to take his place. When Teppic gets back, he finds most of the rituals and values that dominate the kingdom grate with the values that he learned while he was in Ankh-Morpork. Meanwhile, Teppic’s dad is dead, and he’s not liking it.
Things steamroll from there, and I won’t give away any of the rest of the stuff. Once Teppic gets back home, things get a lot better in this book. The laughs come very frequently, and nothing is spared from Pratchett’s wit. The take-off on the Trojan Horse story has to be seen to be believed, as well as the Philospher’s Cafe. And next time you see a camel, you’ll be wondering what’s going through his head.
The main problem with the book is that it seems a bit detached from the situation. In the City Watch books, most of the humour comes directly out of what is happening, making the events that Pratchett is describing feel important, at least to the characters. Pyramids, though, seems different than that. The jokes are funny, but the events that they are coming out of seem very inconsequential when you think about it. And when the event in question is as big as it is in this book (can’t say more without spoilers), inconsequential is the last thing it should feel like.
Still, that doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of the book. Some people don’t like the zany, madcap type of humour that Pratchett delivers, and they should stay away from it. But it’s certainly worth a pick up for anybody with a funny bone.
It s bad enough being new on the job, but Teppic hasn t a clue as to what a pharaoh is supposed to do. After all, he s been trained at Ankh-Morpork s ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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