Pyramids by Terry Pratchett

 

Pyramids by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Kingdom of Djelibeybi has been in existence for a long long time and has a thing for pyramids so much so they go further into economic depression and debt whenever a King dies and their heir places the order for a Pyramid. Teppic the son of the current ruler Teppicymon XXVII is the first of the line to travel beyond the kingdom for his education attending the Assassins Guild in Ankh-Morpork. It is a good education but Teppic when it comes right down to it doesn't really want to kill people and depending upon your point of view when his father passes he is blessed with the gifts of his position and returns home where as King he doesn't have to kill anyone, he has people that will do that for him. Teppic soon clashes with Dios the head priest who has served the kingdom for far longer than you would considered "normal" and when he as King has to allow the young handmaiden Ptraci to die he dons his Assassins garb to rescue her but his dual life eventually forces him to flee the kingdom which then "vanishes" leaving nothing but a line in the sand and an echo of the seabirds and spell of the sea.
Pyramids was a good read, I like the idea of a kingdom on the disc that mirrored historical Egypt with the Terry tweaks so you get Pyramids that indeed have immense power to control the flow of time and highly intelligent camels as well as the usual blend of humour, satire and nods towards everyday concerns we have now. In the grand collection of Discworld the novel shows how far Terry had come as a writer and how far he would still go in perfecting his craft but for all that Pyramids is well worth a read.


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