Pyramids: (Discworld Novel 7) (Discworld, #7)

by Terry Pratchett

'"LOOK AFTER THE DEAD," SAID THE PRIESTS, "AND THE DEAD WOULD LOOK AFTER YOU."'

Young Prince Teppic is sent far away from his desert homeland to the city of Ankh-Morpork for the best education money can buy. Which just so happens to be at the Assassins' Guild.

But when Teppic's father dies suddenly, fate takes him away from assassination to something far more unsavoury: politics. Teppic returns home to the small, penniless kingdom of Djelibeybi to take his place as ruler.

It isn't easy, being a teenage pharaoh. As tradition dictates, the new king must build a monumental pyramid to honour his dead father. But this one might just bankrupt the kingdom, and warp the very fabric of time and space itself . . .

'Pratchett remains a consistently clever, charming and funny voice' - Independent

The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Pyramids is a standalone.

• ISBN10: 1407034669
• ISBN13: 9781407034669
• Publish Date: 26 December 2008 (first published 15 June 1989)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Transworld Publishers Ltd
• Imprint: Transworld Digital
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 88322
• Language: English

Reviews

[Metaphorosis Reviews]

3 stars, Metaphorosis reviews
Summary
Pteppic, heir to a 7,000 year dynasty and a tiny kingdom, has been sent to Ankh-Morpork to train as an assassin. It's given him some funny ideas about change being desirable. When his father dies and Pteppic receives a sign to come home, his new-fangled ideas clash with the traditions of a rather elderly high priest.

Review
I seem to be having quite a different reaction to Discworld this time around. Books that introduced me to the series, and that I quite liked, now seem halting and disjointed. Books, like this one, that I don’t really remember, seem much more effective. I suppose that then, the novelty worked better on me than the story.

This book has possibly the strongest story so far, in that it doesn’t rely on parody as much, and seems much more self-contained. It’s funny, too; no guffaws, but plenty of chuckles and an occasional chortle. There is a certain amount of repetition of jokes from earlier books. Not a lot, but a little worrying so early in the series.

Unfortunately, a key portion of the resolution relies on deliberate cruelty to an animal. One that’s smarter than all the other characters, but it’s cruelty nonetheless. It ruined what for me had been the best Discworld story so far. For a moderately old, but popular book, there are a surprising number of careless errors in my new e-book version.

[batsysk]

There are not many books I did not finish reading but unfortunately this one is one of them. I loved every Pratchett book in the series so far and even tho some of them had worse parts I still enjoyed them greatly in the end. With this book I had problems since beginning and they lasted until somewhere in the middle of the story where I just gave up. It makes me sad but also it happens sometimes and I am still open to rereading of this book in the future. But now I am just going to continue the series and enjoy other books from the master writer Terry Pratchett.

Side note: for sure it may be just that the background and point of plot was not meant for me so I am not judging the book and just giving my current opinion.