Pyramids by Sir Terry Pratchett - A Book Review

Ah, Sir Terry Pratchett. One of the greatest writers of fiction ever to be in existence, and certainly my favourite. He's been writing for ages, yet it still amazes me just how much he's actually written. In his 'Discworld' series alone there are 39. The seventh of those thirty nine is 'Pyramids', the subject of my review today.

The first edition of 'Pyramids'.

The seventh Discworld novel follows the adventures of Teppic, a young man being trained by the Ankh-Morpork Assassin's Guild. Unfortunately for him, Fate would have it that he not be an assassin, but instead the king of Djelibeybi - a rather small kingdom whose purpose appears to be to keep Tsort and Ephebe from starting a war. This is due to his father spontaneously dying - at least, it wasn't planned. Overseeing the construction of his father's tomb - an incredible pyramid of fantastic size - he must face many challenges, including trying to wrestle control from his own High Priest, Dios, stopping Tsort and Ephebe going to war and, last but not least, making sure a giant dung beetle doesn't eat the sun. Which is, naturally, a ball of dung. Duh.
I really enjoyed this book. Typical Pratchett - very funny, with some good tidbits of science thrown in every so often (see the Ptaclusp family) and some real-life references added for good measure.
   First and foremost, the plot. Frankly, it's brilliant. The very idea that massive stone pyramids can divert time itself is a great one, not to mention the actual storing of it. Factor into that a spoonful of assassin-to-be-king, millions of tonnes of sand, a generous helping of mummies, a splash of general carziness and a dollop of camel, and you have a mixture to be reckoned with. Particularly that camel.
   Despite the brilliance of the plot, it is somewhat clumsily executed. Following young Teppic's adventures as an assassin-come-king, the beginning starts with a haphazard, veritable minefield of possible pitfalls for the mind. Pratchett may confuse some with his structure, in which three different things are happening at once. First off, there's Teppic as an assassin, taking his final exam. Then we have younger Teppic in his childhood, and all that transpires to bring him to Ankh-Morpork. Lastly, there is Teppic's father (stuck ruling Djelibeybi), who manages to have exactly the same name and be dead at the same time.
   This has led to some unfortunate misunderstandings amongst UNOBSERVANT FOOLS that mean they either a) mix up the plots or b) think that Teppic's father Teppic is in fact Teppic the Younger and mistake him to be dead, when in fact Teppic is alive and it is instead Teppic who is dead. Though I think I'll call young Teppic's father Teppicymon from now on, as it's rather easier to mark out who is who like that.
   However, after the general beginning, which takes far too long to transpire, it does pick up considerably and straightens itself out.

Secondly, let us turn our attention to the characters. We have a real treasure trove here, assuming you like evil High Priests and dead kings and queens, plus the odd mathematician. My personal favourites are the Ptaclusp family, that family who run the pyramid-building company, especially when they begin to multiply themselves or talk about quantum physics. I like quantum physics. It's groovy.
   The main character, Teppic, is interesting. Starting off as a rather dislikeable stuck-up royal sort of person, he is, surprise surprsie, dislikeable. Being a young child and believeing the blood of gods to be running through your veins is all very good, but not when you show off about it. He does proceed to get better, though. That's the good thing about Pratchett - he knows how to develop a good character.
   Other people who star in the story aren't too shabby either. For example, 'the greatest mathematician on the Discworld' (directly quoting the book, of course) has both a very surprising identity and is enormously entertaining, despite an understandable lack of conversation between the mathematician and anyone you care to mention. The creation and appearance of the Sphinx was also fairly entertaining. However, it is the Grand Preist Dios who was by far the most interesting character - at least, he was to me.
   Being the true ruler of Djelibeybi, Dios likes to manipulate people. Nobody really knows who he is or where he's from - rumour has it he's been around for several thousand years, despite this being absolutely impossible in the highest. (Hint, hint.) There's an air of mystery about him that adds something to the tale, and I like that. An enigma is always a fun thing to have hopping about. It's like rabbit shooting - when you finally hit the dratted thing with a round, you have the satisfaction of knowing that you're never going to have to worry about it eating your cabbages again.
   Of course, I can't go into a great deal of detail about the rest, so I'll leave it at that.

Themes are brilliant things, though it's like oil - a theme can't be caught, it must be contained. Even then, if you treat it wrongly then it's liable to blow up in your face, and water just makes it worse. But if correctly implemented and exploited, it can make the engines of the novelling world turn for a very long time indeed.
   I'd probably have to say that there are several themes in this book, though I was only personally affected by two of them, i.e. the rest didn't merit a second thought. Those two would be belief and, joy of joys, quantum physics.
   The belief thing is one that I can't really explain past saying that in certain areas of space, it seems that what one believes is made real, assuming you really believe it quite strongly. However, quantum physics I can expand upon, being a bit of an enthusiast myself.
   In the book, Pratchett writes that pyramids can actually divert the flow of time, channeling it and storing it to make an area of null-time in the burial chamber so that the body inside never decays. Although obviously unreal, the very prospect of this intrigues me. Also, all the talk in the latter sections of 'dimensional maladjustment' really crack me up. The effects are really rather spectacular.

So, my final review. I'm giving this book a 9/10. A good plot, populated by enjoyable characters and with heaps of science-y nonsense piled about the place, I really enjoyed this book. The best of the first seven Discworld Novels to be sure, plus the first one that acts as a true stand-alone. Read at all costs.

If you want to buy the book, then here's the Amazon link - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pyramids-Discworld-Novel-Terry-Pratchett/dp/0552134619/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328808089&sr=8-1