Pyramids (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "Nothing but stars, scattered across the blackness as though the Creator had smashed the windscreen of his car and hadn't bothered to stop to sweep..." (more)
Key Phrases: more pyramids, sacred crocodiles, eighth son, King Teppicymon, Flail of Mercy, Guardian of the Secret Knowledge (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

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 famed assassins' school, across the sea from the Kingdom of the Sun.First, there's the monumental task of building a suitable resting place for Dad -- a pyramid to end all pyramids. Then there are the myriad administrative duties, such as dealing with mad priests, sacred crocodiles, and marching mummies. And to top it all off, the adolescent pharaoh discovers deceit, betrayal -- not to mention a headstrong handmaiden -- at the heart of his realm.

About the Author

Terry Pratchett is one of the most popular living authors in the world. His first story was published when he was thirteen, and his first full-length book when he was twenty. He worked as a journalist to support the writing habit, but gave up the day job when the success of his books meant that it was costing him money to go to work.

Prachett's acclaimed novels are bestsellers in the U.S. and the United Kingdom and have sold more than twenty-one million copies worldwide. He lives in England, where he writes all the time. (It's his hobby as well.)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: HarperTorch; later printing edition (July 31, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061020656
• ISBN-13: 978-0061020650
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #106,834 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 7 in The Discworld Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pyramid power--it's not just for razors any more, December 27, 2002

By	Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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 process of building the Great Pyramid, not the least of which is a means of utilizing the structure's innate time loop to call forth several different selves to help make sure the job is finished in the allotted time.

Even though this book is funny and satisfying enough to stand on its own, I would not start my Discworld reading with it. Aside from Teppic's time spent in Anhk-Morpork learning to be an assassin, the action takes place outside the much more familiar lands we encounter time and again in the other novels. Of course, Pratchett devotees will want to read it for the very reason that it acquaints us with a strange, otherwise unfamiliar section of the Discworld.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Fun on the Discworld..., November 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Pyramids (Paperback)

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.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Camels Are More Important Than Pyramids, August 25, 2005

By	Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

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.