Pyramids by Terry Pratchett: An Anniversary

 

I have just discovered that this week marks 22 years since the publication of Terry Pratchett’s very funny novel Pyramids. It’s one of his early novels, the seventh in the Discworld series.

Discworld is a flat world on the backs of four enormous elephants standing on the back of an even bigger turtle. The countries on it are based on countries and cities in our world, tweaked. 

If you haven’t yet read anything by Terry Pratchett, you can read this one stand-alone. In fact, it’s the first stand alone novel in the series; three are on the theme of klutzy wizard Rincewind, two begin the Witches series, one is the first of the Death novels. There are a number of other standalone novels following, but they usually have characters who turn up in other books; we don’t meet the hero of this novel, Pteppic, again, nor does the scene return to his kingdom, Djelibeybi, meaning “Child of the Djel”. (Pronounced Jelly Baby, of course).

We do have the Assassins’ Guild, which appears many times in the series, but then so does the city of Ankh-Morpork.

Anyway, you don’t have to have read any of the others to enjoy this book. 

I remember when I first read this, many years ago. It starts with Pteppic, crown Prince of Djelibeybi, the Discworld version of ancient Egypt, completing his final exam at the Assassins Guild in Ankh-Morpork, a very practical exam which is likely to kill you if you fail.

But the Assassins Guild is a sort of British public school, where mostly aristocratic boys(and a few girls) get a very good education which incidentally teaches them how to kill efficiently. And one of the early scenes is a flashback to Pteppic’s first night at the school,  where a shy child gets up out of bed to start performing a detailed, gruesome animal sacrifice, interrupted by the bullies. Pteppic defends him, challenging them as to which of them is “man enough to say his prayers”. Yep, a sendup of Tom Brown’s Schooldays! 

I was sitting on a bus and everyone nearby must have wondered why I burst out laughing so loudly.

There was plenty more that set me off. Pteppic returns to his kingdom soon after the graduation, as his father has just died. He is now Pharaoh and orders a huge pyramid for his father, so enormous that it warps space and time. Gods start turning up, walking the streets, fighting each other, accompanied by sports commentary. His ancestors all return to life, still in their mummy wrappings, including his father. It’s having fun with all those beliefs about mystical pyramids and the things they can do, eg sharpen razor blades. 

Ptraci, the former king’s favourite handmaiden, insists that Pteppic’s father didn’t want to be buried under a pyramid, but it’s the tradition, as overseen by the vizier, who is more than he seems.

It’s hilarious and only gets funnier as the book goes on - wildly over the top, like Terry Pratchett’s other books.

If you haven’t read Terry Pratchett’s work, do try it out. It’s not just fantasy, it has plenty to say about our world. There are no quests, the only Elves are nasty pieces of work and the only long-lost king is working as a policeman and happy with his job. Each novel pokes fun at something, whether it’s Shakespeare’s plays(Wyrd Sisters and Lords And Ladies), film making(Moving Pictures), Phantom Of The Opera(Maskerade), vampires(Carpe Jugulum) or Christmas(Hogfather). And you care about the characters, something important to me; if I don’t care about the characters, I don’t care about the story. 

If you enjoy audiobooks, the abridged versions are read by the wonderful Tony Robinson, whom you probably know from Blackadder, in which he played the dimwitted Baldrick, but who has, since then, hosted a huge number of enjoyable documentaries about history and archaeology. The full editions are read by Nigel Planer, who has done two of the Discworld telemovies, but if you’re old enough you may remember him as Neil in The Young Ones. 

If you’re keen to start reading some Pratchett, the novels are all easily available in ebook, print and audiobook, from your favourite book stores and web sites.