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The blurb:
In Pyramids, you'll discover the tale of Teppic, a student at the Assassin's Guild of Ankh-Morpok and prince of the tiny kingdom of Djelibeybi, thrust into the role of pharaoh after his father's sudden death. It's bad enough being new on the job, but Teppic hasn't a clue as to what a pharaoh is supposed to do. 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.
Sometimes being a god is no fun at all...
In which Pratchett does Egypt.
This is still a relatively early Discworld novel—number 7, just before Guards! Guards! It's still early days of Pratchett striking out from spoofing high fantasy and moving more into broader satire and deeper storytelling, so it's not as full-on a broadside at orgaised religion and tradition as, say, Small Gods, but it's definitely on the way. Djelibeybi is a kingdom trapped by tradition, by dint of one man's efforts; head priest Dios very effectively keeps the place running as he likes it and believes it should be run. It's nowhere near as vicious as Omnia and Dios is nowhere the fanaticism of Vorbis, but he still single-handedly holds the kingdom back. He's not evil per se, just rock solid in his belief that as things are is how things must stay.
But the new king, Teppic, has other ideas. He was permitted to go to Ankh-Morpok and study at the Assassins' Guild, and that's given him all sorts of ideas about how Djelibeybi could be improved—indoor plumbing and mattresses for a start.
This would put him on a direct collision course with Dios but Teppic is not exactly big on confrontation; he has no real clue what's going on and, in another novel, could have become the clueless idiot who thinks he's in charge while the (evil, naturally) Grand Vizier is the one really running things for his own nefarious ends. Thankfully Pyramids sidesteps that, and Teppic uses his skills to change things up a bit. The fact that he unknowingly has the world's greatest mathematician on his side, sort of, and the pyramid power is really amping up do help out.
It's not as blistering as Small Gods or some of the later books in its critique of real-world morals and beliefs but it's on the way, and there are some nice jokes hanging around to liven things up.
Started: 30 October 2025
Finished: 2 November 2025
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