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criticallyours 's review for:
Pyramids
by Terry Pratchett
My first Discworld novel went, as a whole, as expected. Fun, adventurous, and prose with a subtley keen twist. It was entertaining, and pleasant enough that I wanted to finish it quickly. However, it wasn't gripping, or riveting. The storyline started off so well - a bankrupt kingdom sent its precious prince away to earn some money. And he trained to become an ASSASSIN. How badass is that?! They're described as sharp yet subtle, keenly intelligent with deadly moves and a small arsenal on their body to match (the ones who survive the certification, at any rate), and humourously also always have a cutting-edge fashion sense. Teppic, the prince-turned-assassin, became a true assassin at the beginning of the book in the affluent and culturally diverse city of Ankh-Morpork. All of this reminded me of Assassin's Creed (which I have developed a love for), and I expected at least some bloodshed. A little murder maybe.
Then Teppic becomes the king of the kingdom he was sent away from. The pharaoh of the Old Kingdom riddled with pyramids. So now we know that Teppic is something akin to an Egyptian pharaoh-slash-certified badass assassin. The set up was exquisite.
But once he returns to the kingdom, the storyline became somewhat philosophical. Dios, the high priest, embodies the concept of tradition who butts heads with the foundering new king and his radically new and updated ideas, learned from the 'barbaric' lands beyond the kingdom. Tradition exists in all its inexplicably contradictory ways simply because it had existed before, and seemed to have worked well enough then even if it became unnecessary later. So it accumulates, like time, and Dios uses it as he sees fit to control the kingdom.
Time is also an interesting concept. Pratchett uses elements of quantum mechanics to explain it, or rather, uses elements of it to sound like he is explaining it when I get the feeling that he's only using the terms and basic concepts in altered ways because he knows that most readers haven't the faintest clue what it is but everyone knows that it's extremely complicated (he somewhat groups it with magic, and the two tools are used similarly in the novel bc they're so complicated or un-knowable to most people that they act in the same mysterious way and we'd just chalk it up to 'oh, it's just, wossname, magic or quantum thingy' and continue to go about our lives). Perhaps he doesn't know how it works either. I won't ever know.
The above is forgivable since his writing style is just so quirky, like he sees the world from an angle instead of the usual flat 180 degrees most of us see it at. He made it enjoyable and entertaining enough for me to read the book through with pleasure and I'm definitely thinking of picking up another Discoworld novel at some point in the future.
I just wish he didn't include Ptraci so much, or Teppic's visit with Chidder. They could have both been used to infuse some exciting thrill into the storyline - but they kind of felt like a camel plodding along the scene. Which isn't so singular if you had read the book.
Then Teppic becomes the king of the kingdom he was sent away from. The pharaoh of the Old Kingdom riddled with pyramids. So now we know that Teppic is something akin to an Egyptian pharaoh-slash-certified badass assassin. The set up was exquisite.
But once he returns to the kingdom, the storyline became somewhat philosophical. Dios, the high priest, embodies the concept of tradition who butts heads with the foundering new king and his radically new and updated ideas, learned from the 'barbaric' lands beyond the kingdom. Tradition exists in all its inexplicably contradictory ways simply because it had existed before, and seemed to have worked well enough then even if it became unnecessary later. So it accumulates, like time, and Dios uses it as he sees fit to control the kingdom.
Time is also an interesting concept. Pratchett uses elements of quantum mechanics to explain it, or rather, uses elements of it to sound like he is explaining it when I get the feeling that he's only using the terms and basic concepts in altered ways because he knows that most readers haven't the faintest clue what it is but everyone knows that it's extremely complicated (he somewhat groups it with magic, and the two tools are used similarly in the novel bc they're so complicated or un-knowable to most people that they act in the same mysterious way and we'd just chalk it up to 'oh, it's just, wossname, magic or quantum thingy' and continue to go about our lives). Perhaps he doesn't know how it works either. I won't ever know.
The above is forgivable since his writing style is just so quirky, like he sees the world from an angle instead of the usual flat 180 degrees most of us see it at. He made it enjoyable and entertaining enough for me to read the book through with pleasure and I'm definitely thinking of picking up another Discoworld novel at some point in the future.
I just wish he didn't include Ptraci so much, or Teppic's visit with Chidder. They could have both been used to infuse some exciting thrill into the storyline - but they kind of felt like a camel plodding along the scene. Which isn't so singular if you had read the book.