Pyramids by Terry Pratchett - My favorite of the first seven books in the Discworld series

Its bad enough being new on the job, but Teppic hasnt a clue as to what a pharaoh is supposed to do. After all, hes been trained at Ankh-Morporks famed assassins school, across the sea from the Kingdom of the Sun.First, theres 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 aheadstrong handmaiden -- at the heart of his realm.

My favorite of the first seven books in the Discworld series
You never know for sure how you are going to respond to a book before you actually read it. I recently read two more books in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, WYRD SISTERS and PYRAMIDS. (I had previously read about a third of the Discworld books, but I'm currently reading all of them in order of publication.) I had imagined that I was going to love WYRD SISTERS, knowing that it was filled with Shakespearean references, and imagined that I was going to dislike PYRAMIDS, since I am pretty uninterested in Egyptian mythology and religion. And given that the novel was set in an area of the Discworld in which we were not likely to encounter any of I was wrong. I enjoyed WYRD SISTERS well enough, but I didn't love it like I expected. But I absolutely adored PYRAMIDS. The novel is nothing short of absolutely hysterical, with Pratchett's inventiveness hitting on all cylinders, with one deliciously absurd character after another. The scenes where Dios exerts complete control over the actions of Teppic are among the finest Pratchett has produced, while the delightful beast known as You Bastard are among my favorite creatures in the entire Disc. The scenes in which Teppeic and Dios exchange words are unfailingly delightful. But I may prefer ever more the moments in which we learn that camels are the most brilliant creatures on the Disc and that they are oblivious to others because they are perpetually engaged in working out problems in higher mathematics. The book also has a brilliant encounter between Teppic and the Sphinx, with some typical Pratchettian twists on the tale.

I didn't actually dislike WYRD SISTERS. The problem was more that I have never really been drawn to the witches to begin with. Just a matter of taste. I did enjoy the references to Shakespeare. Have the joy of Pratchett is getting his various cultural allusions. For instance, any Gene Wolfe fan will love the title of Part Three of PYRAMIDS, "The Book of the New Son." But it isn't enough merely to have references to Shakespeare; the allusions must stand up on their own, and my own feeling was that the Shakespearean elements in the book were the weakest part of the book.

So here is the paradox: I thought I was going to love WYRD SISTERS and dislike PYRAMIDS, whereas PYRAMIDS is my favorite of the first seven books in the series while WYRD SISTERS is my least favorite. Just shows to go that you need to read books before knowing whether or not you will like them.

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