Pyramids: A Discworld Novel: 7

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Never Smile at a Crocodile: Ptraci fears being thrown to the crocodiles for escaping from the late King's tomb. Later, any priest who says something the now-manifested gods might take offence at is thrown to the river's crocodiles by the other priests. Pteppic's mother was also killed by a crocodile, although not as a form of execution; she "took a midnight swim in what turned out to be a crocodile." When the Djel gods manifest and start tearing up the place, a crocodile-headed river god tries to bite off the snake-head of a rival river god. Teppic is an Assassin who doesn't kill people (apart from inhuming the pyramid and the gods at the end; he doesn't kill people that are "alive" in the conventional sense.) There isn't a huge amount of character development, Teppic’s arc is good, but considering the type of book this is there is no need to have a hugely meaningful and introspective dive into the character.

Pyramids (Discworld. the Gods Collection) by Terry Pratchett Pyramids (Discworld. the Gods Collection) by Terry Pratchett

Friendly Enemy: Though the elite and citizenry of Ephebe and Tsort may hate each other dearly, their soldiers (or at least their commanders) don't appear to hold a particular grudge.

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Today all is more subtle, politically correct, greenwashed, bigoted, corporate responsible, dishonest, code of conducty, PR fine tuned, state media approved,… but if I see a headquarter of a company, bank, public buildings, seat of governments and ministries, hotels,… I imagine the environmental destruction, neocolonialism, suffering, neoconservatism, neoliberalism, exploitation,… leading to superpowerful states able to construct such useless monuments of oldfashioned thinking of nationality, patriotism, and megalomania. Calculus, originally called infinitesimal calculus or ‘the calculus of infinitesimals,’ is the mathematical study of continuous change, in the same way that geometry is the study of shape and algebra is the study of generalizations of arithmetic operations. Quantum calculus is calculus without limits. It describes advanced properties of nature on an atomic scale. The relationship between Dios and Teppic is a shout-out to the British comedy of government, Yes, Minister, with Dios playing the Sir Humphrey Appleby role of senior civil servant effortlessly running rings round an enthusiastic but clueless Minister. Dios even says "I am but a humble servant..." Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle says that for a quantum particle (e. g. an electron), it is impossible to know with complete accuracy both where it is and how fast it is going. The act of observing it interferes with the event you want to measure (one might say that at the quantum level the observation is the event) in such a way that it is physically impossible to determine both velocity and position of the particle in question.

Pyramids by Terry Pratchett - Goodreads Editions of Pyramids by Terry Pratchett - Goodreads

Strange-Syntax Speaker: Dios will do anything to avoid usage of past or future tenses, something Teppic notices early. Mix-and-Match Critters: The plight of the Sphinx, being a mix up of human, lion and eagle will give a creature one hell of an identity crisis, and a perpetual bad mood. The problem arose when the previous king decided that he wanted his son to have a good education, and normally that would simply mean being taught by the priest, specifically Dios. Instead the king sent his son, the protagonist of the piece, to the Assassin's Guild in Ankh-Morpork. As it turns out, the Assassin's Guild actually provides probably the best well rounded education on Discworld, and the comments about the assassins are actually quite good as well. An assassin does not murder for any other reason than money, and it is not that life is cheap, on the contrary, it is actually very expensive, especially if you get an assassin to kill somebody. An Arm and a Leg: Teppic shakes the hand of an unfortunate stonemason. Since he's considered to be a living god by his subjects, the man can no longer use his hand without defiling it, and has to have it amputated.There is also a reference in Small Gods to a religious philosopher named Koomi, but it says that he is from Smale. It is unknown if he has any connection with Koomi the priest in Pyramids. Belief is a force. It's a weak force, by comparison with gravity; when it comes to moving mountains, gravity wins every time. But it still exists, and now that the Old Kingdom was enclosed upon itself, floating free of the rest of the universe, drifting away from the general consensus that is dignified by the name of reality, the power of belief was making itself felt. It was also rather funny seeing a "handmaid" who'd never "serviced" a king and an "assassin" who'd never killed anyone fumble around their conversations with one another. Djelibeybi is a place caught in a repeating loop of Time. The jelly-baby is the sweet of preference for one particular Time Lord, at least in his fourth iteration.

Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett - Goodreads Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett - Goodreads

It isn’t easy, being a teenage pharaoh. As tradition dictates, the new king must build a monumental pyramid to honour his dead father. But this one might just bankrupt the kingdom, and warp the very fabric of time and space itself… For those of you hoping to encounter one of your favorite Discworld characters, choose another book... unless you're happy with a minor guest appearance from Death. Insane Troll Logic: The reason both armies build an army of wooden horses. The reasoning goes that if the enemy is stupid enough to try it they're stupid enough to fall for it. War Elephants: According to Pteppic, they're useless, since all they do is trample on their own troops when they inevitably panic. The military responds to this by breeding bigger elephants. Stable Time Loop: Dios, to the point he may exist purely because of the loop — not even having been born but just existing.Faux Horrific: Parodying the tendencies of the British Royal Family, Ptaclusp reacts with horror to Teppic's attempts to Put Him at his Ease and Remember his Name, and Dil has to endure half an hour of having to Talk about his Family. Stepping-Stone Sword: Teppic uses knives this way, and notes that it's Awesome, but Impractical as you eventually run out of knives, and it can ruin their cutting edges. Being trained by the Assassins' Guild in Ankh-Morpork did not fit Teppic for the task assigned to him by fate. He inherited the throne of the desert kingdom of Djelibeybi rather earlier than he expected (his father wasn't too happy about it either), but that was only the beginning of his problems ... It´s never bad for craftsmen to organize in guilds or unions and if the specialization is something not as mainstream as wood and metalwork, but, let´s say, different forms of working with living material, it gives the whole idea potential for satirizing the strange bureaucracy of the political apparatus. If robbers, assassins, smugglers, prostitutes,… all have their accepted, democratic councils and can influence legislation and jurisdiction, the manifold interests and manipulations that are forming the processes in real life can be shown in a new light.