Who’s your
mummy?
Tradition,
Space Time and Inhumaning Methods clash as a young prince/assassin returns to
his kingdom post his father’s death. In one of the ‘more’ proper heroic
storytelling sagas in Discworld, this serves up its intriguing list of
positives – and some negatives as well.
The core
theme of this slice of Discworld is the concept of choice in the roles people
essay. Teppic has been a son, an assassin and a king. And in each of them,
especially the last, he rejects certain elements of the role he has been cast
in. What is the power of a role that has no choice?
For Dios,
the high priest of Djel, that is exactly what the role should be. Cast as the
classic villain of the piece, his manipulation of Teppic post the death of the
previous king actually proves to be his undoing – as one simple task with an
ulterior motive becomes the catalyst for chaos to run amock on his carefully
set up ecosystem.
For Dios is
not a big fan of change. Especially when that involves manipulation of space
time by pyramids to such an extent that his country blinks out of existence.
And into something else.
Pratchett’s
use of Egyptian stereotypes is fascinating, especially in how he brings
geometry into play (to be honest, I hate geometry but then this was a comedy
thankfully and not a classroom) – but where he falters is by creating a
unambiguous hero/villain scenario that his previous works have tried to
caricature.
It sounds
harsh that if this was by anyone other than Pratchett, it would still have been
a solid read. But when you know how capable he is of twisting common tropes,
adhering to them feels like a waste of his skilful canvasing.
There is a
repeat of what appears to have become a discworld trope (if that does exist) –
the father of the key character dies and remains relevant to the storyline in
some manner or the other. Death must be getting pretty annoyed with Pratchett
by now. Too many exceptions.
And yes, by
the end everything is tied up a little too neatly. The author even finds a
meaningful role for Ptraci, the handmaiden turned accomplice, by casting her as
the new Queen after all is said and done. But for most of the book, her role
seems to be wafer thing beyond casting Teppic in a heroic Robin Hood like
mould.
In between,
a camel does geometry to traverse worlds, the dead rise and help Teppic save
the kingdom by inhumaning the giant pyramid and the Gods go back to sleep.
Also, for some reason, Teppic is able to use his godlike powers and then he
can’t.
While a lot
is by the numbers as things turn supernatural, the section with the sphinx is a
wonderful display of how Pratchett loves to play around with expectations. The
deconstruction of that classic riddle is a highlight of this book.
And that
will always remind me that even in a book of generic heroes and villains, I can
see true genius shine through.
So, I give
it 7.5 out of 10
+Nice understanding
of tropes
+Rich
addition of supernatural
+The humour
is excellent as always
-The
character handling could have been better
-The
resolution is a little too neat
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