Pyramids

Discworld, Book 7

By: Terry Pratchett

Narrated by: Alfred Enoch, Bill Nighy, Peter Serafinowicz

Brought to you by Penguin.

The audiobook of Pyramids is narrated by Alfred Enoch, known for playing Dean Thomas in the Harry Potter film series, and Wes Gibbins in How To Get Away With Murder. BAFTA and Golden Globe award-winning actor Bill Nighy (Love Actually; Pirates of the Caribbean; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) reads the footnotes, and Peter Serafinowicz (Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace; Shaun of the Dead) stars as the voice of Death. Featuring a new theme tune composed by James Hannigan.

'"LOOK AFTER THE DEAD," SAID THE PRIESTS, "AND THE DEAD WOULD LOOK AFTER YOU."'

Young Prince Teppic is sent far away from his desert homeland to the city of Ankh-Morpork for the best education money can buy. Which just so happens to be at the Assassins' Guild.

But when Teppic's father dies suddenly, fate takes him away from assassination to something far more unsavoury: politics. Teppic returns home to the small, penniless kingdom of Djelibeybi to take his place as ruler.

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...

The Discworld novels can be read in any order but Pyramids is a standalone.

The first book in the Discworld series - The Colour of Magic - was published in 1983. Some elements of the Discworld universe may reflect this.

©1989 Terry and Lyn Pratchett (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"The best kind of parody - funny and smart and still a good story." (Mail on Sunday)

"Pratchett remains a consistently clever, charming and funny voice." (Independent)

Moving meditation on Tradition and Religion

brilliant voice acting, even better writing. while Wyrd Sisters was a revitaliztion of Shakespearean themes that tackled sexism as well, this dedicated deconstruction of religion and tradition strikes poignantly.

Warm & wonderful voice to a hugely entertaining story

I can always tell who's talking, and whether it's an internal voice or not. He's not such a total wizard as, say, Sir Derek Jacobi, but very few are. His voice is so pleasant in every character that, after hearing it through a few times, I've added this book to the short list of books to listen to while drifting off to sleep. (Alongside books read by Sir Derek Jacobi.)

Good world building

Charming story and interesting characters. A bit of tension, too. Overall good. One character repeated his lines way to much, but while I could see it was necessary, it was quite annoying.

wonderful

wonderful as usual Terry Pratchett can always be relied on. enjoyed Bill Nighy's brief contributions

A good laugh

A great book and very entertaining, worth the listen. Narrator exceptional!! As always, definitely want to hear more from Alfred Enoch.

The best of the new recordings.

I love this book. It's one of my favourites by Sir Pterry. This is also the only narration of the new series of recordings that even comes close to the older ones by Nigel Planer and Stephen Briggs. Alfred Enoch brings a low-key, tongue-in-cheek energy to the book, which fits pretty much perfectly. It's up there, just behind Planer and Briggs. Bonus point for actually pronouncing Ptraci's name as "Traci" and not "Puh-trachee" like Planer did.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said about Bill Nighy and Peter Serafinowicz. Nighy is too matter-of-fact and and Serafinowicz lacks the endearing dorkiness of Death in the Discworld.

4,5 stars for Alfred Enoch, who does a great job. Lose 0.5 star for Nighy and Serafinowicz.

Pterrific!

I love this story and was so glad to hear it was being re-recorded as the original audio version didn't get the joke with some of the names.
This was excellent. Well read, thank you.

A fresh take on a classic

It’s been forever since I read/listened to pyramids and the new production is just as good as all the other new versions in this series. Narrator adds so much to the already great story.

Charioteer of the Wagon of the Book, Steersman of the Barque of the Book, Guardian of the Secret Story, Lord of...

Enoch is one of the better voice actors in the re-recordings - he reads the narration playfully, like he's actually enjoying the wordplay of Ptrachett's work. He also has quite consistent voices for the different characters, and each voice really shows off the characters' personalities.

His Dios in particular is a very interesting take on the character. The way Enoch voices him makes him an ambiguous moral character and a tragic figure throughout the book, without the clear evil of a Vorbis.

An Average Man's Thoughts

Pyramids is a break from the stories of Rincewind or the witches, and a great deviation from what feels like the standard setting for the Discworld. The ancient Egypt theme is nice change of pace from the huge city and the Ramtops, where it seems like all the other books have taken place more or less. The plot is unique and intriguing as with the majority of the Discworld books. The characters are fun and interesting and having a dead characters seems to be a growing theme, especially kings. It begs the question though if the future books will continue this trend of settling into some specific plot trends. With the renowned success of the whole series though, I doubt it and look forward with renewed vigor for the next installment.