[.uk] Pyramid Scheme (ISBN 0743435923)

Warning!:
Exposure to this book may lead to one or more of the following symptoms: Mania uncontrollable groaning abdominal pain blurred vision weepy eyes shortness of breath Symptoms will probably persist for the duration of the novel, and for several hours or days after completion. Symptoms may spontaneously reappear, usually at inappropriate moments. While there is no cure, further reading of Freer has been known to lessen withdrawal symptoms. More seriously, this book is truly a wonderfully written book, look out for falling puns low jokes, and ticked off god's. Anyone who enjoys a good laugh will love this. If you are a mythology buff, or loved the old 'Fractured Faire Tales" cartoons you'll be right at home in the pages of this book.

A Hilarious Romp:
A small pyramidal alien object crashes to earth in the midst of the library of the University of Chicago and strange things begin to happen. It periodically grows larger and selected people disappear. Of those who disappear, only the dead and dying manage to return, often with hideous wounds. The political situation is clear: something must be done. Unfortunately, everything that is tried seems to make the problems worse. Those who disappear find themselves in a strange world that seems to be based upon Homeric legend with bits and pieces of Egyptian mythology thrown in for leavening. The Olympian gods seem bent on their personal destruction, the "heroes" of legend seem less than heroic and the only allies are those usually portrayed as the villains. It is up to an academic specializing in mythology, a maintenance man, a marine biologist and a couple of soldiers to figure out what is going on without getting themselves killed. This is a hilarious book full of unexpected comedy. It was lots of fun.

Not Pratchett, But Good:
I don't really read much fantasy (excluding humorous like _Discworld_) because I consider it to mostly just be cheap rip off of Tolkien and Lewis. The book begins with an alien artifact crashing into the University of Chicago's library. It abducts several people and begins to grow. Soon the government surrounds the object (a solid black pyramid) and attempts to destroy it. Eventually a large group consisting of a 'mythographer', a maintenance man, marine biologist, four paratroopers, and a \o...\c policeman are abducted and find themselves on board a black galley under attack from a several headed monstrosity and modern technology isn't working. After losing two paratroopers and escaping past Scylla the group learns that they're on Odysseus's ship and the crew wants to throw lots for the new slaves, especially a handsome young paratrooper. By tricking Odysseus and his crew into thinking they're magical they convince him into heading back to Aeaea, Circe's island. Soon it becomes apparent that something wants them dead as they search for a way home, journey eventually to Olympus and Egypt. Meanwhile on the outside the government continues to attempt to destroy the object. This is the best Flint I've ever read, surpassing his _Ring of Fire_ series by a long shot. I just have a couple of complaints, most of the time the humor was only punning which I enjoy, but I like having more variety of humor. I was also bothered by how much the 'mythographer', Jerry Lukacs, seem to be a Flint counterpart. It seems to me that in most of his writings Flint seems to have to put a character in that has the same ideas and attitudes as his and tends to use that character in long lectures (such W.E.B. du Havel in _Crown of Slaves_ and Melissa Mailey from the _Ring of Fire_ works). Overall _Pyramid Scheme_ was great, not at the same level as _Discworld_, but close.

Not Free SF Reader:
Mythology fun and pun. I am not sure if it is possible to make fun of everything in a book, but Freer and Flint give it a fair shake. This writing combination seems more than able in producing amusement. Right from the introduction of the first absent-minded professor they start skewering in the kitchen, you have some idea of what you are in for. A presumably alien pyramid lands in the USA, rather perturbing the military and spook agencies, who can't do anything about it, and when they do, it actualy makes it bigger, and things get worse. People also disappear, and end up in odd recreated mythological worlds. In this case, Greece and Egypt. The disappeared, including the prof from before, cops, soldiers, and others get to try and use what modern nouse they have to try and get back home. Everything talks it seems, hydras, sphinxes, dwarves, except maybe the odd big Egyptian crocodile monster. The gods are real, and don't take too kindly to upsetting their alien-dominated applecart. Plenty of fun, this one. 3.5 out of 5

Gods-awful:
Oh, my; where to begin? With the plot, perhaps. A big black pyramid appears out of nowhere in Chicago, and begins sucking in a seemingly random assortment of people, all but a few (our eventual protagonists) of whom return dead. The group who survives find themselves traveling through an approximation of Greek and Egyptian mythology. Meanwhile, back on Earth, the army throws increasingly powerful weaponry at the pyramid, which absorbs it all; its ultimate goal (apparently, as far as I can decipher) is to goad us into using a nuclear weapon, which will breach some threshold and allow it to conquer us. I guess. Yes, it's a spoiler, but I can't bring myself to care. Or maybe the characters. These fall into two categories; the first group are straightforward stereotypes. The Frenchman loves food and considers the Americans to be uncultured boors; the black woman works at a menial job, is loud and overbearing, and has a low threshold for disagreement. The second group are characters who are deliberately and heavy-handedly shown not to be stereotypes. The female biologist, in the name of avoiding a weak or passive female character, is instead large of frame, loud, and overly assertive and argumentative. The token black guy, though a janitor, takes a detailed interest in classical mythology and reads the journal Science on his breaks. This latter characterization irks me the most, I think. Having a janitor along in a group of academics and military types for variety is fine; allowing him to be intelligent, adaptable, and able to comport himself well in an alien world is fine as well, and in fact would prove the point I think the authors were trying to make. But this is an atypical janitor, with atypical interests, and it's precisely because of this "special knowledge" that he fits in so well. The implication is that an ordinary janitor wouldn't have been up to it, and I don't think this is what the authors meant to convey. (This is why even the most unrealistic novels should still contain real people.) Or everything else. The setting: are the gods and mythical creatures real? How real? They seem to think that they're genuine, and mention is made of a bargain between the aliens and the gods (as opposed to the aliens' having themselves created the gods), implying that the gods existed prior to the novel. But those gods didn't exist, right? I give up. The characterizations: people don't talk like this. You could attend Society for Creative Anachronism meetings and Piers Anthony discussion groups until the rapture and not hear as many puns as there are in this novel. They also don't behave like this. Every situation has three possible courses of action: the right way, the wrong way, and the silly way. Guess which one the characters usually choose? In short, it's an utter mess, without even the benefit of a clear explanation of the situation. Read my other reviews: I can find the good in almost anything. There isn't any in this book. The title is the zenith of the cleverness and wit displayed therein; in fact, it almost seems as though one of the authors thought of the title on a whim and decided to write a novel to accompany it. But that's not possible. Is it?