The Shuttered Palaceis a sex manual like Roundworld's Kamasutra and The Perfumed Garden for the Soul's Recreation, a 16th-century Arabic work by Sheikh Nefzaoui. The fact that Ptraci nudges Teppic, makes this even more obvious – a clear reference to the British lexicon of using ‘nudge, nudge’ and ‘wink, wink’ to imply sexual innuendo. The most well know example is of course Monty Python's ‘ Nudge, Nudge, Wink, Wink’ sketch. This is a blisteringly funny satire on religion, faith and loyalty taking place in the blisteringly hot desert of Discworld in the Old Kingdom of Djelibeybi (which is of course analogous to Egypt in our world).

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.

The first part (my favorite) mainly covers Pteppic's assassin training. We learn a lot about the customs of the Assassins' Guild, about the type of people who'd enlist for training, not to mention the extremely difficult graduation exam. So an excellent treat for anyone wishing for Discworld world-building. In the cool of the river valley dawn the high priest Dios opened his eyes. He didn't sleep these days. He couldn't remember when he last slept. Sleep was too close to the other thing and, anyway, he didn't seem to need it. Just lying down was enough-at least, just lying down here. The fatigue poisons dwindled away, like everything else. For a while. 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.

The phrase ‘stranger in a strange land’ originates from the Bible, Exodus 2:22. ‘And she bare [Moses] a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.’ In Exodus, the ‘strange land’ was Egypt, so Pratchett puts a twist on the phrase here as Djelibeybi is a familiar land to Teppic as he grew up there, but he is a stranger to it having lived in Ankh-Morpork while at school. Robert Heinlein used the phrase as the title of his 60s cult science fiction book.

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In this story we travel to the kingdom of Djelibeybi (pronounced Jellybaby) which sits on the river Djel. It is very clear that this kingdom is based on Ancient Egypt, and it is nestled between the nations of Tsort and Ephebe (which is supposed to be Greece, right down to their drunken symposiums). The thing about Djelibeybi is that it is a kingdom where tradition rules, to the point that it is impossible for the king to actually break with tradition. However, the king is not actually the ruler but rather the priests, and in particular the priest Dios. Teppic (short for Pteppicymon XXVIII), who left the kingdom to train at the Assassin's Guild of Ankh-Morpork as a boy, thus regarding himself more as Morporkian than Djelibeybian This is a reference to the other Egyptian myth regarding the sun god Ra riding across the sky in Atet, his solar barge. Atet was also known as the Mandjet, the Boat of Millions of Years, and, during the night, as the Mesektet. Ra – variously conflated with other solar gods such as Amun and Hathor – travelled through the sky on the barge, providing light to the world. Each twelfth of his journey formed one of the twelve Egyptian hours of the day, each overseen by a protective deity. Ra then rode the Atet through the underworld with each hour of the night considered a gate overseen by twelve more protective deities. Passing through all of these while fending off various destructive monsters, Ra reappeared each day on the eastern horizon. In layman’s terms,’ the doctor sniffed, ‘he’s as dead as a doornail.’ ‘What are the complications?’ The doctor looked shifty. ‘He’s still breathing,’ he said. <><><>‘Well, what can you do about it?’ said Arthur. ‘Nothing. He’s dead. All the medical tests prove it. So, er … bury him, keep him nice and cool, and tell him to come and see me next week. In daylight, for preference.’ One of the rare cases that Pratchett uses a bit of theoretical hard science as a plot element, may be a reminiscence of some of his first attempts at writing, including some Sci-Fi ideas. It´s used to show that it may be disillusioning and frustrating to meet the idols of ones´ time, be it different physically manifested ancient deities or possibly stars and politicians nowadays. Exceptions are authors, of course, they are all admirable and epic.

Traps and Deadfalls, taught by Grunworth Nivor, a fat and jolly assassin, who is also the housemasterBook I is The Book of Going Forth, which is a reference to the loose collection of Egyptian texts and spells for aiding passage into the afterlife, generally known as the Book of the Dead and originally know as the ‘ Book of Coming Forth by Day or Book of Emerging Forth into the Light'. (see the annotation for p. 9 of The Light Fantastic). He swung his legs off the slab in the little chamber With barely a conscious prompting from his brain his right hand grasped the snake-entwined staff of office. He paused to make another mark on the wall, pulled his robe around him and stepped smartly down the sloping passage and out into the sunlight, the words of the Invocation of the New Sun already lining up in his mind. The night was forgotten, the day was ahead. There was much careful advice and guidance to be given, and Dios existed only to serve. Teppic was born in Djelibeybi to the late Pharaoh Teppicymon XXVII and Queen Artela (The Great Cow of the Arch of the Sky). His mother had some strong opinions about his place in Djelibeybi and insisted that Teppic to be educated outside the kingdom – preferably as an Assassin, like her brother, his uncle Vyrt. Prior to leaving Djelibeybi, he was raised in the palace where he was educated by personal tutors, selected by his father, who left him alone to do whatever he pleased.

It is now up to 12-year-old crown prince Pteppic to save the country. He was signed up at the prestigious Assassin's Guild in far off Ankh Morpork, to become a certified assassin... provided of course, he can survive the grueling training. Teppic shook his head. “It’s not like that,” he said. “They have a new Tyrant every five years and they do something to him first.” He hesitated. “I think they ee-lect him.” Ptaclusp I, Ptaclusp IIa and Ptaclusp IIb, the pyramid-building dynasty tasked with the construction of the Great PyramidThe line is one of Pratchett's trademark puns because the Sergeant is speaking to the young soldier named Autocue. Autocue is a British term for a teleprompter (the name of the company that manufactured it). So the lines in this section reflect that connection. Autocue is told to ‘run like the wind. Although I don't expect you'll need telling’. Then he is told to ‘ tell’ the Ephebians. He replies, ‘ Tell them what?’ to which the sergeant responds, ‘Go and tell them what kept you.’ Pratchett, as he often does, overplays the pun to make sure the reader doesn't miss it. 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. It was a full-length mirror. All assassins had a full-length mirror in their rooms, because it would be a terrible insult to anyone to kill them when you were badly dressed. Teppic is one of the better characters I've come across in the Discworld. There are funny moments littered throughout and I did end up feeling sorry for him throughout this book. And that's the holy grail when writing characters isn't it, make me feel for them. Pratchett certainly does so here. There's a lot of great ribbing for conspiracy theorists who go on and on about the dimensions of the real pyramids and the mystical importance, even going so far as to make these monuments (at least here) into time-recyclers. It's very funny and Death isn't pleased. Fortunately for Death, however, what he doesn't know won't kill him.