[.ca] PYRAMID SCHEME (ISBN 0743435923)

What the heck is a 5-sided pyramid?:
I work at a university, and while I enjoy my job, nothing really groundbreaking ever happens here. Life goes on, making the news here in Canada at times, but nothing world-wide. Sure, we have our academic scandals, but nothing really big. One thing that has never happened is a pyramid that has traveled through a wormhole crashing into the library. Now that's unique! Thus, my university is nothing like the University of Chicago. In Eric Flint and Dave Freer's Pyramid Scheme the university has to deal with an alien pyramid. Not only does it wreck a perfectly good building, but it's making people disappear as well. Unfortunately, one thing it can't make disappear is trite dialogue and poor characterization. While the book is fun, there's no substance and the characterization is questionable at times. This pyramid is an alien artifact, a parasite that attempts to dominate a planet by using its mythologies and belief in order to goad them into using nuclear energy against it. The military is called in to deal with it, and people start disappearing. Some of them come back, though they are dead or dying when they do, but one group in particular doesn't seem to be coming back at all. A ragtag bunch of soldiers, professors, and workmen were all snatched together, and they discover themselves in a world of Greek myths come to life. They have no idea how to get home, and only professor Jerry Lukacs really knows the myths and the language well enough to get by. They have to fight and think their way through the hazards (they land on Odysseus' ship and encounter some of the hazards that he faced in The Odyssey) and try to figure out a way to get home. Meanwhile, others back home are trying to figure out what this pyramid is and how to deal with it. The military, as usual, wants to try and blow it up. It's expanding and becoming even more dangerous. They get some rudimentary information when somebody returns but usually that person is dead or dying, so they can't get much. They muddle around some, there are some conflicts between the scientists and the soldiers, but nothing much is done. Will our heroes be able to fight off a bunch of angry gods and the force behind them? Or will they fall victim to the ultimate pyramid scheme? Pyramid Scheme is a fluffy book. Sure, there's some quite graphic violence in it, but it's mainly a romp through some of our ancient myths. There is some sense of danger to the main characters, but it's pretty obvious who's going to live and who's going to die (though one character, rather than dying, just disappears and is never really referred to again). Thus, we get to enjoy the events in the novel with the main characters. Freer and Flint use a lot of basic mythology and then twist it. They're also able to combine bits and pieces from several eras, as the alien device is not that choosy. Thus, myths from different Greek time periods merge into one, as well as a few Egyptian myths. It's obvious the authors did a lot of research into this aspect of the book. I enjoy a good romp, and that's why I'm rating Pyramid Scheme as high as I am, but the book really suffers if you give it even the most cursory scratch. Characterization is basically a series of either jokes or arguments between the characters (Jerry and Lamont commit the most atrocious puns, for example), but it's all surface. Each character has specific traits that set him/her apart from each other, but deep down they're pretty much all the same. Liz DeBeers suffers from this the most. She's from South Africa and is a visiting scholar at the university because her husband is there. Aside from a few references to Pretoria and other South African details, though, you couldn't tell that she's from anywhere different from anybody else. I got no sense that she was not American, despite the fact that she supposedly hasn't been in the country that long. Another problem with the book is the male/female relationships. All of the women (even the mythological ones who become members of the party) end up pairing off with one of the guys. I can see that harsh situations may make attractions that may not otherwise have happened, but all of them? It's simply too much, and not believable. In fact, the only character who isn't paired up (male *or* female) is the one who has a spouse waiting at home. As far as the plot goes, I did find some of it questionable, especially the ending (though I loved the creative use of "pyramids" that sparked the ending). The actions of the characters and the sequence of events during the climax just boggled my mind. News crews just don't act that way, for one thing. I can't go into detail without spoiling the ending, however. Another problem is that the situation back in Chicago ends up having nothing to do with the resolution. It adds a bit of tension to the proceedings as we start to figure out what is going on, but once the book finishes we realize that they were just going through the motions. It was a bit aggravating. Still, despite the many problems, I found myself reading "just one more chapter" quite often and I did enjoy the book. If you don't like myths at all, then this book is not for you, as there is nothing else in the book that will grab you. Diehard myth fans may find the book a bit too frivolous with what they love. Personally, I had a lot of fun imagining what it would be like to interact with these mythological characters, from Odysseus to Zeus and everyone in between. Let your mind go, and you may like this one. Just don't scratch the surface. David Roy

Insanely funny, well researched book . . .:
. . . and did I mention that it's hilarious yet? In "Pyramid Scheme," the plot is mostly a MacGuffin; a pyramid has been dropped on the University of Chicago by forces unknown, and it's causing trouble -- major, big time trouble. As in, it's killing people. Our heroes, led by Jerry Lukacs (not sure I spelled his name right), a highly intellectual man without much personal physical strength, go to check out the pyramid, and instead get dropped into a series of adventures with real gods, real heroes -- and mostly, they find out that they'd rather be back home, thanks. But they're not, so they have to fight through the adventures, and do their best to win back to our time -- and hope they've gotten back in time to stop the pyramids from causing more trouble. You'd not think this is a great set up for a work of humor, and it is very unconventional -- but it does work, as throughout the rest of the book, you keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. What's up with this whole pyramid bit? Why are the heroes being constantly dropped into this situation and then into the next one? Who's going to pair up, and why? (Some of it is sexist, I grant, but the two authors make fun of sexism at the same time, and it is very, very funny.) It's character-driven fantasy, it's historically accurate, and it's incredibly, insanely funny. What more do you want? Well, if you want a cohesive, logical plotline from beginning to end, you probably won't find it here. This is a sprawling plot, instead, which works to play up the humor and lighten up the violence. Because really, without the humor, this story would be unrelentingly grim; instead, we get a satirical, riotously funny view of what would happen if some people from today's world got transported into the past (and different milieus of same) and then interacted with heroes and gods. What I like best about this book is that the authors, Eric Flint and Dave Freer, did a great job writing an intensely hilarious, laugh out loud book. If you're an intellectual, or if you like the Greek myths, or even if you just like low comedy, this book is for you. Four stars, recommended.(...)

Very dissapointing effort from the author of 1632:
Eric flint (author of 1632, 1633, Oblique Approach) is an author I came to admire after reading Mother of Demons, so when I found Pyramid Scheme, I felt safe in my decision to buy it. Boy was I wrong! The story feels very disjointed as it meanders its way from one trite scene to the next. Flint puts his characters into one absurd situation after another which they then battle or think their way out of in a few pages, only for the whole thing to repeat itself with another absurd situation. The book is supposed to be funny--I think it is supposed to be funny, but I didn't laugh. I just skipped page after page of irrelevant rubbish and looked forward to the end. As soon as I finished this book, I threw it away (just in case I had an attack of insanity and tried to read it again in the future). My advice is to read Flint's An Oblique Approach instead of this appalling book. Mark E Cooper Author of The Warrior Within (ISBN: 0954512200)

More than 25 pages and still fun:
In the first 25 pages I was introduced to a nice range of characters and I was dying to see what happened to them. In the next pages all hades broke loose. This book is a nice light romp through mythology written by two knowledgeable opinionated authors who have great fun with their subject. The story is somewhat episodic and the ending is kind of contrived but it's a very fun read all the same.

25 pages and I'm Hooked:
The characters, the narration, the action, all fantastic. Yes I am truly only on page 25 but I'm being blown out of my chair. Buy this book now. But wait for a slow day to read it. Now I'm going to continue reading.