The Red Pyramid, by Rick Riordan
Since their mother’s death, Carter and Sadie have become near strangers. While Sadie has lived with her grandparents in London, her brother has traveled the world with their father, the brilliant Egyptologist, Dr. Julius Kane.
One night, Dr. Kane brings the siblings together for a “research experiment” at the British Museum, where he hopes to set things right for his family. Instead, he unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes him to oblivion and forces the children to flee for their lives.
I discovered this book because I downloaded the sample for Book #2 in the series. I was intrigued (and obviously a little confused), so I found The Red Pyramid and began reading in the proper order. This is the first book in a new series by Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series. I really enjoyed the movie, so I figured I’d give this book a shot. And I really enjoyed it.
This is definitely a Young Adult series if there ever was one – the main characters, Carter and Sadie Kane are 14 and 12 respectively. The age of these characters were probably the biggest problem I had with the book, mostly because I couldn’t believe kids this young were doing the things the book describes. One of my good friends has a 12 year old niece whom I know very well, and I kept trying to picture her doing the fantastic things Sadie Kane was doing and I just couldn’t. I could wrap my mind around a 14 or 15 year old, but 12? I just couldn’t. I ended up seeing the Kane kiddos as more like 15 and 16 years old. In my head, I chose to continue seeing them this way.
There are several points about this book, so I’ll just list the pros and cons.
Pros:
- The Egyptian Mythology. I’m a total geek for reading about ancient civilizations and Egypt is no exception. It’s been around for forever and their entire polytheism is just like crack cool-aid for me. I don’t believe in the sun god Ra, but I think its fascinating to learn about their ways and all of the different aspects of life that each had it’s own god. The mythology really comes to life in this book, literally and figuratively. If I were a teacher of young kids, I would probably have them read this book as an introduction to learning about Ancient Egypt.
- The characters. While I had a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that Carter and Sadie are so young, I had no trouble enjoying their sibling banter. Their “chaperone”, Bast, the goddess of cats (or something like that) is even more snarky and hilarious. Especially when dinnertime rolled around. Amos was another great character, and unfortunately he was gone for most of the book but I hope to see more of him.
- The pacing. The book was action from the get-go. It was tough going through the first hundred pages or so getting into it, but at that point it becomes a race-against-time that I had a hard time putting down.
- The twist at the end. Normally, when there is an antagonist throughout an entire book, I don’t feel very fulfilled if that antagonist has a lackluster ending. I don’t want to give anything away, but I was actually delighted with the turn this one took where the antagonist is concerned. It was a clever twist I never saw coming.
- It’s hilarious. There is so much dry humor that I couldn’t stop laughing during parts of it. The book is mostly serious, but the relationship between the children and their reactions to the situations they encounter is what gives the book some levity.
Cons:
- It’s long. The ebook version is 360 pages, but the print version is something like 510 pages. Given that the main characters are 12 and 14, I feel like that is the demographic the author is aiming for, and I think it would be difficult for kids that age to give a book 100 pages to really get into the swing of things. I’m not entirely sure it could be told in a shorter version given the amount of stuff that the author packs into the pages though. There were some parts in the beginning where I was a little antsy while reading, but like I said, around page 100 (ebook version), it really took off.
- The characters ages, which I mentioned before.
- Alternating POVs. The story is told in 1st person, alternating between Carter and Sadie. It did get a bit confusing at times, but they both had distinctive voices and I think it was the best way to tell the story.
Overall, I give this book a 3 out of 5 fangs. I really enjoyed the story, but it was difficult to get into. I only reserve the full 5 stars for the book that I absolutely cannot put down and/or am willing to lose sleep over. This one was not one of those, but it was still great and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys Egyptian mythology.
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