Although I enjoyed this book, it was not as good as the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. The Kane Chronicles does have potential but this first introduction seemed too much like an adaptation of the first with slight twists. Regardless of this, it was a fun read and I enjoyed the quick action and Egyptian Mythology. And give me some magic, some ancient history, and coming of age tales and I’m happy for a quick read.
In The Red Pyramid we meet Carter and Sadie Kane, two siblings that soon find out they are anything but normal. The are descendants of the pharaohs of ancient Egypt, and with that comes various dangers and responsibilities. I won’t go into the story too much because it’s hard to talk about any of it without revealing more than I should, but when they were younger, their mother died leaving their father and grandfather to raise them. You find out why they are raised separately towards the end of the story and it is interesting.
Overall I thought the two main characters were will written. They had distinct voices, male/female, American/British, older/younger, but they could have been stronger. As usual, I’m fascinated by the minor characters, of which my favorite was Bast the cat goddess. Riordan’s characterization of Bast really made me smile at points. He wrote the character clearly having studies a cat for a long period of time with the bravery and fright well intoned throughout the book.
I couldn’t decide whether I liked the format of the novel, a transcription of a recording. It was definitely different, but it almost seemed like a cop-out as everything was told in two distinct voices and we didn’t learn much about the other characters. I’ll give the next book a read to see if it improves, but as I said, I’m not expecting too much from this series.
Recommendation: If you’re looking for something to buy a tween/or early teen boy buy it. If you just want something fun and light to read, read it. Don’t expect too much from it though.
Opening Line: We only have a few hours, so listen carefully.
Closing Line: Come to Brooklyn. We’ll be waiting. (Whited out in case you don’t want to see it.)
I liked the second better…:-) well worth a few hours though.