Author: Rick Riordan
Published: May 2010
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Series: The Kane Chronicles #1
516 pages (hardcover)
If you’re a Rick Riordan fan, then you may have heard of this series already: The Kane Chronicles. At first glance, it seems to be Percy Jackson Meets Egypt! instead of the Greek/Roman gods, and while it does bear many similarities (the two series even take place within the same world), it’s also quite different: In Percy Jackson, we have a bunch of kids sent to a summer camp for half-god half-human children, who train in fighting and hone their magical abilities that are specific to their godly parent. In the Kane Chronicles, there are only two kids, siblings, who discover that they are from two ancient pharaoh bloodlines, and that their parents have unleashed ancient Egyptian gods into the world.
In The Red Pyramid, Carter Kane travels around with his famous Egyptologist father, Julius Kane, around the world. His mother died six years ago, and his sister, Sadie Kane, was taken in by his grandparents (of their mother’s side) who live in London. For some reason, the grandparents didn’t want to take Carter. Julius and Carter get to see Sadie twice a year, once every six months. On the day that Julius and Carter get to see Sadie, Julius takes them to a museum in London, where he tells them he needs to do some ‘work’. What he ends up doing is accidentally destroying the Rosetta Stone and unleashing five powerful Egyptian gods, before becoming trapped by the released Egyptian god, Set. Two of the other gods found their way to Carter and Sadie and use them as hosts. Carter and Sadie are hurried away from the scene with the help of their Uncle Amos who mysteriously appears, and are protected by the cat goddess Bast.
They are taken to the House of Life’s headquarters, an underground “town” of some sort where people practice ancient Egyptian magic. The House of Life doesn’t trust the Egyptian gods and are wary about the Kane siblings inhabiting gods in them, but the leader decides to train them. It is revealed that Carter and Sadie are the children of two ancient pharaoh bloodlines, and thus are extremely powerful, even without gods inhabiting their bodies. However, the leader dies rather suddenly, and the new leader decides that Carter and Sadie must be destroyed, prompting them to run for their lives.
Overall, I liked reading this book. With the Percy Jackson books, I was already somewhat familiar with many of the gods and goddesses and ancient stories, but I know next to nothing about ancient Egyptian mythology. So I really liked how, in addition to an adventurous story, I was also learning a lot too. Sounds kind of cheesy, but it’s true. Ancient Egyptian mythology is really fascinating, but also confusing … which I guess is why at times, I found the plot rather complex. Sometimes I had to really stop and think about everything that has happened so far and untangle the story in my head. I never got confused per se, but sometimes, I just had to slow down a bit and digest what is happening.
As with the Percy Jackson books, I love the funny, spunky and witty characters in The Red Pyramid as well. The two main characters, Carter and Sadie, are also biracial (half white, half black), which I really liked the idea of. You don’t often seen biracial main characters in books — unless the novel is about them dealing with being biracial or something where that is the focus — and I think Riordan handled it well. The kids sometimes encounter real world issues with being biracial, but it’s not the focus of the story. The thing about the characters I wasn’t too crazy about was how the first person narration switched back and forth between Carter and Sadie quite often, and they have rather similar voices, so I actually did become a little confused at times with who is speaking, but with this kind of story, it’s not really a big deal.
Though this story is a little too long in my opinion, I enjoyed it, do recommend it, and will most definitely be reading book two!
My Rating: 3.5/5
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