Review for The Red Pyramid

The Red Pyramid (the Kane Chronicles #1)

Author: Rick Riordan

Pages: 516

Genre: MG Fantasy

Source: My Local Library

Summary from GoodReads…

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.

Soon, Sadie and Carter discover that the gods of Egypt are waking, and the worst of them —Set— has his sights on the Kanes. To stop him, the siblings embark on a dangerous journey across the globe - a quest that brings them ever closer to the truth about their family and their links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs.

The Good

May I start out by saying how AMAZING a writer Rick Riordan is! His first person narrators are so fun and humorous and I love how the story is told as if the two characters are talking into a voice recorder telling us of their perilous journey. Sadly it has taken me three tries to finish this book and now that I’m done I can’t wait for another lull from homework that will allow me to read the second one.

Out of the two narrators (Sadie and Carter) Sadie was definitely my favorite. With her attitude, gum, combat boots, and British accent she’s a character I love to root for. Though I think the kids sometimes sounded a little old for their ages these siblings worked great together though they argued a great majority of the time (which is so believable and awesome).And I can’t write a review without saying something about Bast, the ultra-slick cat goddess. She almost seemed to fall into the role of the cool aunt for the kids because she was their protector and they cared about her. Some of the scenes between her and the kids were very touching. She was probably my favorite character of the bunch. Oh, I also loved the animal characters, they’re always so fun.

            The world that Riordan builds using mythology is great and very educational. Even though I’ve always had a bit of trouble with Egyptian mythology (and it is confusing) the modernization of it all was really cool and helped me out in understanding some of the myths better.  

The Bad

I can’t really help but compare this book to the Percy Jackson & the Olympian series (I always compare the author’s different series) and I must say that while I liked this book it wasn’t as charming as Percy Jackson (although I hear the second book is better). Sadie definitely had more spark in her narration then Carter but some of the storytelling seemed a tad bit flat (only some of it, I’m not saying the whole book) but that could just be me.

A few times the kids seemed to take on voices that were older than their character but I guess that could be explained… if someone would car to explain it to me.

The Krazyness

“Oh no." I said panic rising in my chest. "No, no, no, Somebody get a can opener. I've got a god in my head!!”

“Far, far below, red liquid bubbled. Blood? Lava? Evil ketchup? None of the posibilities were good.”

“In person, if possible, Anubis was even more drop-dead gorgeous. [Oh . . . ha, ha. I didn't catch the pun, but thank you, Carter. God of the dead, drop-dead gorgeous. Yes, hilarious. Now, may I continue?]”

 4 Elf Cookies