Book Review: The Red Pyramid

As the author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, Rick Riordan stumbled upon a recipe for success when it comes to children’s books. His highly-successful series of Percy books, along with the movie adaptation of the first book, The Lightning Thief, have proved his success and his story-creating ability. Now, Riordan has started a new series, The Kane Chronicles, and its first book, The Red Pyramid, does not disappoint.

Sadie Kane

The aforementioned formula for success involves kids – tweenagers, really – that are not just normal human beings; but they don’t know that they’re special until something miraculous happens – and it’s usually something life-threatening as well. The formula worked great for Percy Jackson, who told readers about his adventures after finding out he was a demigod, the son of the Greek god Poseidon.

This time around, Riordan’s Kane Chronicles has two protagonists, Carter Kane, age 14, and Sadie Kane, age 12. The book is a “transcribed” version of Carter and Sadie telling their story on tape, which they have sent out into the world to look for others like them: blood of pharaohs, descendents of the ancient Egyptian royal blood lines that have the potential to become powerful magicians – and maybe even host Egyptian gods.

Carter Kane

Of course, Carter and Sadie know nothing about this until one night – Christmas Eve, to be exact – when their father takes them to a museum in London to see the Rosetta stone. Their father is an archaeologist, and Carter travels the world with him while Sadie lives with their deceased mother’s parents. Christmas Eve is their one day as a family. Something goes terribly wrong and their father disappears – but not before unleashing the ancient and evil Egyptian god Set, along with four other trapped gods. Rescued by their uncle, Amos, Carter and Sadie find out that they are the children of Egyptian magicians, and their adventures begin as they travel from London to New York to Paris, Cairo, and even Memphis, Tennessee amongst other places while working together with gods and magicians alike to try to stop Set from blowing up North America.

The story is well-paced, and it’s a fun read. Riordan has a good grasp on writing in the first person, and there are definite differences that can be seen in Carter and Sadie’s personalities as they take turns telling us about their adventures. Although the story itself is geared toward children around the age of the kids in the book, it’s still an enjoyable read for people of all ages. It’s a great book to read with your kids or on your own.

If you haven’t read any of Rick Riordan’s books, I highly suggest it. Like with the Percy Jackson books, Riordan takes real Egyptian history and mythology and gives it a modern feel, making for a fun adventure. Think of it as something sort of along the lines of Harry Potter meets The DaVinci Code, and you’ll start to get the idea. It’s certainly a book worth reading, and I’m looking forward to seeing Riordan’s next book.

About Tiarra

Tiarra Wantz is a comic book and sci-fi geek girl who enjoys reading, playing video games, creating typography art, and comparing everything to “that one episode of TNG where…” Tiarra lives in Las Vegas with the love of her life, Dan, where they live together with two cuddly kittens named Panda Face and Ser Pounce-a-lot and a precocious pup named Pippin.

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