Title: The Red Pyramid
Author: Rick Riordan
Series: The Kane Chronicles #1
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Egyptian mythology, Mythology, Young adult
Pace: Medium
Format: eBook, Novel
Year: 2010
I have tried to read The Red Pyramid before, but just found it a little slower to get going than Riordan’s other series. And maybe a little more different than anticipated. And, although I did get to about that same point (a third of the way through) in which I started to feel a little non-plussed, I’m really glad that I pushed through. Not long after that point where I was really beginning to wonder when it would get good, it got good. Carter and Sadie start to ramp up a little bit into their story, and honestly, without all of the world building that came before, it just wouldn’t have been so good? It’s just a bit of a departure from what I have come to expect from Riordan.
Although it took me a little while to get into, one of the things that I love about The Red Pyramid is that it is a very different flavour to the rest of the Riordan universe. Particularly the Percy Jackson stories. It might still be set in the same universe (I’ve read the crossovers), but, rather than being about a bunch of demigods, it’s about those who choose to harness the magic of Ancient Egypt. Alright, there’s still the whole demigod aspect, but it is very different from the other books that Riordan has lovingly crafted. And I absolutely adored that fact, after a while. I also thoroughly enjoyed how Carter and Sadie are the alternate narrators of the stories. Again, I’ve always enjoyed the first person point of view of Riordan’s work, but the alternating between the voices is a whole lot of fun.
Carter and Sadie as a pair of narrators is great. I love that, being somewhat estranged siblings, they actually get to know one another as the story unfolds. But, there’s also the fairly typical (and believable) sibling rivalry throughout the narration. Both Sadie and Carter have their own challenges to learning how to deal with the world that they’ve been thrust into, and they both have challenges to overcome with their upbringings. The occasional frustration and resentment at one another was great, and made me think a little bit about my own relationship with my sister – constantly competitive, frustrated and niggling. But, also filled with love and protectiveness.
One of the things that I’ve always loved about Riordan’s books is that the main characters are always minorities of some sort. The type of characters that don’t necessarily often show up in the books that I read as a teen and preteen. In the case of The Red Pyramid, one of the aspects that I really loved was how Riordan acknowledged the challenges of racism in America and being black. Plus, how the differences in Sadie and Carter’s skin tone have created totally different responses and challenges for both of them. It’s one of the many reasons why I can’t wait to introduce my own children to Riordan’s works when they get older.
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