Review of "The Red Pyramid"

"I guess it started in London, the night our dad blew up the British Museum."

     The first title in Rick Riordan's The Kane Chronicles series, entitled The Red Pyramid, takes ancient Egyptian mythology and throws it right in the laps of two unsuspecting teenagers. Thanks to a custody battle after the death of their mother, Carter and Sadie Kane only get to see each other two days a year. While Sadie lives with their grandparents, Carter spends most of his time on the road with his dad, the world-famous Egyptologist Julius Kane. Then, one summer, Dad uses their Visiting Day to take a peek at the Rosetta Stone...and tries to use it to summon an Egyptian god. The only problem is that, rather than freeing only Osiris, he also ends up releasing Set, the god of evil. Left fatherless in the ruins of the British museum, Sadie and Carter must rush to master the art of magic before Set can descend the world into permanent chaos.

     Fans of Riordan may anticipate this to be another Percy Jackson--that Carter and Sadie are going to discover they're children of the Egyptian gods and rush off to save the world. While there's nothing wrong with that storyline, allow me to put any fear to rest by saying that The Red Pyramid is its own story, with its own unique characters and a distinctly individual plot. In fact, I would go so far as to say it's actually better. Ancient Egypt is brought to life through strong characters, reincarnated gods, and magic pulled straight from pyramid walls and long-buried books.

     The Kane children are complete opposites, and not just in appearance. Sadie is a rule-breaker; Carter is a rule-follower. Carter knows all about ancient Egypt, while his sister sees no need to memorize facts when she has her "encyclopedia brother" around to explain things she doesn't understand. However, despite their differences--or, perhaps, because of them--it's easy to see the love these siblings have for each other. Even when they argue, their actions and words convey just how much they truly care. This can be a great asset, assuming they can learn to work as a team. When their differences collide, fireballs and exploding buildings are the least of their problems.

     Plot-wise, The Red Pyramid is intense. The Kanes must work with each other and a host of Egyptian deities, monsters, and magicians in order to track down Set and put an end to his evil schemes before it's too late. This means a lot of training, battle, magic, and plenty of fiendish creatures straight from mythology. Readers sensitive to biblical references should note that not only is Moses brought up--the only "foreign magician" to ever best the House of Life in a duel--but a goddess quotes Genesis and various magicians use spells to recreate significant symbols from the Old Testament. The romance, when it comes, is cute in its own way, although the characters can be a little ridiculous when they start to go on about their crushes. This would be a great one for audiobook listeners, as it's written as though it were an audio recording made by the Kanes themselves, warning magicians about Set.

     I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Egyptian mythology, teenagers with magical powers, and ancient terrors about to be set loose on the world. Though Riordan has stayed in the same vein as his previous works, The Kane Chronicles: The Red Pyramid is definitely a unique book that stands out among the crowd. Readers should know beforehand that the book contains several references to the Bible, as does the rest of the series, calling prophets magicians and claiming Judaic religions and faiths are merely other versions of the truth. However, the characters are pretty realistic and definitely fun to read, the premise is great, and the plot is addicting. Rick Riordan has set his new series off to a great start with The Red Pyramid, which deserves a stunning five stars.