The Red Pyramid/ Rick Riordan

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan adventure, historical fiction, mythology, Young Adult 528 pages

I must say that as a closet Riordan fan, I was thoroughly disappointed by his attempt at a series completely unrelated from his wildly successful "Percy Jackson and The Olympians" series (and the subsequent branch-off "Heroes of Olympus"). This book wasn't all bad, but I certainly had my qualms with it and by the end of the book, I was glad to be done with it.

Those familiar with Riordan know that he is well-known for his ability to seamlessly combine the YA adventure genre with cultural mythology. Before the release of "The Red Pyramid," Riordan's mythological adventures were limited to the Greco-Roman variety. With the beginning of his new series "The Kane Chronicles," Riordan delves into the mysterious world of Egyptian mythology in the adventures of brother and sister combo Carter and Sadie Kane.

The Kanes, for the most part, are not as likable as Riordan's previous protagonists. Both are extremely whiny and far less independent than Percy Jackson was (the plot is basically them being passed from mythological babysitter to mythological babysitter). Carter, who is supposedly the main character and the heir to the throne of the Pharaohs, is unsure of himself to the point where he accomplishes very little of importance by the story's end. His younger sister Sadie is a slightly more interesting character, but not by much, and actually comes across as the stronger protagonist (although I do concede that it seemed like Riordan was setting Carter up for much greater potential as the franchise continues).

I must also note that the Egyptian mythology, as well as the fictional mythology created by Riordan to make the story interesting, is not up to the level of Riordan's potential. The rules that Riordan seems to create are constantly broken by his characters, leaving the reader with no confidence in any sort of standard in Riordan's Egyptian-based world (which doesn't keep the reader on his/her toes, it just keeps them confused). Also, the Egyptian gods and monsters aren't as well-known as their Greco-Roman counterparts, so it's harder to form any sort of interest in them (who really cares about the goddess of cats or the god of alligators anyway?). The magic the characters are granted right at the beginning of the story seems overpowered and the villains, who are supposedly far more experienced than these two young children, pale in comparison.

I must applaud Riordan in his ability to throw readers a few curveballs toward the end of the story, because this has been a weakness of his in the past. The problem, however, is that the curveballs he throws are about stuff that I just didn't care about, and so I was over them in about ten seconds.

Maybe this book suffers from comparison to its much stronger predecessor series. Maybe it's just bad. I wasn't impressed, but I can understand why some readers (especially those to whom Riordan's books are targeting, grades 6-8) wouldn't be disappointed by this book. I may actually even pick up the second book in the series if I get bored enough. As of right now, however, continuing to read this franchise is NOT a priority of mine.