The Red Pyramid

The narrators maybe can't be trusted (or can they?), and it is fun to switch back between Carter and Sadie Kane as they tell us about their adventures. I listened to the story on audible, so I can't speak to the pacing as a reader. The story goes by fairly quickly, as the young narrators tell us about their quest. The tale is imaginative, and you can almost feel the joy and terror, and gushy teenager-ness just pouring out of the narrators.

Readers of the Percy Jackson or Heroes of Olympus sets will be interested to meet a new set of gods and a new mythology - this time out of Egypt.

I'd recommend this one to middle grade readers, but I would probably offer up the Percy Jackson series first for reluctant readers. Switching perspectives continuously may be hard for some. In addition to a fun story, this book (and Kane series) is a useful reinforcement for kid's Egyptian mythology and ancient history studies.

4.5 stars, excellent reading with my daughter

This year we are studying Ancient Egypt and my daughter has taken off in reading (six-year-old second grader enthusiastic about super heroes) and we have been partner reading this first story in the Kane Chronicles, the Egyptian godlings series from Rick Riordan of Percy Jackson fame.

We bought this book in both physical and Kindle eBook format and already bought a Kindle copy of the Throne of Fire to continue the series.

Mostly we read at bedtime, while others were sleeping, but it also crept into other times like waiting in the car of random book school snuggles during the day.

Knowing we have enjoyed the storyline of Percy Jackson so far from film I felt we would enjoy the story of Carter and Sadie Kane and I am well pleased. I love watching the recognition come alive in my girl's eyes when she notes mention on Anubis or sees the eye of Horus decorating the pages of another school book. The action and adventure of The Red Pyramid has been perfectly appropriate to spark interest and flame curiosity for continuing our study of this ancient civilization and their beliefs and traditions. I hope we enjoy the next book in the series just as much.

Purchased book, honest opinion.

I loved this book. Its a little more serious than the Percy Jackson series. It got me curious about ancient Egyptian times and I had to so some investigating on Wikipedia. It does seem Rick Riordan does his research, because a lot of the Egyptian characters seem to be based on actually Egyptian legends/stories.

Rick Riordan continues to demonstrate that derivative fiction is not necessarily bad fiction. The Red Pyramid has so many parallels to the Percy Jackson series (also written by Riordan), as well as Harry Potter, that it would be easy to discard it.

However, Mr. Riordan blends ancient mythology (this time from Egypt) with modern life in a way no one else is doing. He also writes enjoyable characters who grow in believable ways throughout this books. Carter and Sadie Kane are no different here. As details about their troubled and unconventional childhoods are revealed, they develop a bond that is both believable and natural. The action is well written, the dialog is witty and humorous, and I anxiously await further installments in the series.

All the ingredients from Rick Riordan's earlier Lightning Thief series are here in the Red Pyramid: gods (with a very small “g”), monsters, mythology, fights, danger, potential destruction of the universe. I cannot imagine a ten-year-old who would not love this book. Pretty safe to say that if you liked Lightning Thief, you'll like this one. Well, unless you don't like books that are toooo derivative....

I was skeptical about this–I'd never read anything by Rick Riordan, and I had some kind of “he's popular so he's probably bad!” attitude problem about him. But I actually really enjoyed this book and am definitely going to seek out the sequel (...maybe over winter break). I don't know much about Egyptian mythology and it turns out it has some awesome stories. I found Sadie, the younger narrator, to be kind of obnoxious, but, well, she was 12. Carter was very endearing. This book is long but a real page-turner. I dug it.

Short review: From the author of the Percy Jackson series. This series takes uses the Egyptian mythology to establish a modern fantasy series (instead of the Greek mythology of Percy Jackson). It is ok, but it is not as good as the Percy Jackson series.

Longer review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/red-pyramid/

I was a bit dissapointed when reading this book. I love love LOVE Rick Riordan and Percy Jackson and the Olympians is one of my favourite series ever. On top of that, I was an Egypt freak growing up. So naturally I was really excited when I got this book.

The plot and the writing, of course, are amazing! It's a bit like Percy at times but Rick Riordan has a way with words that really pulls you in.

Unfortunately, I found it very hard to get through Sadie's chapters. She was such a spoiled brat! However, I did see a slight change at the end. I am going to continue with the series and I'm looking forward to seeing how much her character develops throughout the books.

For fans of Percy Jackson, this is Rick Riordan's other, not-as-good series based on the exact same concept. There's a noticeable drop in quality of characters and tightness of plot. I definitely still enjoyed it as a kid, though. The first book is definitely the best of the series, and is worth the read as a standalone if you ignore the foreboding dark clouds of doom that foreshadow the sequels.

Age range: 9-15
Not recommended for older readers, may not hold interest.

This is not nearly as good as the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. The beginning was good and got me really excited for the book. The ending was epic and also very entertaining. The large majority of the book is not so great. The worst part by far for me was the way the characters were written. I spent a big part of the book absolutely hating the main children, Carter and Sadie. I felt they were rude and silly and not at all like the likeable characters Riordan has created before. In fact, I think the only character I actually liked was Bast.

Additionally, the Egyptian gods seem pretty pathetic compared with the Greek gods. I think Riordan was going for the same sort of thing as in his previous series but I just didn't feel it this time.

All that said, it wasn't terrible. I will probably read everything Riordan ever writes because the Percy Jackson series was spot on.

I liked it. There were, in fact, several things that made me like it more than the first book of the Percy Jackson series.

I think the writing has improved. I like that the most important relationship in this book is familial (sibling, specifically). I like that Carter and Sadie are biracial.

I love Egyptian mythology and history, so to see it used so well - and studied so obviously - made me very happy.