bookoala
Written on Aug 30, 2020
The Red Pyramid: the first book in Rick Riordan's The Kane Chronicles.
Percy Jackson fought Greek Gods. Now the Gods of Egypt are waking in the modern world...
'I GUESS IT STARTED THE NIGHT OUR DAD BLEW UP THE BRITISH MUSEUM . . .'
CARTER AND SADIE KANE'S dad is a brilliant Egyptologist with a secret plan that goes horribly wrong. An explosion shatters the ancient Rosetta stone and unleashes Set, the evil god of chaos . . .
Set imprisons Dr Kane in a golden coffin and Carter and Sadie must run for their lives. To save their dad, they embark on a terrifying quest from Cairo to Paris to the American South-west and discover the truth about their family's connection to the House of Life: an Egyptian temple of magic that has existed for thousands of years.
The pharaohs of ancient Egypt are far from dead and buried. And neither, unfortunately, are their gods . . .
Rick Riordan has now sold an incredible 55 million copies of his books worldwide
Praise for the Percy Jackson series:
'Witty and inspired. Gripping, touching and deliciously satirical...This is most likely to succeed Rowling. Puffin is on to a winner' - Amanda Craig, The Times
'Puns, jokes and subtle wit, alongside a gripping storyline' - Telegraph
'Perfectly paced, with electrifying moments chasing each other like heartbeats' - New York Times
Rick Riordan is an award-winning mystery writer. He lives in San Antonio, Texas, with his wife and two sons. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief was the overall winner of the Red House Children's Book Award in 2006.
The Percy Jackson series:
The Lightning Thief; The Sea of Monsters; The Battle of the Labyrinth; The Titan's Curse; The Last Olympian
Heroes of Olympus:
The Lost Hero; The Son of Neptune; The Mark of Athena
The Kane Chronicles:
The Red Pyramid; The Throne of Fire; The Serpent's Shadow
- ISBN10 014132550X
- ISBN13 9780141325507
- Publish Date 5 May 2011 (first published 4 May 2010)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Penguin Putnam Inc
- Imprint Puffin
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 544
- Language English
Reviews
thepunktheory
Written on Jul 4, 2018
By now, you'll all know that I'm a Rick Riordan fan. He wrote some amazing and breath-taking novels that you won't be able to put down.
So, I was excited to finally catch up with the Kane Chronicles as those books had been published from 2010 to 2012.
After lots of stuff on Greek and Roman mythology, I was ready to learn some stuff about ancient Egypt!
The first thing to mentioned about the Kane Chronicles in general is the way the story is told. It's supposed to be a transcript of a recording made by Carter and Sadie. You get the feeling that they tell their own story in their own words, which makes for a nice change.
I like the main characters as well. They are not stereotypical, they both have their own lives, problems and identities but at the same time they have a lot in common. It's not easy to write this in a convincing and authentic way, but Riordan pulled it off nicely.
The Red Pyramid plunges head first into the (to me unknown) waters of ancient Egypt. You'll find out lots of new and interesting with delivered with a captivating story. Despite many uplifting moments and funny situations, The Kane Chronicles come with a sad undertone right from the beginning. In a way, these books feel a bit more mature than the other Rick Riordan stuff I read. Of course, the other novels also had heart-breaking moments, but here it's somehow different.
ellieroth
Written on Dec 8, 2016
Nessa Luna
Written on Mar 5, 2016
The Red Pyramid tells the story of fourteen-year-old Carter and his twelve-year-old sister Sadie Kane. Sadie has been living with their grandparents in London for years, while Carter has been traveling the world with their father. One night, the two meet again, but that is also the night everything goes wrong. Carter and Sadie find out that the ancient Egyptian Gods have escaped, and one of them in particular is trying to make their lives even more difficult than they are.
This book is a little bit different than Riordan's usual recipe, but I liked it very much. There was still enough adventure and enough trouble for the Kane's along the way (though it also made me a bit frustrated that so much went wrong). One big difference between this series and Riordan's other books is that the Kane's aren't demigods. They are magicians, who are also godlings (I believe that was the word that was used) who can host a god inside their bodies for a long time. I liked this difference, though I thought it was also a bit of a shame that they weren't demigods.. I still learned a couple of things about the Egyptian Mythology in a fun way, and that is what makes these books so amazing.
The main characters are Carter and Sadie, who are fourteen and twelve, but to be honest they felt so much older to me. They could have easily been made eighteen and sixteen, and I don't think I would have noticed any difference. In fact, it may have made the characters even better in my opinion - because I did feel like they were too mature for their age. Maybe they acted like this because they were hosting Horus and Isis, but still I think that even if that hadn't happened they would have felt much older. I also liked how Carter and Sadie were mixed race, though Carter looked more like their (black) father, and Sadie like their (white) mother, which got them a lot of weird looks every time they said they were siblings.
On their journey to stop Set, they meet a lot of characters, including a cat goddes named Bast, a babboon named Khufu and - wait for it - a crocodile named Philip of Macedonia. Just the (subtle) humour that Riordan puts in his books is amazing. But honestly, the book could have been shorter. It was a bit over 500 pages, and I think that some of the fights could have been deleted in order for them to get to Set sooner. Of course, being what Carter and Sadie are means they will be hunted forever, but still why so much trouble? I just feel so bad for these characters sometimes, they think 'oh well that was the worst of it', and then SOMETHING EVEN WORSE HAPPENS NEXT. *sighs*
The writing was amazing as usual, and there was one particular thing I liked more about these books than I did with all the others: it was first person narrative. The story was written as if Carter and Sadie were telling it to you (via recording, I believe) and so they had to tell the story from their point of view, and honestly that made it a lot better. I really wish Riordan had done this for all of his books, because I am just not a fan of third person narrative, especially not if there's multiple POV's.
Anyway, I really enjoyed The Red Pyramid and I will obviously pick up the next book, The Throne of Fire. If you loved Percy Jackson or Heroes of Olympus, and you want to learn more about Egyptian mythology, you should pick up these books!
My opinion on this book in one gif:
Artemis
Written on Feb 18, 2016
cherryblossommj
Written on Jan 31, 2016
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.
sleepseeker
Written on Dec 22, 2014
I don't know much about Egyptian mythology and I like the way Riordan explains and describes things. I love the dynamic between the two siblings and I can't wait to find out what happens next in the series.
Chelsea
Written on Jul 14, 2014
1. Really easy to jump into this book.
2.The Egyptian mythology was done really well and it was very interesting.
3. It's like Percy Jackson but with enough differences to make it completely different.
4. Lots and lots of action.
5. The youth of the characters was really easy to forget.
See my full review on my blog here!
Katie King
Written on Apr 16, 2014
The plot had an interesting concept. The kids being host to gods and having to learn to work together and uncover secrets of the past to take down Mr. Evil was cool. Was it simple? No. Did Riordan make it simple? Yes, and not necessarily the greatest choice. I thought that with changes, this could be a great novel. Some of the characters were even great as they were. Bast and Amos, I thought, were quite developed. They weren't perfect, they weren't shams, they were real, solid characters with flaws and a myriad of emotions. I wish I had seen more of Isis and Horus.
I had some issues with this novel. The relationship between Carter and Sadie felt very...forced? I know they've been kept apart most of their lives but they seemed like a mix of hating each other and being completely indifferent. Not in a way that normally describes siblings, either. It wasn't believable to me.
I also took issue with the revelation of information, or lack thereof. I felt as though very little was really explained, and even more was just further complicated with every chapter. Several times the characters figured something out, would nod their heads at each other with wisps of verbal acknowledgment, and I as the reader was left wondering what the heck major plot point I just missed.
The narration asides at the beginning of each chapter were annoying. They served no function except to take up space in the chapter. I have similar thoughts in regards to Sadie.
Throughout this whole novel, I was bored. I sincerely struggled to make it through this one. There's action and adventure, but it was really weak. I'm a fan of mythology and I just didn't care about any of it. And maybe that's just my own interest speaking, but I enjoy mythology. I did not enjoy this book.
Everything works out for our special snowflake main characters without the slightest effort. Iskandar is the gatekeeper and lets them through with no effort, Shezmu names himself, they travel the Duat and find every answer they need, they are the most special and powerful kids ever, Bast helps them do everything, Sobek drowns everyone but not our hero, and Zia tricks Sekhmet in the perfect set of coincidences ever. EVERYTHING works out SO WELL, it's amazing.
Summary
Overall, I wasn't impressed. I have read Riordan's Percy Jackson series and the start of his Heroes of Olympus series, but this one really fell flat for me. Boring plot movement, annoying characters, and very little explanation of copious information given left a bad taste in my mouth. I will not be reading any more of the Kane Chronicles.
Mercy
Written on Feb 6, 2014