Maybe my expectations were too high, but The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan was just ok for me.

Sadie and Carter are siblings, age 12 and 14 respectively. Carter lives with his Dad, a traveling Egyptian archaeologist, and Sadie lives with their grandparents in London. They only see one another twice a year, because when their mom died six years ago, the grandparents and father got into a legal battle resulting in the split custody. The two sets of guardians still don’t get along, and it seems that the grandparents have a grudge against Carter simply for looking like his dad.

When their father takes them to a British Museum on one of these dedicated visit days, their father releases five gods from an ancient tomb, including a very powerful and evil god, Set, who immediately imprisons their father. Our two heroes are forced into an adventure that will change their lives – fighting for their father, their deceased mother, and the world as we know it. Will they overcome the powerful villain? Will they be stopped by the House of Life, an ancient secret order from the time of the Pharaohs?

The perspective of the tale switched between the two main characters, Sadie and Carter, and I found that distracting and inconsistent. I know that the two kids should have different point of views, but sometimes the actions seemed out of character. For instance, I felt there should have been either more or less butting in – especially from Sadie when Carter was telling the story as she seemed to have more of an attitude.

Which brings me to my next criticism… I felt like we really got to know Sadie, but Carter got lost many times. He has a pivotal role in the resolution of the whole book series, so I hope we get to see a stronger character in the next books.

The story plot itself seemed well-researched but a little too detailed for me. I got lost in some of the hieroglyphics, but I’m sure younger readers would love those intricacies. I really appreciated that the rather complicated tale got sufficiently tied up in the end, and the only loose end is obviously intended to be resolved in the following books.

Because the story was so involved, I can justify the 500 plus pages of text. And although the tale is exceptionally long, the simpler vocabulary and sentence structure, the lack of vulgarity or obscenities or violence, and the heroic teen characters would make this an acceptable read for most kids.

Kate

The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles, Book 1) by Rick Riordan
(c) 2010, Disney Hyperion Books
Publisher Reading Level: Young Adult
ISBN: 978-1-4231-1338-6
516 Pages