Customer Reviews

The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles, Book 1)

5 star:		(235)
4 star:		(89)
3 star:		(31)
2 star:		(23)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

Going into this book I had very high expectations. After all, the Percy Jackson books are such a wonderful and unique offering in children's literature. They are funny, witty, filled with action and adventure, they breathe life into some of my favorite myths... They are hard to top. Pretty much this book is what would happen if the 39 Clues series and Percy Jackson books had a baby. There is alot more information being tossed out in this book than in Percy Jackson, but much more fun and mythology than the 39 Clues.

In this first of the Kane Chronicles, Riordan again does a great job of combining humor with action and adventure. This book as a lot to explain in terms of the mythology it is based on, I think most readers on average know less about Egyptian mythology than Greek. However, Riordan again explains it in a way that brings it to life. And once all of the ground work is laid in terms of what is going on in the story everything zooms along at a really fun pace.

Carter and Sadie Kane were raised separately after the sudden and tragic death of their mother. Carter has spent the last half dozen years traveling the world with his father, a noted Egyptologist. Living out of a suitcase and never staying in one place for long, Carter is quiet and a little socially awkward. Sadie on the other hand was raised in London by her grandparents. Even though she's the younger of the two she has a much more forceful personality than her brother. She is loud, wears combat boots and streaks her hair with crazy colors. Carter and his father only are allowed to see Sadie twice a year.

Carter and Sadie barely know each other when the actions of their father leave them on a crazy adventure with only a cat, named Muffin, to help them out. Not only is the crazy chaos god, Set, after them also an ancient group of wizards is tailing them across the world.

Riordan again does a great job of pulling ancient mythology into the modern world. He really grounds his story and makes it believable. By the end of the book you really know the characters and are ready for their next adventure.

Another fun thing about this book is that instead of having one narrator he allows Sadie and Carter to alternate every few chapters. Their voices are very different and how they see things is very interesting. It also sets up a lot of the humor.

In spite of its size (its around 41 Chapters long) I think anyone who enjoyed the Percy Jackson books will find themselves loving this book as well.

I'm only giving it 4 stars because it took me until maybe chapter 15 to really get into the book, there was so much information that it slowed down the narrative for me.

I know I am a little late catching up to the Kane Chronicles, but I must say that I love the new series by Rick Riordan and I'm very happy that he's switched from Greek to Egyptian mythology. I always felt that his books were great tools to enlighten and interest youngsters on ancient history, which is a nice touch. This series carries the history torch as well. Thought this first book was great and it did keep me interested but every once in awhile a few of those 41 chapters dragged, which is why I gave it 4 stars. The story could have been tightened up a bit and it would have been more engaging. Still, it was a fun read and I am sure others will enjoy it. I hope they turn this series into movies as well. Should translate nicely.

I know Rick Riordan can do better than this since he already has with the Percy Jackson series. I won't compare the two, but I will say that excellent children's books do exist, and this is not even close. Ancient Greek mythology and ancient Egyptian culture are probably the two most popular subjects that exist. Most people find them fascinating. I was very excited when I heard about this book and have been waiting to read it for some time. When I found out more about it I was even more excited. A coming of age story with magical powers thrown in on top of the ancient Egyptian theme-awesome. So what went wrong?

First, no character development. There are two narrators, a brother and sister, and they don't really have their own personalities. They go through the motions, complete tasks, and have conversations, but there isn't much there personality wise. Sure, one of them dresses in combat boots, and the other one is a bit bookish, but that's all we get. In other books the characters have clear personalities. Examples: Fablehaven, Harry Potter, or even the Percy Jackson series. Each character is distinguishable and unique. That is not the case here, and the book suffers from it. I really think authors need to know that a long drawn out action sequence is just not good enough.

Which brings me to the second problem with this book, the plot. There is a bad guy that wants to destroy the world and the main characters have to stop him. Not too deep, but not much different from the general plot in the other books I mentioned. What makes it a problem in this book? The way plot is developed. The characters go where they are told to start the novel. Then, they run into someone that tells them to go see someone else. They go see that person, who then leads them to another person. Get the idea? In the middle of this there will be some danger in the form of a monster or a dangerous location. A book that consists almost entirely of go here do this, go there do that, fight something, go retrieve something, then go talk to this person, is just not good enough. I've played those video games before, they are boring.

My third issue is the bad guys. Why is it that children's books never have deep, intelligent, powerful, bad guys? They are always cardboard muahaha style baddies, and The Red Pyramid is no exception. When the bad guy decides to have a long drawn out conversation in the middle of a fight I cringe. The bad guys are just too cheesy in this book, and it's sad. I guess if the main characters have no depth, then their enemies can't be expected to have any either. The super powerful Egyptian entities are no better. They are all eccentric, and some come off as stupid. I don't appreciate powerful beings acting like five year olds. I don't understand why the author chose to portray them that way, it is certainly not funny to me. I guess having Bast constantly reference Friskies is supposed to be funny, but I personally didn't like it.

The last issue that I will mention is progression. I like my characters to mature and progress, but again, if they have no personalities, there isn't much to improve upon. The plot was agonizingly slow as well. I was getting tired of the book by the third of fourth person the characters met, and there was at least twenty more to go at that point. If the interactions with these new characters had any effect on the outcome of the book I may have been more interested. Instead, they simply pointed the characters in the direction of the next task.

I can't think of a single thing I enjoyed about this book except maybe the beginning before the danger came into play. I really am sick of books where the characters go through the motions and complete task after task. I've read other books where the entire thing feels like one big chase scene, and this is no different. I won't be continuing with this series, and it's a shame because the author could have done so well with the ancient Egpytian theme. Instead, he chose to trivialize everything in a weak attempt at humor that just didn't work for me.

I don`t think there is any age that would be "too old" for what this sneak preview promises! Once more, Rick Riordan has brought mythology to quite a fascinating place in literature, albeit the similarity this book seems to bear, at first, to the excellent "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series. In fact, Carter and Sadie Kane are two of a fresh batch of well-made characters, as well as being near opposites, and promise a new thrill ride with Rick.

I guess I can`t say too much, seeing as this is a review for a preview, but I am looking forward to the start of The Kane Chronicles!
(Speaking of the title, does this foreshadow perspective changes as the books come out?)

I must say, when I read the Percy Jackson series, I instantly liked it. I enjoyed the whole Greek Pantheon of ancient gods & goddesses, magic, etc. So, naturally, I wanted to read "The Red Pyramid" to see if it had the same magic. I can happily say that it does and then some. I would even volunteer that I liked "The Red Pyramid" even more than the Percy Jackson books for several reasons.

First, in "The Red Pyramid", we're introduced to two amazing lead characters who both share in the story's narration. Carter Kane, age 14, is an African American teen who has lived with his father, Julius, his entire life...due to what is described as an ugly custody battle between Julius and his former in-laws (Julius' wife, mother to both Carter and Sadie Kane, died when the children were quite young). Sadie Kane, age 12, looks caucasian (taking after their mother) with light skin, blue eyes, and hair she likes to put colored streaks throughout. Because of the custody agreement, Sadie lives in London year-round with her grandparents - seeing her brother and father only two times per year, which has resulted in the siblings being more like distant relatives to each other. Julius is an archeologist, traveling around the world studying ancient Egyptian artifacts and bringing his son Carter along with him wherever he goes. Carter, because of his father's teachings, is an awkward 14 year old boy, a bit hesitant and unsure of himself. Sadie, on the other hand, despite being two years younger than Carter, is quite a bit more bold, quick to speak her mind and very sure of herself and her opinions. I must say, I loved both Carter and Sadie Kane...for their differences as well as how they grow together as siblings! I cannot reveal much more than this without revealing too much of the book...but I think you'll know what I mean when you read "The Red Pyramid".

Another reason I enjoyed this book is because of the depth of information given to the reader. It's obvious that Riordan, in his research, learned quite a bit about the ancient Egyptian ways as well as the intricate nature of their belief system....and he definitely gets that information out to the reader in a very exciting and entertaining way.

Magic and mythology come together in a fascinating and fast-paced way in this book. Instantly, the action starts and you'll be pulled into the book. Humor plays a big role in this book as well (especially from Sadie), which just adds to the entertainment.

All in all, I'd highly recommend "The Red Pyramid". If you're a fan of the Percy Jackson series, I'm sure you'll like it. Or, perhaps you'll be like me and like it even more! :)

Because I so thoroughly enjoyed Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (first book: The Lightning Thief), I was happy to see a new series from him coming so soon after The Last Olympian. Riordan is smart enough not to mess too much with success - The Kane Chronicles also deals with ancient gods - this time Egyptian - and kids with newly discovered special powers. Luckily, he is also talented enough to keep this, the first of a planned trilogy, from seeming like a carbon copy of the characters and adventures found in the Percy Jackson series.

Sadie and Carter Kane are siblings who were separated quite young in life after the death of their mother. (Aside: I loved that their father is African American and their mother Caucasian - I'm all for increasing cultural diversity in children's and YA books.) Carter traveled the world with his archeologist father while Sadie, his junior by two years, lived a more "normal" life in England with their grandparents. They only spend two days a year together with their father and it is on one of these occasions that we are dropped into their story. The action begins immediately with explosive displays of magic and the disappearance of their father. The siblings - whose powers are enhanced when they are together (which turns out to be one reason why they were raised separately) - begin making one startling discovery after another about themselves and their family and are set on course to rescue their father and (of course) to save the world from the evil forces their father unwittingly released from the Rosetta Stone. A variety of ancient Egyptian forces - both good and evil - appear to help or hinder them on their quest.

Riordan has a gift for making his characters come to life and for making us care about them, a skill I enjoyed in the Percy Jackson books and again here. The Red Pyramid is told from both Sadie and Carter's POV, with each chapter narrated by one of the two. Their voices are somewhat similar, but distinctive enough to make this work and I enjoyed getting to know these two bright, brave and adaptable kids better through this device. The action is virtually non-stop and the 500+ pages seem to fly by. IMHO, the many characters and creatures will probably be enjoyed more by readers 10 years old and over than by those under 10, but, of course, parents should judge that for themselves.

I found this a fast, fun read and am happy to recommend it. I hope that it will inspire kids to want to know more about ancient Egypt, one of the most fascinating civilizations our world has known and I would encourage parents to rent some kid-friendly documentaries about ancient Egypt once their children have finished The Red Pyramid.

Readers who fall in love with this story and are intrigued by the Egyptian aspects of it may enjoy these other stories while waiting for the Kanes to return in book two: The Theodosia Throckmorton series consisting of Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos, Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris and Theodosia and the Eyes of Horus; The Children of the Lamp series, which begins with The Akhenaten Adventure and The Pharaoh's Secret.

Having loved the Percy Jackson books, I expected that the next books would also be exciting adventures filled with the same wit, humor and suspense as the rest of Rick Riordan's books. I really wanted to like this book, and gave it a lot of chances to catch my interest, reading about two thirds of it before finally giving up. This review is my hope to give an accurate description of why I didn't like this book.

Firstly, let me say that I am very interested in Ancient Egyptian history and mythology. I am not going to say that I think these books should only be about Greek mythology, because there are other as exciting cultures to explore. However, this book felt, to me, like a dull repeat of Percy Jackson with a couple of switches (new characters, new gods, new monsters). But a lot of similar (or basically the same) ideas are introduced.

Let's start with the characters and the basic plot. The story follows two kids, as always, who realize they are destined for greatness (or something along those lines). We have two main characters, who alternate their viewpoints during the chapters: Carter and Sadie Kane.

I never really felt that developing fully three dimensional characters was Riordan's forte, but in Percy Jackson, at least, characters had some funny characteristics or flaws that mostly made up for their simplistic natures. However, I did not find that this was the case with "The Red Pyramid." The two main characters are not very interesting, or unique, for that matter. One is Carter Kane, a rather modest and humble boy of fourteen, and his loudmouthed, obnoxious, "say-the-first thing-that-come- to-mind-without-considering-whether-its-rude" sister, Sadie. Carter lives with his father Julius, an Egyptologist, and travels around the world with him. Sadie was raised by her mother's grandparents in London. Apparently, the childrens' mothers died mysteriously (is that not very common?) and the children were split up. The story begins with Carter and his father going to visit Sadie for the two allowed visiting days. Then, of course, a mysterious event (no spoilers here) happens, and the children are confronted with the secret world there parents have tried sheltered them from.

Neither of the characters was interesting. Carter was very average (but not in a good way!). He was, flatly described, a bore. Sadie on the other hand, is worse. She does have a personality, but it is obnoxious, ignorant (we're talking about someone who thinks the Rosetta Stone is a computer program) and extremely annoying. Unfortunately, she does not have a personality except for the fact she is rude, childish, and has an English accent. Apart from that, she, like Carter, is a dull bore.

Characters, I think, are the most important part of the book. Even the plot, in my opinion, is not extremely important if the characters are real and interesting to read about. But I found myself simply not caring what happened to these two children, and so, finally, I put the book down.

The plot was also annoying. The story alternated between the two children, which sometimes has a nice effect, but in this case it was simple irritating. I could usually tell who was speaking, but it didn't really matter, and it didn't add to the story. Like the Percy Jackson series, the characters were constantly on the run, facing monsters and dilemmas at every turn, and this book followed that format precisely.

Overall, I found this book to be a boring disappointment, and do not recommend it.

Back in April of this year I noticed a free chapter sample on Kindle for The Kane Chronicles, Book Two: The Throne of Fire. I read that chapter and thought it sounded like a really good book and wrote a review to that effect. Then I discovered that one of my grandchildren was reading the first book in the series so I bought The Red Pyramid so we could compare notes on the book. I'm sorry to say that the book was quite a bit of a let down for me.

The first few chapters were quite interesting and I thought I was going to like the decision author Rick Riordan had made to allow both children in the story, Sadie and Carter Kane, to present alternating chapters of their adventure. This device made sense to me since the two had been raised apart since the death of their mother and they really didn't know each other very well. Later, when I discovered that I often needed to refer to the top of the page to see which person was narrating I began to rethink my liking of that aspect of the book. I seemed to have trouble keeping straight in my mind which person was doing the storytelling. Luckily someone connected with the book must have foreseen this as a possible problem because the top of each right hand page has the name of either Sadie or Carter, depending on which one is 'talking', printed at the top.

This story really almost wore me out. I began to wonder if these children would ever be allowed just to eat a meal, spend some time sleeping or find an adult who would explain what was going on. The book is centered around magic and Egyptian gods and lore. When their father was involved in a magic episode Carter and Sadie began to try to rescue him, but were never told anything about what it would take to do that. Every chapter sent them on another harrowing adventure where they had to fight an Egyptian god or a magical beast without knowing how to do that. Each person or god they met sent them off on the next perilous adventure without giving them any explanation of what they were doing, what their ultimate goal could be, or how to accomplish what they wanted to do. In other words they spent all their time winging it and fighting for their lives. Finally toward the end of the book someone explained what they were caught up in, but by then I had read through chapter after chapter of one dilemma after another. Those poor kids were just constantly going and doing. I must say it reminded me very much of the Saturday morning cartoons where everything is constant action with very little explanation or contemplation.

I've never read any other work by this author and as this is my only example I doubt very seriously that I will try another of his books. I didn't like this very much, but I forced myself to finish it. Luckily for me some of my questions were answered in the final chapters. My granddaughter simply gave up on it and did not want to finish reading it. I think she is the more satisfied of the two of us.

When I heard that Rick Riordan was putting out another adventure series like Percy Jackson, I was excited to see how he would spin the Eqyptian lore. While the idea of two POV's was a great idea it didn't necessarily work. Sadie and Carter did not seem to have very different 'voices' and I had to check which POV I was even reading at times. That being said, the spin was a unique one and with a much less extensive knowledge about Eqyptian mythology than Greek Mythology, I was happy to learn while reading. The story, while obviously original, still felt like it was recycled. You could have just plunked Percy into the Eqyptian setting and had the same story. It just didn't feel like a different story entirely. Riordan did do a great job of getting the reader hooked though and eager to see how the next book will play out, so I will definitely be reading The Throne of Fire, maybe by then Sadie and Carter will hold their own and make me forget that Riordan ever wrote Percy Jackson. I'm hopeful :)

My 10 year old asked me for this book as soon as it was on the market. He LOVES the Percy Jackson series and was quite looking forward to this adventure. I was excited as well, because I had never delved into a Riordan read.

I love to read aloud to by two boys (5 and 10). Maybe I am too in love with the sound of my own voice, but my children seem to enjoy it, also. This being said...this book did not offer a vast or expansive vocabulary and the points came across as short and choppy. It was not a difficult read, but I became uninterested and distanced myself from the story almost from the beginning. It has taken me way too long to get through this book and it is because I hear myself reading, but I am not attached to the story in any way. I often have to stop and ask my boys if they are even grapsing the story, because I am not thouroughly engaged in the story.

I was also hoping that this story would offer a special relationship between the brother and sister. The two characters are never fully developed and seem bland. The bond between the siblings does not seem to grow stronger or impenetrable in the face of extreme, chaotic danger. I have explained my feelings and views on this book to my 10 year old and he strongly disagrees. He has interjected his enthusiastic appreciation for the writing several times in the story, "How can you not love that writing?!" I did explain that everybody has a different point of view and everyone is definitely entitled to their own opinion. On this book we must agree to diagree and still love that we are reading it together.

Thankfully, we should be finishing up tonight and I look forward to our next series...The Land of Elyon. Happy reading!