[LM_NET] Review: YA novel: Rick Riordan's The Red Pyramid

[Pamela Thompson <pthomp@SISD.NET>]

The Red Pyramid ( Kane Chronicles, Book One)

by Rick Riordan.

Disney, Hyperion Books, 2010.

516 pages.





Following on the heels of tremendous success with the Percy Jackson and the 
Olympians series, Rick Riordan takes on the Egyptian gods. Not quite as fun or 
popular as their Greek counterparts, the gods from Egypt are darker and meaner. 
They may become as popular as the Greeks in the capable hands of storyteller 
Riordan.

The Red Pyramid is a fun, non-stop adventure with tongue-in-cheek humor and puns. 
Riordan makes fun of many of the foreign sounding names, like Djehuti, whom the 
main character, Carter, pronounces "Ja-hooty." Titles of chapters are also part of 
the joke. Chapter 35, for instance, is titled "Men Ask For Directions (& Other 
Signs of the Apocalypse). There are funny characters like an orangutang who plays 
basketball and wears a Lakers jersey.





Carter and Sadie Kane are siblings whose parents are Egyptologists and who the kids 
learn later are descended from the original Pharoh families. The Kane children have 
special abilities like magic and are protected by a cat named Muffin, who turns out 
to be the ancient goddess Bast. Other gods help Carter and Sadie along the way, 
too. Hey, it's not easy saving the world!





The novel itself is dedicated "to all my librarian friends, champions of books..." 
Riordan remembers all the book talks and reviews fellow librarians have done in the 
past helping his books become best-sellers. For that, he is commended!





The Red Pyramid will excite those who read the Percy Jackson series. It, too, will 
be several installments--probably six books--and who knows, maybe a movie???

Recommended for YA collections grades 6-h.s. If you liked The Lightning Thief and 
its sequels, this book is for you!

Pamela Thompson, MLIS


Library Media Specialist
Col. John O. Ensor Middle School
13600 Ryderwood
El Paso, TX
915-937-6018
pthomp@sisd.net<mailto:pthomp@sisd.net>

visit my YA novel blog at http://booksbypamelathompson.blogspot.com/


"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog is too dark to 
read." --Groucho Marx

"In the nonstop tsunami of global information, librarians provide us with floaties 
and teach us how to swim." -- Linton Weeks, Washington Post

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