Kane Chronicles (1) - The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
And to the third series of Rick Riordan: The Kane Chronicles trilogy with The Red Pyramid (in German Die rote Pyramide, in French La Pyramide rouge). I read it in English with 516 pages. Originally published in 2010. For boys and girls age 12 till death - by laughing.
Bad enough that on one of their two visit days per year, Sadie's father takes her and her older brother into a museum. On Christmas Eve. But when he blows up an Egyptian relict, frees five gods from their prison and is sent by one of them per glass sarcophagus through the floor, Sadie and Carter get the feeling he might have kept something from them: Sadie and Carter Kane are magicians. And not just any magicians, they are descendants from not one, but two ancient lines of pharaohs - and, right now, possessed by two gods, which is punishable by death. The very different siblings have to master their magic abilities and gods, while outrunning their enemies and trying to prevent the end of the world - and their father’death.
This book is SO funny. I love Sadie, her humour's gorgeous. She's very strong and independent, even though she's only twelve – the age, by the way, doesn't fit. At all. And her sarcastic, quick-witted humour makes this book just perfect. Well, not perfect but close to it. And it's so great how she manages to twist both her brother and Anubis around her little finger – by the way, Anubis rocks. Really, I like him. And I know most girls would be disgusted at the idea of going out with the god of death and funerals, but seriously? If he's like Anubis here? I wouldn't mind. Yes, I'm a romantic, and a typical girl. So what?
However, it's also great how Sadie does what she thinks important and right. It's the opposite of Carter. Carter himself is not a bad character, just maybe a little boring and stiff. It's just that he only wants to please his father and make everything better for him. Later on, he develops – fortunately. But now, the he is now? I'm just sorry for him. But it's well done how he and Sadie develop this brother-sister-relationship again. Really, it's great. Finally siblings who actually behave like siblings should, instead of sleeping and or hating each other! Nice change, really.
My other favourite characters are Khufu, Philip of Macedonia and, of course, Muffin. Muffin rocks. And she really knows what is dangerous – you never know, do you? Sooo great! I love that little fur-ball.
But really? Amos was obvious.
I love the fact that in the end, the world was more important than the actual reason for the quest. That's not usually the case in fantasy stories – or games. There it's just absolve the quest and get the XP! But here's it's also doing the right thing. As Sadie said, maybe this makes you a bad daughter, but saving the world from an actual threat – like, a god – is more important than one person, no matter how much you love him or her. This is NOT a... I don't know, this does not mean you should kill in order to save the world. But in this situation, with either save him or the world but you can't save both, you should choose the world.
In brief:
I give it stars for style, characters, content, ideas and the humour. Minus one for the age. Really, that so doesn't fit to the characters.
Sequel: