In Rick Riordan’s The Red Pyramid, brother and sister Carter and Sadie Kane find out that the gods of ancient Egypt are real, their father and uncle are powerful magicians, and they themselves are descended from two powerful lines of ancient Egyptian pharaohs, making Carter and Sadie the most powerful magicians in generations. The potential of the two is so powerful, in fact, that since the death of their mother, the have been raised separately: Carter by his father and Sadie by her maternal grandparents. The two are brought together for Sadie’s birthday, but everything falls apart when their father, Julius, tries to summon the god Osiris using the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum. Julius accidentally releases the evil god Set, along with a host of other gods, and Set confines Julius to a coffin. The children’s uncle, Amos, also a powerful magician, comes to their rescue and takes them to his safe house in Brooklyn where they begin to learn about the Egyptian gods and the world of magicians into which they were born. The two are to be trained as magicians by the House of Light, but it soon becomes clear that Carter and Sadie have become hosts to two powerful gods, Horus and Isis. Hosting gods is forbidden by the House of Light, and the two must flee. The ultimate goals of the two young magicians is to defeat Set and free their father, goals that lead them to the Red Pyramid where they battle and defeat Set. Set is then forced to help the children contain an even greater threat, Apophis, a snake who embodies chaos and whose release would upset the balance in the world. The two are unable to bring their father back to their world, but he instead goes to live in the Underworld as Osiris, where he is reunited with his wife. The two children sever their connections to Horus and Isis and set out to find other children who have the Blood of the Pharaohs to train them in the Path of the Gods to defeat Apophis once and for all.
The Throne of Fire is the second in the Kane Chronicles. In this sequel, Carter and Sadie have found a number of children with the Blood of the Pharaohs and have established a training school in the Path of the Gods at their uncle’s house in Brooklyn. Carter and Sadie are facing two enemies now: the snake Apophis and the House of Light, led by the magician Desjardins, now Chief Lector. The children have mere days to find away to stop the rise of Apophis and determine that raising the sun god Ra is their only chance. The two begin a search for the three parts of the Book of Ra, all the while hounded by a host of dangerous gods as well as deadly magicians from the House of Light. Once they have the complete Book of Ra, the two enter the Duat to find and revive Ra. Though the task is difficult, the two succeed only to find that Ra is in no condition at present to help them against Apophis. The two must turn to their enemy Desjardins for help. Desjardins is able to stop Apophis, at least temporarily, but loses his life in the process. As a result,
The children’s uncle Amos becomes the new Chief Lector of the House of Light.
The Kane Chronicles is shaping up to be as great a series as Riordan’s Percy Jackson novels. While I personally enjoy the Percy Jackson novels more, I believe this is simply due to the fact that I had much more background knowledge about the Greek gods and goddesses than I do about the Egyptian gods and goddesses, but luckily, in depth knowledge of Egyptian mythology is not a requirement for enjoying these novels. I was also put off a little by Riordan’s choice to have both Carter and Sadie narrate the novels, alternating between the two every couple of chapters. The premise is that the novels are a text version of recordings the two children have made relating their adventures. While he is certainly successful in his characterization of the two siblings and in creating an individual voice for each, I found the back-and-forth narration a bit trite. Younger readers, however, may enjoy the change of perspective and will recognize the love-hate sibling relationship Riordan established between the two. While these fantasy novels are mostly for entertainment, I can certainly see their benefit as a parallel reading in the social studies curriculum, particularly a world history class, where students are studying ancient Egypt and its mythology. These novels could bring those gods and goddesses to life for the students and increase student interest and engagement in the topic.
References
Riordan, R. (2010). The red pyramid. New York: Disney-Hyperion Books.
Riordan, R. (2011). The throne of fire. New York: Disney-Hyperion Books.
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