The gods must be Nuts

Every so often, I come across books that make me say “That is an awesome idea! Why didn’t I think of that?" And in a fit of Writer Envy, I’d read that book just to find out if the author managed to create an awesome story out of the awesome idea, wondering if I can do better. Approximately five times out of 10, they churn out mediocre books; three times out of 10, they come up with good ones; and two times out of 10, they write something truly awesome. One of the writers who recently made it into my Awesome List is Rick Riordan. More popularly known for the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series whose first volume, The Lightning Thief, was recently adapted into a film starring Logan Lerman (who is rather cute), Riordan published a new book a few months back called The Red Pyramid. A magnet for Ancient Egypt geeks like me, The Red Pyramid is the first in a new “ancient mythology in a modern setting series" Riordan calls The Kane Chronicles, which tells the story of the Kane siblings, twelve-year-old Sadie and fourteen-year-old Carter. Like Percy Jackson, their childhoods were anything but normal. Their mother died when they were younger, and since then, Sadie came to live with their grandparents in London, while Carter traveled around with their dad, Dr. Julius Kane, a famous Egyptologist. During his last visit to London on Christmas Eve, Dr. Kane took his children on a private tour of the British Museum to see the Rosetta Stone with the intention of casting a spell to summon Osiris, the Ancient Egyptian god of the Afterlife. Things didn’t quite work as Dr. Kane intended. Not only did he succeed in summoning Osiris, he also unleashed more Ancient Egyptian mythical entities than he bargained for. Dr. Kane disappeared that night, and Sadie and Carter were left in the care of their Uncle Amos, from whom the children learned the truth about their father, their family, and (insert ominous music here) their destiny. So what is written in the Book of Destiny for these kids? Suffice it to say, it all boils down to “The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children." And this isn’t like paying for your parents’ 50,000 peso gambling debt either; this is a Paying for Your Parents’ Mistakes to Save the World and the Underworld kind of thing. Parental redemption and the empowerment of young people are themes that Riordan also explored in Percy Jackson, but are given more emphasis in The Kane Chronicles. For the intended audience, these make for a satisfying fantasy, as most are at a vulnerable age when they feel helpless or powerless, and society generally treats them as such. In the case of the Kanes, empowerment comes from some divine intervention, but Riordan presents the siblings foremost as kids with innate courage and smarts; the magical powers they acquire are just tools to achieve their goals. In this way, he makes his characters more relatable despite the out-of-this-world circumstances he subjects them to. The Kanes’ out-of-this-world story is narrated from two different points of view: The Red Pyramid is presented as a transcript of a recording that Sadie and Carter made during their adventures. Riordan treats them with equal importance, so the alternating narration gives us deeper insight into both characters—Sadie has a sarcastic sense of humor (she’s not only funny, she’s also pun-ny), and is the more willful and adventurous of the two, while Carter is more reserved, cautious, and cerebral. Things get more interesting when we see other people through both their eyes and we glimpse different aspects of the other characters’ personalities depending on who is telling the story at the moment. Sadie and Carter have different biases and sometimes have personal encounters that the other does not know about. This kept me on my toes as a reader because, although I was privy to the thoughts of both, it’s not easy to decide whose point of view I could really trust. Oh, and the Egyptian gods? They did not do wonders for my fictional trust issues (or my arachnophobia). Riordan’s characterization of the Egyptian gods is a lot darker than his more amusing Greek pantheon. While the Greek gods can change their appearance and manifest themselves as humans or animals, the Egyptian deities more often exist as spirits who have to inhabit physical hosts. So if The Exorcist gave you nightmares, wait until your imagination shows you what happens when Serqet, the scorpion-headed goddess of arachnids, takes a human woman for a host. Though Serqet’s form can be rather nasty, it turns out she’s also a goddess of protection; it just so happens she’s on the other side of the war, and is not out to protect our two heroes. Most of the deities share this kind of duality. Isis, for example, is a revered protector of mothers and goddess of magic, but she also betrayed the sun god Ra, thus, thrusting the entire Egyptian pantheon into the crisis that’s at the heart of The Kane Chronicles. Riordan weaves this dual nature of Egyptian mythology into the plot of The Red Pyramid with great skill that it’s never easy to see the line between good and evil or the two sides in the ensuing war of order versus chaos. Ultimately, the characters’ allegiances are determined not by their nature, but by their motivations. This, I think, is one of the reasons why Riordan’s young adult books also appeal to adults. It’s not all black or white, and not even the characters and situations that are lifted from mythology are entirely predictable. He gives readers plenty of room for thought: should we root for Sadie and Carter or do the magicians of The House of Life make more sense? Whose actions will plunge the world into chaos? Should I trust a god who seems nice and can manifest as a very attractive human? One of the characters told Sadie “Gods have great power, but only humans have creativity, the power to change history rather than repeat it." Not only does this turn out to be true within the context of Riordan’s imagined worlds, but it’s also true of his work. The Red Pyramid could just as easily have been a rehash of Percy Jackson in an Egyptian setting, but he created a new and distinct set of characters governed by more intricate laws and mythology. What did not change, however, are his great sense of humor, a good grasp of both obscure and popular myths, and a keen understanding of what will work for his readers. Riordan also writes exciting action scenes, although the pace is erratic at times. The book is much longer than the individual Percy Jackson novels, but the plot is not difficult to follow, so readers should have no trouble breezing through it. The next volume of The Kane Chronicles is scheduled to be published next year, but Riordan has kept busy and he has returned to Percy Jackson’s world for a second series, The Heroes of Olympus. The first book, The Lost Hero, is now available in local book stores in trade paperback format, and so is the Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief graphic novel. The Red Pyramid is available in hardcover and trade paperback. - GMANews.TV