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4 stars! This review will be spoiler free!
Synopsis:
Carter and Sadie Kane, son and daughter of Julius Kane, famous egyptologist, have been separated since the death of their mother. Carter has been homeschooled by his father while traveling to various museums to further his research, while Sadie remained in England for 6 years with their grandparents. Julius brings his children together for the holidays and as Christmas approaches, he brings them together in London to explore yet another museum. His children believe this is going to be a normal outing as a family with their father, but things become very strange and devastating when their father attempts to release a God. Julius ends up summoning the chaos God, Set, who banishes Julius in a sarcophagus while Carter and Sadie are helpless to save him. Carter and Sadie had no idea their father was a magician, let alone that they have magic awakening inside themselves. Now that their father has unleashed Set and the other Egyptian Gods, its up to Carter and Sadie to clean up their father's mess and of course... Save the world.
Initial thoughts:
This was a rather enjoyable middle grade story. However, maybe because I've read so many Rick Riordan books, I've become very critical of his writing. I understand that these were written much much father back and that his writing has improved since writing in these books, but I did not like this first book as much as I tend to like Riordan's "first in a series." Don't get me wrong though, there's still so much that I love, there were just a few small things that irked me. I loved the format, the characters, the MAGIC and mythology, the Egyptian history, and the nostalgia that Riordan’s old writing brought me. I didn’t like how there were some thing that were just smack, in your face, and still the MCs didn’t realize it. And also how the pacing was a bit erratic for me. Also some parts of the book fell short where there was soooo much potential.
Plot:
Likes: I loved the format! The story is told as a transcribed recording of Sadie and Carter and there are these little humorous side comments of them talking to each other in addition to their storytelling. Ah, it was just so funny. This old Riordan writing brings back nostalgia to when his writing was sarcastically funny and full of action without the need to insert so so so many pop culture allusions (that I think detract from the story when there are way too many). So I was happy to just read along for the pure adventure and sass.
The magic was insanely complex. The system in this series is nothing like I've read in any other books. Likely because I've never read any other books based in Egyptian mythology, but still. I was so impressed with how the power of the Gods is utilized, how wands and staffs and magician bags come into play, how old magic and new magic mingle, and EVERYTHING. There's just so many layers to this magic system, sadly it did take forever to get to a point where I could understand it. Which I'll explain later.
The plot was seriously something else. I'll talk about the stuff I liked in this section and the stuff that bothered me below. The action is amazing! We all know Riordan can write battle scenes like no one else. Props to him for more amazing combat magic and sword action! And we have some great character arms. These are young main characters mind you (14 and 12 years old), so they start off rather knowledgeable. As they're exposed to the world and its dangers, they learn to take on all the obstacles thrown at them. Despite the predictability of the "plot twist" Riordan tried to create, I liked the ending. I liked how we didn't go with the obvious choice. We went with the one that could possibly create a good spin in the books to come. Which makes me excited for the rest of the trilogy!
Dislikes: I didn't care for the pacing of this story. I don't know quite how to explain it, but it's like certain parts were sped up where I wanted to take my time, and parts were slowed down that I needed to be sped up because they were dragging. Nothing felt particularly unnecessary, just overdone sometimes? and underdone other times? yeah.
My main qualm lies in the obviousness of the ending. Like there were multiple moments where the answer was thrown in Carter's, Sadie's, and the reader's faces and of course the reader can tell, but like Carter and Sadie continue to be daft about it. Then, it almost gets them killed and you're just thinking... UGH HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE IT.
Characters:
We have some truly wonderful characters. Bast is the BEST. I loved her and her fierce feline-ness. The multiple cat-stereotypes added into her personality made her all the more hilarious. Carter and Sadie are also interesting in how opposite they are. Carter is a black kid with curly dark hair and BLESS for a colored main character. Sadie is blue-eyed and pale with blonde hair with red streaks, can't get anymore opposite than that. She's got quite the sharp tongue and her witty comebacks are so good.
Then the way the Gods come into play adds another layer of humor and personality to the pot. The way the Gods are portrayed in this book is the best of all his books in my opinion. I like that they are not portrayed in terms of good and bad, but in those who seek to keep order and those who seek to create chaos. Because in reality, good and bad is subjective depending on who's POV you're in and that's an interesting lesson to teach in middle grade (and is something Riordan touches on slightly in his Magnus Chase series as well).
And then there's Zia. She is the one character that I thought had so much potential and fell short. I wanted more from her in this book, but I understand she will come into play much more in book two instead.
Overall:
I've already started book two as I'm writing this, so you already know that I liked this book enough to continue on. Hoping to finish this trilogy before the end of 2017! Then I'll officially be caught up on ALL Riordan's main series. Exciting!