The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
"Since their mother’s death, Carter and Sadie have become near strangers. While Sadie has lived with her grandparents in London, her brother has traveled
the world with their father, the brilliant Egyptologist, Dr. Julius Kane.

One night, Dr. Kane brings the siblings together for a "research experiment" at the British Museum, where he hopes to set things right for his family. Instead, he unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes him to oblivion and forces the children to flee for their lives.

Soon, Sadie and Carter discover that the gods of Egypt are waking, and the worst of them--Set--has his sights on the Kanes. To stop him, the siblings
embark on a dangerous journey across the globe--a quest that brings them ever closer to the truth about their family, and their links to a secret order that has
existed since the time of the pharaohs."

So I was really excited to read this book! It is like Percy Jackson but Egyptian style. I enjoyed reading it, but didn’t like it as much as I did the original Percy Jackson series. Part of the reason is that I didn’t know much about Egyptian Mythology and so I didn’t have as much fun recognizing the Egyptian gods as I did Greek and Roman myths and gods. The other part is that I think the author had to do a lot of work to set up the background of the Egyptian Mythology and that sort of slowed down the action a bit, notice it is longer than The Lightening Thief. I felt like I was always having something new introduced and explained to me. The author did do a good job with incorporating the info into the story it was just that there was a LOT of it. The characters were interesting, though, sometimes I felt like Sadie was a bit off. In the end I thought it was a good book with a solid plot. I was totally hooked into what was going to happen at the end. The reader just has to have some patience to deal a lot of introduced background info. I’m wondering if the next book will be a lot more fun to read now that the world and a bunch of the characters have been set up in the first book.

I am really happy that I have a fun fiction book about Egyptian Mythology to recommend to my Latin students though.

Rick Riordan's Website

Book Review: Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan

I have this wierd reluctance to spend so many blog posts on one series, especially when you read them all in row. Maybe I fear that it will make the blog boring or something. So, in this post you get my opinon on the remaining Percy Jackson books.

Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

The next installment of Percy’s Adventures finds camp Half-Blood in dire circumstances, and Grover in great danger. The tree that guards that camp has been poisoned, and the protective borders around camp are becoming fainter and fainter. Meanwhile, Percy has been getting dreams that Grover is in the hands of an ancient enemy—the Cyclops. On an island filled with sheep, Odysseus’s old enemy is only kept from eating Grover because the blinded Cyclops thinks that Grover is marriageable material. Percy and his friends must travel through the sea of monsters to rescue a friend and find a magic object that just may save camp half-blood.

The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan

Percy once again receives an urgent summons from Grover, who has found two powerful half-bloods in a new school. Percy and crew arrive to help transport the demi-gods and keep them safe. Lord Kronos, with the help of their friend Luke, has devious plans to detain them. Hence, en route to camp, Percy’s group is ambushed and Annabeth is taken prisoner. The sudden assistance of Artemis and her huntresses save them from being captured, but Annabeth is gone. Percy must start another quest to rescue his friend Annabeth from the clutches of Kronos before he brings down the foundations of Mt. Olympus.

The Battle of the Labyrinth By Rich Riordan

Percy doesn’t expect Freshman Orientation to go well at his new school, but having demon cheerleaders attack him is a surprise. In this continuation of the Percy Jackson series Luke and Kronos’s army has gotten bigger and more dangerous. What is worse is that they have a plan to get into camp half-blood through the labyrinth built by Daedalus. Percy and his friends have to find the secret to finding their way through the Labyrinth before Luke does and destroys camp-half blood. Yet, the Labyrinth is dark, dangerous, and drives those who enter it insane. Our heroes are not sure who will come away alive.

I continue to completely enjoy this series. I can honestly say that it is as good as the Harry Potter series, if not better. I seriously get sucked into the world whenever I read the books and the action-adventure element is always well written and way fun. Riordan also manages to write teenage romance much better than Rowling.

One of my pet peeves is that the Greek language doesn’t seem to be used as much. That doesn’t really bug me as much as the fact that it isn’t being used where it would most likely be seen. For example, in Curse of the Titan’s the heroes get to ride in Apollo’s Chariot. Percy thinks he reads “Warning: Student Driver,” but isn’t sure because he is dyslexic. Well, if Apollo is a Greek god then wouldn’t his chariot have Greek writing on it not English? I don’t know. Makes sense to me! There is another instance of this in Battle of the Labyrith. So, yeah, that’s just me being really picky, but I have noticed the lack. I’m pretty sure I’m the only one noticing too because I’m weird and obsessive that way. Other than that small detail I really love the series.

I think my favorite book is the Titian’s Curse because I really like Artemis and her huntresses. We also get to see Athena in that book, and Athena is my favorite Greek goddess. I’m really tempted to recommend them to my classics friends. I don’t know how they would react. Something to wonder about.

So, who's your favorite mythological god/goddess? Which book in the series is your favorite?

Rick Riodan's Webpage:http://www.rickriordan.com/

Book Review: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riodan

Pearcy Jackson only knows that his life is full of strange events. He’s dyslexic, ADHD, and has been kicked out of every school he has ever attended. He is a trouble-maker, but he soon discovers that he has had a reason. He is a half-blood, a demi-god, the son of on of the twelve Olympian gods, and that they live on the 600th floor of the empire state building in New York. After being chased by the Minatour, while on vacation with his mother, he stumbles onto a camp half-blood, a place where other demi-gods are trained. He is sent on a quest by the gods to save the world from WWIII, and Pearcy hopes that he can save his mother’s soul from the underworld while he is at it.

I thought I wasn’t going to like this book. Ancient Greece in modern day America? It’s just not going to be Greek enough, or mythological enough, or they’re going to get it all mixed up! My friends I am happy to declare that the book was thoroughly enjoyable! The Greek, as far as I can tell (which isn’t very far because I nearly failed my 2 semesters of Greek * cough *) is totally correct. Though, I’m pretty sure when he yells the ancient insult “go to the crows” that the phrase is Roman and should be in Latin and not Greek. Feel free to correct if I am wrong. You see why I worried about liking this book? I know too much! So yeah, then there is the fact that he can read homer after 3 days of reading Greek! I wish! You have to know like three dialects to read homer my friends! Three! Plus, this is Greek were talking about. Latin, my friends, makes sense. I know I’ve studied it five years. Greek is insane, but I digress.

So, despite the minor (admittedly petty) linguistic annoyances, which were small. I had more admiration for the correctness of the Greek and Random Latin phrases than anything else. Besides that, the story line is a wonderful, traditional, hero cycle, full of action and tons of fun evil monsters. The world is created seamlessly into the modern one making it seem real and alive, and adds extra flavor rather than detracting. Then the book also got extra points for having an underworld scene. I did tell you in my Friday’s list I was obsessed didn’t I? Well, if you didn’t hear before. I am obsessed with the Greco-Roman underworld. So naturally, I liked the story even more! I worried a little bit at the beginning that the teacher was going to get all preachy before the end of the book about classics or something, but my fear did not materialize. So, that was good because that would have detracted from the book. I fear that college has left me living under a rock. How could I not have discovered this series before? Go read it, seriously! I already have books 2 and 3 checked out from the library.

Rick's Website:http://www.rickriordan.com/