Other Gods

Recently I blogged about the Percy Jackson series.  These books are based on the Greek gods/mythology.  But there are other ancient gods.  The Roman gods were based on and closely related to the Greek gods (probably because the Romans just stole all the good parts of their empire from the Greeks...I may be a little biased) but there were also Egyptian gods (and Mayan and Aztec, etc etc).  So Riordan wrote a new series based off of the Egyptian gods/mythology.

This is called The Kane Chronicles and I gotta be honest I like it more than Percy Jackson.  Probably because, though I really enjoyed both, I always liked Egyptian mythology more than Greek (except for that time I lived in Greece...obviously).  The first book of the Kane Chronicles is The Red Pyramid.  Here we are introduced to Carter and Sadie Kane, siblings who could not be more different.

That's the first great part about the Kane Chronicles.  Anyone who has a sibling will relate to Carter and Sadie's dynamic.  Also the book switches between their points of view, so first we hear Carter's side, then Sadie continues the story (complete with side comments they are making to each other).

The second thing is that this book leaves open the possibility that maybe you belong in this world.  Unlike in the Percy Jackson series where the heroes are literally children of gods, the Kanes are simply blood of the Pharaohs.  They are fully human, albeit descended from extremely powerful rulers of Egypt and born with the capacity to do magic and commune with the gods. Sure since both of Carter and Sadie's parents were descended from Pharaohs the Kane children are exceptionally powerful, but maybe you also have some blood of the Pharaohs.Maybe, just maybe, you will be able to host a god and help defeat the forces of chaos.  It's not likely, but there's a chance.  And that's why this book is so engaging.  It leaves just the smallest glimmer of hope that maybe there is something magical about you.

Fulfilling your destiny...that's kids stuff