The Red Pyramid

April 12, 2010
This fun, if formulaic, start to the Kane Chronicles series opens with a signature Riordan move: an explosion. Siblings Carter and Sadie have been living apart since their mother’s mysterious death. On Christmas Eve, archeologist Julius Kane and son Carter, 14, show up in England for one of their two days a year with Sadie. Julius ushers his children to the British Museum, where he blows up the Rosetta Stone, unleashing five Egyptian gods and causing his own disappearance. The kids’ Uncle Amos whisks them to a Brooklyn mansion, where he reveals that the Kanes descend from powerful Egyptian magicians. Swap Egyptian mythology for Percy Jackson’s Greek gods and you’ve got the best part of this—an ancient history lesson seamlessly unfurled in a rip-roaring adventure. Told in alternating chapters by Carter and Sadie, the novel begins with a warning that the book is a “transcript of a digital recording,” a distracting gimmick, and the attempts to make Sadie sound English by dropping in British slang are intermittent. Despite those flaws, Riordan delivers another funny yarn with kids in the lead and animal sidekicks that nearly steal the show. Ages 9–12.

December 3, 2012
The first book in Riordan's Kane Chronicles gets the graphic novel treatment. The story follows that of Riordan's 2010 middle-grade novel of the same name, which stars Sadie and Carter Kane, the children of famed Egyptologist Julius Kane. When their father accidentally unleashes a dangerous Egyptian god at the British Museum and vanishes, the siblings embark on a perilous journey around the globe, which reveals hidden truths about their family. The plot lends itself fluidly to the graphic novel format, and Collar's cinematic artwork is well equipped to handle the story's larger-than-life mythological action. Gone is the digital recording narrative gimmick of the original book; instead, the twists and turns of Riordan's intricate story line are delivered through dialogue and through Sadie and Carter's dual narration, which appears in small color-coded panels. Collar, who also worked on Riordan's graphic novel adaptation of The Lightning Thief, packs his spreads with rousing technology and magic, as well as tongue-in-cheek details. New readers and existing fans alike will dive right in. Ages 10âup. Agent: Nancy Gallt, Nancy Gallt Literary Agency.