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A review by graciegrace1178
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
5.0
4.6 stars.
Note: some of these were written while reading and others were written after the fact. There’s some weird jumps in tenses as a result. I have no intention of fixing them. As always, enjoy my unedited ramblings.
WIL
1) firmly rooted in time and space. (Anchors to Aristotle!) one of the many reasons I love RR’s content is because he very solidly establishes location and dates. PJO is usually in the summer with SPECIFIC mention of dates. This book is set around Dec 27 ish. With all the myths and the unrealism of it all, RR anchors readers into the modern world with familiar dates and spatial landmarks. (In here, the British museum, Cleopatra’s needle, the Washington monument etc.) What I’m saying is: the connection to Pre-established and normalized ideas makes this whole universe all the more real and lovable. (Filed under: notes for my own novels.)
2) Nico di Angelo and Anubis as the same frickin archetype. Man oh man is Nico similar to Anubis. I googled it and a few people are talking about the similarities (and differences). Obviously, the biggest differences are that Anubis is a god and Nico is a demigod AND the differences in sexuality. BUT hear me out. In...oh.. one of the PJO books, RR establishes that mortals see what they want to see. Demigods have clearer sight but it’s still imperfect. I’m thinking that maybe- MAYBE- Nico and Anubis are two sides of the same coin. To Sadie and Carter who are thoroughly entrenched in Egyptian myth, the Egyptian version of Nico appears. To the Greeks who are set in their Greek ways, they get Nico. And as far as the sexuality thing...I’m still working on a theory for that.
3) Sarcastic Sadie and Conventional Carter. Solid characters. Real characters with reasonable reactions and motivated by plausible factors. And ofc they serve as foils to each other and as twins (or gemini, if you will do indulge the Greek semantics). Sadie's sarcasm bugged me a bit when I first read this (way back in the year 2010 ish when time was still real), but now I adore it. And Carter, sweet Carter, who just wants to follow the rules? Bean. Love him sm.
4) time as a physical dimension. Anyone who knows me knows how my heart YEARNS for a deep time immersive simulation in which one can walk through the many eons/periods/ages/etc and SEE the change to environment. Preferably this experience would take place in a Bradbury Veldt-like room (sans murderous lions). And because I am so obsessed with this, any time I see time represented as a physical dimension I go absolutely bonkers. Heck yea Rick. HECK yea. THIS is the future I want. Chapter 14 walking through the Egyptian history and FEELING the vibe of the times? AMAZING. Granted, Rick achieves the effect through actual magic, but I still have hope that this can be done with a whole lot of persistence and imagination. (Side note here: I'm mentally drawing out the plans for this deep time museum idea at this very moment. Just call me Annabeth Chase.)
5) "you will fail to save what matters most in the end" from TLF but make it Egyptian lore. That's right, Riordan. I've caught you. You have a very distinct interpretation of the hero's journey and i am HERE for it. "We'd come so far to rescue our father, only to lose him." Is this not the Sally Jackson trope? Boy will the Kanes have a lot of fun discussing their personal life story parallels with those of Percy Jackson.
6) The audio-to-text transcription format. I'm not actually super crazy about this, but it's original and creative. The format grew on me more as I read on, so I'm sure as I continue the series I'll only like it more. It does certainly add a whole dimension of narrative.
WIDL
1) heartsick PJO/THOO. It’s hard to fully invest myself in this when I’m still pining for my lost friends in PJO and THOO. Tbh I’m really mostly reading this so I can get enough context for the mini stories that feature the Kanes with my PJO/THOO pals. A means to an end. That’s not a great motivation for reading, and I know this, but I’m trucking along through this anyway. UPDATE: I liked this more than I thought I would. My motivation changed about halfway through when I realized that this WAS in fact a Darn Good Book.
NEUTRAL GROUND
1) shoutout to RR for being so bloody entrancing that I literally fell down the stairs bc I was so lost in thought about this. Really screwed up my ankle. Takes some high quality literary magic to make me lose myself so much that I tumble down the stairs. Also was nice to see Carter hurt his ankle right after I took the plummet. Solidarity.
Note: some of these were written while reading and others were written after the fact. There’s some weird jumps in tenses as a result. I have no intention of fixing them. As always, enjoy my unedited ramblings.
WIL
1) firmly rooted in time and space. (Anchors to Aristotle!) one of the many reasons I love RR’s content is because he very solidly establishes location and dates. PJO is usually in the summer with SPECIFIC mention of dates. This book is set around Dec 27 ish. With all the myths and the unrealism of it all, RR anchors readers into the modern world with familiar dates and spatial landmarks. (In here, the British museum, Cleopatra’s needle, the Washington monument etc.) What I’m saying is: the connection to Pre-established and normalized ideas makes this whole universe all the more real and lovable. (Filed under: notes for my own novels.)
2) Nico di Angelo and Anubis as the same frickin archetype. Man oh man is Nico similar to Anubis. I googled it and a few people are talking about the similarities (and differences). Obviously, the biggest differences are that Anubis is a god and Nico is a demigod AND the differences in sexuality. BUT hear me out. In...oh.. one of the PJO books, RR establishes that mortals see what they want to see. Demigods have clearer sight but it’s still imperfect. I’m thinking that maybe- MAYBE- Nico and Anubis are two sides of the same coin. To Sadie and Carter who are thoroughly entrenched in Egyptian myth, the Egyptian version of Nico appears. To the Greeks who are set in their Greek ways, they get Nico. And as far as the sexuality thing...I’m still working on a theory for that.
3) Sarcastic Sadie and Conventional Carter. Solid characters. Real characters with reasonable reactions and motivated by plausible factors. And ofc they serve as foils to each other and as twins (or gemini, if you will do indulge the Greek semantics). Sadie's sarcasm bugged me a bit when I first read this (way back in the year 2010 ish when time was still real), but now I adore it. And Carter, sweet Carter, who just wants to follow the rules? Bean. Love him sm.
4) time as a physical dimension. Anyone who knows me knows how my heart YEARNS for a deep time immersive simulation in which one can walk through the many eons/periods/ages/etc and SEE the change to environment. Preferably this experience would take place in a Bradbury Veldt-like room (sans murderous lions). And because I am so obsessed with this, any time I see time represented as a physical dimension I go absolutely bonkers. Heck yea Rick. HECK yea. THIS is the future I want. Chapter 14 walking through the Egyptian history and FEELING the vibe of the times? AMAZING. Granted, Rick achieves the effect through actual magic, but I still have hope that this can be done with a whole lot of persistence and imagination. (Side note here: I'm mentally drawing out the plans for this deep time museum idea at this very moment. Just call me Annabeth Chase.)
5) "you will fail to save what matters most in the end" from TLF but make it Egyptian lore. That's right, Riordan. I've caught you. You have a very distinct interpretation of the hero's journey and i am HERE for it. "We'd come so far to rescue our father, only to lose him." Is this not the Sally Jackson trope? Boy will the Kanes have a lot of fun discussing their personal life story parallels with those of Percy Jackson.
6) The audio-to-text transcription format. I'm not actually super crazy about this, but it's original and creative. The format grew on me more as I read on, so I'm sure as I continue the series I'll only like it more. It does certainly add a whole dimension of narrative.
WIDL
1) heartsick PJO/THOO. It’s hard to fully invest myself in this when I’m still pining for my lost friends in PJO and THOO. Tbh I’m really mostly reading this so I can get enough context for the mini stories that feature the Kanes with my PJO/THOO pals. A means to an end. That’s not a great motivation for reading, and I know this, but I’m trucking along through this anyway. UPDATE: I liked this more than I thought I would. My motivation changed about halfway through when I realized that this WAS in fact a Darn Good Book.
NEUTRAL GROUND
1) shoutout to RR for being so bloody entrancing that I literally fell down the stairs bc I was so lost in thought about this. Really screwed up my ankle. Takes some high quality literary magic to make me lose myself so much that I tumble down the stairs. Also was nice to see Carter hurt his ankle right after I took the plummet. Solidarity.