I recently read my 12 year old son the latest Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson) book, The Red Pyramid. This children’s novel is the first in a new series begun by Riordan entitled The Kane Chronicles and it does for Egyptian mythology what Percy did for the Greek myths. Riordan’s writing style is much the same in his latest work which is good news for kids (and adults) who enjoyed reading the Jackson series. Again, at first glance, Riordan is far from original. This was an initial complaint of mine with his first series. I will save the tedium of regurgitating my post about Percy Jackson and the Olympians, but suffice to say that Riordan tends to read like a knock-off of other pieces of children’s literature already published. The Kane Chronicles for me began like a rip-off of Michael Scott’s series The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel. There is a pair of siblings, one boy, one girl, with parents who are not in their physical day-to-day lives. The siblings find out that they are not really whom they thought they were and have to be “awakened” to their true, magical natures. In the process of this awakening, they are forced to leave home and journey here, there, and everywhere, both domestically and internationally, and face battles of varying degree testing their abilities and their relationships with each other. They are helped and hosted by a variety of friends, family, and foes, and they are not always sure who they can trust. Both series use historical and mythological beings throughout, though the Riordan sticks with Ancient Egypt as it’s primary focus. So if you’ve already read the Scott series, is Riordan’s latest worth picking up? Yes…
I also recently finished The Necromancer, which is the fourth book in the Scott series (I think he has promised seven books in total, and there is an advertisement in Necromancer for the next installment, The Warlock). I have to say that I am liking the Scott books less and less with each one. The character development is poor at best and by the end of the fourth novel, I was so sick and tired of the same whininess in Josh, the lack of initiative in Sophie, the disagreements between the two, the distrust they feel for the Flamels, and their wavering between the “good” and “evil.” Scott brings several new historical or mythological characters into each storyline, but they are all over the board and the “relationships” he establishes between them are ridiculously improbable, even if they are all immortal. Prometheus should not be the brother of the Witch of Endor, who just happens to be married to Mars Ultor?? Machiavelli forms an alliance with Billy the Kid? As if these relational ties aren’t bad enough, Scott just keeps throwing the characters in without truly developing any of them. After four books, my head is spinning trying to remember who’s who and who’s with whom and where we left them last.
In retrospect, even though Riordan’s characters and storyline may have similarities to other young adult series out there, he does limit his characters and their relationships so that the reader has time to get to know them and empathize with their struggles. The relationships between the gods, goddesses, heroes, and now magicians are believable and in keeping with history or mythology. Our kids are actually learning by reading “for fun”…just don’t tell them that. What sold me on the latest Riordan in the end? I actually got teary-eyed over one character’s fate. That’s when I knew he had done his job well as an author.
I’ll be buying the next Kane Chronicle and will be listing my Scott books on Half.com for resale, never to pick up another…stick a fork in me there. In the meantime we’ve begun Artemis Fowl and so far I’m giving it kudos for originality, even if I’m struggling with a criminal protagonist. Guess I’ll get to teach more about the concept of the anti-hero anyway.
And in case some of you are wondering, I’m reading a fair amount of “adult lit” this summer too and will probably give a thumbs up, thumbs down review of the mass of it at the end.
