The Red Pyramid - hmmm... (CC)

[Wee Pip]

We're Percy Jackson fans here. I've also loved Ancient Egyptian history and culture since my teen years. Naturally, the Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan was a good match for our interests! My 9yo finished it and really enjoyed it. I'm only half way through it, but found a lot of themes in this book very disturbing. I like how much history and archaeology is in the book - that part is excellent. The writing style? eh, not the greatest, but I can live with it. I understand the religious context relating to many of the ancient Egyptian beliefs (the "ba" that leaves the body during sleep, the incarnation of a god in the pharaoh, etc.) But the writing of it just sounds so...New Agey in some respects (ideas of energy, leaving your body), and downright Satanic in other respects (gods = demons entering your body, being a host, giving over control to a supernatural being and not in a Christian "giving over to God" sort of way, kwim?) I'm not very strict in what we read - I adore Harry Potter! But this one, The Red Pyramid, really has me bothered - especially that I let my dd read this one before me (having read PJ, I didn't think it was an issue that she'd devour it before me). Anyone else have a similar reaction to the book?

[elegantlion]

Having read it and being a big Percy Jackson fan, I didn't have issue with it. I read a lot of Egyptian mythology as a child and while I don't remember all of it, Riordan's writing rang true to my what I remember. I am no in way an expert on Egyptian mythology though.

 

If you compare the Greek myths in Percy Jackson, you still have the possessed Oracle, the "demon" possessed demi-god Luke, and Percy's dreams that take him to another place. They also offer their food to the gods at Camp Half-Blood.

 

I think as classical educators we're more used to Greek mythology, we can make the ties to how those myths play out in Greek culture and history. However we don't always have those ties to Egyptian culture and history.

 

I do think there is more action in this first book in the series. There was an innocence in the first Percy Jackson book, but the main character was much younger too. I liked Red Pyramid because I maintain a passion for Egypt and archaeology, especially Egyptology. I'm excited to see how this series progresses. However, I still feel a little favoritism toward Percy Jackson.

[Guest CarolineUK]

I've almost finished reading The Red Pyramid to DS11 and DS9, and I've really enjoyed it. To me it seems enormously better written than PJ. Also, I don't find the 'human hosting the god/demon' etc aspects any more weird or creepy than, say, the idea of a god and a human procreating, or someone splitting their soul into seven ...

 

I'm not sure the boys are enjoying it as much as me, or as much as they enjoyed PJ or Harry Potter, probably because there's more history, archeology, etc and a little less action.

[ShutterBug]

Crud. I recently let ds read this on his own without really even skimming it first. Thanks so much for the heads up, I'm going to take a look through it today and see if there's anything we should discuss.

[Wee Pip]

I guess I was able to digest PJ possession (Luke) & splitting of the soul in 7 in HP because these were things that evil people were doing, and it was a very bad thing. The rest of it was easier to swallow because you could easily see a connection to greek thinking. I have immersed myself in Egyptian mythology for many years now, but I had a harder time connecting these ideas to Egyptian myths. Yes, I could see the correlation, but wasn't sure how my dd was interpreting it. I had a harder time explaining the ties and why it isn't something *we* should do as Christians, even though it seemed to be such a positive thing for the characters in Red Pyramid. Maybe I have too many hangups? I love Mara Daughter of the Nile, though:)