Monday, August 30, 2010

An unexpected POC Book: #4

My POC reading has not kept pace as it should, both due to having several "fun" books I couldn't wait to read, and getting my husband to give me a "serious" summer reading assignment, separate from the POC challenge.

However, one of my "fun" books turned out to have two characters who are mixed-race teenagers. Now, the author Rick Riordan is white, so I feel like his portrayal of non-white characters should be viewed with that in mind, but I (who am also white, so take my opinion with the grain of salt it needs) think he did a pretty good job overall. He definitely knows middle school kids well, and some of the issues that Carter, in particular, encounters, ring true: his dad making him dress in button down shirts and khakis instead of jeans and sweatshirts because he can't just look normal, he needs to look better than normal; getting immediately followed by an airport guard, etc.

In any case, I think it's nice that a book that has gotten and will continue to get so much attention in YA circles featured mixed-race characters. Here's my Goodreads review of the book:

The Red Pyramid (Kane Chronicles, #1)The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I thought this was an excellent new work from Riordan. I have always found Egyptian mythology more confusing than Greco-Roman mythology (and I read The Egypt Game several times over as a kid), and I think Riordan did an admirable job of taking the many different stories about Egyptian gods and letting them work together.

I also liked both of the Kanes, although it took me time to get into the split-narration. (I was thankful that the publisher put the name of the narrator instead of the chapter title at the top of each page--once I got into the chapter, the voice of the character came through, but with some of the action and dialogue heavy openings, it took me a few minutes to tell who was telling the story at that point.

Overall, I'm looking forward to more of the Kane chronicles.

View all my reviews