Book review: ‘The Red Pyramid’ by Rick Riordan
By Susan Carpenter at the Los Angeles Times
In “The Red Pyramid,” the first book in “The Kane Chronicles,” Rick Riordan’s new series for middle readers, a child has godlike powers but doesn’t know it until strange things begin to unfold. A parent disappears, prompting introductions to ancient characters and travels to otherworldly places. There are battles with evil forces and a looming deadline by which the child must complete a mission, lest society descend into chaos.
Once again, Riordan masterfully meshes modern life with mythology and history, reinvigorating dusty artifacts such as the Rosetta stone and revitalizing ancient Egyptian story lines.
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George R.R. Martin’s reaction to bad TV experience: Writing ‘Game of Thrones’
T.L. Stanley at the LA Times
If it hadn’t been for a bruising decade in the TV business, George R.R. Martin might never have started writing the epic fantasy novel series “A Song of Ice and Fire,” and HBO wouldn’t have a buzzy project in the pipeline that’s being referred to as “The Sopranos in Middle-earth.” Martin, who’s now deep into the fifth novel of the planned seven-book series, said he took an emotional beating during his time in the late ’80s and early ’90s writing for network TV shows like “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Twilight Zone” and a jettisoned pilot called “Doorways.” He also had a feature development deal in which none of his projects ever made it to fruition.
“I wrote the books almost as a reaction to my years in television. My scripts were always too long, they were always too expensive. I was always having to cut them. So when I went back to books, I said, ‘I don’t care about any of that anymore. I’m going to write a story that’s going to be as gigantic a story as I want. I’m going to have hundreds of characters, gigantic battles, magnificent castles and vistas — all the things I couldn’t do in television.'”
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TURN COAT and CHANGES by Jim Butcher – free extracts and info
Bella Pagan at Orbit
We recently published the hardback of Changes by Jim Butcher, the latest instalment of the eagerly awaited Dresden Files series, and we’ve been blown away by the response so far. And to see what all the fuss is about, read a few chapters of the book here. Below is just a bit of the early praise this book has received as PI Harry Dresden, the only wizard in the Chicago phonebook, goes from strength to strength.
See the Turn Coat sample here and Read More about the other Dresden Files books here
I really want to read The Red Pyramid. I didn’t read Percy Jackson, but I love Egypt myths so this sounds more interesting to me. And I have to say I’m glad George RR Martin had such a disappointing time with TV, because I love A Game of Thrones!
What did you think of the sample? Are you going to read The Red Pyramid?
