Review by Ian Keogh
When their mother died Carter and Sadie Kane were separated at six years old. After a court battle Sadie was adopted by her British grandparents, who claimed they could only afford to adopt their granddaughter, while Carter remained with his travelling Egyptologist father. The Red Pyramid begins during one of Carter and Sadie’s twice yearly reunions around eight years later, with Dr Kane announcing he has a plan to make everything right again. However, it turns out he’s dabbling with things more powerful than he knows and others tried to persuade him not to follow the path. It unlocks a world of trouble and provides Carter and Sadie with a crash course in ancient magic.
Orpheus Collar is very thorough with his adaptation of Rick Riordan’s novel, creating multiple small panels on each page to cram as much of the original work as possible into this graphic novel. Riordan packs the story with information about ancient Egyptian artefacts, beliefs and ceremonies and these take some explaining when illustrated, leading to a fair number of early information dumps such as the left sample page. It’s going to be a tenacious child able to work through the opening two chapters, and in every chapter thereafter there’s a scene where Riordan seems more keen to pass on his research than to move the story forward.
Collar works digitally, and while that’s fine when people are having conversations it leads to static moments during livelier scenes. These generally involve Collar’s imaginative designs of creatures from Riordan’s descriptions, although they’re occasionally pitched at a level slightly too scary for the intended audience. The work put in, though, is considerable and appreciated in the creation of an extensive new world.
Riordan’s story is one of a constant learning process for Carter and Sadie, innocents thrown into astonishing circumstances with an unending series of revelations, either about their lineage or historical events. They’re transferred to a new location with a new purpose for every chapter, and while the threats just keep coming, they’re picking up new abilities and information. Limitations are established, such as the opening of transportation portals tiring Sadie out, so not something to be constantly used. After the rush of explanations at the start, the release of information is restricted to situations, as Riordan takes a tour of the old Egyptian gods, while hanging over everything is the threat of a demon constructing the red pyramid of the title. Their plotting intrudes around once a chapter.
It’s one hell of an action rush, and while Riordan’s too keen to share his research, there’s a reason he’s a monstrously successful young adult author. The Red Pyramid is a series of continually escalating problems to be overcome, building toward an explosive finish. One aspect affecting matters is deliberately revealed to readers, although the cast also have their suspicions, but Riordan has enough surprises in his locker to pass that one on for free.
The finish also acts as set-up for The Throne of Fire, with credible reasons for continuing. A likeable cast, plenty of surprises and a well drawn adaptation of an already successful novel? What’s not to like?
