An Egyptian Binge

Since I ran through Michelle Moran's trilogy in record time, I was jonesing for a fix of fiction based in (or on) ancient Egypt. I guess I can thank Seshat (Egyptian goddess of reading) for putting these two books in my path. 
 

Seshat



Lily of the Nile by Stephanie Dray is another take on the life of the daughter of Cleopatra and Marc Antony, Cleopatra Selene. Like Moran's Cleopatra's Daughter, the story begins with the death of Selene's parents and ends with her betrothal to Juba II, the deposed Numidian prince who would become King of Mauretania. (I can't begin to tell you how much I've learned about ancient geography from Googling these defunct kingdoms!)  Dray's story, though, has a much more mystical bent. Selene receives messages from Isis, her mother's patron goddess, through hieroglyphics that magically (and painfully) appear on her skin. After her initial horror, she begins to use the messages to secure her place in Octavian's kingdom, turning the emperor's fear and revulsion of Cleopatra into dependence on her daughter.

I liked the goddess-y tone of the book and the information about ancient religious practices, but in most other ways Dray's novel fell short of Moran's. Neither Selene nor Juba's character was as interesting this time around (you will recall my wicked Dead Guy crush on Juba after reading Cleopatra's Daughter) and, in fact, most of the characters were rather flat.  In fact, the character I found most intriguing and layered was Octavian. And he's supposed to be the bad guy. That being said, I liked the magical realism enough that I will read Dray's future work (she's planning this to be the first in a trilogy) and wish I could be at Smith College in March, when she is giving a lecture on "Bad Girls of the Ancient World."  I bet Cleo and Hatshepsut could teach these reality-TV wannabes a thing or two!

How excited was I when I found out that Rick Riordan, late of the Percy Jackson series, was starting another series based on Egyptian gods?  Excited enough to brave the subway on the weekend (those of you who live in NYC will know what an ordeal that can be) to get my copy of The Red Pyramid the very same day.

Riordan did not let me down this time. I won't go into too much detail because some of my students read this blog and will also want to read the book, and I don't want to give away too much.  In a nutshell: Fourteen-year-old Carter Kane has been traveling the world with his dad, a famed Egyptologist, for the six years since his mother died in a mysterious event at Cleopatra's Needle in London.  On the one day of the year that he gets to spend with his estranged little sister Sadie, his dad breaks into the museum, breaks the Rosetta Stone, and releases Set, the god of chaos (among others) into the world. And that's just the first 15 pages!

Effectively orphaned, Carter and Sadie set out on a quest to find and rescue their dad, aided by their mysterious uncle Amos and the human incarnation of the cat goddess Bastet. (Although here, her name is shortened to Bast.)  Their opponents?  An ancient order called the House of Life who wants to keep the gods in their "proper" place, and of course, that badass Set himself. Along the way, they find out that their family has a Very Special Connection to the top three gods of Egypt (Osiris, Isis, and Horus).

Riordan's trademark sardonic narration, in-jokes, and top notch research just add to a ripping good story. Lesser authors might've fallen into the trap of using the same conceit as the Percy series (half-mortal children of gods as protagonists) but he manages to put a fresh spin on the relationship-to-the-ancients theme. I finished The Red Pyramid in two days, and can't wait till the next one comes out in May.