So the current lack of Buffy (or X-Files) is because I'm currently remodeling part of my house. My brother laid down a new floor in my room, but prior to that my room was torn apart, furniture scattered all over the house, the carpet ripped up, the floor sanded, etc. He put the new floor down but it's been a process getting everything back into my room and cleaning up the other rooms that got inadvertently trashed with the belongings from my room.
This has also put a hold on my book reading. I'm trying to finish The Wheel of Time (because it didn't occur to me to blog about the books until after I was already halfway through the series) and Heroes of Olympus (which it didn't occur to me to blog about until I was also halfway though the series - this one I have no excuse for since I started them about the same time I revived my blog, unlike Wheel of Time which I started last year). So I haven't been blogging about books because who wants to start in the middle of a series? Not me. And I don't want to start a new book series until I at least finish Heroes of Olympus. I was expressing my woes to a friend of mine who suggested I try audio books. I was leery - listening to a book instead of reading one feels like cheating. But, she pointed out, if I have no time to read because of cleaning up the aftermath of a new floor, I could listen.
She suggested trying The Kane Chronicles, since I was reading Heroes of Olympus. Now, I have started The Red Pyramid probably a DOZEN times, never getting farther then chapter six or so. I don't know what my issue is. Percy Jackson and the Olympians was okay. I LOVE Heroes of Olympus. I have the first book in the Asgard series but just haven't gotten around to it yet. The Kane Chronicles is a series struggle. I just can't get into it. She told me the series works better as an audio book since it's actually written as a audio diary, and convinced me to give it a go.
So, here we are, and I am listening to it. I've gotten through five chapters in two days, which is more then I can currently say for Heroes of Olympus or Wheel of Time, and I figure the more I work on my house the more I'll get done. And, I can listen while I do mundane things like fold laundry or wash dishes. And it doesn't involve me actually reading the books. So, it's a bit win-win. The downside is when I want to go back and look at something I don't actually know where it was in the book (which I do own). So that's annoying. But, here we go.
I'm not sure what to talk about for the first five chapters. Really, the story is still being set up. I suppose maybe that's why I always have such a hard time getting into the book? But I guess not. Wheel of Time takes what feels like an entire book to get set up and I LOVE that series. Maybe it's because Egyptian mythology is not really my thing? I mean, I like it. I love mythology in general. But Greek and Norse are my favorites. However, there are other series out there that are heavily focused on Egyptian mythology (Star-Gate!!!) that I am absolutely crazy about. So, no clue what my problem is. I don't really care for first person narration. Maybe that's it...
Anyway, the chapters alternate between Carter and Sadie who each get two in a row. They are told in the format of them speaking to you, the reader, and they are told after the fact. Their story is on a cassette tape that is left behind for whoever finds it and they take turns telling the story. They are on the run, and are in great trouble, but in their desire to tell the story in as much order as possible you don't get all of the details at first.
Carter and Sadie Kane are the children of a famous Egyptologist father and an anthropologist mother, who is deceased. Their father had a long, drawn out custody battle with their mother's parents after her death. Their father received custody of Carter, and the grandparents received custody of Sadie. Carter and his father traveled all over the world, living out of their suitcases while Sadie grew up in England in a more normal environment.
The book opens with Carter and their father, Julius, going to England to visit Sadie. After collecting her they go to the British museum. Carter is worried for their father. He seems to be musing a lot over the past and their mother's death. He keeps talking about "making things right" - whatever that means. Sadie, meanwhile, is frustrated. She only gets to see her father twice a year and the last thing she wants to do is go to the British museum so he can work. Carter also notices that some people seem to be following them, though he doesn't understand why. And he sees his father use magic to hopefully trick those people, but he doesn't understand what he saw. Julius also argues with a man named Amos, telling him that he is set on doing whatever it is that he is about to do.
They arrive at the museum and Julius has his children lock the curator in his office so that he can have some privacy with the Rosetta Stone. He tells his children to stay out of the room, but they sneak back in, see their father preform some sort of magic on the stone while calling out to Osiris, and then see it go horribly wrong. The Rosetta Stone explodes, a man made of fire appears, he informs Julius that more then himself have been unleashed, and encloses Julius in a sarcophagus which sinks through the floor. Sadie attacks the man by throwing a rock at him, but it passes through him. He tries to attack the siblings, but he cannot. The Egyptian amulets from their father seem to be protecting them. They pass out, but right before they do Carter sees the people who were following them, who decide not to kill the children yet.
They come to finding the police everywhere, the Rosetta Stone destroyed, and their father wanted for an act of terrorism. Sadie tries to tell the police what happened but they, rather understandably, don't believe her. All that Sadie knows is that their father is missing and she (and presumably her brother) can suddenly understand ancient Egyptian. Back at her grandparents house the police inspector goes from wanting to charge the children with a crime to suddenly deporting them to America. Amos, from earlier, suddenly appears and takes custody of them as well as Sadie's pet cat from their father. Their grandparents do nothing to stop him as Sadie remembers Amos is their uncle.
He takes them to New York almost instantly on a magical boat, brings them to a magical mansion that needs magic to enter, and gives them rooms for the night - which they find themselves locked in. He also takes Julius's work bag from Carter, promising to return it at a later date but desiring to lock it up for now.
So, a lot is going on and the stage is still being set. I think my biggest problem with this book series is the secrecy. Both Carter and Sadie are completely in the dark. It is normal that when introduced to a new world the main character is in the dark and needs everything explained by an outsider who is part of that world, but no one seems to want to divulge any information. Their grandparents clearly know what is going on, yet won't say one word to explain the situation. And the granddaughter that they fought so long and so hard for they just hand over to Amos with barely any protest. Amos used to be part of their past but both Sadie and Carter barely remember him - indeed, at first they just thought that he looked familiar but was a stranger. Why was he so suddenly cut out from their lives? And why won't he tell them what is going on? What exactly happened to their mother and why won't Amos or the grandparents tell them? And who are those strangers who were determined to stop their father and actually considered killing them? And why would Amos lock them in their bedrooms? Even the connecting door between their rooms was locked!
Almost no information is given, everything is so secretive, and this causes a lot of understandable frustration for Carter and Sadie - and even for the reader. I can understand Julius's secrecy as a desire to protect his children but no one else's. Clearly Julius didn't know he was going to be enclosed in a sarcophagus and sink into the floor. He thought he was protecting Carter and Sadie by keeping information from them - but that clearly backfired. But everyone else's secrecy? Carter and Sadie's lives are in danger, their world has been turned upside down, but no one can tell them anything?!? Add to that that I can barely remember my Egyptian mythology so I don't know which information is relevant and which is not and I'm beginning to remember why I never get past chapter five or six...
Final note. A reference is made to the Greek gods when Amos brings Carter and Sadie to New York.
Anyway, back to more cleaning up from the remodeling - and some more chapters. Hopefully this gets better as I go...
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