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A review by bumblebee
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
3.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book, the story took a little while to really grab me, but once I got into it, I was *really* into it.
Two things bothered me about this book, however. The first is the "found footage" style writing, especially the side comments [written like this]. Not once did those fail to completely break all immersion I might have had, and I feel like they're part of the reason this was a little difficult to get into. Every time there was a side comment, it distracted me, and then other times I found it strange that certain things were being said *without* the other character making snarky comments about it. All in all, I feel like this book could have done without those bits altogether.
The second thing that bothered me was the switching point of view. I'm not sure if this is just me, but I often didn't notice the POV had switched to Sadie, and sometimes went 2 to 4 pages of reading, thinking it was Carter, before realising the POV had changed, and needing to flip back to reread that part with the new character context. Maybe it's because the book started with Carter, but Sadie's bits felt like the odd ones out to me until the very end.
That's not to say I didn't like her POV, but since the entire book is written in first person, I ended up finding it more confusing than anything. I think I would have had less of an issue if this was written in third person.
Other than that, I really enjoyed this and I'm looking forward to the next one!
Two things bothered me about this book, however. The first is the "found footage" style writing, especially the side comments [written like this]. Not once did those fail to completely break all immersion I might have had, and I feel like they're part of the reason this was a little difficult to get into. Every time there was a side comment, it distracted me, and then other times I found it strange that certain things were being said *without* the other character making snarky comments about it. All in all, I feel like this book could have done without those bits altogether.
The second thing that bothered me was the switching point of view. I'm not sure if this is just me, but I often didn't notice the POV had switched to Sadie, and sometimes went 2 to 4 pages of reading, thinking it was Carter, before realising the POV had changed, and needing to flip back to reread that part with the new character context. Maybe it's because the book started with Carter, but Sadie's bits felt like the odd ones out to me until the very end.
That's not to say I didn't like her POV, but since the entire book is written in first person, I ended up finding it more confusing than anything. I think I would have had less of an issue if this was written in third person.
Other than that, I really enjoyed this and I'm looking forward to the next one!