Isis by Douglas Clegg

Isis isn't as much of a direct fairy tale retelling as what I normally review here, but it does involve an element of Egyptian mythology, so I thought I would include it in case any of you were interested.

Iris is a young girl who loses her brother in a tragic accident. That same accident opens her up to possibilities she had previous been unaware of. The "open window" in her soul allows her to access mystical forces that she couldn't reach before -- and probably shouldn't reach now.

Described as "a tale of sibling love gone awry," this story is definitely scarier than the average book on my reading list. Not in a gory or gratuitous way, but the creep-factor definitely got to me in the end.

Check out more of Douglas Clegg's work at his website.

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

Although we focus a lot on European folklore in this community, there are of course mythologies in every ancient culture. Which is why I'm pretty excited about Rick Riordan's new series, which focuses on the Egyptians and starts with his recently released The Red Pyramid

This is aimed at mid-grade readers, and is about as consistent as the Percy Jackson stories. (Starts out very exciting, gets a little slow in the middle, finishes with a bang.) I definitely recommend it if you enjoyed the previous series. This one is nice because the narrative goes back and forth between the two siblings, so you get some of Sadie's perspective and some of Carter's.

If there are other stories that are adaptations of Egyptians mythology and tales, I'm not familiar with them, although according to The Red Pyramid, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" is based on an Egyptian story. Does anyone know any other modernizations or adaptations of Egyptian stories?