SOLVED. YA Fantasy about a boy who discovers an artifact with the power of an Egyptian god. [s]

[Odonoghue]

About a decade ago, I read a fantasy/sf book about an ordinary boy in a dystopian world (after some sort of worldwar or worldwide breakdown), who stumbles across an ancient artifact buried in a mound of rubble or rubbish due to his job, as he had to search for anything valuable in the heap. This artifact either connects him or fills him with the powers of an ancient Egyptian god (Maybe Ra or Osiris or Horus). Near the end of the book he is to battle against the dark brother of this very god (who is also a god - maybe Anubis or Thoth or another of the more sinister egyptian gods), as well as leading an army into battle. As far as I remember the boy was twelve years old. I do not remember the boy's name or how he was described, if he was an orphan or not. Same goes for the artifact, how he communicated with the god, etc.

Along the way of the story he meets a slighly older male sidekick who is later killed in the battle. I do not remember the name of the sidekick. It might have been the case that this sidekick is changing alliance in the storyline, but I am not sure.

If I remember correctly it has a short significant title, but it seems a quite uncommon book as my research showed quite often books of Rick Riordan, who is definitely not the author. The author was male, but he is not one of the big names in book writing. The book itself was standalone ten years ago, meaning it had no prequel or sequel.

The storyline itself does not happen in Egypt and as I said, it is set in the nearer future. Unfortunately I do not remember, which entity empowered the main character.

While reading the book about ten years ago (give or take two more years,) it was published quite recently, so it is now probably 12 - 13 years since first print. It was a paperback edition written by a native English speaker. As for the cover, I somehow think it had red as a prominent colour, but I might be wrong here. Other than that, I have to pass for the time being.

[Joseph]

Probably Kaï-ro, by Graham Marks.

[Odonoghue]

Wow. That's the one. Thank you.

I was unaware that Graham Marks is such a profilic author.

[Joseph]

Glad to help!