This is the second book in the Kane Chronicles series by Rick Riordan. I have reviewed the first book in the series – The Red Pyramid here. I liked it, but forgot about continuing but a comment from Erik who said the second book is better made me change my mind.
And what do you know? He’s right. The Throne of Fire is a more enjoyable book. It has all the positives of The Red Pyramid – fast paced action, snappy dialogues, presentation of Egyptian myths in a fun way…with less of the negatives (too many characters, undeveloped main characters). This time around, there is more focus on the main characters Carter and Sadie, and it makes the book a little less distracted than the first one.
The adventure also starts from the get go. Apophis, the God of Chaos is rising and preparing to destroy the world by swallowing the sun. Don’t ask me why he wants to do that, there is absolutely no rationale mentioned. We are just expected to assume that he wants to create chaos because he is the God of Chaos.
To battle him, Carter and Sadie need to wake the Sun God Ra from his retirement. And to awaken him, they need the three scrolls of the Book of Ra fighting the House of Magicians and some nasty Gods in the process. But with a dwarf god, a cat goddess, and a handful of good friends to help them, they always manage to get out of the worst jams.
Overall, this is a fun book, and I am ready, willing, and eager to read the third and final book in the series.
I am glad that it is a trilogy though, I don’t expect the story to hold enough for more books.
I’ve read the Percy Jackson series and the Lost Heroes of Olympus and loved them both, but I’m very skeptical of this Kane Chronicle series even still… I’m still considering reading it at some point though.
@Jacquelyn: I do think at least the first Percy Jackson book was much better than the Kane Chronicles. This series is also decent though…unfortunately it does not hold up to the quality of Percy Jackson.
I like this book very much, Rick Rioidan has a very adorable imagination.