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Reviews
Kane Chronicles Box (The Red Pyramid / The Throne of Fire / The Serpent's Shadow) by Rick Riordan
kberry513's review against another edition
4.0
The Red Pyramid
First impressions - I'm loving this! I don't know as much about the Egyptian gods as I do the Greek/Roman ones, as we didn't really do much Egyptian mythology in school. I like that this isn't the same as the Percy Jackson books but with Egyptian pieces thrown in, which I had assumed would be the case. Carter and Sadie aren't children of the gods, but hosts, which makes more sense given Egyptian mythology. Not that it wouldn't have been interesting to have Egyptian demigods - I just like that they have their own thing going on.
I'm making a prediction right now that it isn't the obviously "evil" Desjardins who will be hosting Set, but their uncle Amos. Firstly, because Desjardins seems like a red herring and secondly because their father is hosting Osiris, who is Set's brother and it just seems like it would work better over all.
**
Update - I was right about Amos, but wrong in assuming Amos was working with Set. And the whole Zia-is-a-shabti thing I was not at all expecting. I'm not surprised that Carter and Sadie weren't able to save their dad, but at least he and Osiris have merged, so he won't be gone completely. I'm looking forward to seeing where Riordan takes this story.
Throne of Fire
I FINALLY realized why the magicians don't go into Manhattan and what they mean by "it has other problems" ---because Percy Jackson and his crew (and the gods of Olympus) are based there! I totally didn't put that together during the first book
**
I'm finished with the second book - definitely the middle of a trilogy - it ends with the main problem of this book solved, but lots of other loose threads. I really enjoyed it. I'm liking the new characters, and I'm guessing that somehow Walt and Anubis are going to merge (although the love triangle with Sadie is a little weird...seeing as one of them is a 5000 year old god). The one thing I find the slightest bit...icky, I suppose, is that Sadie is only 13 and she's the center of a love triangle. While I'm reading, I kind of forget that part since she's so mature of a character, but then she'll say something about being thirteen and it jolts me out of the narrative a bit. But I think that's because I'm an adult reading it - when I was thirteen myself, I probably would have enjoyed it. But if she was even just two years older I think I'd feel less iffy about it. Not that it detracts much from my enjoyment of the story. And maybe I'm just being a prude about it.
******
The Serpent's Shadow
I think Zia is a host for Ra!
***
Okay, I have now FINALLY finished and I really liked the ending. It wraps up a lot of things, but while leaving the characters open to some new adventures. I was right about a lot of things, but I don't think that they were really meant to be all that surprising. Zia being a host for Ra and Walt and Anubis merging seems like it was meant to be fairly obvious to the reader. While I still feel a little iffy about Sadie and Walt/Anubis, she also feels iffy about it, so it makes me feel less so. I wonder if Setne is addressed in the crossover short stories between the Kanes and Percy Jackson and company or if Riordan is planning another Egypt based series. The warning at the end about "other gods" is clearly pointing to either the Greek/Roman pantheon from Percy Jackson or the Norse gods from the new Magnus Chase series, but since I haven't read those yet, I'm not sure which. I am looking forward to continuing to read Riordan's masterpieces.
First impressions - I'm loving this! I don't know as much about the Egyptian gods as I do the Greek/Roman ones, as we didn't really do much Egyptian mythology in school. I like that this isn't the same as the Percy Jackson books but with Egyptian pieces thrown in, which I had assumed would be the case. Carter and Sadie aren't children of the gods, but hosts, which makes more sense given Egyptian mythology. Not that it wouldn't have been interesting to have Egyptian demigods - I just like that they have their own thing going on.
I'm making a prediction right now that it isn't the obviously "evil" Desjardins who will be hosting Set, but their uncle Amos. Firstly, because Desjardins seems like a red herring and secondly because their father is hosting Osiris, who is Set's brother and it just seems like it would work better over all.
**
Update - I was right about Amos, but wrong in assuming Amos was working with Set. And the whole Zia-is-a-shabti thing I was not at all expecting. I'm not surprised that Carter and Sadie weren't able to save their dad, but at least he and Osiris have merged, so he won't be gone completely. I'm looking forward to seeing where Riordan takes this story.
Throne of Fire
I FINALLY realized why the magicians don't go into Manhattan and what they mean by "it has other problems" ---because Percy Jackson and his crew (and the gods of Olympus) are based there! I totally didn't put that together during the first book
**
I'm finished with the second book - definitely the middle of a trilogy - it ends with the main problem of this book solved, but lots of other loose threads. I really enjoyed it. I'm liking the new characters, and I'm guessing that somehow Walt and Anubis are going to merge (although the love triangle with Sadie is a little weird...seeing as one of them is a 5000 year old god). The one thing I find the slightest bit...icky, I suppose, is that Sadie is only 13 and she's the center of a love triangle. While I'm reading, I kind of forget that part since she's so mature of a character, but then she'll say something about being thirteen and it jolts me out of the narrative a bit. But I think that's because I'm an adult reading it - when I was thirteen myself, I probably would have enjoyed it. But if she was even just two years older I think I'd feel less iffy about it. Not that it detracts much from my enjoyment of the story. And maybe I'm just being a prude about it.
******
The Serpent's Shadow
I think Zia is a host for Ra!
***
Okay, I have now FINALLY finished and I really liked the ending. It wraps up a lot of things, but while leaving the characters open to some new adventures. I was right about a lot of things, but I don't think that they were really meant to be all that surprising. Zia being a host for Ra and Walt and Anubis merging seems like it was meant to be fairly obvious to the reader. While I still feel a little iffy about Sadie and Walt/Anubis, she also feels iffy about it, so it makes me feel less so. I wonder if Setne is addressed in the crossover short stories between the Kanes and Percy Jackson and company or if Riordan is planning another Egypt based series. The warning at the end about "other gods" is clearly pointing to either the Greek/Roman pantheon from Percy Jackson or the Norse gods from the new Magnus Chase series, but since I haven't read those yet, I'm not sure which. I am looking forward to continuing to read Riordan's masterpieces.
amiralikestoread's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
really good book!
flux_6174's review against another edition
5.0
BEST SIBLING DUO EVER!
Ignited my existing interest in Egyptian mythology, and made me even more curious about it, and a really fun and entertaining series!
Ignited my existing interest in Egyptian mythology, and made me even more curious about it, and a really fun and entertaining series!
zoe_reads_alot's review against another edition
3.0
I really got into the last book of the trilogy however I found the first two a bit difficult to sink my teeth into and I did prefer the Percy Jackson series, this was also a good series too.
rissasreading's review against another edition
4.0
Another cute, mythos based set of books to readby Rick Riordan! This was a cute, and fun series full of adventure and action. However, I didn't find this series to be anything special. I enjoyed the characters and the fact that it featured Egyptian Mythology, but it felt like it missed the mark. I think part of that started when Sadie began to fall for Anubis, I found it just didn't feel right, not only for her character, but for the story. Even the twist didn't make it better for me. Apart from that, I loved Sadie, I thought she was so badass and a great fighter. Carter was a likeable character, very serious and mature. Bast & Bes were definitely my favorites of this trilogy. These are definitely worth the read for the fun, and adventures but this trilogy felt like it was missing something.
ejspiese's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Maybe my favorite Rick Riordan series, and as always just as good on the reread.
meganio's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
my_circe4's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25