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loang 's review for:
The Throne of Fire
by Rick Riordan
Rating: 5 out of 10
I usually have the same problem with every Riordan's series: I never like the second books. They tend to suffer from a boring, repetitive plot and feel more like filler than anything else. I'm pretty sure I could go straight to the third one reading only a summary.
Being objective, I can't count many aspects of The Throne of Fire that were badly done. The plot is as full of adventures and the writing as fun to read as the first book. However, I think that might be the problem. This book is so similar to The Red Pyramid, it almost feels as if I'm reading the same book all over again. I enjoyed the first one, obviously, but still, I wasn't looking for a copy-paste nevertheless.
I had several problems with the pacing. The beginning dragged a lot, with overly-long journeys and unnecessary descriptions. The ending, on the other hand, was extremely rushed and didn't hit me like it should have, especially after all the build-up.
The humor is an essential part of Riordan's writing style, but this book... just didn't make it for me. The jokes sounded forced and uninspired, and I could tell the author was running out of ideas to make the book funnier. To give you an idea, I only laughed out loud once or twice in the entire book, which is rare for me. I got to say I kept thinking the narration was charming and a nice touch, but I wasn't a big fan of the one-liners and punchlines.
However, something I did like about this installment was the new characters! Walt and Bes were both sympathetic and I grew to care deeply about them throughout the book. Jaz and Sadie's mates, though minor, were also likable and fun!
Now, this is probably an unpopular opinion, but I thought Carter and Sadie were great protagonists. They made clear mistakes and didn't take responsibility for their quest most of the time, but being honest, I found it to be a spot-on representation of early teenagers - of course, they weren't perfect, but that's the point, right? Sometimes I could even relate to them, and I loved how their emotions weren't played down for the sake of the plot.
The Throne of Fire was a lot less than a worthy sequel to this trilogy. It was a lot shorter than the first (it had around 50 fewer pages) but still felt longer than needed, the pacing was all off, and the book itself was generally uninteresting. Despite everything, I still liked the worldbuilding and characters, so I still have expectations for the third and last book!
I usually have the same problem with every Riordan's series: I never like the second books. They tend to suffer from a boring, repetitive plot and feel more like filler than anything else. I'm pretty sure I could go straight to the third one reading only a summary.
Being objective, I can't count many aspects of The Throne of Fire that were badly done. The plot is as full of adventures and the writing as fun to read as the first book. However, I think that might be the problem. This book is so similar to The Red Pyramid, it almost feels as if I'm reading the same book all over again. I enjoyed the first one, obviously, but still, I wasn't looking for a copy-paste nevertheless.
I had several problems with the pacing. The beginning dragged a lot, with overly-long journeys and unnecessary descriptions. The ending, on the other hand, was extremely rushed and didn't hit me like it should have, especially after all the build-up.
The humor is an essential part of Riordan's writing style, but this book... just didn't make it for me. The jokes sounded forced and uninspired, and I could tell the author was running out of ideas to make the book funnier. To give you an idea, I only laughed out loud once or twice in the entire book, which is rare for me. I got to say I kept thinking the narration was charming and a nice touch, but I wasn't a big fan of the one-liners and punchlines.
However, something I did like about this installment was the new characters! Walt and Bes were both sympathetic and I grew to care deeply about them throughout the book. Jaz and Sadie's mates, though minor, were also likable and fun!
Now, this is probably an unpopular opinion, but I thought Carter and Sadie were great protagonists. They made clear mistakes and didn't take responsibility for their quest most of the time, but being honest, I found it to be a spot-on representation of early teenagers - of course, they weren't perfect, but that's the point, right? Sometimes I could even relate to them, and I loved how their emotions weren't played down for the sake of the plot.
The Throne of Fire was a lot less than a worthy sequel to this trilogy. It was a lot shorter than the first (it had around 50 fewer pages) but still felt longer than needed, the pacing was all off, and the book itself was generally uninteresting. Despite everything, I still liked the worldbuilding and characters, so I still have expectations for the third and last book!