The Serpent's Shadow By Rick Riordan

Summary:

     The last book of The Kane Chronicles, The Serpent's Shadow features the dynamic Kane siblings who have been trying to save the world from Apopsis, the Egyptian god of chaos, who will eat the Sun and destroy the world and seems undefeatable.
     Sadie is struggling in her love life, trying to decide between Walt, a dying mortal; and Anubis the god of death. Carter has love issues too, but his mainly revolve around Zia, a girl once saved from an ancient curse.
     Carter and Sadie think they have finally found a way to defeat Apopsis, the only problem is... they have to trust a the very dishonest ghost of an ancient magician. As if that wasn't enough, they must face Neith, the goddess of hunting, deranged magicians from the House of Life, and demons.
     In the mean time, Zia seems to be channeling the sun god, Ra, who finally gives Carter the Pharaoh's throne and calls the other gods to war.

Personal Reaction:
     I have read the entire series, and I do not think this is the best book in it. Having said that, The Serpent's Shadow is a solid read, giving a satisfying ending to a very good series. I love the fact that Riordan can reach out to both male and female readers by changing perspective from Carter to Sadie. In addition, their relationship feels very legitimate, harboring resentments, irritating each other, and poking fun are all things a reasonable teenage sibling relationship should entail.
     The novel is very fast paced from the first page, much more so than the former novels, which both clipped along quickly themselves. It is action packed. Having said that, Riordan still made time for romance and humor. Riordan writes his way out of most of the conflicts of the series, even the ones I couldn't have imagined a solution for.
     The Serpent's Shadow is a great book and is acceptable for tweens to older kids, there is a little violence, and a few kisses.

Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan

Plot Summary:

             Carter and Sadie are brother and sister magicians. Their magic is based on ancient Egyptian gods, and they have a job to do. They must save the world from being eaten by a snake, Apopsis. In order to achieve this lofty goal, they need to awaken the sun god, Ra, which is easier said than done. They must find the three parts to the book of Ra and then assemble them without getting nuked. Then they must follow the directions given by the book in order to wake Ra and follow his daily journey through the duat (the Egyptian god world).  Sadie gets attacked by a vulture god and a baboon god, Carter gets attacked by water spirits, and they both get saved by the ugly dwarf god, Bes. In addition to battling gods and spirits, they add the House of Life and a new magician, Vladimir Menshikov to the list of enemies. Sadie vacillates between her god crush and her human crush, while Carter “digs up” his old girlfriend only to find that she no longer has feelings for him. In the end, Sadie and Carter do awaken Ra only to find him a little lacking in the, um power and maturity departments. Of course they are not safe and sound because there is going to be a sequel.
 

Personal Reaction:

            Riordan has a very strong writer’s voice. It is my understanding that he also writes adult books, and I would like to read them an compare them to his young adult novels which I have enjoyed. I read this book out of order without having read the first book of the series, which I am going to have to go back and do. I think it was very creative to do this work from two different points of view and as a recording so that Carter and Sadie can speak to each other  as well as to the audience at any point in the book. That allows for further voice, character development, and some comic relief. Riordan often uses foreshadowing in his work, but keeps mum pretty well about Walt’s disease. This was a great book.

Riordan, R. (2011). The throne of fire  . New York: Disney/Hyperion.