This is the third, and final, book in the Kane Chronicles. It was a good conclusion to this series. Although this series is well done and I enjoy it, I still dont like it as much as Percy and the Olympians.
I listened to this on audiobook which is something I dont recommend. Although they have two voice actors (one who reads Sades part and one who reads Carters) the girl who reads Sades voice is very shrill. At points her voice actually distorted on the speakers in my car because she was just so shrill....so stick to reading this one in printed format if you can.
Sade and Carter need to destroy the snake of chaos, Apophis once and for all. Unfortunately for them the magicians are on the brink of civil war; those who follow the way of the gods (Sade, Carter and crew) versus the magicians from the House of Life who believe the power of the Gods shouldnt be wielded by humans. Sade and Carter are forced to rely on the ghost of an evil magician to help guide them to a way to destroy Apophis for good.
If you liked the previous books in this series I think you will enjoy this book as well. The plot has a lot of twists and turns as the Kanes try to find some way to destroy Apophis once and for all. The path to destroying Apophis is complicated and intriguing. I love the mythology in this book and it is interesting to learn more about Egyptian mythology.
All of our favorite characters are here. There is a side quest to find the shadow of the dwarf god to see if they can revive him as well. Bast the cat goddess is present in spurts and she is a lot of fun like usual.
More of the plot is dedicated to Zia and Carters relationship problems than in previous books. Similarly a lot of the story focuses on the Sade/Anubis/Walt love triangle as well. I have to say this was one of the most creative ways I have ever read of solving a teenage love triangle problem; it was pretty darn amusing. I didnt enjoy that the book focused on these relationships so much, but they are wrapped up nicely so I guess I cant complain too much.
My biggest problem with this series has been that I just dont enjoy the characters that much. Part of it might be that the story goes back and forth between Sade and Carter. But both Sade and Carter come off as a bit annoying to me. The other problem I have is that things are fairly predictable; the plan is outlined pretty early on and there are some twists, but in the end you know what is going to happen very early in the story.
There are hints that tie this book to both the previous series (Percys) and a possible future series featuring other gods (Ive heard rumors that Norse mythology is next on Riordans list).
Overall a decent conclusion to this series. I dont enjoy the characters as much as Percy and the Olympians and thought this series as a whole was just more predictable than that series. It is still a well done series and I enjoyed learning more about Egyptian mythology. If youre already a fan of the Kane series then definitely read this book as well. If you enjoy adventure/fantasy/mythology this is a good series to read.
I listened to this on audiobook which is something I dont recommend. Although they have two voice actors (one who reads Sades part and one who reads Carters) the girl who reads Sades voice is very shrill. At points her voice actually distorted on the speakers in my car because she was just so shrill....so stick to reading this one in printed format if you can.
Sade and Carter need to destroy the snake of chaos, Apophis once and for all. Unfortunately for them the magicians are on the brink of civil war; those who follow the way of the gods (Sade, Carter and crew) versus the magicians from the House of Life who believe the power of the Gods shouldnt be wielded by humans. Sade and Carter are forced to rely on the ghost of an evil magician to help guide them to a way to destroy Apophis for good.
If you liked the previous books in this series I think you will enjoy this book as well. The plot has a lot of twists and turns as the Kanes try to find some way to destroy Apophis once and for all. The path to destroying Apophis is complicated and intriguing. I love the mythology in this book and it is interesting to learn more about Egyptian mythology.
All of our favorite characters are here. There is a side quest to find the shadow of the dwarf god to see if they can revive him as well. Bast the cat goddess is present in spurts and she is a lot of fun like usual.
More of the plot is dedicated to Zia and Carters relationship problems than in previous books. Similarly a lot of the story focuses on the Sade/Anubis/Walt love triangle as well. I have to say this was one of the most creative ways I have ever read of solving a teenage love triangle problem; it was pretty darn amusing. I didnt enjoy that the book focused on these relationships so much, but they are wrapped up nicely so I guess I cant complain too much.
My biggest problem with this series has been that I just dont enjoy the characters that much. Part of it might be that the story goes back and forth between Sade and Carter. But both Sade and Carter come off as a bit annoying to me. The other problem I have is that things are fairly predictable; the plan is outlined pretty early on and there are some twists, but in the end you know what is going to happen very early in the story.
There are hints that tie this book to both the previous series (Percys) and a possible future series featuring other gods (Ive heard rumors that Norse mythology is next on Riordans list).
Overall a decent conclusion to this series. I dont enjoy the characters as much as Percy and the Olympians and thought this series as a whole was just more predictable than that series. It is still a well done series and I enjoyed learning more about Egyptian mythology. If youre already a fan of the Kane series then definitely read this book as well. If you enjoy adventure/fantasy/mythology this is a good series to read.
So after lots of hemming and hawing and other books cutting their way to the front of my to-read line, I finally got around to reading this book. Honestly, I think my experience suffered because of how long I waited between #2 and this one. I wikipedia'd the first two synopses before I read this, and I remembered the important stuff (how annoying I found Sadie, how much I loved Bes and Bast and Tawaret) and I did figure it out pretty quickly, but there was some stuff that I just glanced over. It didn't really hurt my understanding of the book as a whole, but it would definitely have been a smarter choice to read them all closer together than I did.
So what did I think?
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
All in all, I was quite happy with the ending to this series. Some things changed that were the main reasons I preferred the Greek books so much more than this series (side characters, like the fabulous Walt, got fleshed out) but I also feel that Riordan wrote himself into a bit of a hole that absented some of his strongest characters in this series from the story for a good portion of it (i.e. Bes and Bast). I found the ending to the Anubis/Sadie/Walt love triangle surprisingly satisfying, and if I was still into writing fanfiction I would be all over the idea of one girl dating two men in one body. As usual, Riordan's women are just as abrasive and agitating as usual (except Tawaret who he writes as more of a mother and a joke and Bast who he characterizes as a cat as opposed to a woman) but I found Zia much more tolerable this go round and even grew a little bit fond of Sadie. Carter, on the other hand, who I loved from the beginning, let me down. The entire novel seemed to consist of "oh, crap, I can't do this! Okay, I'm doing this," rinse and repeat. I understood what Riordan was going for, I just found it a bit heavy handed.
And speaking of heavy handed, hmmmm, do you think there's going to be a sequel a la Heroes of Olympus? I could never guess. But to be fair, although I certainly wish he would focus a bit more on his Greek stories, I will definitely be picking up the newest book in the Egyptian series when it inevitably comes out. Here's hoping it focuses on Bes!
So what did I think?
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
All in all, I was quite happy with the ending to this series. Some things changed that were the main reasons I preferred the Greek books so much more than this series (side characters, like the fabulous Walt, got fleshed out) but I also feel that Riordan wrote himself into a bit of a hole that absented some of his strongest characters in this series from the story for a good portion of it (i.e. Bes and Bast). I found the ending to the Anubis/Sadie/Walt love triangle surprisingly satisfying, and if I was still into writing fanfiction I would be all over the idea of one girl dating two men in one body. As usual, Riordan's women are just as abrasive and agitating as usual (except Tawaret who he writes as more of a mother and a joke and Bast who he characterizes as a cat as opposed to a woman) but I found Zia much more tolerable this go round and even grew a little bit fond of Sadie. Carter, on the other hand, who I loved from the beginning, let me down. The entire novel seemed to consist of "oh, crap, I can't do this! Okay, I'm doing this," rinse and repeat. I understood what Riordan was going for, I just found it a bit heavy handed.
And speaking of heavy handed, hmmmm, do you think there's going to be a sequel a la Heroes of Olympus? I could never guess. But to be fair, although I certainly wish he would focus a bit more on his Greek stories, I will definitely be picking up the newest book in the Egyptian series when it inevitably comes out. Here's hoping it focuses on Bes!
