Kane Chronicles, The, Book Two the Throne of Fire (Kane Chronicles, #2)

by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson fought Greek Gods. Now the Gods of Egypt are waking in the modern world . . .
EVER since the gods of Ancient Egypt were unleashed on the modern world, Carter Kane and his sister, Sadie, have been in big trouble.
As descendants of the magical House of Life, they command certain powers. But now a terrifying enemy - Apophis, the giant snake of chaos - is rising. If Carter and Sadie don't destroy him, the world will end in five days' time. And in order to battle the forces of chaos, they must revive the sun god Ra - a feat no magician has ever achieved. Because first they must search the world for the three sections of the Book of Ra, then they have to learn how to chant its spells . . . Can the Kanes destroy Apophis before he swallows the sun and plunges the earth into darkness . . . forever?

• ISBN10: 1423142012
• ISBN13: 9781423142010
• Publish Date: 14 August 2012 (first published 1 May 2011)
• Publish Status: Transferred
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Hyperion Books for Children
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 464
• Language: English

Reviews

[thepunktheory]

Full review on my blog: www.thepunktheory.wordpress.com

I'm a sucker for everything Rick Riordan and this series is no exception. It took me a while to get started but once I had picked the books up, it was impossible to stop. After hell of a ride with the first part, I was very excited to dive into The Throne of Fire.
One of the things I enjoyed so much about it is the way the story is told. The book is meant to be a transcript of some audio recordings Sadie and Carter did. So first of all, we get two different voices and perspectives which makes for nice changes (and funny moments) throughout the novel. It also feels more real, being told from those "having witnessed it first hand". This really distinguishes the whole Kane Chronicles series from the rest of Riordan's books. Otherwise it might have been lost among the rest of his works but instead it pops out.
Moreover, the story will get to you. I have no idea how Riordan manages to come up with all this stuff but there are many heartbreaking moments trapped within the pages. Thankfully he is also very talented in mixing the end of the world with some fun, so for every tear you'll shed, you'll also get to laugh out loud.
In The Throne of Fire we also get to meet some new characters who will grow dear to you. So let's hope for the best while expecting the worst.

[Nessa Luna]

Last year, I bought a boxset containing the three books in the Kane Chronicles, a book series written by Rick Riordan about the Egyptian Mythology. I read The Red Pyramid, book one a while back, and decided to pick up part two, The Throne of Fire fairly quickly after that. Because I just wanted to read more about Carter and Sadie Kane.

At the end of book one, the Kane siblings recruited a bunch of teens like them; Magicians with all kinds of abilities. In the first couple of chapters of this book we meet two of them in particular, Walt and Jaz, who almost immediately grew on me. We also meet another God, a guy called Bes who became one of my favourite characters in this series (to be honest, I pictured him a bit as Chiron from the Disney Hercules movie). We also see some characters from the previous book return, and a new badguy called Menshikov (oh god I hated him so much).

This book is just full of action, one moment the twins are trying to break into a museum filled with wedding guests, the next Sadie and her friends have to run from the Vulture goddess and a gigantic babboon. It just never really stops, and the kids hardly ever have a moment to take a breath which makes me feel sorry for them (give them a break, honestly). Still, there was enough going on around the main adventure that kept the book exciting and kept me wanting to read more.

The narration was done really well too, I honestly enjoyed it much more than the other Riordan books - which I guess is due to the fact that this book was written in first person narrative, rather than third person. The thing that does still bother me is the fact that Carter and Sadie are so young, while they actually just sound so much older to me. In my opinion they could have easily been sixteen (or seventeen, as Sadie's birthday passed in this book) and eighteen instead of thirteen and (almost) fifteen. And that made me not really enjoy the romantic part of this book. I mean Sadie is thirteen, how does she already have two love interests? And one of them is a God even, damn Sadie what is your secret? I did kind of like Carter and Zia and I felt really sad when she woke up and she didn't remember any of the things that happened in the previous book (because that technically wasn't even her, shh).

But besides that, the book was great and I didn't think I could love Rick Riordan's writing even more than I already did, but I do. I just love the way he writes these humorous books without making the humour feel forced; I love his chapter titles, I love his sarcastic characters (even if every main character of his is like this, I honestly don't care, because I love sarcasm). And the way he writes the Gods is just the greatest! I don't think I'll ever love a series about mythology as much as I do with Riordan's books!

I will certainly be picking up the third and final book in the series, The Serpent's Shadow very soon, because I need to know how it ends! If you've read the Percy Jackson series, the Heroes of Oympus series and the Magnus Chase book but you're not sure if you should pick this one up... Let me tell you: Do it. Just do it.

My opinion in one gif:

[moraa]

He did it again! This may be one of the few middle grade books I read in my teens and actually loved.

[Chelsea]

Quick thoughts:
1. Really easy to read.
2. The Egyptian mythology just keeps getting better!
3. Great lead up to the third book.
4. More action!
5. More character information in this book.

See my full review on my blog here!

[Mercy]

Risas, acción, personajes y dioses adorables (otros no tanto), lágrimas y alegría, tristeza y dolor. Rabia, serpientes malvadas, la pluma de Rick y su capacidad de hacernos amar profundamente a sus personajes hacen de este libro una verdadera aventura.

[jnikkir]

I feel really bad giving this book 3 stars, same as I rated Book 1... I did enjoy both titles a lot, and I felt that this one was stronger than the first, but I just can't round up to 4 stars. These books really do pale in comparison to Riordan's Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series.

For some reason, I don't feel pulled into the plot as much with the Kane books - there's SO much that just flat-out isn't explained. I get that a lot of it is "just suspend your disbelief and go with it" - I'm a pro at that, and I still can't quite cope with the plot elements and scenarios and character's miraculous recoveries (as another reviewer mentioned) which were left un- or just under-explained.

I also don't really feel as emotionally connected to these characters as with the PJO books, but I can't put my finger on why. Admittedly, the first PJO series is all narrated by Percy, which puts you in his shoes and gives you an immediate connection... But the Heroes series is written from a whole bunch of different perspectives, and I still feel more connected to those characters than to Sadie and Carter.

Argh. It hurts because I WANT to like these books as much as PJO, but there's just something missing, some kind of spark, that I just don't get from these. They're entertaining and fun and all that, but. Grr. It's just so frustrating!

[Ashley]

Rick Riordan.. that guy has an amazing way of making characters come to life. Like the first book in the series — The Red Pyramid — the chapters alternate between two different points of view: Sadie’s and Carter’s. They both have such different and vibrant personalities — it’s like you can literally feel them jumping off the page and speaking to you in real life.

As a huge mythology/Egypt buff, I enjoyed this book a lot — just like the first one. Naturally I can’t help but compare these books to Rick Riordan’s other series, Percy Jackson & the Olympians. I still like Percy Jackson more than The Kane Chronicles, but The Throne of Fire is certainly a great read. It’s packed with adventure, kids saving the world, Egyptian mythology, and magic!

Although I must say, I’m not fond of the character Bes. His personality was fine, but I don’t like his character.. or more specifically, his ‘godly abilities.’ He’s a dwarf god who basically frightens off monsters with his embarrassing, wearing-nothing-but-a-speedo attire. He’s not a proper fighter, he just naturally scares people/monsters/gods with his horrifyingly ugly appearance. For me, that was just a little too.. oookay weird (if you know what I mean).

In short, I liked the book quite a bit, but I didn’t love it so much that I couldn’t put it down. It took me a few days to get through it just because I wasn’t glued to the book. Although once I got to the last 60 pages or so, things really got intense and then I couldn’t put it down and stayed up until 3am reading and writing this review!