‘The Kane Chronicles’ exceeds all expectations
Carter and Sadie Kane are two siblings who have lived their lives apart – Carter traveling the world with their Egyptologist father and Sadie living in London with Gram and Gramps – but that is all about to change when their father, Julius Kane leaves to become Osiris and Carter and Sadie are introduced to an uncle they have never met, Amos.
In the “The Kane Chronicles” by Rick Riordan, Carter and Sadie are thrust into an adventure to defeat the evil Egyptian god Set, chaos serpent Apophis and evil magicians to save their father, friends and the world as we know it while figuring out what happened to their mother.
In the first book “The Red Pyramid,” Carter and Sadie must become reacquainted with each other. They meet the goddess of cats, Bast, who it turns out has been battling the serpent Apophis for an eternity. Bast becomes their guardian and mentor as the Kanes travel around the world battling evil magicians and other creatures in their quest to bind Set. Sadie meets the god of the dead, Anubis, who turns out to be Elvis-like and very attractive. In their adventures, Carter and Sadie run into Thoth, the god of knowledge in Graceland, Tennessee, Elvis’s home. After a battle, Elvis’s home is pretty much destroyed.
In the second book, “The Throne of Fire,” Carter and Sadie are found training other young magicians like themselves in Brooklyn House with their pet gorilla Khufu who only eats things that end in the letter “O” and their alligator who swims in their pool. The Kanes must battle the chaos snake Apophis within a few days or the world will come to an end. In order to do this, they must revive the sun god Ra, though nobody knows where he is. First, they have to search the world of the three section of the Book of Ra, and then learn how to chant its spells.
In the third book, “The Serpent’s Shadow,” Apophis is back and threatening to plunge the world into eternal darkness. This gives the Kanes the impossible task of having to destroy him once and for all. Meanwhile, the magicians of the House of Life are on the brink of civil war, the gods are divided and the initiates of Brooklyn House stand alone to fight chaos. In order to defeat Apophis, the Kanes must reply on an ancient spell that might turn the serpent’s shadow into a weapon, but the magic has been lost for millennia. To find the spell, the Kanes rely on the murderous ghost of a powerful magician who might be able to lead them to the serpent’s shadow or to their own deaths. Carter is in love with Zia, who ends up babysitting the senile sun god Ra, and Sadia finds herself in a love triangle between Anubis and Walt, one of the initiates who is dying.
I cannot do this series the justice it deserves. This series is so good. Riordan writes as though all of these Egyptian gods are real and this fight that Carter and Sadie find themselves in actually happened. Riordan acts like a transcriber who received an audio recording from Carter and Sadie who voice recorded their adventures.
The humor and the creativity that goes into this series is brilliant. I haven’t laughed so hard in a book, or series of books, as much as I did in this series. It is so fun to read and because of that, it is a fast read, which leaves you wanting for much, much more.
On top of this, readers learn so much about Egyptian gods and mythology that it is really fascinating. It is not a typical book, and you will find that things happen that you weren’t expecting. Plus, Anubis is extremely attractive, which is weird since he is the god of the dead.
For those who have read the “Percy Jackson” series or the “Heroes of Olympus” series, you have got to read this one. If you have not read anything by Rick Riordan, you are truly missing out. He thrusts you into a world that feels as though you are an observer of what is happening, not a reader.
-marissa.neeley@aggiemail.usu.edu