Review: The Throne of Fire - Rick Riordan

Title: The Throne of Fire (Kane Chronicles #2)
Author: Rick Riordan
Format: Hardback
Pages: 528
Genre: Adventure, Childrens
Published: 3rd May 2011 (Puffin - UK)

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?

*Possible spoilers for the first book in the series*

The second of the Kane Chronicles series continues to follow Sadie and Carter on their Egyptian adventure. The siblings are on a mission to revive the sun god, Ra, in hope that if they succeed, it will prevent Apophis rising. Still coming to terms with their own powers, Carter and Sadie are now also training other new magicians as well as trying to locate three parts of the book of Ra.

As ever, Riordan's writing is fast paced and full of action and mythology. It continues the story from the first book with just enough recapping to remind you what's already happened, without overkill. Although I really enjoyed this book, I did have a couple of issues with it, mainly that the books aren't Percy Jackson. Okay obvious I know but bare with me. Firstly, I found I didn't engage with the Egyptian mythology as much as I did with the Greek in the PJ series. This is probably down to not knowing a lot about the Egyptians. I just found I enjoyed reading about the Greek gods as I generally knew their stories. In the Kane Chronicles, I find I wanted Google with me all of the time so I can find out more. The second thing was that I didn't connect with Sadie and Carter as much as I did Percy - possibly it was just the duel narrative meant we get to know the two of them less. However, saying that, I liked that the story was told from both points of view and that the two of them went off and did things separately.

All in all, a great read, with the only slight downside being that I couldn't help but compare to Percy Jackson which I personally preferred.

Previous books in the series:

The Red Pyramid (my review)

It's Monday (56)

It's Monday! What are you reading? is a weekly event to celebrate what we are reading for the week hosted at Book Journey, Post the books completed last week, the books you're currently reading, and the books to be read this week. Please comment or leave a link to let me know what you're reading this week!

I didn't get much reading done this week, mostly due to watching FOUR(!) seasons of How I Met Your Mother. Hopefully I'll catch up a bit this week.

Completed last week



Girl in the Steel Corset - Kady Cross

Currently Reading

  

The Maze Runner - James Dashner
Duty Calls: Dunkirk - Jams Holland
The Long Way Home (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8, Vol. 1) - Joss Whedon

Up soon

 

Six Days - Philip Webb
Haunting Violet - Alyxandra Harvey

Reviews (links go to review)

 

Angel Burn - LA Weatherly
Sweet Valley Confidential - Francine Pascal

Books Received

In My Mailbox

Posts of Interest

Booking Through Thursday: Soundtrack
Friday Finds
Cover Reveal: Bloodlines - Richelle Mead

In My Mailbox (56)

In My Mailbox is a weekly event exploring the books received this week and is hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren. What books did you get this week?

For Review (from publisher unless stated)

   

The Power of Six - Pittacus Lore (Razorbill)
The Scorch Trials - James Dashner (Chicken House)
Small Adventures in Cooking - James Ramsden (Amazon Vine)
Journey Into Space: Operation Luna - Charles Chiton [audio] (Amazon Vine)

Cover Reveal: Bloodlines - Richelle Mead

BLOODLINES

Richelle Mead

Published by Razorbill / 25th August 2011

The hotly-anticipated brand new series that
Vampire Academy fans have been waiting for!!

LOVE AND LOYALTY RUN DEEPER THAN BLOOD…

Sydney protects vampire secrets – and human lives. As an alchemist, she is part of
a secret group who dabbles in magic and serves to bridge the world of humans and
vampires.

But when Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, she fears she’s still
being punished for her complicated alliance with dhampir Rose Hathaway. What
unfolds is far worse. Jill Dragomir—the sister of Moroi Queen Lissa Dragomir—is in
mortal danger, and goes into hiding. Now Sydney must act as Jill’s protector.

The last thing Sydney wants is to be accused of sympathising with vampires. And
now she has to live with one . . .

Now I haven't read the Vampire Academy books yet, it's one of those series' I keep meaning to start but haven't yet got to. However, this book looks awesome! I really like the kind of tattoo styling of the cover and that it's not really like all the other teen paranormal books out there.

Friday Finds

What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? Share your FRIDAY FINDS! Friday Finds is hosted by MizB at Should be Reading.

Aftertime - Sophie Littlefield

Someone once said that all apocalypses are experienced locally. In the case of Cass Dollar, the nightmare occurred with the violent abduction of two-year-old Ruthie, which she vividly remembers. Only later is young Cass assaulted also by the vague, twisting memories of a much wider conflagration that she herself only narrowly survived. A government experiment had turned the entire California landscape into the hunting grounds of zombie Beaters, but Cass can only think of the helpless toddler she is missing. A deeply arresting paperback original. Editor's recommendation.

The Emerald Talisman - Brenda Pandos

To be normal, sixteen-year-old Julia Parker would shed her empathic gift in a second. Life has been difficult since her mother's mysterious disappearance ten years earlier - an event she witnessed, but can't remember. Julia's situation becomes more complicated after a near death experience from a blood thirsty stalker. As high school students go missing it is clear there is a connection to her own experience--past and present. Someone has to stop the madness and a chance encounter with a creepy psychic foretells that only Julia is the key to stopping the madness, but it may require the life of the one she loves.

Lightbringer - KD McEntire

A YA Urban Fantasy/Romance in a world a breath away from our own. Similar in tone to Tithe and Unleashed, Lightbringer tiptoes down the line between love and horror as an independent young woman discovers herself and the darkest parts of the afterlife.

Booking Through Thursday - Soundtrack

Booking Through Thursday is a weekly meme about (mostly) books and reading. This weeks question is: What, if any, kind of music do you listen to when you’re reading? (Given a choice, of course!)

I prefer everything quiet when I read so I don't usually put music on. However, if there's lots of other background noise then I'd rather have music on to block it out. When this is the case I tend to go for classical music as it tends not to distract me from the book.

Review: Sweet Valley Confidential - Francine Pascal

Title: Sweet Valley Confidential
Author: Francine Pascal
Format: paperback
Pages: 293
Genre: Young Adult
Published: 14th April 2011 (LondonArrow)

Now with this striking new adult novel from author and creator Francine Pascal, millions of devoted fans can finally return to the idyllic Sweet Valley, home of the phenomenally successful book series and franchise. Iconic and beloved identical twins Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield are back and all grown up, dealing with the complicated adult world of love, careers, betrayal, and sisterhood.

Okay, so I'm not going to write a summary of the book here because pretty much the whole point of the book is to find out what has happened to the Wakefield twins since their college days. If I even say how the book starts, it's probably going to take some of that away from fans of the Sweet Valley books.

What I will say is: don't expect too much from this book and you'll probably like it. The front cover asks "Have you ever wondered what happened when Elizabeth and Jessica grew up?" and that's basically what it tells you. I was a big fan of the SVH books when I was younger - I couldn't get enough of them. My friends and I used to buy different ones and swap them amongst ourselves. So when I saw this book there was no doubt in my mind that I would read this one. I didn't however anticipate an amazing story so I wasn't especially disappointed. It was however a bit of nostalgic fun and in many ways it was done well because I think nearly every character in the original books was mentioned (and I was surprised to find how many of them I remembered).

One thing I found it strange to get my head around was the twins. When I read the originals, my favourite twin was always Jessica. Okay, so Elizabeth is probably the one I'd be friends with in real life but Jess was the fun, exciting one. Reading this book, I kind of just thought she was a bitch. In fact, I did find the grown up twins kind of annoying. Also, the sisters are living on opposite sides of the country and for me the series was all about the 'twin thing'.

Mostly I missed the High School setting. When I was growing up, SVH was pretty much how I knew anything about American High Schools (that and Saved By the Bell lol) and how much different they were to the British school I went to. It was all about "I wish we had lockers and could wear our own clothes!"

If you loved the SVH series then you'll want to read this to find out what happens to the twins but I'd advice borrowing it not buying.