This is the second book in the Kane Chronicles from Rick Riordan. (My post on the first book is here.) I thought that this was a great expansion of the world, and that the stakes were raised accordingly.
The plot starts off in Brooklyn with the Kanes training some new recruits that they got as a result of their actions in The Red Pyramid. They are trying to steal a scroll from a museum that they need to awaken the old sun god, Ra. During the course of it though, things go wrong. Jaz, a recruit, is left in a coma. They do recover the scroll though and head back where it becomes clear that they have very few days left to awaken the god. Sadie has her birthday though, so she heads off to London where her grandparents have been possessed by gods and are now trying to kill her. She gets help from the dwarf god, Bes, and meets back up with Carter. They all head to Russia to get the second scroll. There’s a run in with Set on the way, Carter gets bitten by a venomous snake, and Sadie has to make a deal with Set (god of Chaos) in order to find the third scroll. After healing Carter, the team splits up. Set also told them where Zia (who has been hidden and was replaced with a doll for the first book) is and Carter/Bes head off to find her. Sadie and one of the trainees, Walt, go to get the third scroll. Once they have all three, they learn that Brooklyn is going to be attacked just as the real big bad, Apophis (Chaos snake) is going to rise. They have to wake Ra first to balance Order with Chaos.
Walt and Zia then head to Brooklyn to protect it while Carter and Sadie head into the Duat (magical realm) to awaken Ra and fight Apophis. In the Duat they find his first self no problem, the second one though is harder to find and puts them behind schedule. They make a deal with the god of the moon, play a game and if they win they get 3 hours back. If they lose then he takes their ren (a person’s name, sum of all their experiences). Bes joins as their third, and ends up taking the consequences when they lose a piece. Bes’s ren is taken, but Carter and Sadie win the game and carry on. They make it to the end where they meet a magician taken over by Apophis. Their old enemy, the leader of the Egyptian magicians, joins them and fights with them. He sacrifices his life to lock Apophis away for a short period. Carter and Sadie head to Brooklyn with Ra, who keeps talking about zebras and weasels, to win the battle. Apophis will be back shortly though, and they need to be prepared.
Alright well the interesting thing about this book is that there isn’t much conflict up until the end. Apophis wants Ra to be awakened and the Kanes have a pretty easy time getting the scrolls. It makes up for it though, with a pretty big character death thing. Losing Bes is devastating, you see scenes from his life as his ren is taken and feel the characters’ grief. My only comment is that there’s a lot of characters that we just meet in this book, Bes being one of them, and it feels odd to introduce Bes just to have him removed. I think I read this whole trilogy (after reading this I definitely remember some sections) but I don’t remember if Bes manages to come back or not.
This book is also just really funny, there were so many sections I was chuckling at. Bes was a large part of them, but Sadie and Carter’s antics were also highly up there. It sounds so serious, but it’s a very lighthearted read. Until it isn’t.
To be honest though, the audio aspect of it is starting to get a little old. It’s devolved into the characters telling you what they were feeling instead of showing it. It’s still very creative, but it makes me glad that this is only a trilogy.
Fun stuff! Onwards to the conclusion of the series!
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