Review: The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan
Finished the new Kane Chronicles book on Wednesday, but I wanted to let it digest for a few days - plus, you know, I had finals to finish up.
Anyway, for those of you who read the first book in the series, The Red Pyramid, and weren't that impressed, you will be by the The Throne Fire. It was a definite improvement on the first book and I really enjoyed it.
I'll guess I'll start with some of the things I had problems with before jumping into the OMG SQUEE moments.
- One of my big problems with Sadie and Carter's narration is that it sounds much older than the 13 and 14-year-olds they're supposed to be. I constantly had to remind myself that Sadie was not 16, especially when she started talking about boys. And I'm kinda side-eying the 16-year-old guys who are into a barely-just-turned-13 Sadie. I'm not saying it's not possible, but I just think RSquared really wasn't thinking when he picked their ages.
- While TRP got most of the info dumping about Egyptian mythology and world building out of the way, there were still a few chapters where the exposition just dragged. I still think this because Egyptian mythology isn't nearly as well known or ingrained in American culture as Greek myth is. Plus, it can be a lot more complicated than Greek myth sometimes.
- Oh look, a love triangle. Color me surprised.
- My feelings on Bes are complicated. I liked his story near the end, but some of the "dwarf pride" bits made me a bit uncomfortable? Idk. My ~social justice warrior~ senses were tingling briefly.
And... um, that's really it? There wasn't a lot to complain about overall, and most of it is really minor quibbles. So on to what I did like.
- You can really tell that RR's writing is maturing with each book that comes out. THoF was an entirely different animal from an of the early PJO books and it always impresses me how well RR can handle a variety of subjects. The scenes in the retirement home for forgotten Egyptian gods really made me tear up.
- New characters! Walt is all sorts of adorable, although he's probably going to catch a bunch of hate from the Anubis fans in the house a la Rachel Elizabeth Dare did in PJO. I have no idea where his plots going to go, although I have ideas. Speaking of Anubis...
- ANUBIS. ♥ I kinda love that RR presents the death-deity-romantic-love-interest as kind of this hot, but dorky kid who has no idea how to interact with girls instead of the POSSESSIVE, STALKER-ESQUE love interest every other author today would probably go with. Pretty sure he's going to end up getting the shaft in the Sadie/Walt triangle since he's the 5,000 year old god who can't exist outside of graveyards, but a girl can dream, right?
- TRP's plot was very similar to TLT, but I don't think TToF had that problem. I liked that Sadie and Carter each had their own mini-adventure this time, although I wanted to shake Carter for going after Zia even if it totally ended up being worth it.
- NIGHTMARE FUEL aka Vlad's eyes and the MUMMIES. Oh god, THE MUMMIES.
- I really loved Carter and Sadie in this book. I think Sadie's attitude got dialed down quite a bit more, and they both had some really good growth throughout the book. Also loved Zia's reappearance and the way that was handled on Carter's side.
- MOAR PJO SHOUT OUTS PLEASE. I'm just waiting for Percy or Annabeth or someone else to make a cameo appearance. Waiting, I tell you. Plus now I want to map out how/when the events of TKC match up to events in the PJO. They're clearly happening in about the same time period and it would make sense that if one mythology was facing a big WORLD ENDING event, the other would probably be going through the same thing. I need crave more information, RR! Give it to me!
Anyone else have some thoughts to share?
Anyway, for those of you who read the first book in the series, The Red Pyramid, and weren't that impressed, you will be by the The Throne Fire. It was a definite improvement on the first book and I really enjoyed it.
I'll guess I'll start with some of the things I had problems with before jumping into the OMG SQUEE moments.
- One of my big problems with Sadie and Carter's narration is that it sounds much older than the 13 and 14-year-olds they're supposed to be. I constantly had to remind myself that Sadie was not 16, especially when she started talking about boys. And I'm kinda side-eying the 16-year-old guys who are into a barely-just-turned-13 Sadie. I'm not saying it's not possible, but I just think RSquared really wasn't thinking when he picked their ages.
- While TRP got most of the info dumping about Egyptian mythology and world building out of the way, there were still a few chapters where the exposition just dragged. I still think this because Egyptian mythology isn't nearly as well known or ingrained in American culture as Greek myth is. Plus, it can be a lot more complicated than Greek myth sometimes.
- Oh look, a love triangle. Color me surprised.
- My feelings on Bes are complicated. I liked his story near the end, but some of the "dwarf pride" bits made me a bit uncomfortable? Idk. My ~social justice warrior~ senses were tingling briefly.
And... um, that's really it? There wasn't a lot to complain about overall, and most of it is really minor quibbles. So on to what I did like.
- You can really tell that RR's writing is maturing with each book that comes out. THoF was an entirely different animal from an of the early PJO books and it always impresses me how well RR can handle a variety of subjects. The scenes in the retirement home for forgotten Egyptian gods really made me tear up.
- New characters! Walt is all sorts of adorable, although he's probably going to catch a bunch of hate from the Anubis fans in the house a la Rachel Elizabeth Dare did in PJO. I have no idea where his plots going to go, although I have ideas. Speaking of Anubis...
- ANUBIS. ♥ I kinda love that RR presents the death-deity-romantic-love-interest as kind of this hot, but dorky kid who has no idea how to interact with girls instead of the POSSESSIVE, STALKER-ESQUE love interest every other author today would probably go with. Pretty sure he's going to end up getting the shaft in the Sadie/Walt triangle since he's the 5,000 year old god who can't exist outside of graveyards, but a girl can dream, right?
- TRP's plot was very similar to TLT, but I don't think TToF had that problem. I liked that Sadie and Carter each had their own mini-adventure this time, although I wanted to shake Carter for going after Zia even if it totally ended up being worth it.
- NIGHTMARE FUEL aka Vlad's eyes and the MUMMIES. Oh god, THE MUMMIES.
- I really loved Carter and Sadie in this book. I think Sadie's attitude got dialed down quite a bit more, and they both had some really good growth throughout the book. Also loved Zia's reappearance and the way that was handled on Carter's side.
- MOAR PJO SHOUT OUTS PLEASE. I'm just waiting for Percy or Annabeth or someone else to make a cameo appearance. Waiting, I tell you. Plus now I want to map out how/when the events of TKC match up to events in the PJO. They're clearly happening in about the same time period and it would make sense that if one mythology was facing a big WORLD ENDING event, the other would probably be going through the same thing. I need crave more information, RR! Give it to me!
Anyone else have some thoughts to share?