The Serpent's Shadow
The Serpent's Shadow (Kane Chronicles, #3)by Rick Riordan
Carter And Sadie Kane, descendants of the magical House of Life, are in pretty big trouble. Despite their bravest efforts, Apophis, the giant snake of Chaos, is still threatening to plunge the world into eternal darkness. Now the Kanes must do something no magician has ever managed - defeat Apophis himself. No pressure there then. Battling against the forces of Chaos, their only hope is an ancient spell - but the magic has been lost for a millennia. Will they find the serpent's shadow, or will they be led to their deaths in the depths of the Underworld? (goodreads.com)
Somehow the release of the third book in the Kane Chronicles slipped past me. I only realized about a month later when I was walking the floor of BEA and was all, "Oh! I can't wait for this to come out!" *grabs bookmarks* Monkey & Disney rep, "It came out a month ago." Me, "Um..."True story.Anyhow, I quickly rectified my oversight and bought the book when I was placing a Book Depo order for a friend. Heh. What was one (or three) extra books, right?I have said it before on this blog, and I'll say it again - I love this series. Even moreso than the Percy Jackson series and I really enjoyed that one. (I have yet to read the Lost Hero ones though.) Even though I tend to like Greek mythology more than any other myths, it was really interesting to learn more about Egyptian myths through the Kane Chronicles. What I love most about this series though are the characters. The Kane Chronicles are the only books that I find really do dual-point of view well. I admit I was very nervous about the dual narration when I started with The Red Pyramid, but it was very quickly apparent that both Carter and Sadie Kane were going to be energetic and entertaining narrators. I am sure I have run across dual-PoV stories in the past that didn't irritate me, but I was trying to call them to mind and nothing, absolutely nothing pops up.** some possible spoilers, but I try not to be too spoily. Also, this is a third book in a series, so if you haven't read the first two, pretty much anything that's said in this post, including the official book summary, is like, spoilerific!**Anyhoo... so I think this is the last book in the series, but I could be wrong. I can see potential for more, but to be honest, I want this to be the last. Although it sounds like maybe a cross-over with the Heroes of Olympus? Hmm. As far as story conclusions go, The Serpent's Shadow was pretty good. I did think that the final battle with Apophis might have gone down a little too easily after all the build-up and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the Walt situation (creeped out? ok? confused? So, like, is Sadie in a threesome now? HOW RISQUÉ, MIDDLE GRADE BOOK!) But I liked the pace of the story and the action & adventure. I do wish Sadie and Carter could do more stuff together, though I see how that would sort of make the whole dual PoV aspect rather moot.And even though I am on a fantasy kick right now, this book felt just right. It's not fantasy-fantasy but it's magical enough that it filled that need I have right now to get lost in a magical place. Somewhere far, far away from work and house chores and work and.. well, you get the idea. Humour and magic. It's all I need, baby.My question to you, happy blog readers, is this: Have you read any of Rick Riordan's MG books? Do you like the Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus or the Kane Chronicles the best? I think I'll tackle the Heros of Olympus (is that the title of the series? I should look that up, but I'm too lazy at the moment) books next. I'll start those when there are more in paperback. It's a testament to how much I love this series that I buy them in hard cover. (Ok, not completely true - I buy them in hard cover because I was lucky enough to score a signed copy of The Red Pyramid at BEA in 2010. I was then obliged to get the rest in hard cover so all books matched! However, had I not loved TRP I would not have continued to buy them in HC. Ex-cetera, ex-cetera.)Kane Chronicles