Customer Reviews

The Throne of Fire (The Kane Chronicles, Book Two)

5 star:		(104)
4 star:		(44)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

SPOILER FREE:

Young fans of the Percy Jackson series may find themselves a bit slower to warm up to this one. Not impossible, mind you, and I think all of them will still thoroughly enjoy these books. However, I noticed that my ten-year-old was taking longer to read this one, just as he had with book one, The Red Pyramid.

I think the reason for this is not that the books are less well-written, or the characters less well-drawn. These books are every bit as exciting and character-driven as their predecessors. However, they are a bit more densely-packed with unfamiliar information. Geographically, they range much farther than the Percy Jackson series does. Percy's quests take place in the United States. If my son had a question about a location, he usually didn't have to go farther than asking me in order to get more information. Additionally, the mythology itself was more accessible to him (and me). I can't think of any Disney cartoons off the top of my head that deal with Egyptian gods.

Once he realized during the first book that this was slowing him down, he took to reading it near the computer. We bought this book on Kindle, in order to have immediate access to helpful websites, and, suddenly, this is more like his own quest than just a book. He's learning, and he's loving it.

This book, like the last is told from the points of view of dual protagonists: Carter Kane and Sadie Kane. For kids, this may be a bit daunting, as the switch back and forth involves two distinctly drawn characters with different voices. I like it, because my son, who normally shies away from books with female protagonists, is absolutely willing to read this. Thank you, Rick Riordan, for doing something about the bias in kidlit and helping our next generation to learn how to see things from different points of view.

The book contains just enough exposition to get you through it if you haven't read the first (for example, if your child gets this as a gift, you won't have to run straight out and buy the first book before he or she reads this one; however, your child probably will want to read the first book at some point).

Themes you may want to discuss with your child upon reading:

Empire - the concept of empire plays huge in this series, perhaps even more than it did in the Percy Jackson series. This makes the books both relevant and relatable to current events, if you want to bring them up with your child. There's nothing heavy-handed, though, or preachy or judgmental or especially patriotic, so if you prefer to avoid the topic, you won't be asked any questions you prefer not to answer.

Family - The Percy Jackson series was replete with absentee father issues. The Kane chronicles begin with the loss of a father by two kids who had already lost their mother. To make matters worse, the siblings have been separated for years and they do not resemble each other at all. The books so far have dealt deftly with the kids' discoveries of common ground and likenesses, despite their early separation, and the concepts of love and family are never far beneath the surface.

Chaos versus Order - this is the nature of the struggle, and the book doesn't present the choice as an easy one.

I'm still reading most of what my son reads, and I enjoyed this one as much as he did. I'm looking forward to the next installment, and so is he.

The battle against Chaos continues, and Apophis is very close to rising. The only way to stop him is to awaken Ra. Problem is, no one even knows where Ra is. And to awaken him, they need the three scrolls of the Book of Ra which are unreadable. Sadie and Carter Kane are not alone, though. They now have the assistance of their new trainees and a few of gods.

To add to all the confusion, Carter has found some information leading to Zia's possible location. In this fresh, intense, and humorous race, it is all about the Throne of Fire.

I liked this book even more than the first in the series. It is in many ways, similar. A race to save the world in just a few days, with several battles and bits of humor along the way. This tends to be the pattern in Riordan's mythology books. The difference in this book is that it has a theme of identity. None of his other mythology books seem to as clearly have a theme. A great sequel. I liked how it went further into Egyptian mythology. Very excited for the next, and final book in the Kane Chronicles!

There is something appealing about all of the books I have read by Rick Riordan. Whether you are a child or an adult, he always manages to communicate with all audiences. He develops his characters, and makes you care for them.

I confess I do not enjoy the Egyptian mythology series, The Kane Chronicles, AS MUCH as the Greek mythology series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, or the other new Greco-Roman mythology series, The Heroes of Olympus. However, I do enjoy all of these, and I think they are excellent for all ages. He is enriching our interest in ancient mythologies, and making us look at all mythologies in a humorous way.

This second book of The Kane Chronicles is a little darker than the first book, but there are still plenty of hilarious moments, some comic relief I found timely. New characters are introduced, and we are brought in contact with previous characters, some of which we were not sure we would see in this installment. The new characters span a continuum from good to evil, and bring elements of comedy and tragedy.

I will not give the details of the story, but if you have read the first novel, you already know Apophis, the deification of chaos and evil, is rising in this novel. You may already know, also, that a particular god must be woken if Apophis is to be properly opposed and the balance preserved between Chaos and Ma'at.

This book is highly recommended for anyone with a sense of humor that also has interest in ancient cultures and myth.

It's okay but it's way too drawn out! I usually love Rick Riordan's work but this book isn't working for me, perhaps I'm just too old for it or maybe he should just stick with greek mythology.

Books I do recommend by Rick Riordan,

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)
The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 2)
The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 3)
The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 4)
The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 5)

The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus)

I had high hopes when "Kane Chronicles 1" came out, but it seemed too much like a rehash of "Percy Jackson." I was hoping that now that Rick Riordan has described his setting and major characters, that the story could break out into new territory, but it still sounds like "Percy Jackson" to me. There are many characters and situations in Kane that you can match up with the Percy characters.
However, on the positive side, Rick Riordan is a good writer and really knows how to get the reader involved and interested in finding out what will happen next. So you want to be taken along for the ride, even if it seems a bit familiar. You definitely need to read book 1 to make sense of this book, IMHO.
There are other recent (and not so recent) YA and middle school age books about Egypt with young characters that others have mentioned that are very good books, too. This is a good adventure book that introduces the Egyptian gods and goddesses.

Let me first say I am a huge Rick Riordan fan. What happened here? There was little to none of the usual clever wit. boring boring boring
Maybe the author has too many projects going at once...felt as if the book was just rushed w/o the normal well thought out plots

Throne of Fire is the second book in the Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan. These books follow Carter and Sadie who are Egyptian Magicians. In this book they must find three scrolls and rescue the God Ra who has been trapped so they can save the world from Aphohis who plans on swallowing the sun and destroying the world. The two face many trials and battles throughout the book and they met many different Egyptian Gods who helped them along the way.



I have mixed feelings on this book and the series. I've loved the Percy Jackson books and my daughter has listened to all of those books (plus The Lost Hero) multiple times. When I gave my daughter the audio book for The Red Pyramid she listened to it a couple days and then switched back to Percy Jackson because she was bored (granted she's seven and much younger than the intended audience).



The mythology in these books is far more complex and confusing than the greek mythology of Riordans other series. The sheer numbers of Egyptian gods and similarities in their names (Anubis is a cute helpful god Aphosis however wants to swallow the sun, Bast is the cat goddess while Bes is the god of dwarves who scares people with his speedo) make it difficult to sort everything out.


There were times when I loved this book and there were times when I thought it was never going to end. The dual point of views seemed to make the book seem even longer and the book was very long period. I think if the story had been more streamlined I would have enjoyed it more. If you enjoyed the first book then you will like this one, it's much like the first and you'll like it. However if you were frustrated by the first book and were hoping that this book got better I'd skip this one. It has all the problems of the first book plus a few additional ones. There are far too many characters and too many deviations from the main plot.

Appropriateness: There is some romance in this book. Both siblings find love interests and Sadie has a love triangle to deal with. This series requires a more mature reader than Riordan's other series. The plot and mythology is far more difficult to understand than the Percy Jackson series. The lexile for the first in the series is 650 putting it about a fourth grade level but the plot is far more advanced than the vocabulary level (and this shows the downfall of grade levels that are calculated by computer). This is not a book that I would hand to an elementary school aged child (unless they were advanced) because of the complexity and disagree with the recommendation on most sites as it being written for 9-11 year olds (remember my daughter who is reading and listening on that level was bored by this series). This book is one that middle schoolers would enjoy and even find a little challenging. I would recommend this book to 11-14 year olds (and it's great for boys).

The world will end soon so who you gonna call? Sadie and Carter Kane, of course. When we last "heard" from the Kane siblings they had just defeated Set and saved the world, so they shouldn't have any trouble doing it again, right? Sadie and Carter now have trainees and are teaching them magic that in the magician world is illegal. They are preparing them for the fight of their life. When they find out that Apophis is rising from his prison they set off to stop him.

Their mission takes them to many interesting (and creepy) places; they meet many new gods, like the dwarf god Bes. And basically put themselves into peril time after time. Well, they are the Kane's, aren't they? The sundial is counting down the hours until the spring equinox a.k.a Aphophis's jail break. And in order to stop him they must find and restore a very old god who is in retirement and is pretty darn elusive.

Will Carter and Sadie with the help of their friends be able to save the world....again?

Throne of Fire was an action and adventure packed book! It was very interesting to learn about the Egyptian gods and their mythology. There were never any moments when the reader felt like they were reading a text book about the gods and their backgrounds. Riordan effortlessly wove learning and fiction seamlessly into one. In the previous book, The Red Pyramid, I thought Carter to be pretty bland and bit personality-less (the complete opposite of his sister, Sadie, who is chock full of personality- practically bursting at the seams), but Riordan did a good job with Carter's voice in this book. There were only a couple of times I was reading a chapter and didn't know which character was narrating.

It was a thrilling roller coaster ride peering into the perilous and hectic lives of Carter and Sadie Kane. I can't wait for the third and final installment of the Kane Chronicles coming out in the spring of 2012!

The second book in The Kane Chronicles introduces several new characters, magicians-in-training, including Walt, an African-American who wears a lot of gold chains (his magic powers apparently including a personal time warp to the 80s) and Jaz a "pretty blond cheerleader type" who knows more about ancient Egyptian gods than Carter; but at this point who doesn't?

Despite the bi-ethnic brother and sister The Kane Chronicles series is not a mutually empowering storyline. If you read the first book in the series, Throne of Fire is more of the same. Sadie, who resembles their Caucasian and English mother, has two love interests now, has great insight, and in between brat fits rescues Carter, asserts her own authority and saves the day. Carter who resembles their African-American father starts out looking leadery here but quickly degenerates into a chump. He continues to pine for a girl who does not like him, takes care of Sadie's light work, cleans up, and demands that people swear allegiance...to someone else.

Incidentally Walt is into Sadie but gets the affection sloppy seconds of Sadie's true love interest, a god of death who...wait for it...Walt prays to for guidance and assistance.

It would be okay if Sadie was the action hero and Carter was the brains of the operation but that isn't it. It would be alright if Sadie got all kinds of magical knowledge but Carter had more magical power but that's not it. It would be alright if they alternated saving saving the world but in the big climax of Throne of Fire Carter is again relegated to being a third-wheel bodyguard. Unfortunately so far The Kane Chronicles is part of a trend in fiction that features African-American males in lead roles but punks and emasculates them. The plot holes created by the need to make Sadie always the person who makes things happen make getting through Throne of Fire a chore. Pass.

I read "The kane Chronicles, Book One" and enjoyed it so I bought book two. About half-way through I began to wonder what was going on, it began to drag and there as just one complication piling on top of another, the book swung between the two narrators, characters seemed to switch allegiance at will, no one had any ethics at all, they did as they willed. Yes, the Egyptian gods were resurrected; yes, new gods were introduced to provide humor or resources as needed; yes, there was conflict between the gods; yes, again there was confict with the House of Life, etc. Riordan has capability as a storyteller but he botched it in this book. Too confusing, too many characters, the tale became too contorted to hold my interest. Khutu the baboon, Bes the god of ugliness(my designation), Tawaret the Hippo Goddess (of healing or caring?) and that is just the beginning. There was the hospice of the gods where they went to die, and it would seem there were thousands of Egyptian gods or godesses, maybe even millions, bring them on, use them when and where necessary, do they help the story? Personally I prefer a cleaner line, Apophis would be sufficient; I do not see the need for all the help Chaos got. And the decline of Ra, he was tired of ruling but the others were eager to take his place, even kick him out before he can resign. What foolishness! Gods are supposed to be gods,can't they act like one? Read the book if you want, I did, it may be necessary for the next one which may be an improvement and worth reading.