Throne of Fire, the (original 2011; edition 2011)

Enjoyed the second in this series. Found it a bit hard at times to read it because of the silly childish lines that ran rampant it seemed, but overall the story was of course extremely entertaining and exciting. ( )

This book was very addicting and the characters are very likable. The book is never boring and it’s a fast read. I read this book because I liked the author.

Another strong installment in the Kane Chronicles. There's nothing wrong with this series, it's as well-written as the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series, I just like the other two better. I can't quite put my finger on why--maybe it's the characters, maybe the fact that I've always had a soft spot for Greek and Roman mythology (though I've always been fascinated with Ancient Egypt as well, so I really feel like I should be loving this series more. I'm stumped, really. Would I have liked these better if I read them first? I really don't know...). I like these books, I just don't love them. Still, a solid second book that clearly paves the way for book three, which I'll read...eventually. ( )

Cute book! The narrators did a really good job! I was really impressed with their performance!

Pros
* The overall story line was interesting and kept me engaged.
* Strong main characters, and some interesting new side characters
* The Carter/Zia story is really interesting! Poor kid!

Cons
* The ending with Ra was a bit Jar-Jar Binks-ish... I hope that gets better next book!
* The love triangle with Walt/Sadie/Anubis. Maybe I should be glad that Sadie MIGHT have a real-live boyfriend, but I think Anubis is freaking awesome! (Not that Sadie is even old enough to have a boyfriend!)

I'm excited for the next book, but I think I'll wait to get it on audio instead of reading it, like I did with Book 1... ( )

So, I really enjoyed The Red Pyramid when it came out last year, and I've been looking forward to the follow-up for some time. I liked how the stakes are bigger in this installment, I liked the wider globe-hopping (even though I felt there were shades of The 39 Clues). My favorite addition to the series in this is Team Brooklyn House- all of the new magicians training with the Kanes. I really hope that these new characters end up playing a larger role in the series because they were severely underused. Bes was a good addition- sometimes, his schtick got a little too childish for my tastes, but I enjoyed him, and was sad to see him sacrifice himself.

However, I would have liked this book a lot more if it wasn't for Riordan's writing style. He balanced the humor and the action very well for the first half of the book, but when things started to ramp into the climax, the constant snarking became almost trite. It's fine to have humorous moments to diffuse tension, but if every new development or piece of important information is followed by a one-liner, it throws me out of the story and I lose the tension. Also, the portrayal of Ra: the whole "He can't rule the gods, he's too old!" was fine, until we first see him...and he's constantly portrayed as a senile idiot. And not even actually senile, it's the drooling, "I like cheese!" idea of senility. I think the book would have ended better with Ra being coherent, but still ultimately less powerful, which would make the other gods worried. In all, I will be reading the next installment just to see where the story's going, but I hope that the plot and writing improves. ( )