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greenconverses) wrote2011-05-06 02:54 pm
greenconverses) wrote2011-05-06 02:54 pm
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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?
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THIS SO SO SO SO MUCH.
Like, okay. Here's the thing. Anubis looking sixteen and Sadie being 13, whatever, because he's actually 5000+ and at that point, ages don't even COUNT.
But Walt?
No. A thirteen-year-old girl does not, and should not, be involved with a totally mortal, normal, raised-as-human-because-he-is sixteen-year-old boy. ESPECIALLY when they're both being raised by her 14-year-old brother, for pete's sake. I think RR totally forgot just how much a few years really do matter in your teens. I wouldn't even buy 13 and 15, to be honest, because the life-divide between middle school and high school is so significant. 14 and 16, fine. 13 and 16, no no no no. Especially since she was twelve YESTERDAY.
Anyway, for those reasons and several more, I do not want Walt and Anubis to merge beings like Julius and Osiris. Js.
WALT IS ADORABLE. Just skeevy that he'd want to be with Sadie? ESPECIALLY considering Jaz IS sitting right there. Right now, I'm kind of for team Walt/Zia, especially since I sort of feel like Ra is setting them up as Ra and Isis or something, I don't even know. The weasels and zebras.
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?
BUT THE GRAVEYARDS, THEY ARE SO BEAUTIFUL. :')
But I did have one qualm with Anubis: last book, even though Sadie saw him as a hot human, even Bast still saw his jackal head. In this book, Liz and Emma saw him as human? Why?
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Maybe because they don't have the blood of the Pharaohs? I don't quite understand how the Egyptian version of the Mist works, but it has to be pretty similar to the Greek version and maybe it has an influence on them? But most likely it was RSquared not being anywhere near consistent, as usual.
I do kinda think Walt/Zia is going to happen too, which is a shame because I kinda like Carter/Zia. But I would not mind Walt/Zia as long as it meant that Walt didn't merge with Anubis!
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And now back into my paper.
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Long time listener, first time caller
I totally agree with all your quibbles, especially Bes (my ~social justice warrior~ senses were also tingling a little bit) and the age thing. A lot of RR's characters seem older than they are (I constantly have to remind myself that Nico is 11-12). Sadie's characterization wasn't too far off, if I'm thinking of myself at 12-13. But no 16 year old would've dated me. Just no.
Did you notice though that Carter introduced Walt as 14 in chapter one? But then Walt told Sadie he was 16 at Bahariya. That's a pretty major continuity error (and makes the difference between cute and skeevy regarding his relationship with Sadie) but no one else has mentioned it so I'm thinking I'm going crazy or my copy of the book is randomly defective in that one way. But Walt is definitely, definitely 14 in chapter 1 (according to the Disney website, anyway).
Other than those shenanigans, I quite enjoyed the book. The love triangle will probably annoy me a bit but I still loved Walt and Anubis in all their dorky adorableness. All the new characters are great. It reminded me of the campers at Camp Half-Blood that I wish we could have seen more of in PJO. I loved Carter and Sadie's growing friendship and brother-sister love as well. So cute. And anything that references Percy Jackson in any way, shape, or form makes me giddy. All in all, I'm excited to read the next book. Not as excited as I am for, say, Son of Neptune. But still looking forward to it.
(In case you're wondering where I came from, I found your journal when I got into Percy Jackson last summer and went looking for fic. I loved all yours and your random gif!spam capslock posts about it and internet shopping for fictional characters (which is definitely something I have done XD). And it's so nice to find other college age people reading Percy. I've only been able to force one of my friends into reading them.)
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Yeah, that bothers me. It was fine in the first book even when she was twelve because Anubis seemed like the kind of guy any twelve year old girl would fangirl over and the flirting was cute (if a little unbelievable seeing as Anubis is a god and I'd hate to think he's that desperate) but then he kissed her and I kind of cringed. I get that things were very different back in his day and girls were married off really young and it was a "birthday" kiss, etc... but still.
But Walt. There's no excuse for Walt. He's sixteen and grew up in our time with our social standards so there's really no reason he should be kissing a thirteen year old. I agree with you when you say RR probably didn't realize what he did and I think he may have just been craving a love triangle but thirteen and sixteen is a no-no. Thirteen and fifteen would have been a little better and thirteen and fourteen I would have had no problem with, provided a kiss was as far as it went.
I don't understand why he made Carter and Sadie so young to begin with. He obviously enjoys giving his characters love interests and that's fine, but wait until everyone's gone through puberty please.
OTHER THAN THAT I really enjoyed the book. ANUBIS. Anubis, you can take a seat right next to me. I'm legal in your era and mine. ;) Seriously though, I really liked his role in this book. Anubis being compassionate and comforting on the job reduced me to a puddle.
I like Walt too and to be honest I never really thought of the possibility of Walt/Zia, but now that you mention it, hmm...Zebra and Weasel...I might enjoy that. There was a moment in the beginning when I thought Walt was gay and I got really excited (and confused) for a minute because RR WROTE A GAY CHARACTER. But Jazz turned out to be a girl and very much not a boy.
I could have done without Bess. He reminded me a lot of Mulch from Artemis Fowl except Mulch was a lot cooler. Bess/Bast kind of amused me though and I really wish RR would stop shipping Bast off to the duat.
That's pretty much all I can think of worth writing right now, so...
ew, mummies.