Series Wrap-Up: The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan

Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy, Egyptian Mythology
Pages: ~1400
Series: The Kane Chronicles
Number of Books: 3
Published: 2010-2012
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

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I finished this series a few days ago. Here’s the synopsis of the first book:

This book follows Carter and Sadie Kane. They’re brother and sister. At the start, Carter and his father are off to London to meet Sadie because, after their mother died, Sadie had to go live with her mom’s parents. They only meet her twice a year and only for a day. Their dad, an Egyptologist, takes them to a museum and does a spell …and everything goes wrong. Now Carter and Sadie, ages 14 and 12 respectively, who up until then didn’t even know magic existed, have to find a way to use their new powers to save their father from an evil Egyptian god.

I got this from my Red Pyramid review, by the way. Though I shortened it.

Now, as a big fan of Rick Riordan, of course I was going to read this series. I’ve also been interested in Egyptian mythology since I was 10, though I never did anything about that interest because I’m lazy. I also like middle grade fiction. So I was pretty confident that I would like the series. And I did really liked the first two book. The third one… I think I just waited to long between books and lost some of the interest (and a lot of the investment) in the story.

I still liked all the plot-related, defeating evil elements in all three books, and I loved the way Riordan incorporated mythology into the story. The books are also funny, exciting, have a good pace, and again, Egyptian mythology is so interesting. There was one thing that consistently irked me though.

Riordan really likes to have romances for his characters. I think he’s toned it down recently but it’s still a thing. And a lot of the time, it works. Percy and Annabeth, for example, are amazing because he took the time to develop their full relationship, not just the romantic one. The romances in this series are not good. Carter’s is okay, I guess. Sadie’s, I hate.

The duration of the series is less than a year, I think. Sadie is twelve when the series starts and thirteen when it ends. And she’s in a love triangle. Why does a thirteen-year-old need a love anything? Give her a crush on a “cute” boy if you absolutely have to, don’t make much of her storyline about the two boys she has feelings for. Sadie’s never been a favourite of mine. She has moments when she’s great, but Riordan leans a bit too hard on the annoying little sister part of her personality until it becomes half her personality. Adding a “love life” into it is just annoying and I hate it.

Overall, I usually recommend Riordan for anyone, but this series… I’m not sure. Try the first book and if you like it, then don’t wait too long to read the next two. Here are the individual reviews if you’re interested:

1. The Red Pyramid — 4 Stars
2. The Throne of Fire — 4 Stars
3. The Serpent’s Shadow — 3 Stars