The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan
Genre: Adventure/Quest
Published by: Puffin
Pages: SO MANY.
Format: Paperback and Hardback
Rating: ★★★
Where to Find: Goodreads | Author | Amazon

This trilogy has been on my TBR for years. I remember asking my grandparents for ‘The Red Pyramid’ for Christmas when it first came out. My story with these books is that I read the first and half the second, but never managed to finish. We’re moving to university towards the end of September, so I wanted to finish these so I didn’t have to take them with me. And, I have to say, I loved the trilogy overall. It was great. I definitely think more people should pick up The Kane Chronicles, it’s just as great as it’s brother series, ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’. Here’s why…

1 – Equal male and female perspective
Something that really stood out with these books was both Carter and Sadie have a voice. Yes, at times, it’s hard to distinguish between the two, because as much as they try to tell you they’re different, they’re very alike, BUT, for once, it was nice to see some female representation by Riordan. This series came out before ‘Heroes of Olympus’, but even when Annabeth, Piper, Hazel and Reyna got perspectives, they were always outweighed by the multiple male ones. Sadie was a great character, full of gumption and sass. Carter was great too, but I felt like I’d read him before, in bits of Percy’s narrative.

2 – One big quest
The main difference between The Kane Chronicles and PJATO, I think, was the type of quest the teens went on. Whereas in each of the five books, Percy has a new, different quest, Carter and Sadie’s sorry felt like an overarching mission. They had to awaken Ra, and stop Apophis. This did mean that by the third book, I was getting a little bored of the whole ‘find the scroll, go to the place, defeat the villain’ plot line. It didn’t feel as fresh as Percy’s stories and got extremely repetitive by the end. Still, there was continuity, and it meant you really got to know all of the characters throughout three books, instead of them only playing minor roles in one.

3 – All human, all God?
Unlike Percy, Carter and Sadie aren’t the spawn of a human and god/goddess. Instead, they are entirely human, born from a line of pharaohs which makes them susceptible to hosting a god. Carter got Horus, kind of like the Ares equivalent, and Sadie got Isis, who I was getting some Hecate and Hera vibes from. It was interesting to see the story take a slightly different route, because, really, how many times can Riordan churn out the ‘boy discovers he’s got a god for a parent’ story line? (I can only hope Magnus Chase is different too.)

These books are definitely worth a read. The gods are really fun to read about, and I wasn’t as familiar with Ancient Egyptian mythology, so it was fun to learn and discover at the same time as Carter and Sadie! They have different strengths and weaknesses compared to PJATO and HOO, but they’re still full of classic Rick Riordan humour and good story telling! A solid 3 stars overall!