Rick Riordan is an author who finds a formula and then
kind of sticks to it, but at least makes the formula unique for each
series. In my review for The Red
Pyramid, a large point was made about how that novel was mostly a retelling
of a single Egyptian myth, translated into the modern day with modern protagonists. This is a theme which continues with The
Throne of Fire being a retelling of the sun god Ra’s nightly journey through
the night, with the added twist of Carter and Sadie Kane attempting to raise Ra
before the serpent Apophis can be set free from its prison on the winter solstice. The mythic retelling is mostly contained in
the later half of the novel, complete with the several instances of snakes, the
lake of fire, and the death and rebirth symbolism. This is the only point in the novel where
Carter and Sadie’s parents appear and the siblings have to work together. Riordan makes a lot of the sibling relationship
in this section of the book really pop as the cooperation and competition between
the two is unspoken and completely under the surface for much of the
novel. It’s an accurate representation
of what the reader would expect from this type of relationship. There’s the standard sibling bickering, but
both characters display this longing to have a normal relationship and be
normal kids once again, and not have this responsibility to save the world.
The character of Ra is interesting as he’s a character
who has been struck with senility and speaks in essentially babbles, but Riordan
plays this trick where it’s clear that the god still has a few tricks up his sleeve. It’s a good trick, and it only makes sense once
you actually read the novel, and Riordan ensures that it doesn’t become grating
by having Ra be sent off to his sun barge at the end of the book. The climax of the book, however, is a bit of
a mess in quite a few ways: first there is a twist with who the villain is
working with that feels like it was from an earlier draft of the book where the
“twist” was meant to be an actual twist.
There’s also a twist where an antagonist is revealed at the last minute
to be a protagonist which also feels out of line with what we learned about that
character in The Red Pyramid: Carter and Sadie shouldn’t be surprised
that this character at heart isn’t a bad person. The twist that actually does work is that to
save Ra from senility and complete their mission, they actually have to free
Apophis, meaning while they have time to prepare, the end of the world is coming
in the last novel and there’s nothing that can be done about it. The scene in the back half of the book, however,
that really defines The Throne of Fire is the gambling scene: it’s a
scene where sacrifices are made and a character who the audience has come to
love comes to a point where he must make a choice. This is really the first time in the trilogy
where Riordan makes the stakes high and the tension is there from the start.
The first half of the novel, on the other hand, is an
odd beast and really where it becomes unsure of what The Throne of Fire wants
to be. So, The Red Pyramid set itself
apart as this call for possible magicians to come to Brooklyn for training, and
The Throne of Fire opens with an introduction for some of the initiates. There are a couple who gain some interest:
Jaz is a healer who has an interesting presence before she is taken off-screen,
and Felix has a nice quirk, though it seems Riordan wants to avoid really writing
a child character. The most interesting
is Walt Stone, a descendent of Akhanaten who is revealed to be dying from a
curse. Walt is overall, really bland,
and just there to be a human love interest for Sadie, as Riordan realizes that
he can’t really have someone in a serious romantic relationship with an
immortal god. The book starts with some
genuinely great action, followed by some exposition, but like Percy Jackson
and the Olympians the supporting characters just lack a lot of the
depth. More time could have been spent
at Brooklyn House getting to know these characters, especially considering the
framing of this being a recording means that we could have had more time dedicated
to that. Instead, Sadie and Carter each
have their own little side quests. Sadie
is in London and attacked by two gods with her non-magician friends which is a
nice little plot detour before actually getting into the meat of the novel, but
it pales into comparison with Carter’s search and discovery of Zia. Zia becomes a fascinating character, as this
is really her introduction: the Zia the reader saw in The Red Pyramid
was just a pale imitation. She becomes
an interesting character throughout as she’s essentially kidnapped by Carter,
still believing the Kane family to be evil.
She also ends up respecting Sadie more, hitting Carter right in the
pride.
The Throne of Fire
is just one of those books where a lot happens.
Several characters return and there are basically three subplots to find
the Books of Ra which allows some great character moments. Sadie in particular is helped a lot by this
book, and the return of Set and the Russia plot is one that kind of makes the
book worth reading: Set, a god of evil, is played up as more of a chaotic camp
neutral character. He’s got his own
goals, can’t be trusted, but looks out for number one more than anything
else. Overall, The Throne of Fire
is somehow better than The Red Pyramid as it does carve a sense of
identity, though Riordan falls back on several tropes which may turn some off
from the trilogy. 8/10.
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