The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan

Rickriordan.com Summary:

Ever since the gods of Ancient Egypt were unleashed in the modern world, Carter Kane and his sister Sadie have been in trouble. As descendants of the House of Life, the Kanes have some powers at their command, but the devious gods haven't given them much time to master their skills at Brooklyn House, which has become a training ground for young magicians.And now their most threatening enemy yet - the chaos snake Apophis - is rising. If they don't prevent him from breaking free in a few days' time, the world will come to an end. In other words, it's a typical week for the Kane family.To have any chance of battling the Forces of Chaos, the Kanes must revive the sun god Ra. But that would be a feat more powerful than any magician has ever accomplished. First they have to search the world for the three sections of the Book of Ra, then they have to learn how to chant its spells. Oh, and did we mention that no one knows where Ra is exactly?Narrated in two different wisecracking voices, featuring a large cast of new and unforgettable characters, and with adventures spanning the globe, this second installment in the Kane Chronicles is nothing short of a thrill ride.

Review:

The book itself is exactly like the summary. If you think the summary is good, then the book is good, at least from your point of view. From my point of view, the summary isn't very interesting and didn't really grab my attention. But since I've already read the first book, I kept my finger crossed that Rick Riordan had written this book in a way that it would be as great or better than the first one. I was expecting just that, but unfortunately, Rick Riordan did not deliver. 

Just like the first book, I do enjoy how the author wrote his story from two characters. It helps the reader relate and understand both characters instead of just the one story teller. I like how the story circles around one major conflict, really describing the danger and the reason why it must be solved. Rick Riordan also added humor to his writing, like ever other book that he had written. The humor lightens up the gloomy mood surrounding the main conflict, so that's good.

That's enough of the "good" of this book. Now let's get to the "bad", shall we? I have a feeling the characters are mainly lucky, rather than actually skillful. For every of the problem along the way, they seems to have a simple solution that doesn't seem really realistic. Right off the start, the two characters receive gifts that would end up helping them later. They also got help often along the way, so it wasn't actually the characters solving it. And when they finally have a problem that they have to solve themselves, their solutions aren't very convincing or realistic, but Rick Riordan, through his magical writing, made it seem reasonable. At the end, there was a twist. Usually twists are good, but not this one. Instead of Sadie or Carter defeating the main antagonist, it was another character who did this. And that character was barely spoken about, not to mention well-described. If you read the book, you will know what I'm talking about.

Usually, I like books written by Rick Riordan, because they're usually quite interesting and full of electrifying moments. This was somehow not good enough. It felt as if Rick Riordan didn't spend an adequate amount of time on this book. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the third book of this series  different from this one. Different in a good in and different as in different in the conflicts and the plot, because those are the two main things that put this book below my expectation. Don't get me wrong here. I love Rick Riordan books, as well as the style of writing and various climatic events that would keep the reader doing their constant motion of flipping, but for reason, this book isn't one one of those ones.  

I was somewhat disappointed by this book and it did not fully meet my expectation. 3/5, and that's me being slightly generous.