Middle Grade Monday - Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan

Riordan, Rick. Serpent's Shadow, The. Hyperion Books for Children, 2012. 416p. $16.99. 978-1423140573.


Genre: MG Fantasy
Rating: 4/5




This is the final book in The Kane Chronicles trilogy. Sadie and Carter Kane need to save the world again.  This time from the God of Chaos, Apophis.  Apophis is determined to eat the Sun God, Ra and plunge Earth back into it's primordial days.  He's going to wait until the equinox to do that though.  Meanwhile, he's been destroying a particular scroll that the Kanes believe hold the secret to his destruction.

For most of the book, The Kanes are split up. Sadie travels with Walt as they try to figure out where the dwarf God, Bes', shadow is so they can reunite the two. Carter and Zia, on the other hand, are following Setne around so they can get the Book of Thoth to help them do an execration. This provides a great opportunity for L-O-V-E.

Now, in Throne of Fire (TofF), 12-year-old Sadie was obsessed Anubis and Walt Stone. So much so, that I found it unrealistic. She is this strong-willed, purple-haired, combat boot wearing destruction magician who becomes consumed by her attraction to a  5,000 year old god. It didn't fit the girl we met in The Red Pyramid. It actually made me not like TofF as much as I would have without the love triangle. It's one of the reasons I only gave this one four stars. Now we have 13-year-old Sadie obsessed with Anubis and Walt Stone. In a way that adds nothing to the story. Sadie's overbearing personality never lets up so you can't see either boy making any headway. You don't get to see a relationship being built between Sadie and the boys either. It appears to be more of a plot device that I leads to something I can't speak of here. This plot device will probably show up in a spin-off series involving those two and Setne.

Carter and Zia also found love in TofF. At least Carter did. Zia was pretty much entombed or a shabti. Now that she's a "real girl" she's busy taking care of Ra. Traveling with Carter gives her an opportunity to get to know him as they spend time talking. It's not a lot of time, as we are on a doomsday schedule, but the conversations seem heartfelt. I can't shake the feeling that Zia is much too mature for Carter though. She seems more like she's in her early twenties compared to Carter's 15 years.

I had a small beef with how EASY many of the challenges were. This book felt more like a setup than a final book. This pretty much was more of what we read in Red Pyramid and Throne of Fire. The series has been a nice introduction to Egyptian mythology, though. It reads slower than The Percy Jackson and The Olympian series but I found that enjoyable. I thought Riordan gave us more mythology than questing in these books, possibly because Egyptian mythology just hasn't been explored as much in children's books. Overall, I recommend this one to students who like mythology. Pair it with the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series which I'll be talking about in two weeks.

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Mini-Review - The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

Readin'
The Last Olympian
Rick Riordan
Disney Hyperion Books for Children
Pgs: 400
Time - Unknown - pulled an all-nighter!

Writin'
Percy Jackson and the Olympians start with The Lightning Thief. We meet Percy Jackson and learn that he has been kicked out of every school he's attended. He has never been "invited" back! He's 12 years old and he finds out that he is a half-blood - half human and half Greek god or a demigod. So begins Percy's adventure as he tries to make it to Camp Half-Blood so that he can be trained. He needs to be able to fight in order to kill the monsters that will do anything to bring down the gods.

The Lightning Thief is followed by Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse and The Battle of The Labyrinth. In each one Percy has a new adventure that involves killing monsters and hanging with his two best friends - Annabeth, who's also a demigod, and Grover, the satyr. In each adventure Percy is a little older and little closer to hearing The Great Prophesy. The one that involves him at the age of sixteen and the future of the world hangs in the balance!

Rithmetic'
I totally loved this series. I am sad that it is over. It was everything I expected and more. Although it did leave me with one question: How did Ethan know about Percy's weak point? That was not explained well to me and I feel as if I need more. I did like how Rick left it open for a new series with 7 more demigods who will be treated differently thanks to Percy's wish being granted. I believe Nico will play a huge part in the new series. I really wanted to go back to the beginning and start the series over. I love reading a series when it's all published because all the details stick in my head. Highly recommended. Must buy.

Sunday Salon - My Life in Pink and Green by Lisa Greenwald

Welcome to the Sunday Salon - on Tuesday! That's how the last few weeks of my life have been going. Just trying to find time to think!

I got a copy of The Last Olympian from the library last week and jumped it up the pile and just stayed up all night and read it!! Of course, I was mighty tired the next day but it was worth it! It may have been the last of Percy Jackson's adventures but you could tell that Rick Riordan is planning on a new series featuring demi-gods and I know I will be first in line for that!
My Life in Pink and Green
Lisa Greenwald


This is another one that jumped the reading queue. I only read a little bit of it because I of The Last Olympian but I'm enjoying it and I'm sure I'll finish it soon!

I love the tips at the beginning of the chapters.

"Beauty tip: Putting cold cucumbers on your eyes can reduce puffiness and relieve stress." (p. 7)


So far this is the story of Lucy. She is a twelve-year-old who "works" in their family-owned drugstore with her mom and Grandma. The pharmacy is in danger of closing but Lucy's mom, Jane, is in denial. She's sure everything will be alright. In the meantime, Jane still lives at home with her mother. At the age of 40! Lucy loves working with the beauty products in the store. She gets to try all of the free makeup samples that companies send in! I would love that too!! Lucy thinks she's found her niche when she helps the most popular girl in school, Courtney Adner, fix a salon disaster on the morning of Homecoming.

That's as far as I've gotten so far! My plan is to finish this soon because next week Hunger: A Gone Novel by Michael Grant comes out!! It's the top book I'm waiting for this year!