I read the new Rick Riordan book today.  The Serpent’s Shadows is the third and final book in The Kane Chronicles Series.

I liked this book, though not as much as the second one.  It was still good though, and a worthy end to the series.  The characters are interesting and very funny as always, though the story felt very predictable, and almost everything about the end felt like a foregone conclusion long before it happened (and not just because they say in chapter one that they prevented doomsday).

Spoilers ahead.

The resolution to Sadie’s feelings for Anubis and Walt was interesting.  I would have liked to see it drawn out a little more.  We only very briefly thought Walt was dead before the truth was revealed.  I think there should have been more time there where Sadie thought Walt was dead and had to deal with that.  Instead, one minute he’s dead, and then she’s dealing with him becoming joined to Anubis, which seems like a much easier thing to deal with.  Something about her reaction didn’t quite ring true.  It almost felt like she was more upset that they became joined than that that he died.

Setne was very funny, and from the ending certainly seems that he could be an important character in a sequel series.

I really like that Amos took control of Set.  That could become an interesting story ina  sequel series.

I liked how in the end there were still some magicians who did not trust the Kanes.  That (along with a number of other things) set up great possibilities for a future series, and even a possibility of a Greek crossover (or at least appearance in one of the Greek books).

It felt like they wrapped up Carter and Zia’s storyline far too quickly.  We know how Carter feels, but when Zia was woken up she had no feelings for him.  It felt a little sudden the way they got together, almost like there was menat to be more story before these last two books.

My one real complaint with the book is that so much of it felt expected.  Early on, I was sure that Anubis and Walt were going to become one.  It was clear that Zia was going to become Ra, because she was showing his powers.  Pretty much everything went as planned.  Go see dad and get Setne.  Retrieve Bes’s shadow and restore him.  Retrieve Apophis’s shadow.  Defeat the evil magicians.  Defeat Apophis.  Really simplified, I know, but it felt too easy.

No one important died.  None of their plans were really foiled by anyone.  I kept expecting the evil magicians to show up and try to stop them, and instead, they were basically irrelevant until the final battle, and then only served to delay them from taking on Apophis.

The Throne of Fire felt epic.  I had no idea what was going to happen next or how the story would end.  Desjardins’s death was completely unexpected.  The resolution of this story never felt in doubt to me.  I wonder if the original intent of this series was for to be a trilogy.  It feels like something was missing.

Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy it, I just wish I’d enjoyed it more.

I can’t wait for Mark of Athena!

Thanks for reading!