The Serpent's Shadow - Tween Book Review

The Serpent's Shadow

Today I give you Zach's book review, a random event for which I must provide compensation.

The Serpent's Shadow is the third book in the Kane Chronicles trilogy by Rick Riordan.

I liked it because, like the Percy Jackson series, this had some humor, and it was balanced out by adventure and action. I recommend this book to people who liked the other books by Rick Riordan because they all have a good story line.  

The situation is almost the same as in Percy Jackson: the main character has to save the world. I think this is the last book in the Kane series because after Carter and Sadie banish Apophis, the gods recede with him, and it kind of wraps up the whole story line of saving the world and protecting the world and the things that live in it.  

There were some slow parts in the book where the characters just talked and talked for two or three chapters at a time. But when there was action, it was kind of hard following the scenes to get the image into my head, so I had to read it several times to actually get the perspective of what Rick Riordian was trying to get you to see.

I liked the fact that he included lots of ancient Egyptian magic, traditional Egyptian artifacts, and weapons like the crook and flail (the weapons of the pharos). The book had some really good battle scenes. The fact that Rick Riordian used lots of unusual things makes me think he did his research right.

The story followed basic writing guide lines: the hero defeats the villain, the hero loses everything, and then the hero gets back everything and wants to defeat the enemy. The writing structure is the same for all of his books. There is always an ordinary person that is extraordinary because there father or mother is a god. (In both cases they are dads.) They get pulled into a magical world, and there is always a bad guy who has to ruin everything and make it so the hero has to save the day.

I liked most of Rick Riordian’s books because they were entertaining and funny, but were also on topic, and I was able to understand all of it after a couple re-reads to get the idea of what he was trying to say. It is like that in all of his series, and it gets a little predictable sometimes, so you need to stop reading and take a break or read something else. Overall, I liked this book, but there were a few flaws, but no book ever is perfect, just close to perfect.

Amazing what you can get out of a kid when you promise them a new video game. (Minecraft-which I will play too. hehe.)