The Kane Chronicles

The Kane Chronicles

File:Kane wings color.jpg The US logo for The Kane Chronicles
The Red Pyramid The Throne of Fire
Author	Rick Riordan
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Fantasy novels
Publisher	Disney Hyperion (formerly Miramax Books)
Published	2010-2012
Media type	Print (hardback and paperback)

The Kane Chronicles is a trilogy of fictional adventure and fantasy books written by Rick Riordan. Set in the United States, in the same fictional universe as Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus, the books are predominantly based on Egyptian mythology. The series will consist of three books. The first book was released on May 5, 2010. The second book followed on May 3, 2011. The third book is tentatively scheduled for release in 2012.

The protagonists are Carter and Sadie Kane who discover that they are descendants of two Pharaohs, Narmer and Ramesses the Great. They learn that the legendary beings of Egyptian mythology still exist and have always existed, including shabti, Egyptian magicians, the House of Life, otherwise known as the Per Ankh, and the Egyptian gods and goddesses. Rick Riordan explained where the idea came from in an interview:

“In my classroom, there was only one thing that was more popular than Ancient Greece, and that was Ancient Egypt,” said Riordan, who taught middle-school Social Studies and English for 15 years. “This was a matter of listening to a lot of fans, and a lot of young readers.”

Novels

The Red Pyramid

Main article: The Red Pyramid (novel)

The Red Pyramid is the first book in the series and was released on May 4, 2010. The book is written as an audio recording made by the Kane siblings. The story begins with Carter and his father arriving in England on Christmas Eve for Visitation day with Sadie, who lives with her maternal grandparents in London. Julius, their father, has custody of Carter and takes him on his travels as an archaeologist. Their father accidentally releases the Ancient Egyptian God, Set, while trying to finish what he and his dead wife started, who finds wants to rule over the modern world and turn it into desert. Sadie and Carter, the strongest magicians born for a long time, must find a way to defeat him before it is too late. While Carter hosts the god Horus, [which makes him supposedly destined to rule the gods], Sadie hosts the goddess, Isis. Soon, they go on a daring journey with their chaperone and friend, Bast. Along the way, they meet Zia Rashid, who Carter immediately takes a liking to. Also, the two siblings learn the true secrets of their family history. Eventually, Carter and Sadie meet Set and fight him together with the powers of Horus and Isis. Carter and Horus fight using a super-powerful combat avatar and Sadie uses the power of Isis, a goddess of magic, to create a portal even though it's during the Demon Days. The portal teleports the pyramid and everything directly around it to Washington, D.C. Set is stopped from destroying the world, but Sadie does not complete the ritual that will completely destroy Set because she realized that Set was not the actual perpetrator of the Chaotic events in the book - the true embodiment of Chaos, the serpent Apophis, was, instead. He intended to use the pyramid's Chaos power to make his way into the mortal world. Sadie and Carter witness Zia die, but it turns out that "Zia" was a shabti, a magic statue, made to protect the actual Zia, who was hosting Isis's sister, Nephthys. The siblings go back to their Brooklyn mansion hauling a sick Amos. They receive an amulet from their father, who has now merged with Osiris. They lock the amulet in a locker of a school which Sadie saw in a dream. This is the item which is stored in the locker that Carter mentioned in the beginning. Carter is tempted to wear his amulet, which gave him the power of Horus, but he locks his and Sadie's up so they don't wear and consume the power of the gods all over again. The book ends with Carter cautioning anyone who finds the locker with Osiris's amulet in it to be careful and come to Brooklyn for training.

The Throne of Fire

Rick Riordan has announced that there will be a sequel coming out on May 3, 2011. The title, The Throne of Fire, was announced in a blog post by Riordan on January 13, 2011. The book was released worldwide on May 3, 2011. It was released on the third week of April, 2011 in Indonesia, via local bookstore Periplus. You can see the first chapter of it at this link A preview was published in USA Today.

File:Throne of Fire.jpg

The cover of The Throne of Fire, the second book in the series. The cover of the book and a preview were released by USA Today on January 13, 2011.

The story begins with Carter describing him and Sadie's attempt to steal a statue of Khnum, the sunset aspect of Ra from The Brooklyn Museum so they can learn the secrets of the Book of Ra and save the sun from being swallowed by Apophis in five days. Accompanying Sadie and Carter is Khufu, their baboon friend, and Jaz and Walt, two "trainees" of Carter and Sadie's. However, as they attempt to steal the artifact, Sadie triggers a booby trap and something occurs.

Main characters

• Carter Kane:—Age 14, Carter is the descendant of Narmer and Ramesses the Great. He is one of the main protagonists, and is described as always dressing "impeccably" in dress shirts and pants. He has dark skin with dark brown hair and brown eyes. His specialty is combat magic and his preferred weapon is a Khopesh, an Ancient Egyptian sword. He becomes the host of Horus. He is attracted to Zia Rashid.

• Sadie Kane—Age 13. Sadie is Carter's sister and has magic in her blood. She is also the descendant of Narmer and Ramesses the Great She was raised in England by her grandparents after her mother died. She has light skin, caramel colored hair with a lone streak varying from color to color, blue eyes, and is as tall as her brother, Carter. She never goes anywhere without combat boots. Sadie loves chewing bubble gum and listening to her iPod. Sadie is a learning magician and a talented spellcaster. She can read hieroglyphics, understand Egyptian, and she becomes the host of Isis. She is skilled at most types of magic. She is also known for her sharp tongue and is immediately attracted to Anubis and walt.

• Bast — Ancient Egyptian goddess of cats, she promised Julius to watch over Sadie. Hosted by Sadie's cat Muffin, who is later transformed to her true goddess form.

• Zia Rashid — A magician who has mastered fire magic. Friend of Sadie and Carter. She was hidden somewhere (by Iskandar), while hosting the goddess Nephthys, and was replaced by a shabti. Her parents died in a raid/fire. Carter has a "crush" on Zia, but she is unsure about her feelings for him.

Other characters

• Jaz – A character from The Throne of Fire; a healer. Her full name is Jasmine. She is from Nashville, Tennessee. She is said to have light blond hair and bright blue eyes. She is following the path of Sekmet.

• Walt – (Age 14) A character from The Throne of Fire. He is a natural sau (charm-maker). He is from Seattle, Washington. He is said to have dark brown skin, black hair in a buzz cut, and dark brown eyes. He is a decendant of Akhenaten and is dying of a curse. He has feelings for Sadie, who is torn between him and Anubis. Sadie mistakenly thinks he is in love with Jaz when she sees them holding hands. He is really seeking Jaz's help as a healer.

• Set — Ancient Egyptian god of Evil, Chaos and Deserts. Amos Kane acted as a host to him unwillingly. Son of Geb and Nut, husband and brother to Nephthys, and brother to Osiris, Horus and Isis. He murdered his brother Osiris out of jealousy and scattered pieces of his body and stabbed Horus's eye out. He is Associated with the color red. In the duat, he is a sand pit.

• Horus — Ancient Egyptian God of the Sky and Warfare. His host is Carter Kane.

• Isis — Ancient Egyptian Goddess of Magic. Her host is Sadie Kane.

• Osiris - Ancient Egyptian God of the Dead. His host is Julius Kane.

• Nephthys — Ancient Egyptian Goddess of Night and Lamentation. Wife of Set and mother of Anubis. Zia is her host.

• Julius Kane— Carter and Sadie's father, he is a PhD in Egyptologist. Julius has dark brown skin, piercing brown eyes, is bald and has a goatee. He becomes the host of Osiris, god of the dead, and he is imprisoned in a golden sarcophagus by Set. Later resurrected while hosting Osiris in The Red Pyramid (novel).

• Amos Kane — Carter and Sadie's uncle. Though he tried to fight it for most of the book, he was the host of Set.

• Serqet — Egyptian Goddess of Protection and Arachnids.

• Anubis — Jackal-headed God of Funerals. He appears to Sadie as a 16-year-old boy, wearing a leather jacket, combat boots and black hair. He later appears this way to Carter as well. Anubis enjoys giving Sadie sarcastic comments whenever Sadie talks back at him and he likes to treat her like a kid. In The Throne of Fire, he shows he has feelings for Sadie by kissing her.

• Michel Desjardins — Appointed Chief Lector of the House of Life after Iskandar dies. Has a strong hatred of Carter and Sadie for their assosiation with the gods. His last name means "Some Gardens" in French.

• Chief Lector Iskandar — Otherwise known as Chief Lector during Alexander the Great's time period. The first Chief Lector, 2,000 years old at death.

• Thoth — Ancient Egyptian god of Wisdom, Scribes, Baboons, Ibises and Magicians. Founder of the "Per Ankh," the House of Life. He lives in Memphis, Tennessee, but thinks it is Memphis, Egypt. He is a professor at the University of Memphis.

• Ruby Kane — Carter and Sadie's mother, who sacrificed her life to help save the world. She is said to have released Bast.

• Sobek – Egyptian God of the river and crocodiles. His sweat is said to have made the rivers of the world.

• Sekhmet – Egyptian Goddess of war, battles and lions. She has an opposite side of her that is more gentle portrayed as Hathor, goddess of cows. She was the Eye of Ra, but became too blood thirsty.

• Hathor – Egyptian Goddess of joy, motherhood, cows and love. She has an opposite side of her that is fierce and destructive, portrayed as Sekhmet.

• Khufu — Amos's pet baboon. Khufu enjoys basketball, always wearing a Los Angeles Lakers jersey, and only eats things ending in O, i.e. Cheerios, Oreos, Doritos, Flamingos, Armadillos, Buffalos, etc.

• Philip of Macedonia – Amos's pet albino crocodile. He fell into the East River while fighting enemies who ambushed the mansion in New York.

• Doughboy – Julius Kane's shabti. His legs were taken away due to the fact that he hated his master and tries to run away or even kill him. Owners of shabti often do this to prevent escape.

• Leroy- The Set animal. Carter gave the Set Animal the name, Leroy. Leroy doesn't like his new name. He is put into Carter's "magic locker" in the Duat and Carter and Sadie hope he stays there for the foreseeable future. (Note that the name "Leroy" is joke that Rick Riordan often uses.)

• Nut - The sky goddess of Ancient Egypt and mother of Osiris, Isis, Horus, Set and Nepthys. Wife of Geb, Egyptian god of the earth. Free-form goddess, which means she has no host.

• Geb - God of the earth. Father of Osiris, Isis, Horus, Set, and Nepthys. Husband of Nut, the Egyptian goddess of the sky.

• Shu - God of the wind. Father of Nut and Geb. Seprates Nut from Geb because of the curse given to them by Ra nly mentioned in the first book - The Red Pyramid (novel).

• Ra is the sun god. In The Throne of Fire, the Kanes and their trainees, Jaz and Walt, try to revive Ra, who retired to the heavens because he became too senile, and the only one who can convince Set and Osiris/Julius Kane to defeat Apophis, the Serpent of Chaos.

External links

• Official USA website
• Official UK website
• The Red Pyramid preview chapters