Book #21: Throne of Fire, by Rick Riordan
May. 31st, 2011 07:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grav_ityEgyptians are awesome, there's magic everywhere, girls are awesome, boys are awesome, no really: some of this actually happened, pure hilarity, etc.
I was all prepared to give this book a very good grade. As always, it was laugh out loud funny (and if I tried to quote you my favourite lines, we'd be here all week, so given what happened yesterday I'll just leave you with "I'm here to tell you, that comment about weasel cookies probably saved the known universe"), dealt fairly well with some complex issues (growing, being not!white, abandonment, etc), and did an unusually good job of weaving in real history with Riordan's typical insanely adventurous romp.
And yet.
There's a part where the characters climb the Great Pyramid. I have some very, very strong feelings about the Pyramids. When I realized that's where they were going, I was pumped because I thought it meant that I'd get Riordan's take on them, and that it would be just as awesome as his other stuff. I was half right. Instead he says, through Carter, the character who typically has the highest regard for ancient history:
If you ever visit the pyramids, here's a tip: the best place to see them is from far away, like the horizon. The closer you get, the more disappointed you'll be.
Carter then goes on to say that when you get closer, you'll find them strangely small, and that they'll be unimpressive compared to modern buildings. I have no idea if Riordan has ever been to Giza, but I feel I must wholeheartedly reject what he says here. Because, yes, the pyramids are cool from the horizon where you can see the whole thing at once (I particularly recommend sunset), but up close? Probably the second most amazing moment of my life was reaching out with one hand, unable to even really see the top anymore, and just letting it all wash over me.
(People told me this about Stonehenge too, to the point where I was genuinely worried before I got there. I have no idea what's wrong with people that they can't appreciate things like the Pyramids and Stonehenge. It absolutely boggles me that anyone could stand there and think "Meh, whatever!")
I said a couple days ago that it was going to cost him at least a point, and I very nearly made it two, because it really just sapped all the PURE JOY I had in reading the book...but I've gone back and decided to give it an 8 after all.
And this is why.
Once I got over my shock and disappointment and really dove into the final section of the action, I was really impressed with Sadie and Carter's adventures in the Duat. It was beautifully described, and I love watching them become more and more capable.
My other favourite part is the section with Sadie and Walt, a new character whose lineage I predicted as soon as he was described, MUCH TO MY GLEE, at the Bahariya Oasis. "Sadie Grows Up" is a theme throughout the book, and I really loved reading her in a position of leadership. And she's so awesome that even her boy drama doesn't bother me. 99% of the lines that made me laugh out loud are hers. She's just so great.
I also really, really loved the part where Carter went after Zia. In the last half of the preceding chapter, Sadie wrestles with what to tell him about Zia's location, knowing that if she does, he'll go after her. When it's Carter's turn to tell the story, he acknowledges how stupid his plan is, and how potentially dangerous, but he also explains why he needs to do this...and then he does it. Riordan uses this trope a lot (to death, actually), wherein the heroes do something stupid, yet unavoidable, on the advice of the villains, but this one particularly well done because Carter was so very honest about the whole thing.
I love how separate Carter and Sadie are, in terms of powers, and how well they've learned to work together. And I adore their banter.
AND WALT! I WAS SO EXCITED! And then I turned out to be right, and I was EVEN MORE EXCITED.
This book really was great. I'm excited to see what happens with Ra as time goes on. AND WITH AMOS (which I also called)! AWESOME, AWESOME AMOS!
So yes, an 8/10 for being funny and (mostly) in love with things I'm in love with, and for Sadie being amazing, and for Carter being awesome, and for me being right about Walt, and for chapter titles like: Major Delays at Waterloo Station (We Apologize For The Giant Baboon).
I was all prepared to give this book a very good grade. As always, it was laugh out loud funny (and if I tried to quote you my favourite lines, we'd be here all week, so given what happened yesterday I'll just leave you with "I'm here to tell you, that comment about weasel cookies probably saved the known universe"), dealt fairly well with some complex issues (growing, being not!white, abandonment, etc), and did an unusually good job of weaving in real history with Riordan's typical insanely adventurous romp.
And yet.
There's a part where the characters climb the Great Pyramid. I have some very, very strong feelings about the Pyramids. When I realized that's where they were going, I was pumped because I thought it meant that I'd get Riordan's take on them, and that it would be just as awesome as his other stuff. I was half right. Instead he says, through Carter, the character who typically has the highest regard for ancient history:
If you ever visit the pyramids, here's a tip: the best place to see them is from far away, like the horizon. The closer you get, the more disappointed you'll be.
Carter then goes on to say that when you get closer, you'll find them strangely small, and that they'll be unimpressive compared to modern buildings. I have no idea if Riordan has ever been to Giza, but I feel I must wholeheartedly reject what he says here. Because, yes, the pyramids are cool from the horizon where you can see the whole thing at once (I particularly recommend sunset), but up close? Probably the second most amazing moment of my life was reaching out with one hand, unable to even really see the top anymore, and just letting it all wash over me.
(People told me this about Stonehenge too, to the point where I was genuinely worried before I got there. I have no idea what's wrong with people that they can't appreciate things like the Pyramids and Stonehenge. It absolutely boggles me that anyone could stand there and think "Meh, whatever!")
I said a couple days ago that it was going to cost him at least a point, and I very nearly made it two, because it really just sapped all the PURE JOY I had in reading the book...but I've gone back and decided to give it an 8 after all.
And this is why.
Once I got over my shock and disappointment and really dove into the final section of the action, I was really impressed with Sadie and Carter's adventures in the Duat. It was beautifully described, and I love watching them become more and more capable.
My other favourite part is the section with Sadie and Walt, a new character whose lineage I predicted as soon as he was described, MUCH TO MY GLEE, at the Bahariya Oasis. "Sadie Grows Up" is a theme throughout the book, and I really loved reading her in a position of leadership. And she's so awesome that even her boy drama doesn't bother me. 99% of the lines that made me laugh out loud are hers. She's just so great.
I also really, really loved the part where Carter went after Zia. In the last half of the preceding chapter, Sadie wrestles with what to tell him about Zia's location, knowing that if she does, he'll go after her. When it's Carter's turn to tell the story, he acknowledges how stupid his plan is, and how potentially dangerous, but he also explains why he needs to do this...and then he does it. Riordan uses this trope a lot (to death, actually), wherein the heroes do something stupid, yet unavoidable, on the advice of the villains, but this one particularly well done because Carter was so very honest about the whole thing.
I love how separate Carter and Sadie are, in terms of powers, and how well they've learned to work together. And I adore their banter.
AND WALT! I WAS SO EXCITED! And then I turned out to be right, and I was EVEN MORE EXCITED.
This book really was great. I'm excited to see what happens with Ra as time goes on. AND WITH AMOS (which I also called)! AWESOME, AWESOME AMOS!
So yes, an 8/10 for being funny and (mostly) in love with things I'm in love with, and for Sadie being amazing, and for Carter being awesome, and for me being right about Walt, and for chapter titles like: Major Delays at Waterloo Station (We Apologize For The Giant Baboon).
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no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 02:32 pm (UTC)You should try Newgrange. It's small, and its been tourist-ed up a bit, but it's impossible to go there and stand hunched over in the passage and not think "Five thousand years. I'm standing in a room that's 5000 years old. I'm standing in something that survived five. thousand. years." Heh.
Then again, I get that with a lot of things. Ever held an Australopithecine skull? Two million. You're holding something, in your hands, that survived millions of years. Yes, small and dirty and missing the mandible, but millions of years. Or in palaeoclimatology. The ocean cores. You are looking at literally the pulse of the planet, back millions and millions of years, written in the tiny skeletons of dead forams. *boggles* How can that possibly not be impressive?
no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 02:36 pm (UTC)I get it ALL THE TIME. It's this feeling somewhere in my ribcage, and every now and then, I'll be holding something in my hands and NEARLY FALL OVER because, Holy God, SOMEONE MADE THIS WITH THEIR HANDS and now I AM TOUCHING IT, and I just DON'T UNDERSTAND how people don't get that.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 02:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 02:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 02:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 03:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 03:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 03:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 03:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 03:45 pm (UTC)I have not yet had the opportunity to see the pyramids, but expect I would not be disappointed in the least.
But then, antiquity and really, really old things that people have made have been an abiding fascination and interest for me since I was a tiny person.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 03:49 pm (UTC)My Stonehenge (http://grav-ity.livejournal.com/446990.html), and there's pyramid stuff in the "turn left at the camel" tag, but the post where I talk about it was lost in a computer malfunction, and the only version I had left is the one that appeared in my local newspaper, which had been really badly edited.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 06:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 06:28 pm (UTC)I can, having seen more than a hundred of them, absolutely guarantee you that this is not the case.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-31 09:22 pm (UTC)I loved that chapter title too.