The Serpent's Shadow (Riordan novel)
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Cover of first edition | |
| Author | Rick Riordan |
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| Illustrator | John Rocco |
| Country | United States |
| Series | The Kane Chronicles (bk 3) |
| Genre | Fantasy, adventure, children's novel |
| Publisher | Disney Hyperion[1] |
Publication date | May 2, 2012 |
| Media type | Print, audiobook |
| Pages | 406 pp (first ed.)[1] |
| ISBN | 978-1423140573 |
| OCLC | 757484331 |
| LC Class | PZ7.R4829 Se 2012[1] |
| Preceded by | The Throne of Fire |
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The Serpent's Shadow is a 2013 fantasy adventure novel based on Egyptian mythology written by Rick Riordan. It is the third and final novel in The Kane Chronicles series. It was published by Disney Hyperion on May 1, 2012.
Plot
This book begins when Carter Kane and Sadie Kane, travel to Dallas, Texas the 51st nome, with their initiates, and meet J.D. Grissom, the leader of the nome. They tell him that they need a heavily guarded magic scroll from the King Tut exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art, or his nome will get attacked and destroyed by the forces of Apophis, the chaos snake, who will rise, swallow the sun, and destroy the world in three days time. Sadie sees a face in the wall, which tells that they will not understand the scroll and they instead need a golden box. However, the nome is attacked, and the scroll is destroyed. To save everyone from getting killed, Sadie summons Ma'at, repulsing the forces of chaos but blacks out from the experience. They discover that all of the 51st nome has been destroyed, and all of the magicians killed by the minions of Chaos. At the 21st nome in Brooklyn, they discover that the golden box Sadie was told to retrieve by the wacko magician, (Uncle Vinnie) is a shadow box of king Tut.
Horus, the Egyptian God of War, visits Carter as a pigeon and hints a connection between shadows and statues. Carter suspects that there is a better way to execrate Apophis than perhaps blowing himself and Sadie into crazily small pieces, and decides to consult Thoth, Egyptian god of Knowledge . He tells everybody at dinner and Sadie makes him go to their school dance. During the dance, Sadie meets Anubis, and he suggests that the sheut is like a computer backup drive, but Shu, god of wind, and also Anubis' great-grandfather breaks them up later. Sadie gets an idea about using Bes' sheut to give him back his ren.
The Russian magician they met last year comes with bad news. Sadie takes him to the First Nome to meet Amos. He tells them that the rebels, led by Sarah Jacobi and Kwai, have teamed up with Apophis. Amos tells Zia and Sadie to visit Bes. Meanwhile, Carter and Walt go visit Thoth. Thoth is being attacked by demons. Walt and Carter repulse them, and Thoth helps them understand who Setne is. They realize they have to visit the Land of the Dead at his trial and persuade Osiris to help them.
When Zia and Sadie are visiting the House of Rest, Sadie realizes that Amos is calling on the Path of Set, god of evil, who he once hosted. Tawaret, hippo goddess, tells them where Bes once hid his sheut. Carter, Sadie, Zia, and Walt meet and exchange information. They meet Osiris, lord of the dead, and persuade him to let Setne go with them. Sadie and Walt go to look for Bes' sheut, while Zia and Carter go with Setne to find The Book of Thoth.
Zia and Carter manage to help Setne retrieve the Book of Thoth from the Temple of the Apis bull (serapium of apis), almost dying in the process. It is revealed that Ra has chosen Zia as a host and she's learning about the Path of the Gods the hard way because Ra's power is almost literally burning her up. She manage to survive but later Setne tricks them by giving orders to Bloodstained Blade (boat's demon captain) to kill them and at the same time bringing them to the Land of Demons, where the shadow is.
Meanwhile Sadie and Walt visit the goddess Neith, who tells them she will help them if they can survive her hunt till sunset. They survive by using their shen amulets to split up and transfer to each other's side, and then in the end right before sunset Sadie tricks Neith by mesmerizing her with tales of hunting jelly babies and the likes. Walt uses the rest of his energy to revive Bes' sheut, and then he survives by becoming the host of Anubis. He realizes Setne's plan and tells Sadie to go help Carter and Zia. Walt agrees to meet her at the First Nome since he's still too weak to move at the present time.
Carter and Zia have been busy. They can't interpret the map and have to let Setne go so he can lead them to the shadow. They allow him to cast a glamour on them, so they blend in and look like demons and follow him to the Sea of Chaos, a churning mass that sucks everything in, splitting up the atoms and annihilating anything. There is a single pillar of Ma'at (like the Washington monument) and a small dock that survive the sea's effect and to capture the shadow, they must be on the very edge of the dock, while preventing themselves from getting sucked in. Their glamours start to fade and flicker, but there are no demons or spirits near the sea to see them. Setne is constantly surprised that they are still alive as they approach closer and closer, but Ra's power through Zia is protecting them. They manage to summon the serpent's shadow, but Setne betrays them, changing the glamour to a binding curse. He explains that he will bind the shadow within a figurine and blackmail Apophis with execration unless he does as he orders; he wants to destroy Egypt and all mention of his father (Ramses the Great) as well as most magicians, but not the entire world. Unfortunately, there are some spells he can't cast since he's a ghost, so he needed Carter and Zia's help. This is when Sadie drops in, right on top of Setne. She manages to bind him and unbind Carter and Zia. Sadie manages to capture the shadow and they turn back to Setne, but he disappeared, bindings and all. However, they have bigger problems: the shadow called for reinforcements and an army of demons are marching toward them as they try to leave.
Tawaret arrives with the gods from the Fourth House (Sunny Acres) and saves them from a tragic death. The fight gave the old gods and goddesses a purpose, and Bes has returned to his old ugly self, just in time to get them to Ra's sun barge, which is just passing by. When they get on board, Ra is still old and senile, but he and Zia face each other, and he dissolves, being reborn into Zia as a host.
They arrive in Giza to find Bast distracting Apophis as best as she can. Bes and Ra/Zia go to help her, while Sadie and Carter help to defend the First Nome. The rebel magicians are already there, guarding the door to the Hall of Ages, where Amos is trapped with the hit squad. The initiates of the Brooklyn house manage to fight their way through, with Walt/Anubis helping immensely with his death magic. When they enter, Amos is managing to hold his own against the magicians because he is now hosting Set, and actually managing to control him. Some initiates freak out and think he's being possessed again, but he is managing to restrain Set's urge to kill. Sadie and Carter channel Isis and Horus and join the fight, but they're all subdued. The lead rebel, Sarah Jacobi makes the mistake of almost killing Sadie and Walt/Anubis bring forth the spirits of the dead to pull her down into the Duat somewhere. Her lieutenant is channeling Apophis, and is killed, but manages to cast one last spell "bring down" to destroy the Nome. Sadie channels Isis' power and manages to speak the most difficult Word of Power of all: "Ma'at" and restores the Nome, passing out in the process. They've won the battle for the Hall of Ages, but the battle with Apophis still lies before them.
In order to do the execration, they must be face to face with the serpent. Carter/Horus call on the gods and with their help, the small army marches out to meet Apophis, but he is fracturing reality and they're all separated on different levels of the Duat, fighting different parts of Apophis. Sadie and Carter manage to find where the serpent is strongest and though he manages to swallow Ra/Zia, they still cast the execration spell and banish him forever. Zia escapes, blowing up Apophis' head in the process but the gods have to withdraw. Chaos and Ma'at are so intertwined that by pushing away and banishing Chaos, the forces of Ma'at must also be pushed away.
Though Ra has returned, he offers Horus the throne, and Carter takes the throne of the Pharaoh in the First Nome as well. Walt has gone missing, and Bast and Bes have also withdrawn. Carter leaves the running of the House of Life to Amos, who is now fully supported all over the world. Carter and Sadie go to see their father to report Setne's escape. Their father is just happy that they're alive and succeeded in saving the world. Sadie talks to her mother who asks her to be careful because her gift of prophecy has shown her visions of "other gods" and "rival magic".
They return to Brooklyn House, where Walt/Anubis is waiting for him. Because Anubis is somehow mortal, he doesn't have to withdraw from the world and can stay with Sadie, studying the Path of Anubis, which has never been explored before. Sadie and Carter get to say goodbye to Bast and to Bes, who has decided to build a house by Sunny Acres with his new girlfriend Tawaret, who works as a nurse there.
Carter takes Zia out on a trip in the Mall of America. She tells him that she will be staying in Brooklyn House. They share a passionate friendship and start a relationship. Walt, now the host of Anubis, dances with Sadie and the pair also have a romantic time.
Setne is still on the loose with the Book of Thoth and Brooklyn House has had an influx of initiates, as have most of the Nomes in the world. They explain that they'll be so busy that there probably won't be any more recordings. The book ends with an invitation to anyone with pharaoh's blood to join the House of Life.[2]
Characters
- Carter Kane: The host of the Falcon god, Horus and has the "blood of the Pharaohs," being a descendant of Narmer and Ramses the Great through both sides of his family. He is one of the main protagonists, and is initially described as always dressing "impeccably" in dress shirts and pants due to the influence of his father, Julius, but relaxes into a more modern style as the series progresses. He has dark skin, curly dark brown hair and brown eyes. After the death of his mother, he spent six years travelling with his father and, as he put it, "living out of a suitcase". His speciality is combat magic and his preferred weapon is a khopesh, an ancient Egyptian sword. His girlfriend is Zia Rashid, the host of the sun god Ra.
- Ruby Kane: Carter and Sadie's mom who dies at Cleopatra's Needle trying to seal away the chaos snake Apophis.
- Sadie Kane: A host of Isis. She was 6 when her mother died, and lived in England with her grandparents ever since. She is described to have blue eyes and caramel hair, neither brunette nor blonde. As she stays in England, her skin is paler than Carter's and has a slight British accent. Her father gave her a cat whom she named Muffin, although it is actually the goddess Bast who is the protector of the Kane siblings. Sadie is the bold one from the Kane siblings, she is more reckless and more of a troublemaker. She teases her brother all the time, though she actually cares for him.
- Julius Kane: An Egyptian magician who becomes Osiris. He is Carter and Sadie Kane's father. His wife, Ruby Kane, died trying to seal away the chaos snake Apophis in Cleopatra's Needle. He is also an Egyptologist. Has mixed emotions about Walt Stone and Anubis the god of death.
- Amos Kane: An Egyptian magician who became a partial host of Set. He is Julius Kane's brother, and a former protector of the Kane children. The children find out that he has been Set's host.
- Zia Rashid: A fourteen-year-old Egyptian magician. She is a friend to Sadie and Carter's girlfriend. She is also a host of the Egyptian god Ra.
- Bast: The Egyptian goddess of cats. She becomes the Kane children's protector after Sadie calls for her to defend and help the children and the world.
- Set: The powerful Egyptian god of deserts, storms, disorder, violence and foreigners.
- Apophis: The embodiment of Chaos. He used Face of Horror as his host as well as creating chaos for him to feed on.
- Ra: The midday sun god. He was once the king of the Gods.
- Walt Stone: A young, dying Egyptian magician. He becomes the host of Anubis, the god of death, in order to stay alive. Walt is also Sadie Kane's boyfriend.
References
- 1 2 3 "The serpent's shadow". LC Online Catalog. Library of Congress (lccn.loc.gov). Retrieved 2015-11-09.
- ↑ Riordan, Rick (2012). The Serpent's Shadow. Disney-Hyperion.
External links
- The Kane Chronicles at The Worlds of Rick Riordan (Disney: readriordan.com)
- Rick Riordan Myth Master at publisher Penguin Books (UK)
- Rick Riordan at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
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