The Throne of Fire

***The Throne of Fire*** is a 2011 fantasy, adventure novel by Rick Riordan, and the second book in *The Kane Chronicles* series. It was released on May 3, 2011. The book takes place roughly three months after the events of the first book, The Red Pyramid.

This article is written from a real world point of view.

## Synopsis

*Ever since the gods of Ancient Egypt were unleashed in the modern world, Carter Kane and his sister Sadie have been in trouble. As descendants of the House of Life, the Kanes have some powers at their command, but the devious gods haven't given them much time to master their skills at Brooklyn House, which has become a training ground for young magicians.*

*And now their most threatening enemy yet - the chaos snake Apophis - is rising. If they don't prevent him from breaking free in a few days' time, the world will come to an end. In other words, it's a typical week for the Kane family.*

*To have any chance of battling the Forces of Chaos, the Kanes must first revive the sun god Ra. But that would be a feat more powerful than any magician has ever accomplished.*

*First they have to search the world for the three sections of the Book of Ra, then they have to learn how to chant its spells. Oh, and did we mention that no one knows where Ra is exactly?*

*Narrated in two different wisecracking voices, featuring a large cast of new and unforgettable characters, and with adventures spanning the globe, this second installment in the Kane Chronicles is nothing short of a thrill ride.*

## Plot

Five days remain until the spring equinox when Apophis, the snake-like force of Chaos, will escape his prison, devour the sun and destroy all of human civilization. Only Ra, the absentee sun god, has the power to stop him. But first Ra must be woken by the teenage Kane siblings, Sadie and Carter, and their new trainees in magic, Jasmine Anderson (Jaz) and Walt Stone. They begin a quest to find the three scrolls of the Book of Ra, which contain the spells needed to wake him from his sleep. The first scroll is hidden inside a statue in the Brooklyn Museum, where the foursome sneaks past mortal alarm systems, magical wards and a late-night wedding to try to retrieve the scroll. When Sadie pulls the scroll from the statues hand, the scroll bursts into flames, a griffin escapes from a frieze and evil spirits attack the wedding guests. Jaz imprisons the spirits in the Duat but uses too much magic and slips into a coma. One of the spirits tells Carter that his friend Zia will die if he continues the quest. The Griffin, whom Carter names 'Freak', is friendly and pulls the four friends onto a flying boat to reach Brooklyn House, more trainees wait for them there.

That night as Sadie sleeps, Sadie's ba leaves her body and travels through the Duat to the Hall of Ages, the House of Life's headquarters located under the Cairo Airport. She sees Michel Desjardins discussing a plot to destroy Brooklyn House with a man named Vladimir Menshikov. Desjardins appears reluctant, as though he is under a spell. When Menshikov takes off his sunglasses, Sadie sees that his eyes are horribly scarred. She wakes up to find her Uncle Amos sitting at the foot of her bed; he is fully recovered from being possessed by Set. Carter's ba meets with the god Horus, who warns him that the gods might attack him if he tries to wake Ra. With only four days until the equinox, Bast, the cat goddess, goes to check that Apophis's prison is still secure. It's Sadie's birthday, however, and she decides to go to London to visit her friends Liz and Emma. Her timing is unfortunate, as her grandparents have been possessed by the Babi, baboon god and Nekhbet, the vulture goddess, respectively. They chase the three girls through London. Hoping for assistance, Sadie stops for a brief rendezvous with Anubis, the jackal-headed god, in a medieval graveyard. He gives her a ceremonial knife and tells her that Menshikov keeps the second scroll in the top drawer of his desk in St. Petersburg, Russia. However, Anubis is unable to manifest outside places of death and can't help them escape. Rescue finally comes in the unlikely form of Bes, a limousine-driving dwarf god, who is so ugly that he makes gods and monsters explode by dressing in a blue Speedo, making a face and shouting, "Boo!" Carter and Walt are back at Brooklyn House -- Carter, worried about Zia, secretly uses a scrying bowl to determine her whereabouts. When Walt suddenly enters the room, Carter scries Sadie instead. The oil in the bowl catches fire, and Carter realizes Sadie's trip to London has gone horribly wrong. Carter and Walt open a portal to London but arrive after Sadie has been rescued by Bes. Walt returns to Brooklyn House under mysterious circumstances.

Bes accompanies Sadie and Carter to the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Sadie and Carter leave Bes outside and enter the museum. They find the desk in the same room as Menshikov, who is summoning Set and trapping him in a large green vase. Sadie and Carter steal the scroll and are about to leave when Set informs Menshikov of their presence. Menshikov unleashes a four-legged, two-headed, poisonous snake called a Tjesu heru that mortally wounds Carter before Sadie blasts it to dust. Sadie and Carter are no match for Menshikov's magic, so as a last-ditch effort, the Kanes release Set from the vase. Set buries Menshikov in red sand and drops a pot on his head, buying Carter and Sadie time. He also tells Sadie the location of the third scroll and the name of Zia's home village. In exchange, Sadie releases the control she had over him when she learned his secret name. Sadie heals Carter using his secret name and a wax figurine that Jaz gave her before becoming comatose. Carter decides to find Zia; he and Sadie separate. Bes escorts Carter to Zia's home village, and Walt arrives from Brooklyn House to help Sadie battle for the third scroll in the Valley of Golden Mummies. Bes and Carter find Zia's village destroyed and completely empty in the place of the Red Sands. They fight water demons and open the tomb where Zia lies with Ra's crook. Zia flails in an induced sleep in a sarcophagus made of water. Although she is protected as long as she remains in the sarcophagus, she appears to be having nightmares and Carter decides to wake her. Zia has no memories of the adventures her Shabti had with Carter. She attacks Carter, believing him to be a traitor. Desjardins and Menshikov arrive in a flash of light. They cage Bes and decide to execute Carter.

Sadie and Walt ride a pair of magical camels across the desert in search of the third scroll. While attempting to open a secret entrance to a famous archaeological dig site, they accidentally remove the entire roof of a subterranean chamber that houses thousands of angry Roman mummies. Because they were improperly mummified, the mummies' bas cannot move into the afterlife but remain tethered to their bodies. Sadie and Walt find the third scroll in the oldest section of the catacombs, but when the mummies learn that Sadie and Carter have Anubis' knife — which has the power to release their bas into the afterlife — they attack. An army of rats eats the mummies before they have a chance to do any serious damage. Sadie learns that Walt suffers from a hereditary curse and is dying. After briefly encountering Ptah, Walt and Sadie create a portal that links the top of the great pyramid to Bes' cage.

While Menshikov, Desjardins, Carter, and Bes are fighting, Zia senses that Menshikov is evil; she protests when Menshikov tries to turn Carter into a snake. Just in time to prevent Carter from his sad, reptilian fate, Sadie and Walt open a portal under Bes's cage. Bes escapes and shouts, "Boo!" temporarily disintegrating Menshikov and Desjardins. Zia passes out, and the Kanes take her with them to Cairo. Carter has a Ba dream where he witnesses Menshikov recruiting new dangerous magicians for Desjardins. One was a man named Kwai who was exiled to the Three Hundredth Nome in North Korea for murdering a fellow magician, another was a women named Sarah Jacobi who caused the tsunami in the Indian Ocean and was sent to Antartica, all of them were ruthless murderers and thieves. When Zia wakes up in a hotel room and tries to escape. Sadie calms Zia down and persuades her to join forces with them, and she and Walt leave to defend Brooklyn House from the coming onslaught while Sadie and Carter climb into Ra's dilapidated boat and travel deep into the Duat to retrace Ra's journey along the River of Night.

On the way, they encounter a giant man with horns, who threatens to cut them up. He is Khnum, one of three aspects of Ra's soul. They read to him from the first scroll of Ra, and he allows them to pass. After the Sadie writes hieroglyphs on each other's foreheads to magically shield them from fire, they travel through a Lake of Fire that makes their boat as good as new. Yes joins them partway through their journey at the Fourth House, Sunny Acres Assisted-Living Community, a special care facility for elderly, forgotten minor gods. A hippopotamus nurse named Tawaret, a fertility goddess who shares a turbulent romantic history with Bes, runs the facility. By reading from the second scroll, Carter and Sadie find Ra and wake him by touching Anubis' ceremonial knife to his lips. He is old, feeble, almost blind and mentally unstable — he seems unaware of his surroundings and constantly speaks gibberish about zebras and weasels.

Despite running well behind time, the Kanes continue down the River of Night until they reach the Seventh House. Their dead parents encourage them to continue their quest and prepare an unorthodox feast of birthday cake and pizza. In order to finish their journey in time to save the world, Carter, Sadie and Bes play a game of senet with the moon god, gambling their rens (secret names) for three extra hours of moonlight. They successfully earn three hours, but the moon god consumes Bes's ren.

Angry at the loss of Bes' ren, the Kanes resume their journey and slay the remaining monsters without thought or effort. Just before dawn, the river plunges deep into the Duat to the pit where Apophis is imprisoned. Menshikov, burned from following the Kanes through the Lake of Fire without magical protection, challenges them to a duel. Carter transforms into a 15-foot, hawk-headed warrior dressed in Horus' battle armor. Sadie fights in the form of a giant kite. Sadie reads the third scroll to wake the third part of Ra's soul, who takes the form of a golden scarab that is swallowed by Ra as soon as he sees it. Apophis possesses Menshikov but Carter hits him in the head with a shovel and encases him in a glass sarcophagus. Menshikov quickly escapes, but Desjardins, freed from his spell, forfeits his own life to trap Apophis even deeper in the Duat.

Dawn approaches, and the Kanes see Brooklyn House being attacked by demons, evil magicians, monsters and flying snakes. Carter and Sadie help defend it while Bast escorts a still incoherent Ra to his place in the sky — but not before he regurgitates the golden scarab and gives it to Zia. Walt realizes that Ra was talking about Zia (zebra) and Walt (weasel). Jaz, feeling the power of Ra, wakes from her coma, but Walt still remains cursed.

After winning the battle, the Kanes give the enemy magicians the option to join them and learn the path of the gods. Some accept it but others flee, including Sarah Jacobi and Kwai. Amos becomes the new Chief Lector, but because Apophis's defeat is only temporary, Sadie and Carter must work harder than ever to unite all magicians. The gods reluctantly acknowledge Sadie and Carter's victory and pledge to fight beside them in the coming war against the forces of Chaos, but they threaten the Kanes with death if Apophis triumphs. Bes is left in the care of the hippopotamus nurse, who gently cares for his soulless body.

## Characters

### *Humans*

* **Alyssa** An initiate who follows the path of Geb, and is skilled in pottery; she is also an earth elementalist.
* **Cleo** An initiate who follows Thoth and is their future librarian.
* **Emma** Sadie's mortal friend who lives in London.
* **Jaz** An initiate who follows Sekhmet and is their skilled healer.
* **Julian** A seventh grade initiate who follows Horus.
* **Liz** Sadie's mortal friend who lives in London.
* **Amos Kane** Brother to Julius Kane, described as dressing in a classy suit with sunglasses, and has the appearance of a barrel-shaped Jazz musician. He is the second most powerful magician. He was the temporary host of Set until he was done using him.
* **Carter Kane** Age 14, Carter is the descendant of Ancient Egyptian magician; he is one of the main protagonists. Described as always dressing 'impeccably' in khaki pants, dress shoes, and a button-up shirt. Sadie Kane thinks he has no style. The host of Horus, his main weapon is a *khopesh*, an Ancient Egyptian sword favored by guards of the Pharaoh. His specialty is combat magic.
* **Sadie Kane** Age 12 (turns 13), Sadie is Carter's sister and shares his magical ability. She was raised in England by her grandparents after her mother died. She has light skin, caramel colored hair which she usually dyes with streaks of bright colors, blue eyes, and never goes anywhere without combat boots. She is a powerful and natural magician who can read hieroglyphics and understand Ancient Egyptian. She becomes the host of Isis.
* **Vladimir Menshikov** The third most powerful magician in the world and leader of the Eighteenth Nome. Temporarily hosted Apophis.
* **Zia Rashid** A powerful magician who Carter Kane has affection for. Considered the most promising student in the First Nome. Also a powerful fire Elementalist. She is the unknowing host to Nephthys.
* **Sean** An Irish initiate who studies at Brooklyn House.
* **Walt Stone** An initiate, a *sau*, who Sadie Kane has affection for. He suffers from the curse of Akhenaton.
* **Felix** An initiate who has a deep love for penguins. It is unknown which god he follows.
* **Michel Desjardins** The Chief Lector (most powerful magician). Tries to hunt down Carter and Sadie Kane during *The Red Pyramid* and most of *The Throne of Fire*.

### God/Goddess

* **Anubis** God of funerals and assistant of Osiris, takes the form of a human with a jackals head, or an attractive teenage boy. He and Sadie show strong and mutual feeling towards each other.
* **Apophis** God of chaos
* **Babi** God of baboons; hosted and took over Gramps.
* **Bast** Goddess of cats, her host was Muffin, Sadie Kane's cat. Also a deadly combat goddess. She is sworn to protect the Kane siblings.
* **Bes** God of dwarves
* **Horus** Falcon-headed son of Osiris, destined to reclaim the Throne of Ma'at. His host is Carter.
* **Isis** Goddess of magic and wife of Osiris. Her host is Sadie Kane, formerly her mother Ruby Kane.
* **Khepri** Scarab god, an aspect of the god Ra
* **Khnum** Ram-headed god, an aspect of Ra
* **Khonsu** Moon god
* **Nekhbet** Vulture goddess, the host of Gran
* **Nephthys** Goddess of river
* **Osiris** God of the dead. Father and brother of Horus. His host is Julius Kane.
* **Ptah** God of craftsmen and creation, hosted by a date farmer.
* **Ra** Sun god and god of order
* **Set** God of evil and chaos, represented by the color red. Possesses Amos Kane when he is Set's captive.
* **Sobek** Crocodile god
* **Tawaret** Hippo goddess of childbirth and fertility
* **Thoth** God of wisdom and thought, illustrated as a 'mad scientist' character.

### Others

* **Freak** A griffin found in the Brookyln Museum
* **Khufu** Amos's pet baboon and ally to the Kane family
* **Philip of Macedonia** Amos's pet crocodile. It is a *shabti*.
* **Mad Claude (Appius Claudius Iratus)** A Roman spirit stuck in an Ancient Egyptian burial site.

## Chapter List

1. **Fun With Spontaneous Combustion**

1. **We Tame a Seven-Thousand-Pound Humming Bird**
2. **The Ice-cream Man Plots Our Death**
3. **A Birthday Invitation To Armageddon**
4. **I Learn To Really Hate Dung Beetles**
5. **A Birdbath Almost Kills Me**
6. **A Gift From The Dog Headed Boy**
7. **Major Delays At Waterloo Station (We Apologise For The Giant Baboon)**
8. **We Get A Vertically Challenged Tour of Russia**
9. **An Old Red Friend Comes To Visit**
10. **Carter Does Something Incredibly Stupid (and No One Is Surprised)**
11. **I Master The Fine Art of Name Calling**
12. **I Get a Demon Up My Nose**
13. **At the Tomb of Zia Rashid**
14. **Camels Are Evil...**
15. **...But Not as Evil as Romans**
16. **Menshikov Hires a Happy Death Squad**
17. **Gambling on Doomsday Eve**
18. **The Revenge of Bullwinkle the Moose God**
19. **We Visit the House of the Helpful Hippo**
20. **We Buy Some Time**
21. **Friends in the Strangest Places**
22. **We Throw a Wild House Party**
23. **I Make an Impossible Promise**

## Trivia

* Carter catches a glimpse of a winged horse flying around Manhattan, and recalls what Amos said about Manhattan and its gods. The winged horse is likely a Pegasus.

* Carter at one point wishes he had the powers of the sea god, another reference to the Percy Jackson series.
* Mad Claude makes a reference to a date farmer called Caligula, whose namesake is a villain in Trials of Apollo.