Author Works Face-Off : The Kane Chronicles Vs The Heroes of Olympus
January 30, 2021
“But magic is neither good nor evil. It is a tool, like a knife. Is a knife evil? Only if the wielder is evil.”
— The House of Hades —
We back again with the series where i will compare an author's works (since lots of author did multiple works, series or not), discussing how well written the book, how deep the characters are developed throughout the book until the end and of course which i prefer most in the end as the conclusion.
This time i bring you the two series that i read from my favorite author of whole time (okay, can't say that since i might change my mind later, but well.. it has been my fave author since 2017 tho, so.. yeah). Rick Riordan is my fave author specially for middle grade books. I prefer his works over JK Rowling's Harry Potter to be honest (No, it's not because the controversial statement by JK Rowling, i just prefer Riordan's works over hers) and i still think his work needs more attentions. Not just Percy Jackson and the Olympians series but whole works.
I read the Heroes Of Olympus Series in January 2020, and The Kane Chronicles this January 2021 so i hope my memories aren't that rusty. Anyway, without further ado, let's start digging!
Which should i read first?
I would include this review as almost the whole works of Riordan's since it's absolutely kind of related one another. Rick Riodan starts this whole series from Percy Jackson and the Olympian, which later continued with the Heroes of Olympus and then he also work on Kane series back to back with the Heroes of Olympus.
I wouldn't suggest you to read by the publication date, but instead, if you haven't read both of them, start with Heroes of Olympus first, then the Kane Chronicles. I would recommend you to read what next after that, but that would be another post. So yeah, start with Heroes of Olympus first (read Percy Jackson and the Olympian first if you haven't of course, since it's related) then go with The Kane Chronicles.
What's it all about and Comparison
Heroes of Olympus Synopsis
Heroes of Olympus goes with the next prophecy that got revealed in the end of Percy Jackson and the Olympian Series which is
Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,
To storm or fire the world must fall.
An oath to keep with a final breath,
And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.
It start with the missing of Percy form camp half blood, and the new lead which is Jason Grace who is the son of Jupiter (Zeus in Roman) appeared in Camp half blood. Percy turns out found in Roman's camp while he lost his memories in the mean time. Turns out Gaea the mother of earth is trying to destroy gods by calling out her Titans children. The story made 7 of the kid in the prophecy, 3 from Greek god's children and three from Roman god's to fight Gaea together joining the power of Roman and Greek.
The Kane Chronicle Synopsis
This series took Egyptian Mythology as the main focus of the story. I've done the first two books of The Kane Chronicles series for the review, so go ahead with clicking the picture below if you missed it.
In third book, Kane siblings are preparing the attack from Apophis the Serpent of Chaos who want to eat Ra, the god of sun, and destroy Ma'at (the order) and create chaos in whole world. Apophis has released from its jail in Duat, but has been push to the deeper of Duat in the second book. Yet Apophis is still making a chaos here and there which turns out destroying a book written by magician name Setne who wrote a book how to destroy Apophis, but the last scroll had been destroyed, the only way is to find the Setne's ghost and asked him, which is never been easy because he's in his trial against Osris for skipping and excaping his punishment for years (decades even more) since he's a wicked person.
In Comparison
As always, Rick Riordan's book always based on a mythology (since he's the expert of it) the Heroes of Olympus (We will call it HoO from now since it's too long!) not only included Greek Mythology but also Roman Mythology. This would need you a bit will power to understand that each god in Greek got their name in Roman mythology, yet their characters are a bit different if you compare in Greek's or in Roman's which kind of a bit confusing at first, but well.. you'll understand it as you read it on and on.
The Kane Chronicles in other side is based on Egyptian Mythology (as i explained before) which include a lot of symbol that they called as hieroglyphs which is kind of the language for Egyptian in the book, which is new, because i don't think i find roman's or Greek's language in HoO or PJO that much in comparison with this book.
Personally i really like the Kane Chronicle's format, which is based on recording form Carter and Sadie's POV of the even in the book. I found it really refreshing since PJO and HoO is just like the regular book you might found, Kane got some perks for me for the writing format because i really like their bickering in the background while they take turns to tell their story.
Plots
The first book of the series always become the base story in the whole series, in HoO we got two books as the base foundation of the whole series. The Lost Hero (first book) is based on Jason's story a roman half-blood, being found in the middle of half camp blood. The second book we got the Percy's side of story for being a greek demigod in middle of Roman Half Blood Camp. Both of them of course having a quest to complete, with the help of Hera (who is the one who switch them both in each camp and erasing their memory at that time).
In Kane series we got the Red Pyramid as the foundation, explaining a lot about Egyptian Mythology, the magic in it, of course you will feel a bit frustrating because we are going along with the main characters here who got no knowledge of who are they, and why they're being treated like that, while whole people knows the truth of their identity.
Of course each book has their own small quests (which can't call it small since you are fighting against titans and god) and the last book is the main quest for the whole series which in HoO you fight the Gaea herself and her minions (the titans i means) and in Kane Chronicles they fight the Apophis and the rebellions.
Character Development
We got a lot of characters in HoO, which also made the POVs of the book become multiple, and somehow some people hate this multiple POV but i think i like it. Of course i got my own favorites in term of how they narrate the story, but in this HoO, we find the differences between the child of Roman gods and the Greek's one. Roman raised like a soldier with so much strict manner, while Greek's are just more easy going, just like American.
We can see how Annabeth grows in this book, specially in the Mark of Athena, and each character takes turns to shine in this whole series. I'd say, i love the development for the Percy-Annabeth Couple specially in the fourth book the House of Hades, and the last book, Leo shines the most, even more than Percy for me. Of course the others feels like sidekick in a glance, but believe me, they got turns to shine, although in my opinion some of them outshines the others because they got more parts in the story.
The Kane Chronicles in other hand only took 2 povs which is Carter and Sadie. I would say i like Sadie's sassy-ness, but i like Carter a lot more. I think he acts as his age, while sadie for being 12 year old just speaks like 18 or even 19 y.o to me. Sadie always got the most important part in the whole series, since she's hosting Isis, the goddess of magic, she can use spell, read spell, which is include most of part of the quest, while Carter got the power of Horus, who made him able to fight with the help of Horus's strenght.
Carter's pov mostly dominated by how much he got persuaded by Horus to take control the body, or giving the power together to rule the world. Which i find it's not the case for Isis and Sadie. And i think he's just cute and helplessly in love. A romantic one.
We also got crazy character in each series, which i find it amusing. First we got Octavian the Augur of Camp Jupiter, who so obsessed to become Praetor, leading Jupiter camp to war against Greek demigods with working hand in hand (in his term, controlled) with monsters. Oh spoilers, it ends tragically.
The Kane Series we got Setne, the ghost magician who appeared since the second book of the series. He's just too smart which outsmart Osiris for decades to lessen his punishments also killed his watcher several times already.
Both of that characters took a great role in each series which of course people hate them in some point but yeah, crazy people always a fun character to read.
Loveline
Talking about helplessly romantic, we can't skip this loveline part can we? The first two books of HoO includes love triangle between Jason, Piper and Reyna the demigod in Jupiter Camp (Half blood Camp for Roman's). Reyna become also in the love triangle between Percy and Annabeth. Well, we can't say it as a love triangle since Reyna didn't want love interest with Percy, but want him in her side as praetor.Like i said, the love is in the air in this whole HoO series, specially the fourth and the last one. I personally love Leo's one if we can put aside the great love from Percy for Annabeth and vice versa in the fourth book : The House of Hades.
In Kane Chronicles we got Carter who in love with Zia, which become complicated because the one he loves end up just a shabti (an enchanted clay) and building her feeling toward Carter after he rescued her from the sleeping beauty spell just felt so frustrating. Sadie in other hand, batting her eyelids for two man, Anubis the god of death and Walt who is dying by the curse from his ancestor, king Tut.
I would say i love Carter's love story than Sadie which is a whole different kind of love, believe me the last book just blows my mind with the idea of her loveline.
Overall
As always the whole book includes the war, i would say i like the war at the fourth book of HoO : The House of Hades a lot more than the others, even the last book can't really compete with this war in Tartarus just so epic. Also it brings out the dark side of the stories, i think Rick Riordan did really well to share that part of the story. Who knows a middle grade book would be so challenging? And ooh! i don't recommend you to read the book if you don't have the next book ready because each book is just such a cliff-hanger!!I also like how Sadie and Walt go against goddess Neith the hunt goddess in order to find Bes's shadow, the dwarf god. I found the scene was so fun to read, specially with the jelly babies part. And thank God, Carter got his part in the last battle!
My Verdict
Heroes of Olympus Win!
I mean, it's easy to choose since i got my fave book in the series in this series which is the second, third and for sure the fourth book of this series. I think this took a whole new level for Percy Jackson series. I like Carter but i think he lacks of spotlight while Sadie took it all in most part, he just become the chicken god, with clumsiness, although he's the walking Egyptian Encyclopedia, he just kind of stupid in fighting plans i think. And the last war is just not enough to outshine the war in Tartarus (even the last war in the last book can't outshine the fourth book's war for me).
And yes i find the HoO gave me more reading rush than Kane Chronicles. I mean it's a good book, just not "hook" enough for me.
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