Welcome once again to my Riordan Retrospective. For those of you just joining the fun, this
is my look back at the works of Rick Riordann.
That means Percy Jackson, its sequels, and spin-offs. This is less of a formal review and more of a
casual look back. Last time, we took a
look back at the Percy Jackson/Kane Chronicles crossover extravaganza Demigods and Magicians. This time, we're making
one last stop at The Kane Chronicles.
We're taking a look back at Brooklyn House Magician's Manual.
Carter and Sadie Kane have decided that new initiates
at Brooklyn House needs a beginner’s guide to Egyptian gods, magic, and life at
Brooklyn House. At the same time, we
also get to see a series of vignettes about the lives of Brooklyn House's
residents. So, it's basically The Kane
Chronicles version of Camp Half-Blood Confidential.
Well, not much more to add to the opening. I'd been putting this one off for a while,
but I'm glad I finally got around to it.
I realize I unfavorably compared this book to Camp Half-Blood
Confidential. Turns out I was wrong, but
I still stand by what I said about Guide to Hotel Valhalla. Not much more to add, so let's just jump into
it.
Actually, first let's talk about the audiobook. Kevin R. Free returns to voice Carter and is
as excellent as ever. He also voices
Kevin in the podcast Welcome to Night Vale.
The fact that I knew hm first as Carter Kane makes it surreal in a way
even the Night Vale creators couldn't have anticipated. Sadly, Katherine Kellgren, who previously
voiced Sadie, has passed away due to cancer.
As such, Fiona Hardingham has taken over the role. She does an exceptional job. I barely noticed any difference. The other characters are a voiced by a full cast
that was never named in the credits.
Though I'm fairly certain that Uncle Amos was voiced by Bronson
Pinchot. I just finished The Years of
Rice and Salt, which he narrated; lovely alternate history book, I will be
reviewing it soon. However, if that is
the case, it is a bit odd given that Bronson is white, and Amos is black.
The other narrators tend to be a bit hit or miss. For example, the narrator who voiced Zia
could be a bit flat and monotone at times.
There's a point where Zia discovers some old writings from Iskandar and
mentions that she was moved to tears.
The narrator, however, sounds board out of her skull. Also, she doesn't give Zia an Egyptian
accent. She also voices Cleo without a
Brazilian accent. I suppose it wasn't
terrible, but it could have been better.
By contrast, the narrator who voiced Felix sounded way too old, but he
absolutely nailed Felix's character. He
certainly made the most of what he had to work with. The narrator who voices Setne does an
outstanding job. The narrator who voiced
Jaz does pretty well. However, if she's
the one who voiced Zia and Cleo, as I suspect, I will be slightly mad. At least Jaz's narrator remembered to give
her emotions and a Southern accent.
In addition to the vignettes, we also get several
quizzes about the gods of Egyptian Mythology, along with Carter and Sadie's
commentary, throughout the book. Most of
these translate reasonably well into audio, though some of the matching and
word bank ones were a tad clunky.
Now let's get into the main plot. Carter and Sadie have received letters from
Uncle Amos about a secret masaba located beneath Brooklyn House. Mastabas were above-ground tombs, made from
mud brick, that the Ancient Egyptians created before they started making
pyramids. If you've ever played the
computer game Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile, you'll be quite familiar
with mastabas. However, while casting an
opening spell, Sadie accidentally releases Setne from his snow globe
prison. Setne interweaves himself throughout
the vignettes and provides commentary on them.
As I've previously mentioned, it is rather odd that
Setne is a villain, given that he was a hero in Egyptian Mythology. True, he did steal the Book of Thoth and
tried to learn its secret magic, but he learned his lesson and repented. Then again, according to The Heroes of
Olympus, King Midas didn't actually learn his lesson, and the accounts of his
story have apparently forgotten that over the years. Perhaps something similar happened with Setne
in the Riordanverse.
There a fun little vignette where Doughboy runs new
recruits through a checklist of magical items they'll be needing for their stay
at Brooklyn House. We also get one where
Bes extols the benefits of ugliness, but the narrator didn't really work. He made Bes sound queer as a three-dollar
bill. Bes should sound rough and
gruff. Taweret is his girlfriend, and
Bast an old fling, so he's clearly straight.
Well, that and homosexuality was forbidden in Ancient Egypt. Speaking of Taweret, later on she teaches us a
song to remember the major animal gods and goddesses.
We get a vignette where Zia discovers some pottery
shards that recount her hosting the goddess Nephthys, but told from Iskandar's
perspective. As I've said, it actually
isn't bad, but the narrator's flat delivery kind of ruined it. On a lighter note, I loved Felix's
vignette. As we know, his specialty is
snow and ice magic. Unfortunately, there
is no god of snow and ice in Egyptian Mythology. However, Felix does mention that there are
thousands of gods, and it is possible that a snow and ice god was lost over the
years. He does mention ancient accounts
of the Nile freezing due to cold weather.
This is indeed something we do have a record of. However, he decides to follow the Path of
Ptah, and he does makes a very convincing case that Ptah might be the snow and
ice god he's been searching for.
Interestingly, we learn that, while Leonid is
following the Path of Shu, he has no intention to host him because Shu was born
from Ra's spit. I do wish his segment
had been longer; I'd like to have seen how he's been doing. As I understand it, Path of the Gods is where
you tap into the power of the gods to perform magic. Hosting a god gives you the full set of god
powers all at once, but you risk burning up, or getting taken over by the god.
Carter gets a fun vignette where he is visited by the
Bas of the basketball players Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. This means that both of them are magicians
and members of the House of Life in the Riordanverse. I guess Magic's name is a subtle reference to
his secret identity. This is also the
first time that currently living real world celebrities have made on-screen (well,
on page) appearances in the Riordanverse.
We also get a vignette where Uncle Amos reviews protocols for what to do
on the days of the year Set decides to be particularly mischievous.
Then we get a vignette where Carter begins having
dreams and visions after spending too much time in the Hall of Ages. Turns out Cleopatra was the last pharaoh to
host Isis, but not the last person prior to the modern day. Isis and Horus fled south after Cleopatra
committed suicide and Egypt fell to Rome.
Eventually, they arrived in Kingdom of Kush, and the court of the
warrior queen Amanirenas. She and her
son agreed to host them. However,
Amanirenas wanted to be the one to host Horus, while her son got to host Isis. Amanirenas was indeed a real warrior queen of
Kush, and she even managed to defeat a group of Roman soldiers who traveled to
Kush. I certainly love it when I get to
learn about historical figures that I haven't previously heard of.
Next, Cleo from Rio gets a surprise gift from Thoth:
his cloak of magic spells. Ever the
follower of the Path of Thoth, she puts it on, and promptly gets overwhelmed by
all the magic power. Thankfully, a
helpful voice in her head allows her to snap out of it. That voice was, of course, Setne trying to
see if she had any info about where the Book of Thoth is. Not bad, but Cleo's narrator left something
to be desired. On a lighter note,
Brooklyn House is organizing an Ancient Egyptian games night, and it looks like
Carter is finally loosening up and having fun for once.
From Jaz's vignette we learn that her last name is
Anderson. We also learn that she's been
rather board following the battle with Apophis.
Not too many patients to treat with a major battle. So, she's taken to inflicting ailments on
herself and then treating them. Then she
literally gets tongue-tied. This is a
problem because Ancient Egyptian magic requires spells to be spoken aloud. The
solution was...certainly interesting.
I'll leave you to discover just what it was. Another great vignette from the minor
characters. One of my complaints with
the main series is that the minor characters didn't get a chance to shine. Jaz spent most of The Throne of Fire in a
coma. So good that they're finally
getting love. Though I do wish their
segments had been just a bit longer.
Next, Sadie applies a translation spell to recordings
of her cat Muffin, who was actually the goddess Bast in disguise. Riordan really captured the mind of a cat
well. For example, one of the recordings
is of Sadie opening a can of chicken flavored cat food, but Muffin refuses to
eat it. Sadie says, essentially,
"Oh come now, it's chicken. You
like chicken," but Muffin refuses to eat until Sadie opens a can of
seafood cat food. I've had many moments
like that with my cat Tiger. And then
there were the bits where Muffin talks about the ball of yarn going under the
couch, the land from which nothing returns.
We also learn that Muffin slept on Sadie's head a lot to keep her Ba
from traveling in her sleep. It was a
very fun vignette.
So, what has Setne been planning all this time? Well, he mentions that he's got his eye on
someone with unusual powers by Egyptian standards. He says that this individual is connected to the
sea. At first, I thought he was planning
on possessing Percy, but then he mentioned something about a pair. Was he going to possess Annabeth too? Nope, turns out he was planning on completing
a ritual to become the god/goddess Wadj-Wer, the Egyptian God of the sea. Well, scholars are a bit uncertain about
that. Something think he was actually
god of lagoons and lakes. Something he
might actually have been a fertility goddess.
It's complicated, but makes for an interesting story.
Well, Setne plans to become Wadj-Wer, but the Kane
siblings and their allies nip his plan in the bud. Turns out they were expecting him to try to
escape, so they let him, and played along until Walt was read to seal him in
the mastaba beneath Brooklyn House.
Interestingly, Setne old snow globe prison sat atop a copy of The
Complete History of Cement. If you'll
recall, this is what the Mist disguises Camp Half-Blood Confidential as. Sadie even mentions that Carter got it from a
friend on Long Island. A friend named
Percy Jackson, to be exact.
And that was Brooklyn House Magician's Manual. A true Egyptian counterpart to Camp
Half-Blood Confidential. Some of the
narration was occasionally clunky, but overall a great book. A good time was had by all. With that, we are officially at the end of
our Kane Chronicles retrospective, barring the publication of an future books.
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