A review by garytheroberts
The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan

2.0

This is the book that initially killed my interest as a kid reading the series, but it seems that my younger self was kind of spot-on about my taste in books at the time. While the mythology is still fun to see in this book, the characters are just not as charming as Riordan's other characters like Percy Jackson. Carter can sometimes hint at that level of snark, but often, Sadie comes across as whiney and impulsive. You have to take these kinds of things with a grain of salt when you re-read the books as an adult, but that same petulant energy isn't in the other series' writing. The interactions with other wizards in the book also feel less dramatic, as it often gets too abstract with the magic system to have any weight. It's young adult, so I can't be too harsh on complexity, but even for younger readers, it can be a bit bland compared to more engaging work that is out there.