Sadie and Carter must travel the known world, and the magical world, in order to find the three pieces of the Book of Ra. Once they have reunited all three pieces of the scroll, the brother-sister duo must follow the ancient journey Ra took each night through the underworld (the Duat in ancient Egyptian lore), find Ra and bring him back to life and power. Sounds easy, right?Wrong. There are, of course, many people against the Kane children. Sadie and Carter must battle the House of Life - a group of magicians led by the Chief Lector - who believe that Sadie and Carter are trying to bring the gods back in an effort to become more powerful themselves. The House of Life views the Kanes as power-hungry children who do not understand what is at stake. They also have to fight against the powers of Chaos - including a crazy Russian called Vlad the Inhaler because of his wheezy voice - who want Apophis to return and to destroy the world as it is currently understood.
Along their journey, the Kane children make some unexpected allies - including one at the end so shocking I can not believe it! They are also helped along their journey by Bes - a dwarf god who can scare the socks off of anyone by dressing in his Speedo that says "Dwarf Pride" and hollering "BOO" at anyone and anything! (Great mental imagery by the author on that one!) As they travel through the Duat, the Kanes meet some new gods who help them, one who they gamble with and have a chance to have dinner with their parents.
This was another great installment of the Kane Chronicles. Again, I was really impressed with the switch in voice between Carter and Sadie. You can tell that the different chapters are from the different points of view just by the writing styles. There are the expected (and now required by me) twists and turns and a few "did that really just happen?" moments in the book. I recommend this book to every one!
