The siblings have already set up Brooklyn House as training ground. About twenty young magicians (including Carter and Sadie) now live there. They are a mixed bunch of kids of all ages from around the world. There are a few who were old enough to be in college which is a good thing because they can chaperon the younger students. The rest are mostly between the ages of nine and fifteen - there's nine-year-old Felix, who believes that penguins are the solution to every problem which proves to be traumatic for the birds; there's Julian from Boston and Sean is from Dublin; Alyssa is from the path of the earth god; then there's Cleo, who wanted to study the path of the god of knowledge, came from Brazil; Jaz is a cheerleader from Nashville who has a knack for healing magic; and Walt is from Seatlle, who has an innate ability for making charms, he himself made all the amulets that he wears around his neck.
The siblings conduct various classes, an example of this is something called Magic Problem-Solving 101 which Carter teachers. Their trainees, however, have dubbed it Whatever Works because Carter has his unique way of leading the class. What he does is to give his students a problem which they can figure out whichever way they want. They leave the class as soon as they effectively crack the problem. Carter and Sadie are not the only ones who teach in Brooklyn House. Amos has a research class and even Bast tutors them regular subjects like math. But occasionally, she wold include her personal elective courses like Napping (I would love to enroll in that!).
In this book, Carter and Sadie face their most menacing enemy to date - Apophis. Apophis is the epitome of chaos. He despises Creation. He loathes the gods and mortal. He is Ra's archenemy. Ra is the Lord of Order, whereas Apophis is the Lord of Chaos. Order and Chaos have been in never-ending conflict to annihilate each other since time immemorial.
If Apophis returns, it will be the end of the world. Legend has it that the world will come to an end when Ra gets weary to endure living in his condition. Apophis will swallow the sun, paving way for darkness to reign. Ma'at will be bested by Chaos, and Apophis will rule for all time.
Preventing Apophis from escaping his prison now falls on the Kanes. Carter and Sadie plan to rouse the sun god, Ra, in order for them to stand a chance in opposing the Forces of Chaos. However, reviving Ra is not child's play. It is something that no magician has ever undertaken. In order to awake Ra, they must first search for the three sections of the Book of Ra. When they have united the sections, they must then learn to accurately chant its spells. On top of that, they must also find Ra. The thing is, no one knows where the sun god really is!
The story still has its hodgepodge of adventure (and misadventures), humor and action. There is an added romance aspect. In the Red Pyramid, one can tell that Sadie has a crush on Anubis and I think that Anubis sees her as someone special too. He manifested himself to her as a handsome teenage boy (I think I would have a crush on him too if I saw him like that). In this book, Anubis somehow helped Sadie in her quest of awaking Ra. He was the one who tipped her on the location of the second scroll and gave her the netjeri blade. During that encounter, he kissed Sadie! But how can a relationship between a mortal and a god work? Hmmm....
However, there is also this Walt angle on Sadie's romance. After meeting with Anubis during their adventure in The Red Pyramid, he did not contact her again. So when Walt came to Brooklyn House, Sadie thought that she might get over Anubis since she was "fairly sure there'd been a spark between us the first time we saw each other." Of course, there's always a "but" on Sadie's romances. In Walt's case, there is something that is upsetting him, something huge that had has burdened his family for centuries (that's all I'm going to say).
As usual, I learned a lot about Egyptian legends and beliefs in this book. What I liked the most is about one's ren:
"[T]he ren was the same as one's secret name. It was more than just a special word. The secret name is your darkest thoughts, your most embarrassing moments, your biggest dreams, your worst fears, all wrapped together. It's the sum of your experiences, even those you'd never want to share. Your secret name makes you who you are.
"That's why a secret name has power. It's also why you couldn't simply hear someone repeat a secret name and know how to use it. You have to know that person and understand their life. The more you understood the person, the more power their name could yield. You could only learn a secret name from the person himself - or from the person closest to his heart."
Makes me wonder what my secret name is. I'm starting on the third book asap!
Everything happens for a reason, x x x, even bad things. - Jaz
Rating: 5 of 5 STARS
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