BOOKS For Bob Serge This is the list of books I have read in 2013
Title Author
1. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
2. Beyond the Rice Paddies by Linda West
3. World War Z by Max Brooks
4. The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
5. The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan
6. The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan
world War Z
The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors from those apocalyptic years, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years.
Ranging from the now infamous village of New Dachang in the United Federation of China, where the epidemiological trail began with the twelve-year-old Patient Zero, to the unnamed northern forests where untold numbers sought a terrible and temporary refuge in the cold, to the United States of Southern Africa, where the Redeker Plan provided hope for humanity at an unspeakable price, to the west-of-the-Rockies redoubt where the North American tide finally started to turn, this invaluable chronicle reflects the full scope and duration of the Zombie War.
Most of all, the book captures with haunting immediacy the human dimension of this epochal event. Facing the often raw and vivid nature of these personal accounts requires a degree of courage on the part of the reader, but the effort is invaluable because, as Mr. Brooks says in his introduction, “By excluding the human factor, aren’t we risking the kind of personal detachment from history that may, heaven forbid, lead us one day to repeat it? And in the end, isn’t the human factor the only true difference between us and the enemy we now refer to as ‘the living dead’?”
Note: Some of the numerical and factual material contained in this edition was previously published under the auspices of the United Nations Postwar Commission.
Eyewitness reports from the first truly global war
“I found ‘Patient Zero’ behind the locked door of an abandoned apartment across town. . . . His wrists and feet were bound with plastic packing twine. Although he’d rubbed off the skin around his bonds, there was no blood. There was also no blood on his other wounds. . . . He was writhing like an animal; a gag muffled his growls. At first the villagers tried to hold me back. They warned me not to touch him, that he was ‘cursed.’ I shrugged them off and reached for my mask and gloves. The boy’s skin was . . . cold and gray . . . I could find neither his heartbeat nor his pulse.” —Dr. Kwang Jingshu, Greater Chongqing, United Federation of China
“‘Shock and Awe’? Perfect name. . . . But what if the enemy can’t be shocked and awed? Not just won’t, but biologically can’t! That’s what happened that day outside New York City, that’s the failure that almost lost us the whole damn war. The fact that we couldn’t shock and awe Zack boomeranged right back in our faces and actually allowed Zack to shock and awe us! They’re not afraid! No matter what we do, no matter how many we kill, they will never, ever be afraid!” —Todd Wainio, former U.S. Army infantryman and veteran of the Battle of Yonkers
“Two hundred million zombies. Who can even visualize that type of number, let alone combat it? . . . For the first time in history, we faced an enemy that was actively waging total war. They had no limits of endurance. They would never negotiate, never surrender. They would fight until the very end because, unlike us, every single one of them, every second of every day, was devoted to consuming all life on Earth.” —General Travis D’Ambrosia, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe
Book One: The Red Pyramid
There is a book after the Serpent shadow The book is written as a recording made by the Kane siblings, Carter and Sadie. The story begins when Carter Kane and his father, Julius Kane, go to London to visit Sadie, Carter's sister who lives separately from them. Julius takes them to the British Museum to "study" the Rosetta Stone. He actually has deeper motives, and he tries to summon Osiris, the Egyptian god of the Underworld, with the stone as an anchor. It goes wrong when all the other four major gods are brought out, and Set, the Egyptian god of storms and chaos, imprisons Julius (now a host of Osiris) in a coffin.
Carter and Sadie were taken to Brooklyn by their uncle, Amos. He goes to find Set, leaving the two near-stranger siblings alone with a baboon called Khufu. In the library of the Brooklyn mansion, they begin to discover signs that they are descended from famous pharaohs. Julius' side of the family was descended from Narmer while their dead mother, Ruby, had a family originated from Ramesses the Great. The term is blood of the pharaohs. When Sadie and Carter reach New York, they talk about how in Egypt people lived on the East side of the river because the sun rose in the east and they buried their dead in the west. Sadie asks why they cannot live in Manhattan. Amos replies that there are other gods, and they should stay away. This is a link between this book and the Percy Jackson Series.
Just then, the mansion is attacked by serpent leopards, also known as serpopards. Sadie's cat, Muffin, turns out be the cat goddess Bast. She makes quick work of the serpopards, but the three are forced to run when the carriers tails them. They go into Manhattan. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bast attempts to have them go in the Duat – a magical realm right underneath the mortal realm. Instead, the goddess of scorpions, Serqet, fights Bast and supposedly overpowers her.
In the museum, Carter and Sadie find Zia Rashid. She is the scribe of the First Nome, the main nome of the House of Life, that had magicians trying to protect people and fight gods. Carter develops a massive crush on Zia in the book. Zia combats Serqet and bans her from her host by using the Seven Ribbons of Hathor spell.
Zia takes the two to the First Nome, where Chief Lector Iskandar, the House of Life leader, and Desjardins, the second-in-command, brought up the assumption that they were both hosts of gods. Sadie and Iskander have a talk, and the old Chief Lector tells her about the hosts. They were mortals who the gods inhabited to leave the Duat and be in the mortal realm.
The next day, the two siblings begin their training. Zia teaches them the concept of casting hieroglyphs to use magic. Carter surprises Sadie and Zia by summoning a combat avatar – it is magic that Bast used to fight Serqet – of Horus, the falcon war god. Their training is disrupted when a magician informs Zia that Iskander is dead and Desjardins is next in line for the throne. Sadie creates a portal and they escape to Paris because Desjardins would want to kill them because they are hosts, but not before bringing sphinxes with them. Bast, who is fine, takes care of them, and all of them infiltrate Desjardins' house so they could take a book to fight Set.
At Washington, D.C they are chased by the Set animal, who Carter named Leroy. Carter stays back at the airport to fight it and manages to wound it with his combat avatar. He throws Leroy in his Duat locker – a short opening to the Duat – and manages to catch the airplane to Memphis, Tennessee, where the wisdom god Thoth is.
When they finish Thoth's test, they learn that they were supposed to have a Feather of Truth from the Underworld/Land of the Dead. They also needed Set's true name, which contained the person's identity and life. Because Sadie is attracted to Anubis (god of funerals), he gives the Feather of Truth to her. They then continue from New Orleans to Texas, where Carter fights Sobek. He is hopelessly outmatched and outclassed even with the combat avatar. Amos saves them, but Bast and Sobek are expelled to the Duat.
They go to New Mexico, as Zia wanted Carter there and the earth god Geb told Sadie to. It turns out that Desjardins had known this, and a fight occurs. Thanks to Zia's plan, they defeat Sekhmet, the lion goddess of battle, and they drive onwards to Arizona. They spot the Red Pyramid, which is Set's main host. When they arrive, Amos collapses, and Set reveals he was also hosting Amos all along.
Carter merges completely with Horus and becomes the eye of the war god. He puts up a good fight, but Set's strength grows when dawn approaches and the desert glows. Sadie learns from a dying Zia that Set's secret name is Evil Day. She combines with Isis, the magic goddess inside her, and she transports Carter and Sadie along with herself to Washington, D.C. Sadie banishes Set to the Duat, reading the book and using the Feather of Truth along with his secret name.
Just then, Set's servant appears. He is the host of Apophis, the Serpent of Chaos itself. Even though Carter kills the servant, it is Sadie who rubs the picture of the snake in the sky. They come back for Zia, who turns out to be a shabti – a ceramic doll. This urges Carter to find the real Zia Rashid.
They return to Brooklyn House and rebuild the place with magic. Amos leaves for the First Nome to be healed from being possessed by Set. Carter and Sadie are visited by Osiris, who was bonded with their father. They also see the ghost of their mother who was accompanying Julius. The god of the dead gives them his djed amulet to attract other things. The siblings give up Horus and Isis, who vanish away into the Duat but not before preserving a quarter of their power in the amulets Julius had given them a long time ago. Carter and Sadie store the amulets in Carter's Duat locker and put the djed amulet with it. Once kids began to come, they would teach them divine magic or the path of the gods, which involved channeling a god's power. In the end, Carter and Sadie find their father. Julius decides that he would like to stay with his wife; Carter and Sadie now live with their uncle Amos in Brooklyn House.
Book Two: The Throne of Fire
Ever since the gods of Ancient Egypt were unleashed in the modern world, Carter Kane and his sister Sadie have been in trouble. As descendants of the House of Life, the Kanes have some powers at their command, but the devious gods have not given them much time to master their skills at Brooklyn House, which has become a training ground for young magicians. The other branches of the House of Life are hunting the Kanes down once they left the safety of their branch, the Brooklyn House. And now their most threatening enemy yet—the chaos serpent Apophis—is rising. If they do not prevent him from breaking free in a few days' time, the world will come to an end.
The story begins with Carter and Sadie breaking in to the Brooklyn Museum during a wedding to search for a part of the Book of Ra, which will allow them to wake up Ra to help them imprison or kill Apophis, the lord of chaos. Along with them are Khufu the baboon, and their new trainees, Jaz and Walt. Instead, they find a papyrus scroll that is booby trapped with a series of fire traps. As Carter and Walt distract the demons that are a part of the booby trap, Jaz performs a spell that banishes the demons back to the Duat, but Jaz ends up falling into a coma. Before she does, she manages to hand Sadie a wax statue to heal Carter.
Carter escapes from the museum with the scroll before the police arrive. When they arrive back in the mansion, Carter explains to the new trainees that they must find Ra, the sun god, before Apophis wakes in four days and swallows the sun as well as all of existence. They also find out that to do this, they must find the three scrolls that control the embodiments of Ra, one of them being the scroll that Sadie found in the museum. However, new enemies await, such as Vladimir (Menshikov) who serves Apophis and holds one of the key scrolls in freeing Ra.[5][6]
Sadie returns to London to celebrate her 13th birthday, but when she arrives, her grandparents have been forced to host Nekhbet, the vulture goddess, and Babi, the baboon god, and hunt down Sadie and her friends, Liz and Emma. While escaping the two gods she has a short conversation with Anubis. There she is given directions as to where she has to go next, a netjeri knife, and a kiss from Anubis. They are then rescued by the dwarf god Bes, who is able to use his extreme ugliness as a weapon. They meet up with Carter and Walt along the way. When Bes opens a portal, he insists for Walt to get out for reasons Sadie and Carter do not know. They teleport to the Eighteenth Nome, in St. Petersburg, Russia, which is Menshikov's home. They get inside Menshikov's headquarters, and find out that he is summoning Set. They get the scroll but are attacked by Menshikov's two-headed snake (tjesu heru). Sadie manages to destroy the snake, but not before it bites Carter. Set tells them the location of the last scroll and also the location of the real Zia, in exchange for his "secret name". After Sadie agrees to give Set back his secret name, she still remembers his secret name, which is "Evil Day", but doesn't know how to use it. After Sadie heals Carter with the statue by using his secret name, Sadie calls on Walt to help he with the scroll, while Bes and Carter go to find Zia.
Carter and Bes find some men to take them to The Place of Red Sands, Zia's birthplace and where she is hidden. Nephthys, who is using Zia as a host, leaves Zia, but Mehsikov and Micheal Desjardins arrive. Carter finds the weapons of Ra, the crook and flail, and uses it to defeat Menshikov, but Menshikov attempts to curse him while Bes is trapped in a cage. Meanwhile, Sadie and Walt arrive at the Valley of the Golden Mummies, meeting a Roman ghost called Appius Claudius Iratus (Mad Claude), who wants them to get the mummies' spirit to the Afterlife, as the rites were not done properly. When they cannot, Mad Claude gets angry and calls on the other mummies to kill them. Sadie manages to find the last scroll, but they get trapped by mummies. Ptah, a god, sends rats to help them and creates a portal to Carter and Bes. The portal destroys Bes' cage, and he scares them away. It turns out Walt is cursed and will die young, which was why Bes sent him away. Menshikov is preparing an army to attack Brooklyn House, so Walt and Zia go back to protect it, while Sadie, Bes, and Carter go into the Duat to free Ra and defeat Apophis.
In the Egyptian version of the underworld, the Duat, there are 12 Houses, each representing an hour of the night. At the Gates of the Fourth House (Can only be entered before 4 O'clock), they find Khnum, the first part of Ra, who has forgotten what his secret name is. Using the Book of Ra, Sadie reads out his secret name, returning his essence to the scroll. They enter the Fourth House. With the help of Tawaret, who has history with Bes, and it takes them four hours to find Ra, who is senile. Ra acts like a madman, throwing ice cream bananas into the air, and talking about weasels and zebras. Because the Eighth House can only be entered at 8 O'clock, they travel to the Seventh House, where Osiris, who is being hosted by their dad, and the ghost of their mom await them. They invite Khonsu, the moon god, who can add more time into the night, but they have to gamble for it. If they lose a round, their identity (Ren) will be consumed. They will have no memories. They have to win 3 rounds of senet. They win the first round, but lose the second, causing Bes' identity to be lost. They win the last two, and with the extra time, they get into the Gates of the Eighth House and travel towards the Twelfth House. Menshikov is there, possessed by Apophis. They get Ra to merge with his last aspect, Khepri the scarab god, but free Apophis (they must in order to get Khepri). Desjarins witnesses this and helps them banish Apophis, but combusts from using too much magic. He warns them that Apophis will return in time.
They return to Brooklyn House and find out that because of the power of Ra, they were able to hold the enemies and win the fight. However, the gods are not happy with them, especially Horus and Isis, because bringing back Ra has caused Horus to lose his throne. Walt is dying in a year unless they can find a cure, which is lost, because Menshikov was the last person to know it. Bes is sitting in the Fourth House, not having any memories, not knowing who and where he is. Apophis will return, and Ra is in no shape to fight him. The House of Life is still trying to crush them, as they think that Desjardins died by the hands of the Kanes, and Amos is the new Chief Lector. In the end, Sadie is left with nothing but a crush on both a person who is about to die, and a 5000 year old god named Anubis.
Book Three: The Serpent's Shadow
The Serpent’s Shadow is the third book of the trilogy and has been released on 1 May 2012. Carter and Sadie, the main characters, travel to Dallas, Texas the 51st nome, with their initiates, and meet J.D. Grissom, the leader of the nome. They tell him that they need a heavily guarded magic scroll from the king Tut exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art, or his nome will get attacked and destroyed by the forces of Apophis, the chaos snake, who in three days will rise, swallow the sun, and destroy the world. Sadie sees a face in the wall, which tells that they will not understand the scroll and they instead need a golden box. However, the nome is attacked, and the scroll is destroyed. To save everyone from getting killed, Sadie summons Ma'at, repulsing the forces of chaos but almost losing her life. They discover that the entire 51st nome has been destroyed, including all of the magicians. At the 21st nome in Brooklyn, they discover that the box is a shadow box, and it holds the shadow of King Tut.
Horus visits Carter as a pigeon and hints a connection between shadows and statues. Carter suspects that there is a better way to execrate Apophis and decides to consult Thoth. He tells everybody at dinner and Sadie makes him go to their school dance. During the dance, Sadie meets Anubis and he suggests that the sheut is like a computer backup drive, but Shu breaks them up later. Sadie gets an idea about using Bes's sheut to give him back his ren.
The Russian magician they met last year, Leonoid, comes with bad news. Sadie takes him to the First Nome to meet Amos. He tells them that the rebels, led by Sarah Jacobi and Kwai, have teamed up with Apophis. Amos tells Zia and Sadie to visit Bes. Meanwhile, Carter and Walt go visit Thoth. Thoth is being attacked by demons. Walt and Carter repulse them, and Thoth helps them understand who Setne is. They realize they have to visit the Land of the Dead at his trial and persuade Osiris to help them.
When Zia and Sadie are visiting the House of Rest, Sadie realizes that Amos is calling on the Path of Set, who he once hosted. Tawaret tells them where Bes once hid his sheut. Carter, Sadie, Zia, and Walt meet and exchange information. They meet Osiris and persuade him to let Setne go with them. Sadie and Walt go to look for Bes's sheut, while Zia and Carter go with Setne to find The Book of Thoth.
They go to the serapeum of Apis, and later Setne tricks them by giving orders to Bloodstained Blade to kill them. Meanwhile Sadie and Walt visit the goddess Neith, who tells them she will help them if they can survive her hunt till sunset. They survive by using their shen amulets to split up and transfer to each other's side, and then in the end right before sunset Sadie tricks Neith by mesmerizing her with tales of hunting Jelly Babies and Ribena. Walt uses the rest of his energy to revive Bes's sheut, and then he survives by becoming the host of Anubis.
He realizes Setne's plan and tells Sadie to go help Carter and Zia. Meanwhile they enter the Land of the Demons, and Carter and Zia kiss. Carter realizes that Zia has become the host of Ra. They find the sheut and Setne binds them by turning the glamour charm used to disguise them into binds. Sadie comes to help and they bind Apophis's shadow to the statue. The shadow sends a distress call to all forces of Chaos, and they arrive.
Tawaret arrives with the gods from the Fourth House and saves them. When they return to the mortal world, the Brooklyn House is at the First Nome, helping Amos and the others protect it. Ra is reborn with Zia as his host and is not senile anymore. The other gods come to help them, while Ra gives Carter the pharaoh's throne. He orders the other gods to help. They enter the First Nome to help protect Amos against the rebels. Apophis eats Ra, and then Sadie and Carter execrate his shadow. He regurgitates Ra and dies. Ra and the rest of the gods retreat from the world.
Carter and Sadie go to see their father to report Setne's escape. Their father is just happy that they're alive and succeeded in saving the world. Sadie talks to her mother who asks her to be careful because her gift of prophecy has shown her visions of "other gods" and "rival magic". And there is also the fact that Setne will have to be dealt with sooner or later too.
Carter takes Zia out on a date in the Mall of America. She tells him that she will be staying in Brooklyn House. They share a passionate kiss and start a relationship. Meanwhile, Bes and Tawaret finally get together after many centuries. Walt, now the host of Anubis, dances with Sadie and the pair also have a romantic kiss.
The book ends with an invitation to anyone with pharaoh's blood to join the House of Life. Sadie also mentions having to check out "unexplained magic" in Long Island.
Note; The two girls named Lacy and Drew (in the school dance) are most possibly the Aphrodite demigods from “The Heroes of Olympus” as they mention they both go to a summer camp. This is also mentioned again right at the end of the book as Sadie describes 'rival magicians and gods as close as Long Island', not even counting the fact that Setne is still on the loose too. Which most probably refers to the Greek gods, and by magicians, the demigods at Camp Half-Blood who are using their demigod abilities on almost a daily basis. This is also supported by the fact that in all 3 of the Kane Chronicles, certain similarities are described as to how mortals see magic, as to the fact that the mortal brain perceives magic. In the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus Series, it's called Mist, and in the Kane Series, there is no name for the effect or Magic, but has much of the same effect, even if no one can control it like Thalia or Jason can. Also, the second line of the prophecy of seven in the Heroes of Olympus series is "to storm or fire the world must fall", storm may refer to zeus (or Jupiter) and fire may represent Ra. If Rick does end up mixing the two Character sets together, it would be interesting as to how he does it because of all the background of all three Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythologies would have to be thoroughly explained for readers who start with this kind of book without reading the Kane Chronicles, The Heroes of Olympus or the Percy Jackson and the Olympians
