The Serpent's Shadow

The Serpent's Shadow, is a 2012 fantasy/adventure novel by Rick Riordan and the third and final book in The Kane Chronicles trilogy. Rick Riordan announced the book on January 9th, 2012 on his blog, and it was released on May 1st, 2012.

Summary
This book begins when Carter and Sadie, brother and sister, 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 will rise, swallow the sun, and destroy the world in three days' time. 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 all of the 51st nome has been destroyed, and all of the magicians killed by the minnion's of Chaos. At the 21st nome in Brooklyn, they discover that the golden box Sadie was told to retrive by the wacko magician, ( Uncle Vinnie ) is a shadow box of king Tut.

Horus, the Egyptian god of war, visits Carter as a pigeon and hints a connection between shadows and statues. Carter suspects that there is a better way to execrate Apophis than perhaps blowing himself and Sadie into crazily small pieces, and decides to consult Thoth, Egyptian god of Knowledge. He tells everybody at dinner and Sadie makes him go to their school dance. During the dance, Sadie meets Anubis, her godly boyfriend, and he suggests that the sheut is like a computer backup drive, but Shu, god of wind, and also Anubis' great-grandfather 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 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, god of evil, who he once hosted. Tawaret, hippo goddess, tells them where Bes once hid his sheut ( AKA shadow ). Carter, Sadie, Zia, and Walt meet and exchange information. They meet Osiris, lord of the dead, 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 the likes. Walt uses the rest of his energy to revive Bes's sheut, and then he survives by becoming the host of Anubis.

He realises 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 with the Seven Ribbons of Hathor. 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 ( Divine Nursing Home ) and saves them from a tragic death.. 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".

Carter takes Zia out on a trip in the Mall of America. She tells him that she will be staying in Brooklyn House. They share a passionate friendship 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 time.

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.

Chapter list

 * 1) We Crash and Burn a Party
 * 2) I Have a Word with Chaos
 * 3) We Win a Box Full of Nothing
 * 4) I Consult the Pigeon of War
 * 5) A Dance with Death
 * 6) Amos Plays with Action Figures
 * 7) I Get Strangled by an Old Friend
 * 8) My Sister, The Flowerpot
 * 9) Zia Breaks Up a Lava Fight
 * 10) “Take Your Daughter to Work Day” Goes Horribly Wrong
 * 11) Don't Worry, Be Hapi
 * 12) Bulls with Freaking Laser Beams
 * 13) A Friendly Game of Hide-and-Seek (with Bonus Points for Painful Death!)
 * 14) Fun with Split Personalities
 * 15) I Become a Purple Chimpanzee
 * 16) Sadie Rides Shotgun (Worst. Idea. Ever.)
 * 17) Brooklyn House Goes to War
 * 18) Death Boy to the Rescue
 * 19) Welcome to the Fun House of Evil
 * 20) I Take a Chair
 * 21) The Gods Are Sorted; My Feelings Are Not
 * 22) The Last Waltz (for Now)
 * 23) The Double Date

Trivia

 * Two characters from The Heroes of Olympus, Drew Tanaka and Lacy, demigod daughters of Aphrodite, attend the school dance. They mention that they both go to a summer camp (Camp Half-Blood). Their home is mentioned again right at the end of the book as Sadie describes 'rival magicians and gods as close as Long Island'. Which most probably refers to the Greek-Roman gods, and by magicians, the demigods at Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter.
 * Rick Riordan makes a few Doctor Who references in this book.
 * Shu, Anubis's great grandfather, would (when she is also Isis) be Sadie's grandfather
 * Ruby Kane, in the book, tells her daughter Sadie Kane that she has not lost the gift of foresight and sees conflict with other gods and magic which is still unclear. It would most likely be Greek-Roman, since Sadie said she and Carter have to go to Long Island (Camp Half Blood's location), due to other magic.
 * Error: Sadie, in the beginning, mentions how they vanquished Sekhmet by using hot sauce. But that Carter mentioned it was salsa. plus, the chapter was called 'we go into the Salsa business'.