The Son of Sobek/The Staff of Serapis By: Rick Riordan (2013/2014) - RQK

SPOILER ALERT!

The Son of Sobek and The Staff of Serapis are short story cross-overs of Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicles and The Hero's of Olympus series. In this first story it tells of Carter Kane meeting a mysterious boy, Percy Jackson. Their meeting was very sudden and surprising, Percy had saved Carter and asked for an explanation as to why Carter was here. However they didn't get anywhere with that as they couldn't identify each other as either a demigod or magician which resulted in much confusion and an accidental hit from Carter onto Percy resulting in a fight between them. The fight later subdued and they were able to clear up that they weren't enemies and that they needed to work together to get the monster.

I found this beginning part intriguing as I was very curious about what would happen with them finding out about the various gods and cultures that actually exist. I also found it interesting to get a glimpse of how their various powers and talents would match up when faced against each other. However I think the fact that they were able truce to save people from the monster shows that no matter where they come from in the end they have the same goal and that working together is the best and most efficient way to achieve it.

During their fight with the monster Percy and Carter both are surprised with each others talents and abilities however they manage to keep their focus on the monster and continue battling it. Using their combined abilities they were able to defeat the monster together. Afterwards they decide that it is probably in their best interest to not tell each other anything more about each other or their worlds.

I found this story to be a great cross-over and I very much hope that he creates some sort of series off of this. The Son of Sobek provides something like a teaser to what could be possible in the future for these two series, but it also provides some information and a battle to hook you on this in a more intense way then a regular teaser would. Even though this story is short it still had the excellent quality of writing that all Rick Riordan's books have. I would give this book a 5 out of 5 stars as it was a great story, and I have no complaints about it other then I wish it was its own book. I look forward to possibly reading more of this cross-over in the future.

In the second story Annabeth runs into a unique girl, Sadie Kane while face to face with a monster in a subway train. Annabeth on her way to Percy's place runs into a monster. The monster is special in more ways than Annabeth first realizes. While following the monster she sees that it is surrounded by Greek letters along with hieroglyphics, Egyptian hieroglyphs.

I expected this story to be much on its own and have no connection to The Son of Sobek, but I was wrong. This story very much connects with Rick Riordan's other stories including the previous Hero's of Olympus books as it mentions the Argo II ship. I have heard about the Egyptian and Greek gods, however I have never heard of the god Serapis which was a god that binds the Greek and Egyptian religions. I love how Rick Riordan takes real gods, and their stories and adds a modern day twist to them to create his own stories. I find it much more fascinating to learn so much about these ancient religion through his stories then just plainly studying them.

Annabeth then runs into Sadie who is fighting off what appears to be a black labrador retriever. Later Annabeth wakes up to have a confusing conversation with Sadie in which they find out that they really are from two different types of magical culture religions. They also connect The Son of Sobek story to this one by Annabeth bringing up Percy's encounter with Carter. Unlike Carter and Percy though Sadie and Annabeth liked and trusted each other quite quickly. They walk into battle only to see things flying everywhere, something, someone was building something. This someone turned out to be a god, Serapis.

I really liked this story even more then I liked The Son of Sobek. In this the Egyptian and Greek religions were much more crossed and interrelated which made it very fascinating to read. Though it is a short story much is revealed in very little time. In this story it mentions Alexander the Great and how there is a city named after him in Egypt. To my surprise this fact that I learned from reading this story came in handy in school. I realized now more then before how these stories are actually teaching me things without my knowing. I give this story a 5 out of 5 as I did for the other short story as it is fantastic and I highly recommend reading both of these short stories.

-RQK