Son of Sobek Review

After the success of J.R.R Tolkien and J.K Rowling in creating a new, magical world, apart from our own,  where their books take place, Rick Riordan has sought to replicate the feat. At first, he was following the formula set by the previous authors, setting his Percy Jackson & the Olympians in a world using elements of Greek mythology. But then he took it a step further. He created a brand new series, that has apparently no relation to Percy's story, the Kane Chronicles. The Kane Chronicles follows Egyptian mythology, rather than the Greek in the Percy Jackson books. But as this new series progressed, it became clear that the Kane Chronicles and the Percy Jackson series do, in fact inhabit the same universe, but do not affect each other's respective story lines. This expanded Rick Riordan's universe beyond the size of the ones in Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. Once the fans of Riordan found this, the ideas for a potential crossover series flew around the internet. Rick Riordan eventually conceded to the requests and created a 40 page short story, the Son of Sobek, the first official crossover between Percy Jackson and the Kane Chronicles.

In the Son of Sobek, Rick Riordan cements the meeting between the male protagonists of each series, Percy Jackson and Carter Kane. Rick Riordan narrates this from the point of view of Carter Kane, letting Carter's unique voice shine. However, Carter's voice, while entertaining, are not nearly as amusing as Percy's. In Percy's series, one of the enjoyable factors is his sarcastic thoughts on the events, bringing comedic relief to the story. Carter's narration is tolerable, but Rick Riordan has chosen the weaker speaker to convey his story. The story itself is standard Riordan quality, which means it is very enjoyable. It starts off as Carter's quest to capture a mysterious monster that has terrorized Long Island, only for him to meet Percy, also hunting the monster. The monster is then  temporarily put out of the picture to let the two protagonists interact for the first time. The dialogue between the two is comedic, as their personalities clash. The disagreement between the two also leads to some action which ignites excitement as they eventually decide to settle their differences with a good bout of swordplay. This fight provides action and thrills as our two heroes duke it out for alpha male. However, when we return to the monster, the storyline of them fighting the monster becomes bland and unoriginal. Instead, the highlight is seeing Percy and Carter interact in their teamwork. Riordan knock the dialogue out of the park, with the story igniting desire for more once it is over.

Ultimately, the Son of Sobek is an entertaining story and worth a read. It is a little regretful that there is not more banter between the odd couple and that Percy can't share his side of the story, in a way that would surely be more engaging. The storyline can get boring, with an unmenacing villain, but ultimately, the Son of Sobek's biggest weakness is its short length. However, despite that, it shows mastery of writing on Riordan's part. The Son of Sobek is a clever way to give the die hard fans a crossover they can be all over, but not mesh the story lines of each, so that is becomes confusing and chaotic. If that were the case, each series would lose its independence and standalone characteristics. A more casual reader may just be reading Percy Jackson, but will be confused if the newest book suddenly rushes into a Kane Chronicles plot, with the reader having no idea where the characters from the other series came from. Riordan's handling of the format is brilliant, his story engrossing, and his first official crossover between Percy Jackson & the Olympians and the Kane Chronicles is a success.

Note: The Son of Sobek was released as a bonus story for the paperback version of Serpent's Shadow. It is also available as an e-book, with audio read by Rick Riordan himself.