In the first book, Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos, Theodosia uncovers the secret society of the Serpents of Chaos. They want to dominate the world by creating a world war. Before Theodosia can expose them, the Serpents of Chaos escape. At the beginning of the second book, Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris, Theodosia faces a new challenge with the Serpents of Chaos. While cataloging artifacts in the basement of her parents' museum, she finds a special staff and orb. When she puts the two together, mummies from all over London gather at her museum because of the staff's ability to raise the dead. The Serpents of Chaos find out about the staff and steal it from her. With the help from the Brotherhood of the Chosen Keepers and the Arcane Order of the Black Sun, Theodosia finds out that the Serpents of Chaos will use the staff to kill off the crew of the new battleship, Dreadnought, and resurrect them back to life so that they may begin a world war. Theodosia stops their plans in time, but the Serpents of Chaos escape justice again. In the end, the staff and orb are entrusted to Theodosia and Lord Wigmere, head of the Chosen Keepers, for safe keeping.
LaFevers does a wonderful job at maintaining Theodosia's colorful and refreshing character from the first book. And, like the first book, Tanaka's illustrations support the pace of the story and create a solid setting. This book would be an excellent resource to introduce children to the Egyptian culture and to see the importance of doing research in finding answers to a problem.
