Monday Mine Inspection is a new weekly series talking about some of the new and upcoming releases dropping into bookstores this week. Into the mine, canaries! Let’s start the week with a book audit.

I’m a sucker for a good YA series–especially if it has the words “ancient gods” or “dystopian future” anywhere in the blurb. This week, we’ve got a couple of sequels that show plenty of promise. Here are some new releases that just might be a perfect fit for your reading appetite….

The Serpent’s Shadow by Rick Riordan

The third book (and last) in the Kane Chronicles series is sure to bring plenty of action, suspense and ridiculously funny banter as the Kane siblings once again try to thwart the rising of Apophis, an Egyptian god bent on bringing capital-C Chaos to the world.

Even though the magicians managed to (sort of) get the rest of the Egyptian gods on their side, and even though Ra is back and even though the Kane’s Uncle Amos is now the leader of the magical House of Life, the road won’t be easy. Many others in the House of Life oppose the Kane’s plans to follow to awaken their powers further by following the Path of the Gods and plan to stop Carter and Sadie before they manage to complete their task.

But Carter and Sadie know it’s the only way to stop Chaos — especially since Apophis is rising, and the only way to defeat him is to turn his own shadow into a weapon with a magic that has been lost for centuries.

You can read the review of second book,  Throne of Fire, here.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

I had a love/hate relationship with the first book of this series, Divergent. I truly enjoyed Roth’s engaging writing style, but the world of the book was so ridiculous that it got its own Small Chirp with what is arguably the best title we’ve ever concocted.

In the post-apocalyptic/dystopian Chicago of the future, the city is divided into five factions, each striving to fulfill a single good trait of humanity (honesty, selflessness, courage, knowledge, friendliness). And that’s it. No other traits. Just the one single one of their faction. Which is just silly.

But Insurgent should take us away from the premise a bit as we follow the newly-Divergent (of more than one trait) Tris as she  struggles to figure out how to deal with the brewing war between the factions (or, as the publication blurb said “while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.”).

Oddly, I don’t think I actually care about the characters at all. Mostly, I’m looking forward to the break down of a society that has no reason to have ever existed at all. It’s like a thought experiment gone horrible awry, and it will be interesting to see how it crumbles.

You can read the review of the first book, Divergent, here.

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A few other titles of coming out this week:

• Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse # 12)
  • Release Date: May 1, 2012
  • Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
• Black Dawn by Rachel Caine (The Morganville Vampires #12)
  • Release Date: May 1, 2012
  • YA Vampire
• Born of Silence by Sherrilyn Kenyon (The League #6)
  • Release Date: May 1, 2012
  • Sci-fi Romance
• Invincible by Jack Campbell (Lost Fleet #2)
  • Release Date: May 1, 2012
  • Science Fiction

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What books are you looking forward to, Canaries?