Hello everyone!
Book time again. And I have to say, this has to be one of those books that you can read through in one sitting if you have a couple of hours to spare.
And to be honest, for me, if I didn't have them? I'd wait to read until I did. Because I'm not sure how I could have paused at any given point in the book without wondering what, precisely, was going to happen next.
I'm talking about Rick Riordan's newest book, The Hidden Oracle. This is the first in his series The Trials of Apollo, which returns to the modern-day Greek gods world of Percy Jackson and his cohort, but this one takes place after the previous two series.
Can you tell though that I was super excited to learn there would be a new book altogether?
I love Riordan's books. Like, I really do. He's one of those authors I could read again and again, no matter which book it was. So this one was no exception whatsoever, despite the fact that I would have been very happy with some better appearances by our favourites!
However, you can't have it all.
As I said, THO begins roughly six months after the previous series, Heroes of Olympus, comes to a close.
And what a spectacular beginning!
Written from a first person point of view like Percy Jackson's first series, it starts with Apollo flying through the skies, falling towards the ground.
Literally.
If you reall - I had to dig through my memory for this - by the time the Gods and their offspring defeated Gaea back in The Blood of Olympus, Zeus had it in for Apollo because he was convinced one of Apollo's descendants caused an almost-civil war. So what happens is that daddy-o decides to strip Apollo of his powers, make him mortal, and chuck him into New York city.
Yeah, parenting at its finest.
Apollo is almost beaten to a pulp by a pair of thugs when he's rescued by a tiny midget of a twelve-year-old called Meg, who he becomes sworn to. This means he has to serve her for however long it takes until Zeus is appeased and makes him a god again.
First order of business: get to Percy Jackson.
This is where we catch up with everything that's been going on while the gap lasted (a gap which Apollo doesn't even remember, mind you, something Percy finds disturbing and worrisome): Annabeth is in Boston for a family emergency (Magnus Chase, anyone?), Piper and Jason are in LA with her dad for the semester, Grover is dealing with something in California, Hazel and Frank are at Camp Jupiter, and Percy has sworn up and down that he won't go on any more quests, because he's getting a baby sister in about two months.
But he agrees to drive Apollo and Meg to Camp Half-Blood, not that they make it there: they're attacked by plague spirits, and even though they manage to defeat them because of a different, grain spirit that comes to help them, Percy has to return to Manhattan. Meanwhile, Apollo and Meh trudge on.
At Camp Half-Blood, things aren't any better than outside though - as noted by Apollo when they enter through the woods and his skull nearly splits from the voices inside his head.
Campers have been disappearing, and the Oracle is silent, has been since Python took over Delfi. And while Chiron is trying to keep things normal, it's obvious that something else is going on. Normal communication isn't working either, like there's some sort of fritz whenever a demigod goes near. He sends a message to Rachel Dare (the current oracle) anyway, while they put Apollo in camp.
During a three-legged death race (for real) in the Labyrinth, Apollo and Meg end up in Delfi, actually, where they hear Python debating over something with a person that scares Meg to death. This person also says Apollo is the key to opening some gates, but upon their return, they find that two members of the Apollo cabin are now missing as well.
The ex-god figures out that the Oracle of Dodona has to be in Camp Half-Blood; because it's the oldest of the lot, and the most powerful, it's been drawing demigods near when they wondered about how to help or how to find those that were missing.
Side-note here being that Apollo also got visions of the Titan Rhea, who apparently went hippie.
Apollo and Meg enter the forest to get to the Oracle, only to have Meg get caught by giant ants (no joke). The ex-god goes after her and rescues her by singing his regrets and apologising to those he's wrong over the years.
Second side-note: as he had sworn on the River Styx not to use his voice or his bow until he's godly again, this means he broke the oath and he's in trouble.
Finally getting to the grove, Apollo is dismayed to realized Meg has been working with the person who's trying to get to the Oracle himself: a still-living Emperor Nero.
Crash course: the last of the Julian dynasty who allegedly burned down Rome and persecuted Christians. A good movie about this is Quo Vadis. But he was totally ga-ga, not in a good way.
He's Meg's step-father, as well, and part of a Triumvirate that is trying to take over the world, and they've orchestrated the problems for our heroes in previous books. Cool, huh? More crazy emperors. I'm betting one has to be Caligula. With his horse-advisor.
Apollo does in fact open the grove, but manages to save the trees, and the abducted demigods, from being burned to death, although Meg leaves with her step-father in the end even though he tries to tell her that won't do her any good. She's loyal, though.
The next problem? They get a prophecy about Apollo, a talking arrow (oh yeah, that too), and realize the camp is under attack.
Again.
This time by the Colossus Nero had built back in the day, and it's trying to stomp everyone to bits. Luckily, Percy arrives (it's the weekend!) to help distract it while Apollo casts hay fever on an arrow so that he shoots the automaton through the ear, causing it to sneeze its head off.
I'm serious.
In the aftermath, Apollo's task is clear now: he has to free the other Oracles. But he won't be doing it alone.
Leo comes back.
Leo went and died/got resurrected at the end of Heroes, and he and Calypso finally make it back in time to go with Apollo on this quest of sorts. I'm also hoping there'll be more cameos from our other demigods. Even though Lester Papadopolous is probably not the first person I'd try to imagine in the role of saviour.
This book went back to the first stories Riordan wrote, and it was amazing, not to mention incredibly funny. I can't wait to see what else is in store for our God-turned-mortal!
If you ever get the chance, pick up one of Riordan's books, you won't regret it.
xx
*image not mine
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