Hello everyone!
I'm back with a book series blog post this week again! To be honest, I'm reading so many books it's getting difficult to pick one that I want to talk about ... which is definitely a sign that I should probably focus on one book at a time, huh? Maybe I'll even listen to my own advice this time haha.
Anyway, this week, I'm going to talk about the other Rick Riordan series which follows his first as a direct sequel, (the first being Percy Jackson and the Olympians, of course), picking up pretty much right after we left our characters the first time around, plus a couple of months in.: The Heroes of Olympus.
First off, let me say that while I might not have enjoyed these particular books as much as the first five, I still liked the general idea for the whole plot, and the fact that we got to revisit with some old favourites from Olympians. Some of the new characters were also very nice additions to the cast (whereas some, I could have done without). But enough dawdling!
Unlike the first series, these books aren't written from one character point of view, but from multiple, and not in first person anymore. We begin building on top of the Greek mythology we've been learning for the past five books, and adding in a different twist: Romans.
Because the tagline of the series is, after all: The Greeks aren't the only gods in town.
Turns out, Olympus has gone on lockdown and is silent, the godly parents not speaking with their children anymore at all, leaving them to fend for themselves. At the end of Olympians, Rachel Dare, the resident Oracle, has predicted a new Great Prophecy, and of course, with the luck our heroes have, it's obviously happening now. Bottom line? Gaia is waking (yes, Mother Earth, and it's BAD), and seven Half-bloods have to stop her, because if she wakes from her slumber? Bye-bye Earth. See, Gaia is Kronos' mom, who was responsible for the whole chaos back in the first five books, but she remarried Tartarus and had another batch of kids - giants, as anti-Gods, and she wants to take over things. Our heroes can't let that happen.
"Seven Half-bloods shall answer the call,
to storm or fire the world must fall.
An Oath to keep with a final breath,
and foes bear arms to the Doors of Death."
Our old favourites bounce back into action, Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, cameos from Grover Underwood and Tyson (and Mrs. O'Leary, too), Clarisse LaRue, Will Solace, Nico Di Angelo, Thalia Grace, and several others. And then we also have some new characters in play, from another camp, Camp Jupiter, which is the Roman counterpart to Camp Half-blood. The difference is that the Roman camp takes people who aren't necessarily demigods, but offspring of demigods, or relations. And the best part? They guard a whole city, New Rome, where adult demigods and even the elderly can live out their lives in peace.
Hazel Levesque is a Roman demigod and child of Pluto (Hades' Roman side), who eventually learns how to control and manipulate the Mist. Her special power is the ability to raise precious metal from the ground. If it's in there, she can find it. She also rides Arion, a super-sonic speed roan horse.
Frank Zang is another Roman demigod who is the son of Mars (the counterpart of Ares who, according to Percy, is actually better, because Ares 'can't even read'). He is, by descent, also a son of Poseidon (through some ancestors) and has a shape-shifting ability as well.
Leo Valdez, probably the best addition to the cast, is a Greek demigod and son of Hephaestus. He can build pretty much anything and everything, and can conjure fire with the snap of his fingers. Also, he cracks jokes. LOTS of jokes.
Piper McLean is one of my least favourite new characters. A Greek demigod and daughter of Aphrodite, her whole being seems to be about loving another demigod and otherwise worrying about whether or not he loves her back. She has a dagger which shows the future, and a Cornucopia, and also Charmspeak (think telling someone what they should do, and it works).
Jason Grace, Roman demigod and apparently persno extraordinaire, like Percy, who single-handedly led an ssault on Mount Tam while Percy was defendin Manhattan ... but he has zero personality and even though he's the son of Jupiter (Zeus' Roman form) he's the least helpful of the company. His only characteristics seem to be getting hit on the head and being Piper's love interest.
The first book, The Lost Hero, introduces us to Jason, Leo and Piper, and we learn that Hera has made a dangerous bid (or Juno, depends who you want to talk about, but the demigods all agree she's annoying in both forms) to bring the gods back together. Their Greek and Roman personalities are at war with each other, and Gaia's commander is rising. Not only that, but she's plucked Jason from Camp Jupiter, erased all his memories, and deposited him at Camp Half-blood. The trio travel around on a bronze dragon, Festus, and eventually manage to stop the Giant King from rising.
In the second book, The Son of Neptune, we finally remeet with Percy again. Percy has no memory as well, except for Annabeth, and he is forced to join Camp Jupiter. There, we meet some other interestin characters, Reyna, Octavian, the Lares, and Percy leaves on a quest for the Legion Eagle with Frank and Hazel. In the process, they also have to stop another giant from killing them in Alaska (a land beyond the gods, apparently) and save Camp Jupiter from a giant trying to crush it. By the time the book ends, Annabeth & co are also sailing towards Jupiter in Argo II, a ship Leo built for the quest. 
The third book, Mark of Athena, picks up right where we left off, although things go wrong at one as Gaia has evil spirits take over Leo and fire on camp, forcing the guys to flee for their lives, and Jupiter to declare war on Half-blood. But our characters need to cross the Atlantic and go to Rome, where Annabeth has to complete a quest of her own - to find the Athena Parthenos - while the others battle twin giants and escape certain death, again. Annabeth secures the Parthenos, but she and Percy fall into Tartarus at the end of the book, with Percy extracting a promise from Nico to meet them at the Doors of Death.
House of Hades, the fourth book of the series, is told from two world point of views, Tartarus and the world above. Percy and Annabeth trek across Tartarus, while the others sail to a temple of Hades, where Hazel must show the goddess Hecate that she understands how to control the Mist if they are to defeat Pasiphae and the giant guarding the doors on this end (side-note: the Doors of Death are an elevator. Go figure!). The team succeeds in closing the Doors, but Gaia's waking apparently can't be stopped. They have to sail to Athens, and the Acropolis, to finish the quest.
Finally, in the last book, Blood of Olympus, everything comes to a head as our heroes and their godly parents battle the giants on the Acropolis, and inadvertedly cause the rise of Gaia, even though they do succeed in killing her children. In the meantime, Reyna, Nico and Coach Hedge (their satyr guardian) are shadow-travelling to Camp Half-blood with the Parthenos to prevent civil war from breaking out. The troops do fight, despite their success, but our heroes arrive and the story comes to a close with a "death" and the hope of a quiet life for the gang from now on (the only downside? No Percy or Annabeth chapters in this one!)
The ending is pretty open, or I should say the ENDINGS are fairly open, which is a little bit disappointing in a way, and I expected a lot more from this series to be honest. But, that being said, what I did get to see of Percy and Annabeth and the old gang made it all worth it, though I still prefer the Olympians, or the cross-overs with the Kane Chronicles (this one about Egyptian gods).
I'm looking forward to the new Norse mythology series that Riordan is writing, and in the meantime, shout out below if you have any thoughts on these books!
xx
*images not mine
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