"the sun always comes back"

after finally finishing trials of apollo i can confidently say it was worth it. this book felt like a warm hug. i love rick riordan's writing and the way he handles darker subjects so that younger audiences can understand. loved the wee nods to tkc and mc, and the set ups for tsats and tcotg (i can finally read them now😭). character development was amazing, i absolutely adore apollo/lester. im happy this book kept lester's humour and wit. this book was a great finish to a great series, the 210 haikus across yhe series were always amazing (i applaud rick for writing that many), and i cant wait to read tsats!! ty uncle rick🫶

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

(spoiler review) Okay, I think maybe the reason I wasn't liking this series was because Rick did too good of a job making Apollo annoying and self absorbed and ridiculous. I did quite enjoy this book and I liked how it wrapped up and I liked Meg's confident transformation, I liked Lou, I liked that they are trying to rehabilitate Nero's orphans, I liked Apollo's mental, and emotional growth. I also like the additions of Nico and Will and I'm very excited to see their book. It's finally time for Nico to shine. OH, also I like how everything wrapped up really well, all the loose ends tied up in a nice pretty bow, and New York did not explode! Woo

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valeria_gzz's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This gave me pretty much the same feeling as the burning maze, so five stars. I’m gonna miss Apollo even though he was really annoying in the first book and part of the second, he learned a lot and I think I did too. I didn’t think there’d be a lot to learn from a middle-grade book but honestly I’ve learned more from this series than most of the books I’ve read this year. I can’t express in words how proud I am of the character growth Apollo and Meg had so I’ll just leave it at that.

I liked how Apollo realized that Nero was just like every other bully and nothing special.

Also, I think anyone who is being abused in any way similar to the way Nero abused his children could benefit from reading this. I think it would help them to learn what exactly it is the abusers say to manipulate them to avoid listening to those worlds. <spoilers>I thought the Python fight was going to be underwhelming and it almost was (for me) but then it wasn’t.

I was very pleased with the few parts of Frank Zhang in this book, I treasure any bits I can get. Yes we got to see pretty much everyone BUT WHERE WAS GROVER???!!!

THE NEXT RIORDAN BOOKS ARE PROBABLY GOING TO BE ABOUT NICO YEEEEAAAAAAHH. I’m so excited I love Nico so much. I don’t like seeing him suffer though so I’m kinda worried. I like that Uncle Rick put more of Will and gave us more of his personality (aka he’s a Star Wars nerd). I totally forgot Bob’s name for a second there but I can’t wait to see him again.

I didn’t know how much I missed Mr D until he was back😭😭. ALSO AAAAHHH SALLY AND PAUL AND ESTELLE ARE SO CUTE AND KIND I LOVE THEM SO SO MUCH.

They still talk about Jason and it’s so realistic, it makes me sad every single time.

We got to see him for a little which was really sweet and sad at the same time.

Ok review done and wow I don’t think I’ve ever written this much or had this much to say. I’m going to miss being able to read these books one after the other for the first time, it was a good time. I learned a lot from this specific series and I hope I don’t ever forget it.

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