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trintrin's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
GAHHHH SO WHOLESOME T-T
Solangelo making you feel like you're third-wheeling them for 466 pages? Sign me up, please.
The lovey-dovey stuff apart, I love how much this book focuses on both Nico and Will (they're teenagers, mind you) struggling to find who they are while dealing with their trauma. Sure, I love their cute romantic moments,which is ABUNDANT, but I also love the fact that their relationship is not perfect - yes Nico doesn't open up and Will is a little close-minded, yes they get annoyed with each other, yes they fight, yes they talk and make up - and that's what makes it so beautiful. And I love how this book portrays the monsters in a different light. wdym Geryon is a happy little gay boy in love now kjsdkjsdf it's beautiful
So did the writing and the general plot deserve five stars? Maybe not, but what can I say, I'm biased towards Nico and he more than deserves it. He finally healed, got some long-awaited closure with his family, has an amazing boyfriend, and he's also a role-model to other campers??? and he gives advice to others suffering from trauma??? and he quite literally lives with his demons now??? my baby im so proud of him *wipes tears* they grow up so fasttt
TL;DR this is the cutest book I've ever read. It's quite cheesy, sure, but to quote Nico:
Solangelo making you feel like you're third-wheeling them for 466 pages? Sign me up, please.
The lovey-dovey stuff apart, I love how much this book focuses on both Nico and Will (they're teenagers, mind you) struggling to find who they are while dealing with their trauma. Sure, I love their cute romantic moments,
So did the writing and the general plot deserve five stars? Maybe not, but what can I say, I'm biased towards Nico and he more than deserves it. He finally healed, got some long-awaited closure with his family, has an amazing boyfriend,
TL;DR this is the cutest book I've ever read. It's quite cheesy, sure, but to quote Nico:
'Lay it on me, Will. I'm your grilled cheese'
He stepped over a thorny rock, then squinted at Nico. 'I think your metaphor needs work', he said.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Confinement, Eating disorder, Blood, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Murder
saucy_bookdragon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-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
4.5
People who became gay because they got really into Percy Jackson when they were younger we won.
Nico’s a fan favorite character for a reason. He’s the mysterious son of Hades with a tragic backstory and many tricks up his sleeve throughout both Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus. He’s also the first openly queer character in Rick Riordan’s books and the first time many PJO fans ever saw positive queer representation (myself included).
I’ve seen some people complaining that Nico was out of character in this, but I disagree. Despite being present throughout all three series before this, we mostly only saw him from other characters’ perspectives. He did get a POV in The Blood of Olympus, but that story wasn’t really focused on him.
This book dares to ask the bold question “how is Nico di Angelo?” It’s a look into his trauma specifically and him trying to cope with it. Nico’s arc had me sobbing towards the end! This book was to me the literary equivalent of therapy and did heal a little bit of something inside of me.
This also made me finally like Will Solace! I think I’m in the minority of PJO fans for taking this long to appreciate him. My reasoning is that he was essentially a glorified background character in the other books. So to me Solangelo had felt like just throwing Nico at the nearest presumably single boy we could project onto and have the fun little light/dark dichotomy with.
But now I like my boy! This book expanded on both his backstory and relationship to Nico. He has some of his own trauma he’s working through but processes things differently from his boyfriend. He starts TSATS wanting to help Nico, but is stumped on how to as he can’t fully understand Nico’s experience, which in his defense perhaps nobody could. I loved that this was a book about a queer couple that gets to have a realistically complicated relationship!
Overall, the character work in this was great! The plot and writing had some issues though. Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro’s writing styles don’t blend well and you can pretty easily pick out who wrote which scenes, though I didn’t dislike either writing style; it would occasionally take me out of the story. The antagonist was way too unserious, a situation where some of the typical Riordan jokes needed to be cut. The themes are handled mostly without subtlety. And I already critiqued this in my review for The Tower of Nero, but Riordan still relies too heavily on convenience to get his characters out of conflict.
Oh and where were Reyna and Hazel???? Why were they barely even mentioned???? They were the closest people to Nico in HoO!
I also have mixed feelings on the flashback scene where Nico asked Will out in regards to queer rep. Without spoiling, basically Nico and Will were pressured to come out. This is especially problematic given Nico was outed in The House of Hades. Can we just let that boy come out when he’s ready???? Hasn’t he been through enough????
Despite that scene, I view the queer rep in this (and Riordan’s books in general) as a net positive. And despite my other critiques, I did really love The Sun and the Star! It was cathartic to see a character that means so much to me finally begin to unpack the tragedy of his story.
BTW though it's not necessary, I'd recommend reading the Trials of Apollo series before this. Though Nico and Will only appear in the first and last books, there are some spoilers to ToA and you'll have a better understanding of Will, particularly his relationship to Apollo. Trials of Apollo is also just a really good series itself!
TWs: outing (Cupid when you catch these hands), PTSD, death, grief, some gore including injuries and blood, bugs.
Nico’s a fan favorite character for a reason. He’s the mysterious son of Hades with a tragic backstory and many tricks up his sleeve throughout both Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus. He’s also the first openly queer character in Rick Riordan’s books and the first time many PJO fans ever saw positive queer representation (myself included).
I’ve seen some people complaining that Nico was out of character in this, but I disagree. Despite being present throughout all three series before this, we mostly only saw him from other characters’ perspectives. He did get a POV in The Blood of Olympus, but that story wasn’t really focused on him.
This book dares to ask the bold question “how is Nico di Angelo?” It’s a look into his trauma specifically and him trying to cope with it. Nico’s arc had me sobbing towards the end! This book was to me the literary equivalent of therapy and did heal a little bit of something inside of me.
This also made me finally like Will Solace! I think I’m in the minority of PJO fans for taking this long to appreciate him. My reasoning is that he was essentially a glorified background character in the other books. So to me Solangelo had felt like just throwing Nico at the nearest presumably single boy we could project onto and have the fun little light/dark dichotomy with.
But now I like my boy! This book expanded on both his backstory and relationship to Nico. He has some of his own trauma he’s working through but processes things differently from his boyfriend. He starts TSATS wanting to help Nico, but is stumped on how to as he can’t fully understand Nico’s experience, which in his defense perhaps nobody could. I loved that this was a book about a queer couple that gets to have a realistically complicated relationship!
Overall, the character work in this was great! The plot and writing had some issues though. Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro’s writing styles don’t blend well and you can pretty easily pick out who wrote which scenes, though I didn’t dislike either writing style; it would occasionally take me out of the story. The antagonist was way too unserious, a situation where some of the typical Riordan jokes needed to be cut. The themes are handled mostly without subtlety. And I already critiqued this in my review for The Tower of Nero, but Riordan still relies too heavily on convenience to get his characters out of conflict.
Oh and where were Reyna and Hazel???? Why were they barely even mentioned???? They were the closest people to Nico in HoO!
I also have mixed feelings on the flashback scene where Nico asked Will out in regards to queer rep. Without spoiling, basically Nico and Will were pressured to come out. This is especially problematic given Nico was outed in The House of Hades. Can we just let that boy come out when he’s ready???? Hasn’t he been through enough????
Despite that scene, I view the queer rep in this (and Riordan’s books in general) as a net positive. And despite my other critiques, I did really love The Sun and the Star! It was cathartic to see a character that means so much to me finally begin to unpack the tragedy of his story.
BTW though it's not necessary, I'd recommend reading the Trials of Apollo series before this. Though Nico and Will only appear in the first and last books, there are some spoilers to ToA and you'll have a better understanding of Will, particularly his relationship to Apollo. Trials of Apollo is also just a really good series itself!
TWs: outing (Cupid when you catch these hands), PTSD, death, grief, some gore including injuries and blood, bugs.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Moderate: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Eating disorder and Homophobia
sarieatsbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This story really captures a lot of queer joy that is needed in the middle grade genre and just in books in genre and I loved every word of it. I also loved how the book took a deeper look into Will and Nico's characters, especially regarding some of Nico's trauma and Will's troubles with extreme self doubt and anxiety and how their personalities spanned into their relationship. This book was just all around a beautiful read and made me love Will and Nico's characters together and separate even more <3
fav quote: "'pain helps us learn'....'it is unforunate, but we rarely forget the lessons taught to us in moments of pain.'"
fav quote: "'pain helps us learn'....'it is unforunate, but we rarely forget the lessons taught to us in moments of pain.'"
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Grief, and Gaslighting
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Death of parent
mattyb's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Gaslighting, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Mental illness and Kidnapping
dmatson21's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I loved being back in the riodanverse but there were some things that were lacking and wish we had gotten more of. Wills past/character could have been explored more and made the for an even more emotional book. Overall, it was incredibly heartbreaking but Nick got his happy ending
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Medical trauma
Minor: Death, Eating disorder, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury
erins_bookshelf_'s review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I’ve genuinely never cried so much over a book before, this was beautiful and the perfect way to show Nico and Will’s story; it’s everything I wanted from a solangelo book and I’m so happy that this book exists
the only thing I'd say that I didn't like is the number of pop culture references, it feels less timeless than the og pjo books, but I didn't mind it that much
the only thing I'd say that I didn't like is the number of pop culture references, it feels less timeless than the og pjo books, but I didn't mind it that much
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Violence and Blood
Minor: Homophobia and Outing
amelianotthepilot's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
sad
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
3.0
a cute little queer pjo story about solangelo
the writing in this was definitely a little funky you could tell it wasn’t fully uncle rick’s. specifically the beginning and ending something felt off about chiron for me. also a lot of the dialogue was very punny percy jackson-esque and i don’t feel like that’s who will and nico are all the time. and then i also felt like the morals of the story were a bit hitting you over the head.
i realize this is a book with children as the audience but the ending bit seemed a bit too easily resolved and corny. also the morals were so blatantly spelt out.
that being said this one dealt with a lot of important topics for kids these days including queer identity, PTSD, depression, and relationship navigating. will and nico’s relationship seemed way older than teenagers (maturity wise not sexually). also the main villain seemed to be a representation of the US problems rn with division and having to choose one or the other.
overall a cute little story but not as good as the other pjos sadly. nico is my favorite character tho so it was great to get more of his backstory and him and will’s relationship. also the black tinted pages were a cute aspect
the writing in this was definitely a little funky you could tell it wasn’t fully uncle rick’s. specifically the beginning and ending something felt off about chiron for me. also a lot of the dialogue was very punny percy jackson-esque and i don’t feel like that’s who will and nico are all the time. and then i also felt like the morals of the story were a bit hitting you over the head.
i realize this is a book with children as the audience but the ending bit seemed a bit too easily resolved and corny. also the morals were so blatantly spelt out.
that being said this one dealt with a lot of important topics for kids these days including queer identity, PTSD, depression, and relationship navigating. will and nico’s relationship seemed way older than teenagers (maturity wise not sexually). also the main villain seemed to be a representation of the US problems rn with division and having to choose one or the other.
overall a cute little story but not as good as the other pjos sadly. nico is my favorite character tho so it was great to get more of his backstory and him and will’s relationship. also the black tinted pages were a cute aspect
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
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