clstrifes's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing 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

I have no words to say, it was the good 😭 

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trintrin's review against another edition

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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: 
'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. 

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livelaughomo's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny 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

4.5


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piperrhoads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted 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

4.5


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ghulsona's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Really struggled to get through this book. I hate to say it, but I think Rick has finally lost his touch.
 
This entire book read like a middle schooler writing fic, mostly in some of the characterization and humor choices (see: that bit with Mr. D eating popcorn in the beginning when they were about to head out, what was that?!?). We don't reach the advertised main plot point until about the ~3/4 mark of the book, the pacing and stakes were just ridiculous. Also, the mythological beings that the duo encountered were weirdly . . . way nicer than they usually were in prev installations of this series? Like, they weren't as challenging or as difficult to pass as they've been in the other books, which I thought was so weird. Also, this is more a problem with everything written past the original PJO series, but I don't think Rick has a firm grasp on these characters' characterizations anymore. For example, I don't think Percy and Annabeth would have just let Nico and Will go to Tartarus that easily, LOL. They would not have said that shit about forgetting Bob either. And finally, I know the themes of sexuality and trauma being covered are important, especially for kids, and I get what they were trying to do, but there’s literally no nuance or subtlety at all. Everything is so heavyhanded. 

Scream, sorry for being so negative, but yeah, I really did not think this book was good . . . okay, here are some things that I did enjoy: I liked how Nico and Will's relationship was handled, and I loved the glimpses we saw of Nico's mamma because she's someone I've been dying to know more about!!! I also really loved that glimpse of Piper and her girlfriend, Shel, at the end, and I love Nico connecting with her about their grief over Jason, but I do wish that conversation had flowed a little better. Um, what else . . . Small Bob was cute . . . yeah IDK.

Sigh I hope at least the intended audience is having fun with this somehow. 

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kassidyreads's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted slow-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? It's complicated

2.5


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alyxinthestars's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious 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


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alys055's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A lovely story about change, grief, accepting your past, and embracing your demons. Plus, Cocoa Puffs.

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erins_bookshelf_'s review against another edition

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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

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dlrosebyh's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful 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

Reading a book from the Riordanverse for the first time feels like I’m eight again. I’m almost twice as old now, and the nostalgia is hitting me like a truck. I felt the same way Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield fans felt when they appeared on the large screen during No Way Home. THIS is MY Now Way Home. THIS is MY Joker.

Starting right off the bat, Nico has always been one of my favorite characters. He was the blueprint for the “religiously traumatized, queer, neurodivergent, and burnt out” characters aka people that represent me. Ever since Rick Riordan started expanding on his character from the little collector boy to one of the most deadly demigods alive in a span of a book, eight-year-old me wanted a book with Nico di Angelo. And of course, after reading House of Hades, and most especially Trials of Apollo, I wanted a Solangelo novel. It’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally here. And the best thing about this novel is that it’s co-written by someone in the LGBTQIA+ community— so you know it’s real and organic. 

Aside from Nico, Will Solace has always intrigued me— and I’ve always seen him rather underrated. Usually, he is just perceived as Nico’s boyfriend when he’s so much more to that. And don’t even get me started on how overlooked his trauma is— especially during The Last Olympian. I’ve always wanted a deeper dive to his character because according to the previous books, he was distinct to his siblings. He wasn’t as talented in music as his siblings are, but he did have a gift for being doctorly. 

As for the book, yes, it did feel cheesy in some parts, but I especially loved that aspect. Nico deserved that cheesiness, I don’t care. Plus, they’re teenagers, so it’s pretty expected. The target audience for this novel is definitely for younger queer people— the Nico, the Will, the Piper, and etc. Compared to the other Riordanverse novels, this one was more of a character study into Nico and Will and into their relationship. It was less climactic and for two people going to the Tartarus, I can admit that the climax was easily resolved— but I don’t think that’s something to be criticized on heavily because this novel had such a great message. 

This is probably the closest we’ll ever have to Nico going to therapy; I mean that guy has been through a lot and even Hades at the end of the book admitted that. This was such a beautiful story about further self discography, self love, and healing. We tackle Nico’s PTSD for a pretty big chunk of this book. Some people might say that the ending was anti-climactic, but I waited patiently for three Riordanverse series for Nico to GET that ending. It was so beautiful, it made me tear up.

As a queer teenager who struggles with identity, it was refreshing to read about two people being so open about their sexuality. No one knows how much I cry whenever I just see the words “he is my boyfriend” in this novel. It felt like a love letter, especially that it was co-written by a queer author. The novel was so alluring to me because even if it did tackle so many heavy stuff, it was well-balanced out with the wit, sarcasm, and wholesomeness. 

Although I gave this book five stars, I’ll still run over some of the “not so great” things in this book.
  • You could tell which one is Rick’s and which one is Mark’s. Their writing styles aren’t really different from one another, but I could still tell that Mark wrote the first chapters, and starting from the build-up of the climax, you could tell that Rick wrote them.
  • Since the characters are like 15-16, expect some very cheesy, “childish” dialogues. But again, cheesy doesn’t always mean bad. If you can acknowledge that something is cheesy with freeing yourself a bit, it wouldn’t hurt you. Expect also some miscommunication as they’re just teenagers (they don’t miscommunicate a lot, and when they do, it’s not like other miscommunication where I want to bang my head to a wall; it’s more of them masking to make each other stronger especially that they’re in the Tartarus.)
  • As I’ve said earlier, this book is anti-climactic especially for a book set in one of the scariest place in Greek mythology.
  • If we’re talking about adventure-wise out of all the Rick Riordan novels, I’m sorry, but this is probably the worst one. It’s not bad, it’s just not that adventurous compared to the others. It was low staked, but not in a cozy fantasy type of way because this was not cozy at all.

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