A review by emleemay
The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan

4.0

I tried to think of a brilliant plan. Unfortunately, the only thing that came to mind was weeping in terror.

What an absolute dork. I love him so much ♥

Honestly, Apollo is hands down my favourite character that Riordan has ever created. I know all of these books have the same light, humourous tone, but none of the others seem to make me laugh so much. Apollo is just so sassy and snarky, and his disdain for humans rings with hilarious truth.

I think I like these Apollo stories so much more because they feel the most unique. Many of the other voices - e.g. Percy Jackson and Magnus Chase - started to blend together after a little while, and their characters were hard to distinguish from one another. And the plots of the other books seemed to move in similar cycles of prophecy-quest-resolution, whereas this and [b:The Hidden Oracle|26252859|The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo, #1)|Rick Riordan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1449765273s/26252859.jpg|46249638] contained more surprises.

Did I mention that it's full of laughs?

"Oh!" I said. "Um...nah." I leaned against the wall, hoping to look casual, attractive and suave. Unfortunately, I missed the wall.

Also, I just kind of love that Apollo is a narcissistic ass. Don't get me wrong, I praised the Percy Jackson series for being all about how a seemingly regular kid discovers he is actually so much more and proceeds to become a hero. This is a great message. But sometimes there is just something so delightful about a character who is definitely NOT a hero and doesn't even pretend to be.

In this book, Apollo has left Camp Half-Blood behind and is venturing out to restore Oracles and - hopefully - regain his place on Mount Olympus after Zeus cast him out and made him human. It is full of adventure, haiku and mechanical dragons, as well as some great LGBTQ+ representation (Apollo is, himself, bisexual). I can't wait for more.

Quick note: there are spoilers for the Percy Jackson books, so maybe don't read this if you haven't read them yet.

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