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A review by katymul
The House of Hades by Rick Riordan
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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? It's complicated
5.0
Yeah...the Tartarus arc breaks me in half every time. This round, I couldn't stop thinking about Percy Jackson's famous flaw -- refusal to give up on or even willingly put at risk his friends -- and how part of the bargain of Tartarus seems to be (unofficially) facing your great flaw. Annabeth must let go of her need to strategize and control in order to trust Bob (BOB!!) and Damasen (DAMASEN!) and push forward thinking she failed to convince someone to help...and Percy must let two deeply impressive friends save him at the cost of their lives (temporarily?).
But the real thing that breaks me about the Tartarus story is Bob and Damasen...two monsters trapped in old stories of who they were and who they have always been, trying to find a way to choose something else...no matter the cost. It's the perfect moment of tragedy -- a moment that is at once the victory of hope (overcoming the cruel fate meant for you) and the inevitability of despair(not surviving past it).
I think I didn't appreciate in the first readthrough how important it is that the above ground stories are (however harrowing) inspiring stories of characters growing in leaps and bounds. Leo, Hazel, Frank, and (in a deeply flawed portrayal of coming out of the closet that Riordan has admitted to regretting) Nico are all growing by leaps and bounds. They are shedding who they thought they had to be and catapulting into new stories, new lives, new reasons to hope.
Beneath their feet, Annabeth and Percy are being pushed to their limits, shedding everything that keeps them from surviving. Not just in terms of their weaknesses or "weaknesses" butPercy's restraint and, arguably, Annabeth's moral code (though perhaps it's more fair to say that she grows in the Athena skill of recognizing the need for sacrifices in order to achieve the more important goals...just like with Luke Castellan...forcing her to relive her worst moment metaphorically). We see then the two halves of the hero's path playing out: trials that are targeted to push you to grow and become who you were meant to be...and the trials that punish you for still fighting as they take away your childhood by force. The rewards and the costs of standing up, again and again, no matter what the world throws at you.
Which makes it feel like no accident that Leo Valdezmakes his infamous vow never to abandon Calypso, who like Bob and Damasen surrenders to her prison in order to get him back to save the world in time in the same book where Percy and Annabeth cannot do the same.
On a lighter note, there's something so charming about Percy's final narrated chapter where he senses pieces of the stories that the rest of the characters have been living -- he knows "something's up" but he doesn't have the context for what. It highlights just how much has happened in this book (and not JUST to buoy us up as we read the heartwrenching tales of Tartarus and the Giant and Titan whom Annabeth and Percy changed forever while they were there). In a way, this book is not really Percy and Annabeth's story -- and the only other time THAT'S happened was Lost Hero.
The balance of hope and despair has never felt so finely calibrated -- nor have I ever really thought that Riordan would force his audience to reckon with soul-sickening events. Not just thrills and danger but inescapable choices and hard, impossible things. We really are in YA, not MG now.
But the real thing that breaks me about the Tartarus story is Bob and Damasen...two monsters trapped in old stories of who they were and who they have always been, trying to find a way to choose something else...no matter the cost. It's the perfect moment of tragedy -- a moment that is at once the victory of hope (overcoming the cruel fate meant for you) and the inevitability of despair
I think I didn't appreciate in the first readthrough how important it is that the above ground stories are (however harrowing) inspiring stories of characters growing in leaps and bounds. Leo, Hazel, Frank, and (in a deeply flawed portrayal of
Beneath their feet, Annabeth and Percy are being pushed to their limits, shedding everything that keeps them from surviving. Not just in terms of their weaknesses or "weaknesses" but
Which makes it feel like no accident that Leo Valdez
On a lighter note, there's something so charming about Percy's final narrated chapter where he senses pieces of the stories that the rest of the characters have been living -- he knows "something's up" but he doesn't have the context for what. It highlights just how much has happened in this book (and not JUST to buoy us up as we read the heartwrenching tales of Tartarus and the Giant and Titan whom Annabeth and Percy changed forever while they were there). In a way, this book is not really Percy and Annabeth's story -- and the only other time THAT'S happened was Lost Hero.
The balance of hope and despair has never felt so finely calibrated -- nor have I ever really thought that Riordan would force his audience to reckon with soul-sickening events. Not just thrills and danger but inescapable choices and hard, impossible things. We really are in YA, not MG now.