A review by dlrosebyh
The Sun and the Star by Mark Oshiro, Rick Riordan

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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