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A review by katymul
The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
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
4.75
It's a shame that this book tends to be Riordan fans' least favorite of the Greek mythology track (you can't help people who don't like the Magnus Chase series. It's not even worth trying...they are lost to you forever).
It had a tough draw, since the announcement of a "new Percy Jackson book" that...does not include Percy Jackson...well, it surprised people. In my project of rereading the entire cycle this year, I also found that the monster-of-the-chapter structure did not quite snap together into one, united plot the way that the five books of the first series did. In fact, Heroes of Olympus is more varied and wide-ranging than the tidily-narrated-by-Percy first set of five books. The shifting perspectives add richness to the adventures that in some ways replaces the beautiful snap of all the pieces coming together. The books feel more sprawling and expansive in the second series, and maybe that's just fine!
This book also feels like an accomplished series of brave moves by the author. He wants to blow up his POV-tone, many established rules of his universe, and open up the series to more voices, more perspectives on ideas and life, and charge ahead in new ways. Percy's absence from the books feels like a bold but necessary move to pave the way for a very different story -- and Riordan also uses it to create a meta-connection between the reader and Annabeth and Team as they search for the vanished Percy on the sidelines in this book. By the time the novel finishes, we are ready to see Percy Jackson more from the outside in Son of Neptune and beyond...and any disappointment has faded in the face of evidence that we'll love him and those in his world even more for opening up the telling of their story.
It had a tough draw, since the announcement of a "new Percy Jackson book" that...does not include Percy Jackson...well, it surprised people. In my project of rereading the entire cycle this year, I also found that the monster-of-the-chapter structure did not quite snap together into one, united plot the way that the five books of the first series did. In fact, Heroes of Olympus is more varied and wide-ranging than the tidily-narrated-by-Percy first set of five books. The shifting perspectives add richness to the adventures that in some ways replaces the beautiful snap of all the pieces coming together. The books feel more sprawling and expansive in the second series, and maybe that's just fine!
This book also feels like an accomplished series of brave moves by the author. He wants to blow up his POV-tone, many established rules of his universe, and open up the series to more voices, more perspectives on ideas and life, and charge ahead in new ways. Percy's absence from the books feels like a bold but necessary move to pave the way for a very different story -- and Riordan also uses it to create a meta-connection between the reader and Annabeth and Team as they search for the vanished Percy on the sidelines in this book. By the time the novel finishes, we are ready to see Percy Jackson more from the outside in Son of Neptune and beyond...and any disappointment has faded in the face of evidence that we'll love him and those in his world even more for opening up the telling of their story.