A review by jomarie
The House of Hades by Rick Riordan

5.0

For as much “screen time” Riordan is giving the statue, I hope it ends up being some unexpected key to winning the war against Gaea. I also want it to be just a statue. In this world where magic is real, it would somehow chepen the story of the statue’s loss if it were actually something fantastic, especially if it comes alive or something. I don’t have any idea how these two sentiments of mine would work together, I can only hope Riordan continues to be more creative than me.

Speaking of magic, though, Hazel. I think it’s so fascinating that Hecate takes an interest in her. It touches on how magic functions in a world of demigods. I mean, they seem to have their truly god-given talents, what with Jason’s ability to fly and Percy to command water, but I can’t remember ever having seen a demigod command magic outside of enchanted items. My current going theory is that magic use by an inherently non-magical creature is usually used for evil purposes, so it’s not a popular option for camp extracurriculars. I also think it’s really cute how Hazel wants Percy and Annabeth to be proud of her for taking command of the quest in their, uh, absence.

Also, my baby Frank seemed to really grow into his title of Son of Aries. He is more confident in himself and in his ability to lead a battle. Additionally, he feels more at home in his skin, which is in part to the physical change bestowed upon him by his dad and by his increasing comfort with his family’s magic ability. The events of The Heroes of Olympus take place roughy over a year, meanwhile Percy Jackson and the Olympians take place over five. However, we see a similar growing up tale reflected in Frank that we saw in Percy, which has me feeling like a proud mom.

As I’ve mentioned in my previous reviews for The Heroes of Olympus, Riordan brings an element of maturity to this new series by reflecting on the fight between good and evil. Percy spends most of his time in Tartarus contemplating if the monsters he slays are really to blame. Now that he’s walking through the place that he’s sent them all, his empathy for them makes it hard to justify his heroic but possibly ignorant actions. We really see that Percy has grown up and is not the 12-year-old we met at Clancy Academy.

A twist in the story that I did not expect to enjoy as much as I did was the technical re-introduction of Bob the Giant. He’s a monster of Tartarus that is introduced in a short story of The Demigod Files. Most short stories I’ve read don’t tend to have major impacts in the main series. However, Riordan makes the moral debate Percy’s been having over the last few books very real by embodying it in a character. To put it shortly, Percy erased the Giant’s memory and replaced it with friendly thoughts and a new name in a trip into the underworld with Nico. Because the giants are the main servants of Gaea, Percy and Annabeth walk a perilous edge with Bob as their guide since he starts to realize that he looks a lot like the monsters that are coming after his friends. We also see a moment of Percy failing to be a good friend, as Nico is the one that made good on their promise to visit Bob. There was a sort of mini character arch with its own tensions to handle within this novel.

While The House of Hades did not have as much personal pay off for me the same way that The Mark of Athena had, it provided enormous growth to our characters and made the world more well-rounded. I wish there was more of a focus on Nico given the title-matter, but also see that Riordan packed so much into this book that would potentially asking too much. In conclusion, I can’t wait to read the final book!