TheBooky

FINALLY. The Son of Neptune (by Rick Riordan, find him here: http://www.rickriordan.com/home.aspx and here:http://rickriordan.blogspot.com/) is the second book in The Heroes of Olympus series.

The series is going to be five books, and, as it stands, they are:

1. The Lost Hero
2. The Son of Neptune
3. The Mark of Athena (Fall 2012).
4. ??? (Fall 2013)
5. ??? (Fall 2014)

This is my review (SPOILER FREE) for The Son of Neptune. *rubs hands together* Here we go.

In the first pages of this standalone sequel to The Lost Hero, Percy Jackson remembers only his name and the name of Annabeth, a mysterious woman he associates somehow with the city of San Francisco. From those sparse clues, he must somehow complete a mission for the leader of the Roman camp even as he is being pursued by the two sisters of Medusa, who possess an apparently unquenchable thirst for vengeance: Even when killed, they spring back to life. Rick Riordan’s second Heroes of Olympus promises even more excitement than the first.

Summary from Goodreads. I realize that it’s a shitty summary, but I just don’t have time to find another one. Sorry guys!

All right! Cons:

• …
• …….
• Well, there’s one thing, I suppose: the ending! Most readers, if they’re anything like me, wont be satisfied. Well, hardcore Percy Jackson fans will not be satisfied with this ending. Biggest freakin’ cliff hanger on the planet, anyone?

So, now for the good stuff:

BTWS, I’m not a spoiler kind of person, so this post will be free of them.

• OH BOY! I was so excited to get this book. I apologize about all the crazy SoN spamming that’s been going on in my blog lately. It’s just one of those things, you know? This series, along with Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Kane Chronicles, will do that to you.
• Rick Riordan just keeps getting better at what he does. All of the characters have way more depth that the characters in the aforementioned series. I mostly think this is because the books are getting a bit darker, and the characters are all older than, say, 12 yr old Percy. It seems to me that since Riordan’s audience is getting older, maybe he feels like it’s okay to throw heavier, darker themes into the books. I agree.
• The characters. OMGs. I can’t even. *takes a deep breath* All right, all right.
  

1. Let’s start with Percy: He’s as wonderful as ever. He’s older, still really funny, totally bad ass, and just PERCY. Even though this book is in third person and you don’t get that stream of consciousness that first person tends to lean toward, it’s totally cool. I didn’t mind. Not even one little bit. BECAUSE, people, you get to see Percy through other people’s eyes. As opposed to PJ & The , where the reader is totally in Percy’s head and readers see him as he sees himself (he’s totally humble and modest…and awesome), the third person POV actually let’s readers get a new Percy, in a way. Here you see he’s totally bad ass, and dangerous. He’s also, forgive me, somewhat hotter…simply because it’s other people telling you how he looks and describing his actions as opposed to Percy comparing himself to Apollo’s sacred cattle (like if you get this reference, lol).
2. Hazel. I really, really liked Hazel. I feel she was a really complex character with a nice range of emotions. I have high hopes for her. Her back story was insanely awesome. Plus, she’s related to one of the coolest demigods ever.
   
3. Frank. He’s soooo sweet. And incredible! I can’t say too much because I will not spoil anything, but you’re going to like him. BUT: I didn’t really like his granny so much. She was kind of harsh, lol.
   
4. Ella. I LOVED Ella. She’s one of my favorite characters in this series. Plus, she’s sweet and fragile (still totally smart and helpful). I love the scene where Percy meets Ella. It made me love Percy. Plus, you get to see just how cool Ella really is.
   
5. Reyna. Is cool. Just cool, for now. I’m going to re-read the book to see how I feel about her. I’m just not sure. My feelings thus far are not negative, so that’s a good sign.

• Riordan is hilarious. I would never expect anything less from him, honestly. I feel like he just keeps getting better and better and the jokes just get me every single time! Even when I re-read the PJ series, I still laugh. I think that will be the case with SoN.
• So I love Roman mythology. Yes, yes, I’ll always belong at Camp Half-Blood. Camp Jupiter is pretty bad ass, though. I did enjoy the camp, the atmosphere, etc. The Roman gods: totally awesome. I like Mars so much better. And Terminus is great. If you like PJ or the first book of this series, The Lost Hero, then you’re going to like SoN. You always learn something new while reading these books and I feel like SoN is no exception.
• The cover art is freakin’ incredible! I can’t stop staring at it. Plus, I love that it’s Percy on the cover. I love Percy, in case you hadn’t noticed. Also, I haven’t let ANYONE touch my copy of SoN. My mom touched it and I flipped out, hyperventilated. She just laughed at me. Point being: the cover is bad ass. Sorry I keep saying that, but I was just so HAPPY with this book. Also, even when you take the cover off, and it’s just the deep blue hard cover, it’s still sooooo pretty.

GO READ THIS BOOK.

If you’ve read it, what did you think?