The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan

Alright, the final book of the series. I remembered really enjoying the Percy Jackson series way back when. I thought they were fun and creative, and they were an easy way to kill a bit of time. (My relationship at the time was starting to go south, so books are an easy way to avoid that shit storm.)

Whereas I do admire Rick's ambition to include Roman deities with an interesting way of introducing them into the Percy Jackson universe, I couldn't keep everyone's story straight, which is odd, because I'm usually pretty good about that. However, I have a sneaking suspicion it's because it was a big gap between reading The Mark of Athena and House of Hades, and I just didn't have the energy to re-read or revisit the other books before jumping in and finishing them.

Naturally, as  I read the books,  when one of the characters (Which btw, is very GOT, Riordan) makes a reference to someone else or another book, I sometimes remember but sometimes I don't... Sometimes I care when I don't remember, and then... sometimes I don't... and skim over until it becomes interesting again.

There are things that Rick does very well. He can write action superbly and does a great job of using Greek and Roman Mythology to tell a story, as well as set up a story for future books with Apollo. However, the character development fell flat during these series of books. During the Lightening Thief series, the reader has time to connect to Percy and Annabeth but in these books, Rick introduced a slew of new characters, wrote in their points of view all within the same time frame as the Lightening Thief series...and just didn't build that same connection.

The strange thing is that I didn't notice it until this book, where Piper and Annabeth have to go on a mini quest to get something... for something... in order to beat Gaea, who, once she wakes, will destroy the world. They set off to do this, and then have a conversation about boyfriends. See, Annabeth is dating Percy and Piper is dating Jason. Normally I would protest about having weird inappropriate conversations in life or death crisis, but in YA, that's not anything new.

Besides, when else can you have an conversation about the guy your dating if not trying to save the world?

Now back to the conversation by which, having two girls talk about boys isn't a bad thing. Girls talk about boys often. In House of Hades, a lot of terrible things happen to both Percy and Annabeth, and Piper wants to support her friend by talking about it. But before this conversation, I realized that I couldn't remember the last time Piper and Annabeth talked about well... anything. So instead of showing a connection between the two characters where they learn from each other, it's a device to further the plot so we can end the series already. Boo.

At least Riordan acknowledges that 14-16 years old date, whereas JK Rowling threw teenage hormones and sexual curiosity all in one book. He does a good job of having sort of be together for a bit and then come to their sense and kick some butt. So there's that, I guess.

However, it's a shame when it's revealed that Nico is in fact, gay, and has a crush on Percy Jackson (and confused as hell about it),  it plays just like the conversation between Piper and Annabeth, reads like a device with a dash of



instead of anything with real meaning.

The ONLY relationship I was invested in was not even a real relationship: Leo and Calypso. I was really glad to see him find her again... but there was no epilogue! No 'several months' later sort of deal...

So, overall.. it's a good YA series and it's entertaining, once you accept the fact that it's aimed for the YA crowd and not for 20-somethings that wished one of their parents ended up being a Greek God.

...what? A girl can dream.

House of Hades by Rick Riordan

There is not much of an introduction except that I've read all of Rick Riordan's demi-god book series. There something about reading them that takes me back to that YA time in my life, though to be completely honest with you, I read the first one when I was 23.

These books are also guilty pleasures because it also reminds me of a time when I was a complete fanatic and watched Hercules and Xena TV shows every single day from ages 9 to 11, when they moved the show from it's 4:00 and 4:30pm spot respectively.

Did anyone else dream of the day you discovered you were a daughter of a Greek god or goddess and miraculously had powers and they needed you to fight their battles for them? Or that you would wake up one day and actually be in the same universe as Hercules and Xena and get to hang out with them?

Anyone? Just me, then?

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You can't deny how bad-ass Lucy Lawless is. I just wanted to BE her when I was younger.

Anyway, back to Rick Riordan. Not only am I a sucker for books with Greek Mythology, I am incredibly jealous of Riordan's career. He simply took all the mythology (Roman, Egyptian, Norse), gave them all young protagonists and the books practically wrote themselves. I still feel like my love of Xena and Hercules should have given me the kick in the pants to write them, but I digress.

This book is another installment using the famous Percy Jackson character, but it isn't apart of the Percy Jackson and The Olympians series, but The Heroes of Olympus series, which combine Roman and Greek gods, mixing Greek and Roman culture as well. The Mark of Athena ended on a cliff hanger, which enraged me, but by the time it actually came out, I moved on to other books.. but I was glad to eventually get around to reading it.

Now, are they meaningful, deep books that will change your life once you've read them? No. Are they well written books that build on the themes of friendships, responsibility, duty and commitment that is appropriate for the YA audience? Yes. It was an enjoyable read for me, and it's nice to read books where the author took care to age his characters appropriately, but also allow them to keep a bit of their innocence for just a tad bit longer... and to encourage kids that are reading them to enjoy fantasy and magic for just a bit longer as well.

I have the next book in the docket, and I hope to read it soon. My husband did throw Infinite Jest on my book pile... so... we'll see.
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For old times sake.

Magnus Chase and the Sword of Summer by Rick Riordian

I am unsure if I just did not like this book because I've finally grew out of Rick Riordan books (never) or it's because Christopher Guetig was just an awful reader. I think if he did read alouds in class, the students would have revolted. Maybe the funny accents would have saved him, but barely. Like, I think when he would announce read aloud times, it would take forever to get the kids settled, take out their books and probably would have had to read over kids talking until he read the part of Blitzen, and the kids would settle down because, hey, funny voices.

I was definitely into the Percy Jackson novels, despite being 23 when they came out. I read them all at lightning speed, and then went on to read his other renditions. He found a formula that worked and I will be forever jealous that I didn't get to it first.

I read about a year ago that he was working on Norse Mythology, and I was interested to see where it would go. Even though it seems like Greek and Roman mythology is the most well known, I definitely recalled spending summers trying to learn to learn hieroglyphics and walking like an Egyptian. However, Vikings with Travis Fimmel is definitely my cup of tea (and also fun and nerdy fact, Travis Fimmel was definitely my play by when I wrote guys on various Harry Potter role play forums), so I was interested to see how my man Rick was able to fit Norse mythology in tween vocabulary.

So, the story begins with a 16 year old boy named Magnus Chase. Usually in this demi-god superhero stories, the kids are around age 11, but he starts older, and Riordan makes another unusual choice: Magnus is homeless.

Edgy. Interesting. Urban. I like it.

However, I am brought up short because... the voice actor is terrible. And even though I complain about a lot of things, I always try to find at least something good in the things I complain about. I will never listen to a book that is read by him ever again.

I've heard and read some other reviews that stated that Magnus, despite being a homeless kid who ran out on his mom right before she was murdered, was too optimistic and tried to make the best out of every situation, with a funny quip in his back pocket. Except, I won't know if that's true until I actually read the next book in the series, because good ol' Chris was just awful. I suspect that Magnus is mostly sarcastic, using humor to deflect his personal turmoil. Towards the end of the book, Magnus actually states something like this, reflecting just how much he went through. I wish I was able to hear that more throughout the book.

Other than the fact that the voice actor blew serious ass, I was impressed with risks that Rick took with this book. He tried to incorporate a much more diverse set of characters, with a Muslim-American Valkyrie, who is set to marry in a few years, and like other Muslims I ever met, seems getting more comfortable with that idea. She fights her nature as Loki's daughter, but not as a Muslim. She is still struggling to find out who she is, but she's not revolting against being a Muslim.

Now, there is Hearthstone. He's a Deaf Alf and it's revealed that he is the only practicing magician. He has a tragic backstory, but he's accepted by his new family, Magnus included. I like how Hearthstone is a capable, strong person who doesn't want anyone's pity. I understand that it's Magnus' story, so the reader won't necessarily get Hearth's perspective... but, it's really not easy to read lips. At all. Even though I rely on reading lips to aid me in understanding people, it's very, very difficult to solely rely on reading lips and not have the audio behind it. A lot of sounds are formed similarly. I wished there was more of a communication barrier that there seemed to be because it would be more true to a deaf/Deaf person in a group of hearing people.

Overall, it's a funny, fun, YA novel. I realized there were a few more books from the other series I never got a chance to read, so there I go to order and read them! However, I think I'm going to be more selective with my audiobooks and listen to the voice before purchasing. Just brutal.