With The Lost Hero Riordan sucked me into a new series. It definitely helped that this was a continuation of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. It also helped that the Greek pantheon has a stronger sway on mythology and fables that I learned growing up than the Egyptian pantheon which appeared in The Kane Chronicles. I had no intentions of reading this book any time soon, but it came in at the library and I had to read it or send it back. Thankfully I enjoyed it and it was a quick read (550ish pages in two days).
The Lost Hero follows the story of Jason, Piper and Leo from the journey of normal teenagers to demigods. However, not all is as it seems. Although I discovered the ‘secret’ not very far into the book and assumed the last chapter’s revelation earlier than I probably should have, but I assume that comes from the novel being written for a younger audience. Aside from this, I quite enjoyed this series. And how could you not enjoy a series that’s back-to-back action and packed full of Greco-Roman mythology brought into the 21st century?
Like in Percy Jackson and the Lighting Thief the novel takes place in current society with myriad mythological characters, creatures, gods and goddesses making appearances; and from what I vaguely remember from the times I’ve read the stories it stays relatively true to the original myths and stories. However, Riordan challenged some of those myths and stories with the idea that every story has two sides and I truly enjoyed this twist even though it was mostly in favor of evil trying to conquer good, it was well used.
What I found most striking (and enjoyable) about this novel was Riordan’s expansion of Greek mythology into Roman mythology. It’s subtle at first and I’m sure you could say he only did it to sell more books, but I found it fascinating. Riordan took what many people know – the Roman gods are the Greek gods with different names and slightly different personalities/powers – and turned it into a bifurcated world that has to come together (without ending the world) to save the world.
There was very little I didn’t like about the book as I was reading it for fun and as a quick read. Sometimes it was slow and sometimes you just wanted to tap one of the main characters on the shoulder and say ‘quit being stupid,’ but they are all just teenagers so you sort of have to take it as it comes. In contrast to The Red Pyramid, the last Riordan novel I read, The Lost Hero did a great job switching between points of view as the chapters were told by the three main characters. I’m not sure if it’s because of the clearly distinct personalities or the back history of the first series, but it was much better done this time and I could appreciate the effort.
I won’t go into any more details, but suffice to say I enjoyed the pace of the book and am definitely looking forward to The Son of Neptune.
Recommendation: Read it, especially if you enjoy young adult/adventure fiction, or enjoy history/mythology brought to life in fiction.
Opening Line: “Even before he got electrocuted, Jason was having a rotten day.”
Closing Line: “‘Exactly,’ Jason agreed. ‘Percy Jackson is at the other camp, and he probably doesn’t even remember who he is.'”(Whited out.)