Let’s just say that any book that assumes superpowers are commonplace in society is already off to a good start. As usual I’m not sure when I added this book to my list of books to read, but I know I added it because Hero is a conglomeration of the various types of books I like to read—Young Adult, LGBT, Super Heroes, Coming of Age and Coming Out.
Hero is the story of Thom Creed a high school basketball star who volunteers in the community. Thom is a closeted gay teen who just happens to have superpowers. So while other kids think about prom dates, acne and school work, Thom has greater issues (seemingly) such as the fear of people discovering his (non hetero-) sexuality, his father discovering his superpowers and the strange things that happen around him.
“I was suddenly aware of how ignorant I was, alive with curiosity, doing academic work at a level I would not have thought possible a few years before. I did not know it yet, but I was learning the basic educational fact of life: the answers are meaningless until the questions are asked.” (17)
In this final installment of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the battle truly rages for New York, for Mount Olympus, and for the world. Titans are now fully reforming and the demigods/Heroes/half-bloods must fight to save everything. It is incredibly difficult as the gods of Olympus are facing attacks on multiple fronts from the Titans Oceanus and Typhon.
In the fourth Percy Jackson and the Olympians book we encounter what is perhaps one of the most well known stories of Greek mythology, the Labyrinth. In an interesting twist, as if the entire series wasn’t interesting enough, we find that the Labyrinth still exists and has taken on a life of its own. The creator Deaedalus is ‘alive’ and as long as he lives the Labyrinth has continued to morph and expand.
In book three of the Percy Jackson and the Olypmians series, everything starts out as quickly as in the other novels. Grover has been following up on a couple of potential half-bloods at a military academy and needs Percy and Thalia’s help. He also brings along Thalia, the daughter of Zeus, who sacrificed herself to make sure Luke and Annabeth could get to camp, but was rescued from the tree by the Golden Fleece.