The King of Mythology

The Son of Neptune
By: Rick Riordan
Reported by: Juli Helms

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

Rick Riordan has done it again. In this earth-shattering, mind-blowing novel spilling over with suspenseful action, tantalizing romance, and revelations of incredible truths, Riordan's fantastic sequel will leave you desperate for the next installment of the series, The Mark of Athena.

This book centers around our old friend Percy Jackson and two new and very powerful demigods, Hazel and Frank. I appreciated Mr.Riordan crafting shocking powers for these two companions--Percy can't possibly be the only powerful demigod, even if I like him best! There are twists, newly crafted battle tactics, and the humor will make you cry because it's just so, so funny. This book is the perfect blend of interesting mythology, witty humor, and dark moments full of conflict. This whole book has so many amazing quotes, I'd be plagiarizing if I mentioned them all. But here are a few to satisfy some rapacious readers: 

"It wasn't exactly talking, but it went something like this. Could you give us a ride north, Percy asked, like as close to Portland as possible?

Eat seals, the whale responded. Are you seals?

No, Percy admitted. I've got a man satchel full of macrobiotic beef jerky, though.

The whale shuddered. Promise not to feed me this, and I will take you north.

Deal." 

-page 263

"'I'm fine!' Percy yelled as he ran by, followed by a giant screaming bloody murder."  
-page 488

I have to say, though, that there was something I didn't quite like: the "infodumps." Now, they weren't really infodumps, because the information--Hazel and Frank's history--was scattered throughout the beginning of the book and turned out to be relevant. But I would have liked it better if we only found out what we needed to know, which would not only have sped up the story, but also give the characters' secrets a bigger impact when revealed. 

Spoiler (highlight to read):
I do have to applaud Mr. Riordan on his brilliant play with Percy's amnesia, though. I was frustrated with the story in the beginning, not because it wasn't good, but because of the whole "I don't remember anything" thing going on with Percy, but that problem was thankfully solved!


Lastly, the ending. It was just... CRAZY. The main conflict of the book was resolved, but the book ended on a point that had me wanting to go up to Rick Riordan, shake his shoulders, demand to read the third book already, and then, just for the heck of it, go through a time machine and read it myself. But this isn't one of those cliffhanger endings that completely twists the plot around with the last few pages and is responsible for reader riots. This one wraps up the book, yet introduces us to a new conflict that does it job phenomenally--makes you want to read the next book without getting you angry. 


All in all? You NEED this book.