By: Rick Riordan
Published: May 3, 2016
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Pages: 1070
Edition: eBook
Genre: Fantasy, Mythology
Some people will probably want to throw me into the depths of Tartarus after reading the next line I'll be typing:
I have NOT yet finished Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and have NOT yet read any of The Heroes of Olympus books.
Why did I dare read the newest series of Rick Riordan: The Trials of Apollo??
I like Apollo.
Simple as that.
Also, because I love breaking rules. *wink wink*
How do you punish an immortal?
By making him human.
After angering his father Zeus, the god Apollo is cast down from Olympus. Weak and disorientated, he lands in New York City as a regular teenage boy.
Now, without his godly powers, the four-thousand-year-old deity must learn to survive in the modern world until he can somehow find a way to regain Zeus' favour.
But Apollo has many enemies -- gods, monsters and mortals who would love to see the former Olympian permanently destroyed.
Apollo needs help, and he can think of only one place to go... and enclave of modern demigods known as Camp Half-Blood.
I don't really mind that I was spoiled for the endings of POJ and HOO series by reading this book first.
The thing about Rick Riordan's writing is that, it's not just about the plot. It's about the characters as well.
You can read all his books over and over again just so you get to hear what his characters will say because they are freaking hilarious!
Easy, fun read! No need to stress if you didn't fully understand what happened to the previous books.
Also, can I just applaud the author because all my life I've been curious about Greek mythology in general and I can never understand the concept, much more the names, of it. But after reading his books, I know quite a bit now and I remember them. I'm so proud of myself! Thanks, Rick!
Over the years, we (I mean, YOU) have read from the points of view of different Demigods -- the mortal children of the gods.
We've come to know and accept that having a god as one your parents isn't really that fulfilling because most of your mortal life, it's either they ignore you or just acknowlege you when you've done something worthwhile for them or Olympus.
Also, they leave their fights for the demigods to fix. Kinda selfish if you ask me.
Apollo, on the other hand, despite being like all the other gods of Olympus, has always had a fun side.
I thoroughly enjoyed his character's appearance in the 3rd book of POJ: The Curse of the Titan.
He is obnoxious and totally clueless. It's funny.
In this book, Apollo panics when he sees that he has acne and that his 8-pack abs and love handles were replaced by a flabby gut.
He fails at all the things he's a god of: archery, poetry, and music.
Suffice it to say, he got depressed.
But he befriended a mysterious little girl who turned out to be really powerful. He also befriended and got to know 3 of his children who were now the same age as he is!
It's so heart-warming to see a god as ridiculous as Apollo be grounded and know what it feels like to not be able to do whatever he set his mind to and get everything he wants.
My heart couldn't take all the times he called Will, Kayla, and Austin as "my children" instead of just their names.
But after discovering the mysterious loss of all kinds of communications and having no prophecy from any of the oracles, Apollo finds himself in the middle of a fight that his mortal counterpart Lester Papadopolous (how ridiculous is this name?! Zeus has a sense of humor after all!) can't even dream to fight, much more win.
Self-discovery and betrayal.
As I've said, Apollo is the main reason why I skipped all the other Rick Riordan books and read this first!
I love him!
Now that he's learning to be humble and appreciate himself as a mortal and therefore appreciate his demigod children, I'm loving him more.
Will, Apollo's son, is lovely as heck. I heard that I'd get to read more about him on HOO but despite reading just a few snippets about him was enough to make me like him. Especially since you know... Nico. *wink wink*
Meg! Such a strong character from such a tiny human body. I admit, she kind of annoyed me from the get-go. But I know she just has a lot of issues so we'll get to unravel and hopefully solve all those throughout the series.
I know that a number of people are quite disappointed with it. It can't be avoided since they're comparing it to the other Rick Riordan series.
But I honestly think that this is a great introduction to an entirely new series.
It kind of reminded me of Cassandra Clare's "Lady Midnight" because we no longer need to be introduced to the world because we're already familiar with it.
We just discover new secrets within that world and get to know our beloved characters in a whole new light.
I mean, Percy is about to go to college!
Totally recommend this book! Though, I highly encourage you all to read the entire POJ and HOO series first! Don't be like me. Haha.
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