E-Book, 597 Pages
YA/ Fantasy/ Mythology
By: Rick Riordan
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟 1/2
“But magic is neither good nor evil. It is a tool, like a knife. Is a knife evil? Only if the wielder is evil.”
The Lost Hero ★★★ 3/4
The Son of Neptune ★★★★
The Mark of Athena ★★★ 3/4
The House of Hades ★★★ 1/2
As much as it is hard for me to confess, I have a feeling that I am outgrowing this series! I can not be very harsh with my criticism because most of it revolves around the book being for a younger audience because it really is. I think a good book will satisfy all readers no matter their age and this was just okay for me!
The book lengths in this series work against it. I think 500 and 600 pages are too lengthy for these stories, the original PJ books are around 300-400 books which I believe is the perfect length. The writing in this book was good. I find the humor quite juvenile for my taste but that is one of the aforementioned points that should be taken with a pinch of salt. The story is stretched too far and it gets repetitive easily. It was just request after request, in each request we get some explanation about the mythology but the way it was provided becomes hard to believe at some point with them suddenly remembering the mythology out of nowhere. Then they realize that they can not defeat the monster/God/ Titan…etc with their powers and that they need their brains and a smart plan. Something miraculously happens and then they are on their way to the next request!
The characters are good, it was easier for me to connect to them in this book, I find the character development to be pretty good and I wanna see how it all ends in the next book. I like the multiple POVs because it works well here and the chapters were short so that’s a plus!
Tartarus was an interesting world but I expected it to be more brutal. I love the mythology because I always do but as I mentioned before, I did not enjoy the way the info was provided.
Although the plot seems more dangerous and bigger than the original PJ series, I still find the latter to be more interesting. I still remember scenes from the first series but I am already forgetting the second series. All of that being said. I am too entangled in the series right now and I wanna see how it ends because the finale of the first series was the best!
“I figure the world is basically a machine. I don’t know who made it, if it was the Fates, or the gods, or the capital-G god or whatever. But it chugs along the way it’s supposed to most of the time. Sure, little pieces break off and stuff goes haywire once in a while, but mostly… things happen for a reason.”
Summary: I am kind of disappointed with this entry because I had higher expectations for it. I like the prose and the characters but I think it was kind of juvenile, redundant and had many Deus Ex Machina moments. I will read the finale and hope it ends up being satisfying!
The book prescription 