The Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero Book Review

 

Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero Book Review

(SPOILER ALERT WARNING)

AUTHOR: Rick Riordan

RELEASED DATE: October 12, 2010

SERIES: Heroes of Olympus

PAGES: Approx. 533 pages

RATING: 5/5 STARS

This was the reason I didn’t go into a “Percy Jackson” mourning period.

Mourning periods, as far as I’m concerned, are the worst, especially when it occurs after you finish reading the final installment to a much beloved series, such as Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and Divergent. And when I started reading Percy Jackson & the Olympians, I knew there was a possibility of me falling into a mourning period, because I love the Percy Jackson series; I’ve fallen in love with the world, characters and story Rick Riordan created, same as any other reader and I knew that I could end up going on a book-reading ban simply because I couldn’t move on from Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Chiron and all the other characters in this 5-book series. It’s happened before.

That’s why I bought the complete book set of the next set of adventures in this universe: The Heroes of Olympus.

Rick Riordan has done PJO fans the world over a massive favor by continuing with this series; there are endless possibilities for more stories and that is in part due to Riordan creating such a colorful cast of characters with their own unique set of histories, monsters and adventure, and also leaving open the idea of Percy and his friends venturing out on another quest to save the world due to another Great Prophecy, which was foretold at the end of The Last Olympian.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is where our new story starts.

*~*~*

I was greatly surprised by how this book started out. First off, we’re no longer following Percy’s point of view, which is a bit depressing because I loved reading from his perspective. The second change is that Percy isn’t the main character who we are following on our first adventure.

Here in The Lost Hero, Rick Riordan has introduced three new characters: Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus; Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite; and Jason Grace, sister to Thalia and son of Zeus…wait what?

Jason has no memories. He doesn’t know who he is, where he came from, or how he ended up on a bus full of troubled kids. He doesn’t recognize his best friend Leo or his girlfriend Piper, and he can’t remember anything about his past. He doesn’t understand why storm spirits are determined to capture him; he doesn’t know who this mistress is that they are serving; and he can’t fathom the idea of why a bunch of kids have arrived to take him back to the only safe haven for kids like him, because surely he can’t be a demigod, right? The only thing Jason can be certain of is that he most definitely didn’t belong there.

Piper is having nightmares. If it wasn’t bad enough already that her movie actor father had disappeared and her boyfriend no longer remembered her, she finds herself at Camp Half-blood alongside her friends, discovers her own godly parentage and gifts, and is faced with a terrible decision in the form of nightmares: betray her friends while on their quest…or her father dies.

Leo has a secret. Despite his way with tools, he fears he’s doomed to be an outcast even among his newfound siblings. Alongside discovering the curse plaguing the children of Hephaestus, he must contend with a malfunctioning dragon, a Dirt Woman that whispers malice in his ears and a special power that, if let loose, could cause great devastation; a power that had already claimed the life of his mother.

Three new heroes; one connection. Three problems; one quest.

It has been several months since the Titan-God war has ended, but things couldn’t be getting worse for Camp Half-Blood. When Leo, Piper and Jason come to Camp Half-Blood, they are immediately drawn in to the mysteries and crisis that has surrounded their fellow demigods since the end of summer: Mount Olympus is closed without proper explanation; the gods are not answering nor communicating with their demigod children; Hera, Queen of the Heavens, has disappeared; and worse yet, Percy Jackson is missing.

Certain that Hera may hold the key to both Jason’s amnesia and Percy’s location, Jason, Piper, and Leo set off to free the Queen of Heavens on Festus the Occasionally-Working Dragon before the winter solstice; battling against monsters that reform almost instantly when beaten, long-dead mortal villains from Greek myths and fables, and storm spirits bent on capturing Jason for their mysterious Mistress. As they journey cross-country, from the wintery cold of Quebec, Canada to the misty mornings of San Francisco, they each must also contend with their own personal torments: Jason slowly recovering his memories and discovering the truth behind his family’s past; Piper wavering between family and friendship; and Leo being persuaded by a mysterious Dirt Woman into abandoning his mission.

Joined alongside his long-lost sibling, Jason and his friends are nearing the end of their journey before making a startling discovery: who the mysterious Mistress is that’s been trying to kill them; and what ancient evil Hera’s power is being manipulated into awakening.

*~*~*

PERCY JACKSON IS MISSING!

And here, we thought it couldn’t get worse than Kronos.

It’s one thing to have to deal with the Titan Lord that held no qualms about eating his children and could literally manipulate time. It’s a whole new thing when you realize you now have to face that Titan’s mother.

Gaea is awakening, and that spells trouble for the demigods. With Mount Olympus closed, they’re on their own to survive the upcoming battles, but how to win when the monsters don’t return to Tartarus? What do they do when they unravel that gods and demigods must join forces to defeat their new enemy? What does it mean that Greek villains are now escaping the Underworld, alive once more? And how does this connect to Percy Jackson and Jason Grace?

More importantly, who is Jason Grace, that the gods, formerly Greek in appearance, appear to him in another form, a Roman counterpart?

The Lost Hero seems an appropriate title when one takes a look at each hero being discussed. The moment it’s said that Percy is missing, I had assumed the story would center on finding Percy and discovering who, what, where and why. But now I see that it can be just as easily applied to our new heroes: to Jason, who longs for his past and memories; to Piper, who has lost her dad and may need to turn traitor; and to Leo, who is running from a past that continues to haunt him. Each have their own reasons for coming on the journey; and they soon discover they each have a role to play, a revelation to confront, and their own weaknesses to overcome.

The Lost Hero is a great first start to Rick Riordan’s brand new set of adventures. It never ceases to amaze me when I see how Riordan has adapted Greek myths, gods and mortals in a modern setting, but he has pushed the boundaries with The Lost Hero and added a whole new realm of myth to this already-fantastical setting by introducing a new concept of who the gods are, what they are capable of, and what terrible secret they have been hiding from all of their children.

Jason Grace came as a great surprise, not only with who he is to Thalia and Zeus, but to what happened to him after he disappeared, what life he’s been living since then, and why no one had ever mentioned him before. His storyline was interesting to unravel with each new memory and flashback that was slowly returning to him; hints were given as to who he is by several gods who recognize his mysterious tattoos and even changed their appearance to other forms not yet known; by novel’s end, the revelation of who he truly is and what that means for Camp Half-Blood was both shocking and exciting, as Riordan adds another layer to the story and world of demigods.

Piper’s and Leo’s respective dilemmas was both suspenseful and intriguing to read, as both eventually meet their godly parent via dreams and recognize that both have a role to play, a decision to make, and a destiny to face. Between Piper’s ability to charmspeak and Leo’s pyrokinesis, two gifts that could also be curses (depending on their usage, as demonstrated by others), both grow into their roles as heroes, gaining confidence in themselves and their abilities and strengths, and each brought a distinct presence that was the perfect balance to each other and Jason.

I enjoyed reading The Lost Hero and I grew to like our new set of heroes. It was filled with tons of action and battle scenes, some more tense than others, and it allowed Riordan to add details to the world that were never explained or yet discovered from the previous Percy Jackson novels. That being said, my only complaint about The Lost Hero was that we were no longer following Percy’s point of view. Which, considering everything, is understandable, because it allows us to have insight into our new characters, into their thoughts and histories. But I loved reading from Percy’s POV, because Percy has always been able to add humor, even when facing monsters and angry gods. Although there were many light-hearted moments, it was mainly Leo who provided the humor. Not to say that Piper and Jason didn’t have their moments but it was different.

Overall, I highly commend Riordan for, once again, drawing me into the world of gods, heroes, myths, and monsters. The additions he made, the secrets that were revealed, and the consequences of those revelations – it’s all a great build-up to the upcoming dangers that they will soon face, of the monsters and villains that they still must defeat, of the war that’s coming, of the sacrifices they’ll need to make, of the friends they’ll gain and lose, and the enemy that’s determined to destroy them all.

A Great Prophecy has been uttered. Mother Earth is awakening. It’s only the beginning.

When situations get as bad as this, it helps to know that there are heroes who will rise up to defeat them. Of course, with Hera now freed, everyone’s priority now is to find Percy Jackson, our much-missed hero, and whom we can all guess has his own role to play in the events to happen. Also, let’s face it, Percy being as strong as he is, there’s no doubt that to defeat Gaea, he will be much needed.

But where is he? What happened to Percy? Is he like Jason, lost and without memories? What dangers has he faced since disappearing from Camp Half-Blood? And who are the remaining heroes of the Great Prophecy?

All of these questions will be answered in the next chapter of our adventure, The Son of Neptune.

And because I know Percy is returning in this next book – and I sincerely missed reading from his perspective (something I know most readers must feel) – you can bet that I won’t waste time and get straight to reading, and discovering what happened to everyone’s favorite Seaweed Brain.