#elfgrove reads heroes of olympus

[elfgrove]

I have no plans to read the Apollo story because I am not down with how the Nico and Will thing was executed and I do not need one more minute of Percy’s POV in my life. 

[elfgrove]

I’ll admit, there is a small part of me tempted to get the Magnus Chase book and do screeching furious live blogs of it. To continue the set, you know.

On the other hand, I need to collect candy from Pumpkin Hearts on Tsum Tsum.

[elfgrove]

THANK GOODNESS.

And finally --in the 10th and last book of the fucking series-- your goddess and savior REYNA AVILA -RAMIREZ-ARENELLO does what I've been screaming for SOMEBODY, ANYBODY to do for this baby child since he showed up in book 3.

‘All right,’ Nico relented. ‘Maybe a little …’ He managed to take off his aviator jacket and wad it into a pillow before he keeled over and began to snore.

Reyna marvelled at how peaceful he looked. The worry lines vanished. His face became strangely angelic … like his surname, di Angelo. She could almost believe he was a regular fourteen-year-old boy, not a son of Hades who had been pulled out of time from the 1940s and forced to endure more tragedy and danger than most demigods would in a lifetime.

When Nico had arrived at Camp Jupiter, Reyna didn’t trust him. She’d sensed there was more to his story than being an ambassador from his father, Pluto. Now, of course, she knew the truth. He was a Greek demigod – the first person in living memory, perhaps the first ever, to go back and forth between the Roman and Greek camps without telling either group that the other existed.

Strangely, that made Reyna trust Nico more.

Sure, he wasn’t Roman. He’d never hunted with Lupa or endured the brutal legion training. But Nico had proven himself in other ways. He’d kept the camps’ secrets for the best of reasons, because he feared a war. He had plunged into Tartarus alone, voluntarily, to find the Doors of Death. He’d been captured and imprisoned by giants. He had led the crew of the Argo II into the House of Hades … and now he had accepted yet another terrible quest: risking himself to haul the Athena Parthenos back to Camp Half-Blood.

The pace of the journey was maddeningly slow. They could only shadow-travel a few hundred miles each night, resting during the day to let Nico recover, but even that required more stamina from Nico than Reyna would have thought possible.

He carried so much sadness and loneliness, so much heartache. Yet he put his mission first. He persevered. Reyna respected that. She understood that.

She’d never been a touchy-feely person, but she had the strangest desire to drape her cloak over Nico’s shoulders and tuck him in. She mentally chided herself. He was a comrade, not her little brother. He wouldn’t appreciate the gesture.

...

She glanced at Nico. Despite the warm night, he shivered on the tile floor. She pulled a blanket out of her pack and covered him up.

Reyna no longer felt self-conscious about wanting to protect him. For better or worse, they shared a connection now. Each time they shadow-travelled, his exhaustion and torment washed over her and she understood him a little better.

Nico was devastatingly alone. He’d lost his big sister Bianca. He’d pushed away all other demigods who’d tried to get close to him. His experiences at Camp Half-Blood, in the Labyrinth and in Tartarus had left him scarred, afraid to trust anyone.

Reyna doubted she could change his feelings, but she wanted Nico to have support. All heroes deserved that. It was the whole point of the Twelfth Legion. You joined forces to fight for a higher cause. You weren’t alone. You made friends and earned respect. Even when you mustered out, you had a place in the community. No demigod should have to suffer alone the way Nico did.

Tonight was 25 July. Seven more days until 1 August. In theory, that was plenty of time to reach Long Island. Once they completed their mission, if they completed their mission, Reyna would make sure Nico was recognized for his bravery.

She slipped off her backpack. She tried to place it under Nico’s head as a makeshift pillow...

...

‘So thank you,’ Reyna concluded. ‘All of you. We could’ve chosen hatred and war. Instead we found acceptance and friendship.’

Then she did something so unexpected Nico would later think he dreamed it. She walked up to Nico, who was standing to one side in the shadows, as usual. She grabbed his hand and pulled him gently into the firelight.

‘We had one home,’ she said. ‘Now we have two.’

She gave Nico a big hug and the crowd roared with approval. For once, Nico didn’t feel like pulling away. He buried his face in Reyna’s shoulder and blinked the tears out of his eyes.

Also, bless ACTUAL GOLDEN RETRIEVER IN HUMAN FORM, JASON GRACE for being both respectful of Nico's secrets and boundaries but also reaching out as hard as he can within those boundaries then being ridiculously and genuinely happy when Nico lets him in. Baby child probably needs that sort of enthusiastic reciprocation and encouragement to help him accept that it's real.

He flashed back to the last time he’d plunged into a mob of evil spirits, in the House of Hades. If it hadn’t been for Frank Zhang and Nico di Angelo …

Gods … Nico.

Over the past few days, every time Jason sacrificed a portion of a meal to Jupiter, he prayed to his dad to help Nico. That kid had gone through so much, and yet he had volunteered for the most difficult job: transporting the Athena Parthenos statue to Camp Half-Blood. If he didn’t succeed, the Roman and Greek demigods would slaughter each other. Then, no matter what happened in Greece, the Argo II would have no home to return to.

...

‘You’ve got a point.’ He straightened his glasses. ‘Look, Nico, the reason I wanted to talk to you … I know what you said back at Auster’s palace. I know you already turned down a place at Camp Jupiter. I – I probably can’t change your mind about leaving Camp Half-Blood, but I have to –’

‘I’m staying.’

Jason blinked. ‘What?’

‘At Camp Half-Blood. The Hades cabin needs a head counsellor. Have you seen the decor? It’s disgusting. I’ll have to renovate. And someone needs to do the burial rites properly, since demigods insist on dying heroically.’

‘That’s – that’s fantastic! Dude!’ Jason opened his arms for a hug, then froze. ‘Right. No touching. Sorry.’

Nico grunted. ‘I suppose we can make an exception.’

Jason squeezed him so hard Nico thought his ribs would crack.

‘Oh, man,’ Jason said. ‘Wait till I tell Piper. Hey, since I’m all alone in my cabin too, you and I can share a table in the dining hall. We can team up for capture the flag and sing-along contests and –’

‘Are you trying to scare me away?’

‘Sorry. Sorry. Whatever you say, Nico. I’m just glad.’

The funny thing was Nico believed him.

[elfgrove]

When you destroy primordial gods, there really ought to be cataclysmic sorts of consequences.

I'm side-eyeing you and your weak ass narrative consequences, the blog. By Elf

Yeah.

Blood of Olympus (Heroes of Olympus Book #5 / Riordan's Greco-Roman Demigods Book #10) I finished this series and I have a lot of thoughts installment number 1.

This isn't so much a straight criticism of the book -- because I do understand the need to more or less return to status quo and keep the universe more or less the same. Keep your YA characters identifiable with your target audience. I get that. It makes sense

And yet, here I am also pointing emphatically and suggesting lost narrative opportunity because DUDE.

There was all this pointing out of the way to defeat Gaea was to do unto her as the Greco-Roman gods did unto Uranus and that what they did was ultimately the same damn thing.

Overnight, the satyrs and nymphs disappeared into the woods for a convocation of the Cloven Elders. In the morning, Grover Underwood reappeared to announce that they could not sense the Earth Mother’s presence. Nature was more or less back to normal. Apparently, Jason, Piper and Leo’s plan had worked. Gaia had been separated from her source of power, charmed to sleep and then atomized in the combined explosion of Leo’s fire and Octavian’s man-made comet.

An immortal could never die, but now Gaia would be like her husband, Ouranos. The earth would continue to function as normal, just as the sky did, but Gaia was now so dispersed and powerless that she could never again form a consciousness.

There was also rightfully salty demigods at having to pull their godly parents' asses out of the fire YET AGAIN.

At announcement time, Chiron stepped forward and raised his goblet.

‘Out of every tragedy,’ he said, ‘comes new strength. Today, we thank the gods for this victory. To the gods!’

The demigods all joined the toast, but their enthusiasm seemed muted. Nico understood the feeling: We saved the gods again, and now we’re supposed to thank them?

Then Chiron said, ‘And to new friends!’

‘TO NEW FRIENDS!’

Hundreds of demigod voices echoed across the hills.

But the status quo didn't change? Really?

Because let me tell you something, that could have been a fun next series to take the Prophesied Seven defeating Gea to the logical next conclusion. Not that I really want to read more stories by Riordan. So fanficcers, maybe someone can run with this one.

What happened when the Titans defeated Ouranos/Uranus? The world changed. The Titans, his kids, became the new rulers of metaphysical. they took up the roles and powers he once was responsible for. Divied up the duties as needed. Then the Olympian Gods, most of whom were children of the Titans, rose up, defeated the Titans, and what happened? The cosmic power and responsibilities fell to them.

So now we have Riordan's Greco-Roman demigods who, over the course of 10 books, their combined force defeated the Titans, and now a Prophesied Seven plus two -- one could argue plus three-- about half of whom were instrumental in taking out the Titans personally have now utterly destroyed the primordial goddess, Gaea.

The next logical step? The Prophesied Seven are the new gods. The camps might even become the new Olympus.

Not that the Olympian Gods would stand for that, but what if by taking out Gaea the way they did, in the coming days the Prophesied Seven find themselves with new levels of power while the Olympian Gods find their power waning? The Delphi prophecies are still kaput. No one really knows what happening next. The kids we followed could be rising to literal godhood as the old powers waned, their children in victory over a primordial god taking up the powers and responsibilities the Olympian Gods once held.

Imagine it. As the ones that struck the final blow, Jason, Piper, and Leo are the new Big Three. Octavian is reborn from his role in destroying Gaea in dark counterpoint to the new Big Three. Jason as the new lord of the sky. Piper the goddess of love and home (combining Hera and Aphrodite's duties). Leo over invention and fire. Percy becomes lord the seas. The rest you could debate a bunch who became responsible for what. Reyna and Nico were so instrumental, so involved in the events, I'd suspect you'd see them rising up too. Watch the kids grow into and come to term with the powers. Who does the power and responsibility make more pure, better forms of themselves and who does it corrupt?

Could be a fun plot.

Of course this could be part of the plot of Riordan's next demigod series with the Norse Gods and Ragnarok and the hinted ties to Annabeth Chase of the Prophesied Seven, but who knows?

[elfgrove]

I have finished Blood of Olympus. There's a lot of individual things I'll write posts on over the next few days. There were things I liked about how it ended, and things I didn't.

Overall, the book gave me a huge dose of Nico, Reyna, and Jason (which is what i mostly wanted at this point), and finally did something towards the emotional healing that poor underworld child has needed since book 3. I wish there'd been more Hazel specifically, and more of the women in general, but I only expect so much with this author. I just thank the stars there wasn't a single Percy or Annabeth POV. I am really happy the second book series ended with the same 3 demigods that started the HOO story doing the final battle.

[elfgrove]

ElfGrove Reads: Blood of Olympus Part 13

Festus being reborn made me happy.

Was that really necessary? I'm gonna have some extended commentary on Octavian.

SOMEONE is a great flaming asshat. LITERALLY.

All my favorites (Roman Praetors and Underworld Babies) are so freaking adorable and sweet I can't even.

I'm happy for these two kids in theory, but wow. Forced much?

Speaking of, I'm gonna have extended commentary on the lady relationships too.

NO ANNABETH OR PERCY POV CHAPTERS AT ALL. THANK THE GODS.

[elfgrove]

ElfGrove Reads: Blood of Olympus Part 12

Reyna and Nico continue to be the absolute best. Bless these children.

REYNA WITH THE BLESSING OF ATHENA AND  BELLONA. YOUR FAVES WISH THEY WERE THIS GREAT.

Nico's chauffeur, ah hah. So that's why that was brought up. We can't do stuff purely for character building, it has to provide a Deus Ex Machina for a plot hole. Riordan really needs to work on foreshadowing more than a chapter or two ahead of using something. It comes across as cheap cover-up. This guy's writing is such crap, I swear. Good concepts, shit execution. There's a reason his best characters are the ones he barely uses.

Nico is attempting to give me heart attacks with his suicidal plans. I blame Percy and Camp Halfblood for not being there and taking responsibility for (like they said they would--CHIRON. PERSEUS.) a 10-year-old orphan child of the big 3. Nah. Homeless, traumatized, under-fed walking monster target, 10-year-old totally should be making his own decisions. FUCK Y'ALL. That camp did this child WRONG. Please Reyna, take him home with you to New Rome after all this and surrogate-adopt a little brother.

Will Solace. The child of Apollo in dream walking earlier that Nico was all, he looks like a softer version of Jason Grace? This guy is gonna be Nico's romantic interest when we wrap up, isn't he? Riordan's writing is about as subtle as a sack of bricks.

...Okay, put a bow in this guy's hands and I'd swear Will Solace is what happens when Green Arrow and Black Canary procreate.

I like that he's stopping Nico from some of his more self-sacrificial plans. I reiterate my concerns that Riordan will de-power Nico at the end of this which is bullshit. Also, pick a plot. Earlier in the book he had Nico saying he could never just summon skeletons to fight for him (something Nico actually has done in previous books), then in the Legion battle camp, he can summon a few skeletons up to fight. INTERNAL NARRATIVE CONSISTENCY. GET SOME.

I disagree that no one at camp ever pushed Nico away, but I can get that maybe Will didn't know about that. Riordan don't you dare hand Percy a get out of jail free card on this shit, even though I know you will. How old is Solace? He's been around in the background since book one, hasn't he?

Reyna flying in with the statue against a sunrise and a glittering Athena-powered-up cape. Bless this girl. I fully expect half of both camps to be in love with her now.

A sense of belonging like he hasn't felt in, he can't remember when... I'm giving Nico all the hugs and hot chocolate.

And there goes Octavian. Well, I things have pretty well ironed out that the moron Augur was listening to Gaea thinking it was Apollo and did have more or less good intentions for Rome, although massively selfish, opportunistic, and short-sighted in execution.

Enter the army of the gods.

...'Bout time you shitheads made yourselves useful.

[elfgrove]

ElfGrove Reads: Blood of Olympus Part 11

Oh good. We're co-opting Cherokee myths again as really just a watered down, game of telephone version of the "REAL" Greek myths. 

And by "good" I mean "fuck you and the horse you rode in on".

Other cultures and religions outside Greek and Roman? Nah! It's just people reinterpreting the true origins and holy stories -- by which we mean the Greek ones. Seriously Riordan, Cultural Appropriation and Erasure. Google it.

Entering chapter 44, I kid you not, I yelled at my car stereo (audio book).

The hell were these chuckleheads doing that they got caught so fast? For fucks sakes, these nincompoops!

[elfgrove]

ElfGrove Reads: Blood of Olympus Part 9

SCREECHES

Nico "Abandonment Issues" Di Angelo

Reyna "Whose Real Fatal Flaw Is Loyalty? THIS ONE" Avila Ramírez-Arellano

OH MY GOD. NICO. REYNA. Hugs for everyone.

Reyna has practically adopted Nico. Nico looks to Reyna similar to how he does Bianca and Hazel.

THIS IS THE BEST.

Except for this Nico fading out of existence shit. HELL NO.

I am going to howl with rage if these two precious children do not survive.

Actually, I'm gonna be royally pissed if Nico comes out of this alive but de-powered while the prophesied 7 are getting god-mode level powers with seemingly no strings attached. Nico's a child of the big 3 too. *stares daggers at Jackson and the powers as the plot demands with the worst side effect he gets is being weak for a day or two*

I'm glad Hedge called up an alternative ride solution because at this point I was voting (since they're on the mainland now) for Reyna to hijack a big rig, load up the statue and her two comrades and drive their merry little band to Long Island Sound. It's about 850 miles. Tough, but doable in about 13 hours.

PEDAL TO THE METAL RAMIREZ.

I am glad Riordan seems to have lain off the "will they survive?" POV cliffhangers.

Now on to a Leo POV.

The more I'm hearing out of Leo right now, the less I'm liking him. What happened to the sweetheart punk kid in The Lost Hero that actually communicated his plans and concerns to his best friends?

His character had a lot of potential for growth and development, and he's mostly just stagnated or increased his bad qualities. It's a shame.

Dear Apollo. Fuck you man. Please to be smiting Octavian. DO SOMETHING USEFUL.

Can I get a Hazel or Frank POV this book?

[elfgrove]

ElfGrove Reads: Blood of Olympus Part 8

Wow, that was short. And possibly the first one to not try to end on a trumped up cliffhanger.

Percy remains an idiot, and manages to focus on himself first regardless of everything else that is going on. Seriously, everything that happened down there and his main focus is how bad he feels and how the poison was obviously payback for his recent past wrongs. Oh yeah, and the merman camp didn't want to meet me, still sore about that. Did you mention me? What about my role in fate specifically? CRIPES this arse.

Thank goodness for Jason and his bigger picture thinking talking them into a victory underwater with that goddess and giant. I am very happy that Golden Boy is going to be okay RE: Bullshit Unhealing Wound, and I love the path that he has chosen for himself. I think it will suit him really well. Jason's going to be Pontifex Maximus (declared by goddess because of what he intends to do regardless, not because he claimed nor asked for the seat of power), which is gonna be really hilarious when he meets up with Octavian the self-proclaimed Pontifex Maximus who is not thinking and acting in accordance to that title. (The in book meaning at any rate.)

Also, "NO! NOT MERCHANDISING RIGHTS!!!" I had to rewind the audio book I laughed so loud at that one.

The Nico and Reyna friendship adventure is the best part of this book, I swear. I love these darlings to death.

OH MY GODS. Nico is eating normal teenage boy mountains of food.  Yay! He's hungry. He has an appetite! Thank the heavens. I cannot remember this child getting enough to eat or anyone actively trying to see that he is fed and full being a thing in 4 (internal) years of storyline. Not since this child was 10. I am so happy.

I am also terrified because smoke fingers and randomly insubstantial. SHIT. Don't you kill this child Riordan. You owe this character a happily ever after, author-man.

Nico and Reyna bonding and story-swapping gives me life.

Nico and his stories of Hades' awkward attempts to parent. French zombie chauffeur. Why did we not get entire books from Nico's perspective?

Reyna sweet child. No. Nonono. Not your fault sweetling. I'm bringing blankets and hot cocoa, you sit tight.

It's the worst crime a Roman can commit? But you didn't--

"If the legion ever found out..."

And enter a random legionare... OF FUCKING COURSE.

And that's our stopping point for tonight.

[elfgrove]

ElfGrove Reads: Blood of Olympus Part 7

Can I just say again -- I adore Reyna.

Her practical response to finding out she was being used to bait the dangerous Orion --because lets's be honest, he was chasing her anyways, he's a danger to every female demigod as is, and isolating her from her more vulnerable friends and quest object, and putting her at the center of an ambush trap for said dangerous person was actually a good plan. Rather than getting morally offended, she's just, no that's logical, it's a good plan. What do we do to bring this shithead down? LOVE IT.

The sibling banter was pretty good. Her trauma about her old home, AWW BABY. I have my suspicions as to what she's so traumatized about. I'm betting Papa went a bit not right in the head in a very dangerous way and she and Hilla either had to kill him or essentially leave him for dead and why it happened is related to the ghosts attached to the house.

Called it on asking Hilla to ship the statue via Amazon. Kinda figured they'd hand wave it out of option, but the reasons were pretty bullshit. We can't do it because it'd be interfering with the quest for anyone other than you three to transport it to the final destination -- you mean like the time Clarisse delivered the Golden Fleece from Florida to Camp Half Blood even though placing it on the tree at camp was part of the quest? The hatred rolling off of the statue, since we're associated with Ares, we can't deliver it -- except it's already travelling with Reyna the ROMAN Praetor that I'm pretty sure the earlier books established pretty well that Athena hates Romans more than her brother? AT LEAST GIVE  ME GOOD HAND WAVY EXCUSES. You suck.

The way she has her head screwed on straight when facing Orion -- THIS GIRL IS A PRAETOR THROUGH AND THROUGH AND I WILL FIGHT ANYONE THAT DISPARAGES HER. That girl is a real leader.

...Nico in a brightly colored tropical print shirt. I better be finding fanart of this later. I can barely imagine this visual. "Not a word about the shirt. NOT. A. WORD." *laughing forever*

Thank goodness Thalia is okay. Huge sigh of relief on that one. Still gonna say Thalia and Reyna should date.

On to Jason's POV.

...ARE YOU AN IDIOT?!

I know Percy's one, I expect better from you.

...I don't think... lightning works... that way.

AND THERE GOES PERCY PROVING HE IS DEFINITELY THE BIGGER IDIOT.

Percy is a terrible influence on the other children and needs to be separated from them for everyone's own good.

[elfgrove]

ElfGrove Reads: Blood of Olympus Part 6

Okay, the Piper POV chapters. I enjoyed it, but I'm starting to see a theme that annoyed me in the last book, and I won't let Piper off without comment just because I like her about 20 times better than Percy and Annabeth.

False tension. Everything is written like it's a high tension and high risk scenario -- and it just is not working because there is no payoff. No sense of real risk, no genuine close calls. Like Percy and Annabeth having a near picnic walk in Tartarus, things were said to be difficult but were overcome with so much ease, lack of effort, and general deus ex machina it didn't hold any tension. It felt too easy. Any minimal effort and wild guesses was met with completely out of proportion success leaving the victory feeling hollow.

It goes back to my earlier complaint about sustainable tension. When every POV change is attempted to be set as a huge cliffhanger, your book actually starts to lose tension because everything is occurring at the same level of purported narrative risk, but the shoe never drops. So especially for characters your reader knows aren't going to be treated as potentially kill-able at this point, the tension just peters out, wasted.

It's why I still feel there is risk for Reyna and Nico, but not for the 7 on the Argo. Reyna and Nico don't have to survive to the big finale, the 7 do, and now Riordan has almost overused his narrative tension for the 7 early on in the book..

That said, I fully expect the fandom shipping numbers to rise for Piper and Annabeth. That was extremely ship-baiting by fandom terms.

Back to Reyna, and we're finally getting more of her history. I'm really interested to get the rest of her story.

More Reyna/Nico bonding! I love how she and Nico are together. BLANKETS! IMMA CRY TEARS OF JOY! Holy shit his aviators jacket is gone though?! It seems like Reyna plans to make sure Nico knows he has an offer of home and comradeship in New Rome after everything is over. She plans to carve it out herself if needed because Reyna is good people and a good leader. That she recognizes part of his inability to trust comes from how shit Camp Halfblood treated him pleases me, because I still want to drop kick half of that camp on behalf of this poor abused child.

I am seriously concerned for Nico's survival with this insubstantial shit combined Hades' warning. Which, wow Hades is attached to Nico more than I thought he was capable of, and I'm glad of it.

Reyna and Thalia, please flirt more. Y'all are adorable. Thalia's gonna tap that. Plus, Jason's eyes would bug out of his head, and I'd never stop laughing.

Sister reunion time!

But seriously Hilla, you own Amazon.com, take a little stress of my babbus and ship Reyna, Nico, Hedge, and the Parthenos as close to Camp as you can without Nico having to shadow travel. I'd take it as a kindness. At least ship the damn statue straight to with one of them as escort. I believe in your Amazon powers of 2 day shipping.

[elfgrove]

ElfGrove reads Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus: Cliff Notes

Look at these precious traumatized demigod children and their irresponsible asshole parents. OH MY FUCKING GOD STOP DOING THE THING JACKSON. STOP IT. STOP— Fine. *punts Percy Jackson off the nearest ledge*

It will be a terrible travesty if the next words out of that child’s mouth are not, “I’m Batman”

That’s not love, it’s stockholm syndrome.

It is not okay, he is a baby and broken and should not be allowed to make these decisions he is making.

why are they not setting up and alternate option to Camp Halfblood run with consideration to THESE ARE CHILDREN YOU FUCKWITS?

I was actually referring to Percy’s terrible life choices

Chapter 16 — in which Percy is actually a petulant toddler. [...] take a fucking nap Percy.

GEEZE LOUIZE THIS CAMP NEEDS AN ACTUAL COUNSELOR.

I’m worried about the portrayal of Drew and the girly stuff == bad being a continuing message Re: the Aphrodite cabin. Can we not?

THE DRAGON WAS NAMED HAPPY. THEY RODE HAPPY THE DRAGON. I am inordinately amused by this.

WHY DO NONE OF THESE PEOPLE REALIZE THIS AND STOP BY A LIBRARY AND GET SOME REFERENCE BOOKS SINCE THIS IS YOUR LIFE NOW

Sweet fluffy underworld babies just stay in the basket of safe feels and hot cocoa please.

Percy is a terrible influence on the younger children and is therefore fired.

Too loyal is sure as hell not Percy’s fatal flaw. His pig-headed insistence on being the center of the universe around which all major events should occur and his lack of communicating important information is his real fatal flaw.

Olympus is starting to cease looking like an actual word.

I’m going to throw Jackson in the deepest darkest pit and leave his ass there.

Percy is a apparently just walking dung receptacle.

Welcome to Percy and Annabeth the continuing saga of how to screw over your teammates and the entirety of the world by not sharing information.

PLEASE, MILES AND MILES AWAY I AM SEEING THIS ONE COMING IN LIKE A FLAMING BLIMP

JACKSON GOT THROWN DOWN A PIT. I am howling with laughter.

BAD WRITER. Bad obsession with love triangles. Don’t make me get the hose.

I’m just… Percy and Annabeth are having an unbelievably easy trek through Tartarus. FUCKING TARTARUS. [...] They hit some hardships but bravely stumbled on, protected by past victim Bob the Titan. This sentence could replace 3 chapters.

But no, let’s magically turn him into stereotypical attractive jock over the course of a couple of hours and have that solve half his problems instead of actually addressing them.

Percy: “WHO HAVE I EVER ABANDONED?!” Should I list them alphabetically or chronologically?

Nico needs so many hugs. SO MANY.

So that’s were Leo went… OH. We’re doing that again, are we?

Demigods who can get over a natural aversion to Cyclopes and Harpies to become good friends with them by making a conscious effort (even ones who have personal trauma associated with Cyclopes, Annabeth) and can get over a fear of fire associated with ending his life to befriend a demigod he doesn’t get along with that well (Frank and Leo), but they can barely be assed to make an effort with Nico, who save for one set of actions as a traumatized and too-trusting child acting out in grief years ago, has continually risked his life to help them. Him, they can’t make the effort for.

I want a lot of things for the final book, but largely, I want the narrative to acknowledge that Percy and Annabeth have done some bad stuff that was harmful to the rest of the group.

I realize my harping on his failings might be annoying. He’s not an entirely irredeemable character. I’ve actually got more issue with how the books let certain things slide more so than with the fact that Percy makes the mistakes he does.

I’m hoping a good chunk of the final books are the adventures of Reyna and Nico (co-starring the Athena Parthenos).

How do you make a concious choice include other culture’s religions in a series outlining Greek/Roman culture clash manifesting as dual personas in the gods and then dismiss an entire other culture’s faith as just a watered down version of the Greek stories?! What the ever loving hockey sticks. That is not okay.

Hey, Riordan, write again about how Percy’s fatal flaw is “loyalty” and not his certainty that he is and should be the center of the universe?

I don’t think I speak the same language that Percy Jackson does.

The grudges were a good start, but at the end of Tartarus he was still willing to ignore the consequences his actions once they were no longer actively biting him in the ass, and getting angry at Nico for not accepting his thank you in the gracious and enthusiastic way he thought Nico should just cements for me that he hadn’t really learned a lesson from the Arai. It’s still about what makes him feel okay with himself, not about really righting his mistakes and being genuinely sorry for them.

There’s also major consent/free-will issues to be considered with Calypso in PJO/HoO since she’s “cursed” to fall in love with the men sent to her island. [...] none of her romantic feelings can be viewed as entirely a matter of free will — there is force via the gods involved and that is wrong, and none of these kids are her peers developmentally.

Annabeth doesn’t seem to be doing much but scowling and generally be terrible at being undercover.

I adore the Roman kids. …Except that one. FOR FUCKS SAKES OCTAVIAN.

Where did Riordan right-hand-extraction that from?

Nico and Reyna are literally the best team up.

[elfgrove]

ElfGrove Reads: Blood of Olympus Part 4

Nico and Reyna are literally the best team up. I adore these two. They communicate, they see each other for both strengths and weaknesses, they empathize with and trust each other. LOVE IT.

I love getting Nico's POV for the insight into his life that wasn't shown and his thought processes. Nico's first concern for the 7 being Hazel, and second being Jason gives me life. These are the people who have actually been there for him. These are the healthiest emotional relationships in his life. It makes me happy that he is gravitating towards them.

Nico, Reyna, Jason, Hazel, and Frank can be a little demi-god found family.

Nico's dad is concerned for him. For Hazel. This worries me. I need the above team to survive to be happy with this book.

I'm curious to see what Nico's trick to get shadows while surrounded by the werewolf pack will be.

[elfgrove]

ElfGrove Reads: Blood of Olympus Part 3

Reyna is a blessing on these books. Why wasn't the first book series in the Roman camp? I like the Roman camp and it's people a lot better in general. This may be a sign of my age, but then again I still think even as a kid I would have preferred the camp focused on honor, discipline, communication, and comradeship.

It says a lot (of good things) about Reyna and her camp's culture in general why she kept her Bellona power a secret and how she found alternative medicine (Unicorn Draught) to ambrosia as a better thing for Nico. It shows her consideration and care and speaks of how she's willing to waste her own resources for the sake of even potentially helping others.

I can't decide yet if Octavian is deliberately being a bit villainous for the sake of power and has sided with Gaea, or if he honestly thinks he's doing the right thing for his camp and power is just a convenient bonus.

Fuck everyone Reyna and Nico better survive this book. Fucking hell. Jason had better survive this book. I'm adopting the Praetors and the Underworld children. BABIES.

I don't recall this Imperial Gold and Celestial Bronze causing un-heal-able wounds issues before? Where did Riordan right-hand-extraction that from? I'm pretty sure characters have had grievous wounds before without this complication. Internal consistency, get some.

Leo, your lack of character development over the course of these books is taking your antics from cute twerp who has a lot of growing to do into fucking asshat stop that shit right now or I swear to the gods I'll turn this ship around.

Oh yes, the goal is to avoid unnecessary conflict. Lets send the two self-centered instigators of trouble to meet Nike. Seriously, Leo, much as I usually enjoy his antics, grates people the wrong way, especially he and Frank, and he has issues with Percy Re: Calypso. Percy is a braggart and has a long history of snarking and incurring the wrath of gods. You'd be better off with Annabeth, Piper, and Frank, godly parents and powers issues be damned. At least they're logical thinkers and peacemakers.

Leo really is kind of upping the jerk behavior this book. Even Hazel i-have-the-patience-of-a-saint Levesque is getting annoyed. I guess it can be pinned on his Calypso issues and being concerned for Jason, because boy does act out that way.

His comparing Hazel to an Automaton an focusing on how her looks are good while being a bit insulting about her personality (the comment putting down her being flustered and not being used to casual cursing) combined with his happy "romantic" thoughts of Calypso all being of her denying attraction to him or turning him down without any commentary indicating it was endearing because the attraction was actually mutual and she has similar fails-at-personal-interaction issues (a personality trait which she only seems to get as a mirror to him, which goes back to my consent issues with all of the Calypso romances) has some seriously disturbing implications. He always had a bit of a seeing women as objects/prizes issues, but it seems worse this book.

[elfgrove]

ElfGrove Reads: Blood of Olympus Part 2

ASDFGHJKL;!!!

GDI Riordan, you're just doing this to fuck with your fanbase (especially those who don't worship at the altar of Percy Jackson) I swear to the gods. So after a relatively peasant opening POV, we end it with Juno being how she is and Jason slipping into near death. Of course.

Reyna POV chapters? OH MY I HAVE BEEN GOOD. I do find it odd that as long as Nico's been in the books, apparently he's just never getting a POV. *sigh*

Bless Reyna for being as fabulous as Jason is. Bless them both for recognizing Nico's strength and weakness and what he's been/is-going through. They're good folk.

REYNA WAS TEMPTED TO PUT A BLANKET OVER NICO BECAUSE HE IS A CHILD WHO HAS BEEN THROUGH TOO MUCH AND NEEDS PROTECTIVE/GUIDING/SUPPORTIVE INFLUENCES IN HIS LIFE. She  also didn't because she recognized he wouldn't take it the right way and construe it as a lack of respect as she would, but I have been screaming for people to have this instinct towards this child since the first book series so thank the gods for Reyna's perfection.

Reyna and Nico bonding as friends and comrades. YES.

I adore the Roman kids.

...Except that one. FOR FUCKS SAKES OCTAVIAN.