#literally PIPER had a pov in this book. for WHAT? lmao rick this is not the time. she lit DOMINATED the book

[somewhereincairparavel]

jason grace not having a pov in mark of athena is WILD. that's literally supposed to be a book centered around him and reyna, and camp jupiter (in the beginning of the book, atleast). and you're telling me he had no.... pov? like hello? this is peak level of insane writing 😭

[aguecheek]

(edit 5/6/23 oh my god people are seeing this now??? i made this post in october of 2021 please don’t take this as a legitimate critique of the new book 😭😭)

what so nico can take his boyfriend to fucking tartarus to get some loser titan back but he can’t pull some underworld strings w his dad and revive jason 🤨🤨 just realized i have way more to say than i thought i did so lmao incredibly neurodivergent rant under the cut that also contains spoilers for like. every book rick riordans ever written probably. don’t reblog this it’s not thorough analysis or genuine complaints it’s just me having feelings and also autism

jason was and is my favorite character in the greco-roman series (and like my third favorite character in the riordanverse, only behind carter and alex) so i’m still very fucking bitter about the burning maze. jason was SO important to nico lmao like? nico fought SO hard to get bianca back???? only reason he didn’t pull it off is bc she chose rebirth. like okay i know nicos whole thing in blood of olympus was accepting that death is the natural conclusion to life and that it’s inescapable and irreversible. and sometimes it’s inevitable and it’s irresponsible to get in the way of that (tho he totally coulda saved octavian and it wouldn’t have changed anything but what the fuck ever lmao) but it’s not like rick hasn’t ever completely abandoned his character’s development before!!! besides. nico brought hazel back from the dead and then she was just?? allowed to stay??? i’m not complaining i adore hazel but like dude 😭 and leo died and brought himself back to life and he’s not even a son of hades so how the fuck did HE get away with it. so what rick can just bend his in-universe life and death rules for everyone EXCEPT my favorite little blond bitch of the absolute myriad of little blond bitches? EXCEPT my sweet responsible repressed roman wolf-dude? EXCEPT one of the only truly morally sound characters in the whole series? EXCEPT my favorite internalized-homophobia-having motherfucker? EXCEPT one of the only characters in the Seven who still had significant fucking meat left on their character arc? what? me? bitter?? you’re asking if I’M bitter?????yes a little tiny bit🥰 like okay i KNOW rick has killed other characters but like luke had to die for the story. zoe and bianca didn’t have to die but i get why they did. octavian didn’t have to die but i get why he did. silenas, beckendorfs, and ethan’s deaths hurt but they makes sense. like war is hell idk what to tell u. those are the only like MAIN CHARACTERS he killed off, and most of them are Not main characters, they just got semi-decent screentime. Jason is absolutely a main character and i’d argue he’s the only main character ricks killed off besides luke (and like. magnus. but that doesn’t count) his death literally did not need to happen and it comes out of fucking nowhere tonally, like all of his POV characters have had plot armor since the beginning, and that applies to kane chronicles and magnus chase too. “oh but the prophecy! he had to die! he did it to save piper!” RICK WROTE THE PROPHECY. and yes of course i appreciate that his death was in character bc he’s a self sacrificing idiot and a genuine hero and obviously he’d give his life for his ex girlfriend bc he cares abt her and Yeah he helped apollo’s character development but MAN like. there are other ways to give him that development???

oh wait. oh shit this was. originally a rant abt the new book LMAO 😭😭😭 i’m sorry i just clearly have a lot of feelings about jason grace. so okay back on track. i do appreciate rick partnering with an ownvoices author for this one so he can give us respectful portrayals of queer characters bc god knows this motherfucker has given us nothing but jacked up representation since day one. and i am really hopeful that it won’t be a bury your gays trope because like. ownvoices author and also in terms of representation. rick does. try. he does try. he doesn’t achieve, he doesn’t do a good job, but he keeps trying, and he’s aware of people’s criticisms, so it might be okay. but then again. rick fucking hates both blond people and children of apollo and he kills them off at any opportunity that arises. so we’ll just have to wait and see. okay but am i crazy bc? nobody cares about bob that much? not enough to want an entire book abt getting him back. like his story was sad for sure. but he served his purpose in the larger narrative. what is gained for the world by going to fetch him? what does it add to nico or will’s character? in what way does it enrich the universe?? people got emotional abt him staying behind and for sure i did too but like. it’s not worth a whole standalone is it???? like goddamn rick! what abt a hunters of artemis standalone where you fix the jacked up representation you gave them? where you portray them actually respectfully and yknow. humanize your female characters? give us some focus on reyna and thalia (and why reyna even joined the hunters bc dude u can’t just shove every female character left without a love interest into the hunters 😭 it’s a bad look) oh or what about the titan war from the roman side? where’s my jason, reyna, and octavian content? where’s my roman politics? what abt that one that people have been asking for for fucking years? not to mention that the tartarus chapters in house of hades were…kinda boring lmaoooo 😭 there was some cool stuff in there but i really just skimmed them the first time through, the only genuinely attention grabbing thing is the bit with the poison. but i mean i just wasn’t hooked, i didnt care, my expectations were not met—so im not excited to head back to tartarus. but like beyond that it’s just so ooc for nico to want to go back? like tartarus fucking shattered him and having a bf with built in light up sketchers isn’t gonna make it. not unbelievably horrific. i know nico liked bob but did he like him THAT FUCKING MUCH?

look. am i a little biased ? bc nico is one of my least favorite characters in the series? yes i am ❤️ do i care ? no!! <3 it’s my blog and i’ll be as pissy and biased as i want to be!!!! god. considering i pretty rarely hyperfixate on two things at once and i’m currently hyperfixated on deltarune. snd also i’ve been ‘hyperfixated’ on percy jackson for like a year now and my interest in it didn’t ever really die out since i read the books in elementary school. i’m starting to consider that it might be edging into special interest territory. which would SUUUCK😭’m not even hyperfixated on pjo and i just wrote this shit out completely stream of consciousness in like half an hour on my phone which i really can’t do w subjects i’m not hyperfixated on unless that subject is shakespeare aka my special interest so like. shit man i guess we’ll just have to see how that plays out.

anyway lol i’ve talked too long. my thesis statement is that nobody cares abt bob THAT much, not even nico, and if ricks gonna do anything involving nico snd the underworld then jason should be centered bc he had so much unfinished work and had arguably the most mileage left in his character arc out of all of the POV characters in HOO (besides Reyna) and he was an incredibly important figure in nicos life in HOH and BOO and honestly arguably even pre-series.

[alextriestowritestuff]

Blood Of Olympus Read W/ Me

This was the worst book of the series by far. I almost didn’t finish it. I think my thoughts are going to be rather short but they’ll still be below the cut for spoiler reasons. There will also be Trials of Apollo spoilers so I highly suggest not reading this if you haven’t caught up with those books! Let’s get into it.

I’d like the start by saying what I like: Nico/Reyna POV. I loved their relationship (which I didn’t see coming at all) it was very big sis-little bro vibes. I love that Nico finally found a place and his budding relationship with Will. What’s funny is though I knew Will would be his love interest (You can’t avoid them in fanfic at all) I thought he’d be more like super sunshine/super happy and that would contrast with Nico’s emo nature. But he was just chill and was like Nico, stop being a dumbass, we’re friends. I think fanfic gave me a different impression of what he’d be like (Granted I never read the fics, just summaries) and I was surprised that he was not like that. It’s not bad or good, just pointing it out. 

Oh and Nico telling Percy he liked him and Percy just being like ‘say what?’ I didn’t expect Nico to actually fess up to that one but Percy’s reaction was gold. 

The best moment in this book is Reyna taking down Orion by herself. She was that BITCH. Correct me if I’m wrong but the only other person who defeated a giant by themselves was Percy right? In the Battle of Labyrinth when he fights Antaeus? I think Antaeus was a half-giant though because Percy, a demigod, managed to kill him without the help of a god. Anyway, Reyna was everything in that scene. Oh I lied, he took down Polybotes too. They’d be unstoppable together (though I love Percabeth). She was about to sacrifice herself too!! What a queen. I respect the crap out of her. UM Jason you really picked the wrong girl lmao. 

I appreciated the Thalia cameo (because again, I didn’t re-read the Lost Hero so I haven’t seen her since the last time I read the PJO series) and the mention of Zoe. I hope Kenzie didn’t really die though, I liked her. 

And that’s all the good I have to say about it. Now for the bad...so much bad.

So after thinking about it, I realize that what makes HoO so different from its predecessor series is that there’s no consequences. The closest we got to consequences was Annabeth and Percy falling into Tartarus because they weren’t saved in time. No one important (protagonist/good guys side) died. Leo was resurrected (And I looked it up and found out that he came to Camp in the Trials of Apollo series so everyone knows he’s alive). Even for the Tartarus one, we didn’t even get a PTSD arc. It would’ve been helpful to have Percy or Annabeth’s POV in this book to wrap up that subplot. Instead we get two lines about their time in Tartarus and when Percy brings it up, Annabeth tells him not to mention it. So no PTSD arc. Got it. But we can just casually mention that Octavian committed suicide (which I don’t care for that ending at all).  Right.

The HoO books are boring because there’s no consequences. I never felt true fear apart from Percy/Annabeth being in Tartarus. In the Last Olympian, mortals were put to sleep, Annabeth was gravely injured, Silena and Beckendorf died. Luke and Ethan died. There was no magical save for them. Blood of Olympus had NO stakes, coupled with a weak, slightly developed new characters made it a bad series imo. It also doesn’t deliver on the questions posed in the book.

Hazel’s curse is still active, no descendant of Neptune has taken it away. I read the wiki summary for every book of the Trials of Apollo (The last one isn’t out yet) and there’s no mention of her curse being lifted. I think Frank’s stick is resolved imo being that it’s safe in the fireproof pouch but for some readers, they don’t think that’s resolved. Kym told Percy he’d have to face his fatal flaw. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t feel as though he did. Percy also never helped Leo find Calypso but Ig that’s null because he never got the chance to. Also is Black Jack, Frank’s grandmother, Hylla okay? Orion said Hylla got away but I was hoping for another cameo. 

Let’s talk about the villains/the entire quest of the Seven. The quest was boring, Nico/Reyna/Hedge’s quest was 100x more interesting and they were transporting a freaking statue. The quest of the Seven was fight this minor god/villain who is working for Gaea who promised them something (Even Jason has a line where he makes fun of this), outsmart/fight them, get to Athens where all the monsters are. Percy and Annabeth’s blood awakens Gaea. The gods come down which makes me angry because most of them weren’t helpful throughout the series. Poseidon wasn’t in this series at all. He didn’t even send a symbol or talk to his son who went missing. I’m pissed that the battle against Gaea wasn’t even in Athens! I’m pissed that they got slapped to New York, like what? The gods really couldn’t poof them back there, they gave some excuse but it was still bs. But I guess Rick needed Argo II to get back to NY so Leo can turn festus back into a dragon. But anyway, the gods come down, the demigods work with to defeat the giants in less than two pages. The giants that were poised as a massive threat for four books straight. Defeated in mere minutes. We don’t even get a cool battle description, they just hack and slash at them and they’re dead. Huh? 

Percy, Annabeth, Hazel, and Frank were reduced to background characters and I understand they don’t have a POV but I never felt that characters who didn’t have a POV in a certain book were ever forgotten/not utilized. They didn’t really get to do anything. 

We also don’t really see the Roman and Greek gods all that much. I know they’re the same people, different Greek and Roman personalities. But like I thought their Roman side could be seen a bit more but they were having difficulty maintain one persona throughout the whole series. I can tell you what the Greek gods are like and how they interact w/ each other based on the throne room scenes/anytime they help demigods in PJO/HoO. But Roman gods as whole? I can’t tell you how they even interact with each other. 

But wait, it gets worse. There’s not even a formal recognition thing like there was at the end of the Last Olympian (where Percy is offered godhood and Annabeth is given position of architect) there’s a little meeting with the gods and the Seven in which Jason is like give minor gods shrine and the gods aren’t really all that interested in what he has to say. There’s no thank you demigods. No, thanks Annabeth and Percy for literally going through Tartarus and Hazel for sacrificing yourself at 13 back in the 1940s. And the rest of them sacrificed something too. Like damn, no wonder why Luke was always like the gods don’t care about their kids. 

Gaea was built up to be a big bad (honestly not really, she talked trash the entire time/sent people to do her work) and the woman is easily overpowered by the three demigods. She’s not even awake for 20 minutes and she goes down. WHAT?? 

Overall, it was anti-climatic and totally did a 180 on everything else established in this series-the fact that Gaea was such a major foe and turned out not to be (that SEVEN demigods had to take her down, not just 1 like Percy’s prophecy) and the giants were to be feared too but they get taken down. At 200 pages in, I dead ass wanted to DNF, it was so boring. I gave it a one star because although the good I mentioned was really great, it doesn’t save the book. So for me, this series had every book be 3 stars or under except House of Hades. 5 books and I only really was able to like one and get through it easily and it still had issues. Like what?

Lastly, I want to touch on Jason. I still think he’s bland though I appreciated him giving Nico a hug at the end there. Again from ToA/being spoiled over the years, I learned that Jason died and I won’t be reading ToA but I read the summary of the book where he died and um, wow. I don’t feel anything for his death but the fact that he and Piper broke up sent me into a laughing/anger rage. Laughing because they really said ‘I love you’ at the end of BoO and they didn’t even make it a year lmao. And the fact that PIPER, miss always insecure in her relationship with him, McLean broke up with HIM. WOOOOOW. But it made mad because I listened to her complain/fawn over Jason for 4 freaking books (not counting tSoN) for NO REASON cuz they ended up breaking up. Overall, I appreciated what Jason, Hazel, Frank, and Piper did in the HoO series because they were helpful but I couldn’t connect with their characters. I’ll admit that in BoO we got a little bit more bonding between characters which is what I asked for in my last read with me and I like the Percy/Jason scene underwater and Piper/Annabeth scene from the beginning. I do think some relationships were summarized when they could’ve been shown--i.e. Annabeth/Reyna/Piper friendship but they have potential. 

The bonding was good, it was just too late. It should’ve happened in MoA/HoH as well. Random but I also hate how Leo was treated (esp. by Jason and Piper) throughout the series and I’m glad he got out of that mess. He was reduced to a deus ex mechanic and that wasn’t cool. The Seven wouldn’t have been able to do this quest without him. 

Sooo I guess this is it. I don’t think I’m going to read another Rick Riordan book again unless I hear something drastic happens to Percy or Annabeth/Any of the PJO characters and Reyna. I’m strongly reconsidering removing him as my fav author. I still love the PJO series but this one was not it. I don’t know if Rick was on a tight deadline for these HoO books but it was just poorly executed. I don’t regret reading the series, I think reading HoH was worth all the time I spent reading this series. I wish I had just read a summary of tSoN and MoA, especially because I already read them years ago and knew I wasn’t into them from my first read. I wasted my own time by doing that. So if I had done that I would’ve gotten to just read HoH and then only be disappointed by BoO as opposed to three books. It is what it is. It’s nice to be in the loop because I always see these things about HoO characters and spoilers so now I know how it went down. 

But that’s it guys, thank you for reading this entire thread and the ones before it. I have a lot of opinions and I don’t think I’m in the minority by saying I didn’t like this series overall. I will get back to my writeblr content and I will leave you guys with my final ratings for the series (My rating system may seem generous compared to my read with me thoughts but I personally don’t give less than 3 stars to books that plot wise made sense. It may not be the most compelling plot or have the best characters but if it made coherent sense, I have to give it at least a 3.) :

The Lost Hero: This score is based off of my original reading in 2012/2013 and my thoughts on the main characters in that book, I give this a 3/5 stars

The Son of Neptune: 3/5

The Mark of Athena: 2/5

The House of Hades: 4.5/5

The Blood of Olympus: 2/5 

Worst book of the series: Mark of Athena (Blood Olympus is a close tie but the Nico/Reyna really saves it from this spot) and best book- House of Hades. 

[couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name]

okay I’m STILL not done the book yet because #life(tm) but some follow up reactions

The entire scene where Calypso and Apollo were trying to escape on the slow kiddy train at the Zoo had me in stitches holy shit

Apollo frantically hitting the gas and Calypso is just leisurely walking next to it while glaring at him??? And the guards? omfg I was dying

Meg’s entrance was dramatic and awesome good for her

Why the fuck is this 12 year old so good at sword fighting she can keep up with one of the deadliest swordfighters of the ancient world(tm)

When Lit threatened Leo and Calypso essentially morphed into the knife emoji on spot. A plus.

I mean I’m just saying: I feel like a pregnant griffin isn’t more important than helping a tortured seven year old girl. But I still love Britomartis so I guess it’s whatever

I love how Lit was going on like he has a score to settle with Leo because ‘he and his friends’ fucked him up in Oklahoma but like....Leo didn’t contribute to that at all like Jason literally did everything during that fight??? That was kinda like important to Jason’s development and shit??? Leo and Piper were golden statues and Hedge was outside eating grass??? Shouldn’t Lit’s anger be focused on Jason??? lol

Idk I just found it funny (I want to see Jason Grace again)

Calypso managing to shove out some magic yeah girl!!!!

MEG AND APOLLO HUGGING EACH OTHER FOR DEAR LIFE WHILE SOBBING: MY ENTIRE AESTHETIC

Leo meeting Meg was way too fucking funny omfg “so I understand you can like...control him?” and when Apollo tried denying it she makes him slap himself??? 😂

How did we fucking segue from lighthearted banter directly into Apollo having a vivid flashback of the time he had to murder the love of his life with his bare hands

Like I??? Was sobbing??? So hard???? Because a batshit insane Roman empire was getting killed by someone who loved him bc it was necessary for the world and the lover couldn’t stand to see anyone else hurt him??? Fuck me???? Rick Riordan ain’t real

“I couldn’t bare to look into the water without seeing my beloved’s betrayed face starring back” or whatever the fuck the line was but FUCK

Jo was a teenage girl crossdressing to fuck around with gangsters in the 1920′s before Artemis found her and honestly??? Goals

Also the scene where she was helping Apollo after his flashback was very sweet

Can’t believe the nerd spent like six hours playing soothing music just to get a griffin to lay an egg

Leo and Calypso better be whispering amongst themselves what I think they’re whispering

Leo seems a lot more...subdued than usual in this book? I don’t know if that’s just because we aren’t reading from his POV, or if it’s like a “I literally died and came back and then spent six months getting attacked every single day while trying to find home and now I’m stuck on another dangerous quest I’m fucking stressed” type thing, or if it could be from the relationship problems he’s having with Calypso, but either way he seems a little off and I’m worried about him

The Dread Pirate Valdez...leave.

How was that joke never made once on the Argo tho??? lol

The speed at which Leo seems to have emotionally adopted Meg is astounding and also #relatable

Meg’s far from my favorite character tbh but like??? I will probably punch everyone who’s ever frowned in her general direction in the face. Holy shit give this kid a break

She thinks Nero is scared of the mystery third emperor on the West Coast??? So....Caligula, probably? Laying my bets down on him now

“I triggered the First Law of Percy Jackson” I had to put the book down bc I was laughing so hard I think that lines gonna end up on my gravestone or as the afterword in my autobiography omfg

“I’ve always had a phobia of snakes, especially if you included my step-mother Hera. BOOM!” I choked.

I like that half the time Apollo is able to figure out what to do to win because he has a general understanding of science

Like he knew his burst of godly voice power would only help so much, but he also knew if he stood in the right spot and yelled in the right frequency it would reverberate and knock over the bricks and shit??? NICE

How long were these kids wadding through a sewer how do none of them have hypothermia

Leo: *sets himself on fire* “Gather round, children.”

Like first off someone saying ‘gather round children’ is always going to make me laugh for some reason that’s just a fact but human torching it up really added to the effect lmao

Like okay I understand the set up of the room so that no one would look in the canal and see them but like...how the fuck did no one realize they were there that just felt too easy I’m sorry

Chia Girl

When they found the prisoners was horrifying omfg???

The two fucked up boys on a hunger strike???

“...Hunter the Hunter?” “Yeah, I’ve never heard that before.”

Tall, Dark and Jamie.

Apollo babe you’re on a rescue mission with a time crunch please you can check out Jamie later holy shit

Georgie made me wanna cry get her back to her Combat Moms immediately

The entire sequence of Apollo getting the door open: S C I E N C E  B I T C H

“Lemme just fill up some syringes with ammonia just in case”

Alright I’ll admit when Meg started insisting she had a feeling they needed to go through the door: I was really worried she was about to double cross him.

Glad I was wrong but tbh that whole arena dress rehearsal bullshit was STRESSFULL

S T R E S S F U L L

First of all: Apollo’s out here constantly complaining about his puny mortal body but manages to fight and climb and run with a heavy ass chair strapped to his back: okay,

Second of all: why did no one warn me about Livia the elephant I was on the verge of tears every time he mentioned her

Third of all: Monsters, ostriches, race cars, basketballs, football, human mercenaries, animals, like...what even the fuck else SO MUCH WAS GOING ON I would’ve died in ten seconds flat???

Fourth of all: let’s just SET THE FUCKING GRAIN SPIRIT ON FIRE WHY THE FUCK NOT. HOW DID MEG EVEN MANAGE TO GET HIM DOWN. HOW DID APOLLO AND LIVIA MANAGE TO CRASH COMMODUS’ CAR TO THAT DEGREE AND HE NOT ONLY SURVIVED BUT THREW THE WRECKAGE AWAY FROM HIM

Fifth of all: THE FUCKING HUNTERS SHOW UP AND CAUSE EVEN M O R E CHAOS. Truly I don’t know how any of the main heroes survived that there was just too much.

The entire time I was reading it I was like “This feels like a giant fight at the climax of the book how the fuck are there more pages left what else is going to happen???” AND IM STILL WONDERING THAT LIKE

Thalia Grace has been returned to me.

Apollo’s strong urge to save Lit??? Okay I guess. It’s nice to see him being compassionate and shit but. I was kinda with Leo on that one lol

“Thalia Grace slid behind me on the elephant, which fulfilled one of the fantasies I’d had about the Hunter, although I never quite imagined it playing out like this” M E

What was his elephant-involved fantasy with Thalia I need a complete play by play lmao

Also the scene where Commodus dropped his composure for a sec and had a full-blown Angry Ex moment (which...he’s definitely entitled to). That was good and also I was highkey worried he might just try to kill my nerd then and there

Also that he’s not just mad that Apollo killed him but like. All their fucking history together. Shit’s intense.

Apollo loves this elephant so much after only like 15 minutes the first thing he’s gonna do when he’s immortal again is bless her or some shit

Also I’m glad they got that awful chainmail off her

The Hunters apparently just have a magical energy drink with mercury in it okay

Honestly??? I’m a little mad Artemis has been ordered not to contact him THE BOY JUST WANTS TO SEE HIS SISTER HOLY SHIT

Aaaaaand that’s about where I left off. Hoping to finish it all together the next time I get a chance. Hoping all the losers are alright. LOVING this book so far. Waiting to see an official reunion between Georgie and her Combat Moms. The Headless Ghost’s cryptic warning has me worried. Until next time...

[alextriestowritestuff]

House of Hades Read with Me Part 2

Hey guys! I’m back with my final thoughts on House of Hades (HoH) by Rick Riordan. My thoughts covering the first half of the book can be found here. My thoughts on Son of Neptune/why I’m re-reading the series is here. My Mark of Athena thoughts are here. If you want to know my general thoughts on HoH and don’t want to read my long winded review of it here it is: It’s AMAZING. This is the best book in the series so far by a landslide imo. Literally if I actually felt more than indifference or dislike for the new HoO characters, I’d say this book was better than any of the PJO books. I was really losing faith in the series before I read HoH to the point where I had wished Rick ended Percy’s story with the Last Olympian. If I were to rate this book, I’d give it a 4.5. I enjoyed the Percabeth, the suspense, and the journey through Tartarus the most. Despite issues with pacing, lack of platonic bonding between the Seven, romantic relationships being stunted for couples such as Piper/Jason and Hazel/Frank, HoH has renewed my faith in the series potentially ending on a good note. 

So let’s get into more specifics down below. I’ll have thoughts, my issues with the book, and spoilers under the cut. 

I’m going to try not to fangirl too much over Percabeth because I’ve done that for all of my read with me’s so far but my heart belongs to them. I loved every reference to their future together. Percy and Annabeth both mentioned possibly having children in the future and I just decided then and there that their relationship is why I have such high standards. This is the blueprint of what I want for my romantic life. Taking applications for suitors now. Actually no, I’m scared of men. Percabeth’s chemistry is out of the world, romantically and in their fighting abilities. I really started to pay attention to how they fight together and as I read, I noticed how they would stand back to back and work together without even saying anything. I’m curious to how they’re going to react now that they’re literally been through hell and back. I’m sensing a PTSD arc. I guess Percy will have a more aggressive reaction (My mans was wildin in Tartarus-also when he said he was going to kill Gaea with his bare hands, I was like umm. sir. Rick better let him have that kill though.) but I can’t quite predict what Annabeth’s reaction will be. Also it wasn’t explained why Percy was acting like a psycho in Tartarus and about to brutally kill Aklyhs but I guess I’m just to assume it was to add suspense and implies he has a dark side. And don’t forget that Percy told Annabeth he loved her back-it wasn’t as poetic as when she said it but he still said love you too. 

Next topic: Bob/Iapetus/Damasen. I like to check goodreads reviews after I finish a book just to see what everyone thought of it and it seems that a lot of people were heartbroken after they (presumably) sacrificed themselves. I don’t have much to say here-I mean, that’s sad and I’m thankful that they did that but I’m not in my feels about it. It was a clever outcome of the ‘foes bear arms to the doors of death’ line from the prophecy. I was wondering if Small Bob had any cool powers the entire time so that was cool when it got all big and helped Bob fight Tartarus (who by the way, scared the shit out of me jesus). 

Nico. Check out my first part to know my thoughts about his whole coming out. I just had a question for you guys here-was he technically outed? And if so, that’s not good. I consider myself an LGBT ally and I try to be aware of when it is and when it’s not okay to reveal someone else’s sexuality. On one hand, I thought it was shitty of Cupid to coerce Nico into it but on the other hand if we (the readers) found out that Nico was gay by just him saying he liked Percy, I would’ve been like there’s nothing in the text to support that statement (because prior to HoH, I thought he hated Percy--blaming him for Bianca’s death--then only helped Percy (River styx, the Labyrinth) because he was an ally to the gods like Nico) so having the scenes in HoH of how Nico started to develop feelings for Percy made so much more sense to me. And those scenes only came up because of Cupid. Idk. Let me know what you guys think.

I found it a little strange how Nico wrote off Percy at the end of the book when Percy thanked him for leading the other demigods to HoH. I get it’s probably a defense mechanism to keep his distance from being even more attracted to Percy but I figured Nico would be a little less cold to him now that he admitted his feelings. I saw a goodsreads review that said there was a confirmed Nico POV in Blood of Olympus so fingers crossed we get that and it’ll explain his curt response to Percy and I’d love a Nico POV if we don’t actually have a Percy/Annabeth POV (according to another review I saw) because I can’t deal with the other HoO characters (except Leo, y’all know that tho).

Next topic: Frank and Hazel. I always give credit where it’s due even if I don’t particularly like or care about a character and these two got the MVPs for this book. Hazel’s fight with Pasiphae-it was so cool. For someone who didn’t get a mentor to help her with the mist and figured it out on her own, she was a straight boss. It was a little off to me how her POV started off the book yet she had the least amount of chapters but had this huge task of controlling the Mist/helping the team get through HoH ahead of her. And then her POV pops up in the end to defeat Pasiphae. This is again, why I say, there’s no need for all 7 to narrate. Hecate could’ve easily come to the ship and say all that stuff in front of the crew and let’s say it had been Frank’s POV. He would notice how Hazel is apprehensive/scared of this task because he knows her well and they could talk about it together so we still know her feelings and that’s one less POV because once again, she barely had any chapters. 

Frank. I stand by my thoughts about the ‘growth spurt’, still think it’s hella problematic. I don’t generally care for him but even I got seduced by him more times than I’m willing to admit. When he commanded that dead army I was like yesss. The blessing of Ares and how he literally was on fire and the fact that he pulled an arrow out of his arm like it was no big deal really did it for me. I feel bad, because he’s just not very well written or else I think I could like him. I want to touch on the ship-- tbh, ship is not a word I’d use to describe this DOA relationship, maybe dinghy--ya this DINGHY ‘ship’ that is Hazel and Frank. Like it’s even drier than Jasper lmao. No chemistry there. They had no scenes alone together. I see that they care for each other and are worried when the other person is in danger but that’s not enough. Worry is normal for any relationship, Percy was worried about Grover when he went missing in Sea of Monsters but they weren’t together romantically. 

And it could just be me refusing to ship a 13 year old with anyone but I just get no vibes from them. Leo and Hazel have more chemistry in their conversations alone. This is a total aside but I’ve been getting salty about how little Percy has had to work with in PJO compared to the HoO characters (And I know Rick wrote PJO first, he didn’t develop all these cool things/weapons like charmspeak or Leo’s belt yet) but although Percy is a great swordsman, he only has his powers like every other demigod. Like Hazel has her child of Pluto powers, the jewel curse that has helped her find gold, and now she can control the mist. And technically she has a horse but so does Percy. Frank’s got his fire stick, shape shifting, Ares’ child powers, archery, and he can command armies. Y’all know the other skills/boosts/weapons the other Seven have (Not including Annabeth) so like Rick really gave Percy (and no offense to Percy but also gave him half the intelligence of the HoO demigods) the bare minimum in PJO and we were all still impressed.

There’s this tik tok sound where someone (I don’t know the original meme or video, if you know please comment or reblog. I’d love to give credit), in disbelief, says ‘Wait a minute, what is this? This isn’t enough’ and someone responds in a sassy tone, ‘Make it enough’. And I feel like for PJO, Percy was like this isn’t enough and Rick said make it enough lmaoo. Percy was struggle bussin’ for no reason in PJO! HoO characters get everything handed to them and they still have the AUDACITY to not have any characterization. Couldn’t be me. 

Next two couples I’ll talk about: Leo and Calypso & Jasper. I wasn’t expecting Calypso to be such a savage, like she was DONE with having heroes wash up on her shores. I missed her so much. While I liked the banter between Leo and Calypso, I felt that it was rushed/forced because it all took place in about four chapters. This wasn’t the best execution and part of why I can’t give the book five stars. I think he’ll come back for her, I don’t know how but out of everyone, Leo has really figured out how to make things work when they’re deemed ‘impossible’. So he’ll find a way. I wonder if he’ll confront Percy about leaving Calypso tho, I’d like to see that. So while he was on Ogygia, the other demigods had moved forward and were in Africa. And I was like WOW y’all really said fuck Leo. There was no search party for him (or mention of it), no tears shed for Leo. Damn. No wonder he feels like the Seventh wheel. I mean we got one or two throwaway lines about them worried about Leo’s whereabouts from Jason and Piper but I mean they weren’t in distress about it. I guessing I’m to assume they asked Nico if Leo was dead off screen and Nico confirmed that he wasn’t so they weren’t too worried about him? Anyway, they’re fake friends for that one. 

That aside, Piper and Jason are *yawn* boring as I’ve said before. But I thought he was going to address Piper’s ‘I love you’ confession last book but I’m not sure if he even heard it. I really thought Reyna was going to come in and shake things up between them but just as soon she came, she left w/ Nico and Hedge to take the statue to Camp Half Blood so missed opportunity for resolution there. Piper and Jason also had NO scenes together so I’m really shocked how Rick expects us to ship couples if they don’t spend any time together. I’m not shocked about how Jason is most likely going back to Camp Half Blood after all this is over. It’s superior to Camp Jupiter so I don’t blame him but it’s an interesting choice. I was actually thinking that Percy might stay at Camp Jupiter because I figured he’d stay as praetor. And since Annabeth’s dad lives in Cali, I was thinking they could stay there but I’m sure they go back to New York after BoO because I saw an excerpt where Apollo asks for Percy’s help and I believe Apollo went to Sally’s apartment. But Percy could’ve been visiting Sally and live in CA normally. Speaking of which, how did Jason just give that position to Frank?? He has to be elected lmao. I mean when I read it, I was like Frank gets handed everything but then I was like well, Percy got the position and he wasn’t even at Camp Jupiter for a week and I didn’t complain about that. At least Frank has been there longer and has shown leadership qualities. But yeah, it’s still a no for me for Piper and Jason. At least Piper’s POV chapters weren’t annoying this book but she only got 4 chapters lmao so no time to be annoying. 

To end this review, I want to touch about why I give this book gets a 4.5 and not a 5. I really feel like the 7 POVs were extremely unnecessary especially because the demigods not in tartarus were mostly together and didn’t have as many side quests as MoA. And some of them didn’t even get more than 4 chapters. I found the magic growth spurt way too problematic to overlook. I still feel like the new HoO characters except for Leo are underdeveloped or unlikeable. The pacing wasn’t the best-Alot of things happened in this book and very little of it could’ve been taken out. The pacing wasn’t slow, it was the right pace until about 60% of the way in and then I was just constantly being hit with attacks and rushed meetings like Leo and Calypso. But I can’t quite fault Rick because I felt every event in this book was necessary for it to be as good as it was so of course, some parts end up rushed. In addition, there’s not much bonding happening between the Seven. Like each trio that had their own book had some bonding in there (Can’t speak for Lost Hero because I haven’t read that in 6 or so years. But tSoN had a little, mostly between Frank and Hazel tho) but collectively, as the seven demigods of the prophecy-they haven’t really hung out and just talked about things that aren’t quests. For example in the Lighting Thief, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover would play hacky sack and he bonded with both of them when they were stuck in the zoo animal enclosure whatever. Grover told him about finding Pan and being worried since he was supposed to guide Thalia back to camp safely and he wasn’t able to. Annabeth told him about her dreams to become an architect in the Sea of Monsters. 

Those moments of platonic bonding and intimacy are what’s missing from this series. Yes, the plot/the quest of the Seven should be front and center but I don’t feel like they’re a team. They’re just co workers at this point lmao. Hell, I think all of them participating in a conversation and just talking and enjoying each other’s company would actually make me like the HoO characters. Not Piper, she’s irredeemable in my eyes. She belongs to streets. Everyone else has a fighting chance tho. Guys, think about it. They have something in common (that’s number one requirement of friendship) they’re all demigods. They’ve all been scared, under pressure and expectations to save the world, and felt abandoned by their parents at one point or the other. Leo and Frank have said in their narrations that they feel inadequate next to powerful demigods like Percy and Jason. Imagine if Frank and Leo spoke to each other about that and were friends. Or started a dialogue about feeling inadequate and the other demigods could share their insecurities. The Seven are able to work together, that’s true but it doesn’t feel like friendship. It seems like each separate trio from the first two books are friends (Annabeth is in between because she’s friends with Jason and them but also Percy’s girlfriend) and they all just call the other trio friends because what else is there? Quest mates? 

And I’m getting a little upset rn because there have been so many instances where we could’ve gotten some platonic friendship. Piper is learning from Hazel how to sword fight (How this girl has survived without learning an actual weapon how is beyond me. Charmspeak didn’t work very well for her in this book), like we had both their POVs. We could’ve had a training/bonding scene from either perspective. Not just some throwaway line about how they got close because they’re the only girls now that Annabeth was in Tartarus. Why couldn’t we have gotten one scene Rick? What was the reason? Tragic.

Platonic love and relationships exist. And it’s more than just complimenting someone when they use their powers. The scene at the end of the book when the Seven, Hedge, Reyna, and Nico are having lunch together on the hill is a whisper in the right direction. How Jason ‘bear hugged’ Percy when he got out of Tartarus is another example. Though this wasn’t platonic and was more familial but Nico basically accepting Hazel as his siser (On a level that is acknowledging her on the same level as Bianca and not just another kid of Hades/Pluto) by kissing her on the cheek. I know you can do it Rick. You’ve done it before. All I want from the last book in this series is platonic love, answers about how Hazel’s curse will be lifted by a descendant of Neptune, Percabeth, and the Gaea/giants defeated. You can have all the POVs your heart desires if you just give me those things. 

See you guys next week with the Blood of Olympus read with me. My writeblr followers must be tired of me lmao, I swear I’ll get back to normally scheduled content after this. I love writing this kind of rants/reviews even though they take me like 2 hours to write.

[alextriestowritestuff]

Mark of Athena Re-read

Hey guys! If you’ve been keeping up with my last couple of posts, you’ll know I’ve been re-reading the Heroes of Olympus (HoO) series by Rick Riordan, starting with the Son of Neptune. If you want to my thoughts on it (spoilers included) and my background with the series, click here. I made a little bit of rant post about my feelings about the HoO series overall so far and you can find that here! This post will be about the Mark of Athena (MoA) and as always, spoilers abound.

Soooo y’all...I think this book is worse than the Lost Hero. I feel so bad for saying that bc I hated tLH (Like I’d give that book 2 stars) but god, this was so bad. No wonder I forgot what happened when I originally read it. Before I get into it, I will say I’m usually not negative in my ‘reviews’-I’ll give credit where it’s due (I did that in tSoN with Hazel and Frank who weren’t really my fav characters to start with) but this book has very little redeemable aspects imo. So I’ll start with the thing I was most irritated about: Piper.

Piper...Piper...Piper. Gods, none of her chapters ever passed the Bechdel test. I DESPISE her and I hated every single one of her chapters. With characters like Frank, I admitted that sometimes his chapters were a bit boring but I never hated the guy’s narration. Piper, however, is an insecure hypocrite. Let me show you.

So at one point, Annabeth, Piper, and Hazel meet up with Aphrodite. The POV is Annabeth’s and while Aphrodite is talking to them, it seems like Piper is just embarrassed to have her around. 

“Mother!” Piper said. “You’re embarrassing me.” “Well, I don’t see why,” the goddess said. “Just because you don’t appreciate my fashion tips, Piper, doesn’t mean the others won’t. I could do a quick makeover for Annabeth and Hazel, perhaps silk ball gowns like mine—” “Mother!” 

And a few lines later she says again “ ‘Mother, Piper said, “is there a reason you’re here?’” (30). 

Okay so someone tell me why this girl says 10 pages later “But also, Piper was secretly hurt not to have her mother to herself. Aphrodite had barely looked at her. She hadn’t said a word about Jason. She hadn’t bothered explaining her conversation with Reyna at all. It was almost as if Aphrodite no longer found Piper interesting. Piper had gotten her guy. Now it was up to her to make things work, and Aphrodite had moved on to newer gossip as easily as she might toss out an old copy of a tabloid magazine” (40). LIKE GIRL MAKE UP YOUR MIND. Do you want your mom’s attention or not? But I’m highkey interested in what Aphrodite said to Reyna tho.

Let’s talk about Reyna for a second. First off, I feel so bad for her?? Percy turned her down-fine, he has a gf. Then I thought Jason had feelings for her but he says this in MoA, page 19: “It’s just…I never felt that way toward Reyna,” Jason said, “so I didn’t think about its making you uncomfortable. You’ve got nothing to worry about, Pipes”. Like damn can Reyna get any love?? I get that he doesn’t like her anymore since he met Piper but to have never liked her? That’s rough. And notice how this quote is from page 19, but again on p. 40, Piper is still so insecure in their relationship. I don’t she’s listened to a word he said at all. Then towards the end of the book, she says oh I love you but she literally didn’t know the man’s age prior to that. Like what?? Did they even kiss this book? I think like once lmao. Also speaking of the birthday thing, Piper says this while she waits for Jason to blow out his birthday candles.

“Well?” she urged. “Blow out the candles.”

Jason did. Piper wondered if he’d made a wish—hopefully that he and Piper would survive this quest and stay together forever. She decided not to ask him. She didn’t want to jinx that wish, and she definitely didn’t want to find out that he’d wished for something different. 

Me @ Jason: This your girl? Come get her. Because Imma hurt her feelings. What do you mean you want him to wish to stay together forever? He should wish for Gaea to you know die so everyone can be safe. If I ever met Piper in person, I’d fight her. ON SIGHT. 

In a related note, I’ve got nothing to say about Jason. He was fine. He passed out alot during this book, didn’t do much for how hyped his powers are supposed to be. I will say when he and Percy were possessed and they fought each other, Percy totally won that fight. He knocked Jason the hell out and was about to end his whole career until Piper got Blackjack to knock him out. But overall, I think Jason’s rather bland and him and Piper have NO chemistry. But I don’t think he deserves insecure Piper as a girlfriend. She’s a whole ass child of Aphrodite and she’s worried about her relationship...let me move on.

My main issue with the book lies in the structure and plot. The previous two books had 3 narrators and each set of trio had a specific prophecy assigned to them-i.e: Percy, Hazel and Frank had to free death, retrieve the eagle. The prophecies are a catalyst to get them to go on the quest. And then obviously, we have the overarching prophecy of the seven that will come to fruition in small chunks until the last book of the series. That’s fine. So the issue with MoA is that now Rick is handling seven characters + Coach Hedge (like why was he necessary??). He has 4 POVs which threw me the hell off bc we had 3 in the previous two books and honestly, I think we could’ve gone without one of them (Percy’s actually). As a writer, it’s hard to balance multiple characters in the same setting constantly. If they have a conversation, one or two of them will have less lines because other characters have already said them. Therefore to give everyone adequate ‘screen time’, Rick had to separate them by keeping groups of three or two on their own side quest. As a result, however, reading the book felt like I was being brake checked constantly. Ex-We follow Percy, Frank, and Hedge to an Aquarium then we follow Annabeth, Hazel, and Piper to meet Aphrodite, then they encounter the Romans, then Piper and Jason meet Hercules and get the horn and so on. Like they’re constantly shifting and doing stuff but not going as a group so it feels like I’m constantly trying to catch up. There’s too many pit stops for my liking. And I deadass have no idea what most of it had to with the MoA prophecy. 

This disjointed-ness is what makes me rate it lower than tLH. Because while I didn’t like Piper or Jason in that book, it was still cohesive. There was a plot and it was followed. Another reason I might feel this way toward MoA is because Rick has a formula and it’s starting to be predictable. Think about the original Greek myths-there’s one main demigod like Hercules, there’s a quest, there’s godly interference so it makes sense the the PJO/HoO characters have the same thing. But all this talking to gods (esp gods we’ve already met like Aphrodite) is taking up so much space and slowing the plot. It also didn’t help that the minor villians in this book are all unlikeable?? All they did was talk. Otis and Ephialtes. Porchy and Keto. Arachane. All they did was talk. Here’s how to defeat a PJO/HoO villain: con them to help you/let you go or fight them. That’s it. 

This book is where I started to really regret reading the series. Like I was just over it. The plot was somehow slow and all over the place at the same time. The last couple of chapters were good because I was like finally, something relevant to the prophecy is happening. 

Let me leave you guys with some positives about this book though:

1. Annabeth’s POV. What a gal. When she faces Arachane, Annabeth mentions that she doesn’t have an active power like the other Seven but she has her intelligence. And I’m like yes girl, you are brave and everything I want to be. I would read the PJO series from her POV over this series.

2. Percabeth. They kept promising to come back to each other and my heart melted. Percy was so worried about letting her go follow the Mark but he knew it’s what she had to do and he let her go. And ugh, them falling got me all over again. And like just their chemistry is off the charts. Piper and Jason could never. 

3.  Percy’s comments about Luke. Percy realizes that he’s around Luke’s age when Luke went all ‘Gods are bad, their children are pawns’ and like I get chills from reading that passage because you can tell Percy’s tired. He can’t have a life because of these quests, he’s constantly moments away from dying. He never really got a chance to be a teenager. And I get he wants to help people and keep the world from being taken over by bad guys but he’s also human. He’s seen demigods die...he’s traumatized. Like Percy, I really understand Luke better now (right idea, wrong execution) and l see how tired Percy is. 

4. The Leo/Hazel/Frank disaster of a love triangle. Like I’ve mentioned before, I want Hazel, a THIRTEEN YEAR OLD child, to be left the hell alone when it comes to romance. But because Uncle Rick insists on pairing up everyone, I have to oblige. So here I am. The amount of times I cackled at Frank and Leo’s digs at each other is astronomical. Like shots were fired, no one held back. I was like is this even MG/lower end of YA anymore with all this salt?? Over the years I’ve been spoiled about the series so I know that Leo somehow ends up with Calypso so I know nothing will come out of the love triangle (and it seems to be wrapping up bc Leo and Frank complimented each other’s abilities toward the end there) but passive aggressive-ness was peak. 

5. Every single conversation between Reyna and Annabeth. Like two powerhouses talking about wanting to save their camps and the world. I loved it. Hands down. I hope they can be friends when this is all over. 

6. And lastly, the reunion of Percabeth. The Judo flip. The fact that Percy talked about having a future with her. 

Thanks for reading if you made it down here and I’ll see you guys in a couple of days with my House of Hades update. This book and the one after it I’m reading for the first time ever so I’m going in semi blind (like I said, I know some spoilers). I’m currently on chapter 2 or 3 of that and ermm, it was a weak intro but I’ll keep going :) rooting for Percabeth to make it through.