#rereading tsat lmao

[the-italian-wall-lizard]

little reminder that both nico and will feel extreme guilt over how many deaths they haven’t been able to stop.

[nicoappreciation]

Thots on wottg

non-spoilery general review: overall, i liked the book. the reasons why i liked it are the same reasons why i liked cotg. it’s just a silly low-stakes adventure for our main trio peppered with some sincere heartfelt moments. if you liked cotg, you’ll probably like this book too. it’s nothing life changing, but it’s fun.

i’m getting into spoilers under the cut:

okay i’m gonna start with the stuff i didn’t like:

1. NO NICO. okay i know i’m the nico guy so i’m very biased but that aside it genuinely baffles me why nico didn’t even make an appearance. they had a problem involving ghosts and didn’t even think about asking THE GHOST KING for help. it annoys me when authors make their characters ignore a glaringly obvious solution to their problems just for the sake of the plot.

i completely understand if rick doesn’t want nico to be a major character in any more books considering he literally got an entire book about him (and despite his fan-favorite status, he is still a side character), but at LEAST establish a reason for why he wouldn’t be able to help out with raising an army of ghosts from the dead. maybe he’s at camp jupiter visiting hazel. maybe he’s at a mythomagic tournament. SOMETHING.

at least he was mentioned unlike in cotg 😔

(EDIT: i wrote the above section before tsats 2 was announced. given the circumstances, i have officially forgiven rick for this specific transgression)

2. i wasn’t a fan of how annabeth was kind of getting “mom friend”ed. there were a few moments that came off like “percy and grover are just dumb boys and annabeth is the smart capable girl who keeps them in line” which is not an interpretation of their characters that i enjoy. but these moments were mixed in with others that showed them all working together as a cohesive unit with equal contributions from everyone, so it’s not like the entire book follows this thinking.

3. kind of related to the last one, there were quite a few “percy is dumb” moments in the story. or at least percy implying that he’s dumb. now to be fair, percy canonically does not think very highly of himself. it’s entirely believable that he just sees himself as some doofus and is surprised when people tell him that he’s smart. but idk, kinda rubs me the wrong way.

4. why so many pee references. like at some point it’s just excessive.

5. i will always be a hater of rick’s modern pop culture references. i think it’s an established fact that i’m not a fan of his decision to set his books in the “modern day” of whatever specific time they’re released. i just think the worldbuilding would be a lot better if he stuck to a time period.

6. of course, the typical rick riordan inconsistencies and continuity errors. at this point they’re so common they don’t bother me that much anymore, but they can still break my immersion sometimes and it’s just a tad annoying when there are multiple in one book. bro either needs to reread his books or find a better editor lmao.

okay, now for the stuff i liked!!

1. i really liked the cute domestic moments with the trio. i love that we get to see how close their bond has gotten over the years and how comfortable they are with each other. THEY ARE FAMILYYYYY

2. i thought a lot of the book was quite funny, especially with percy’s narration. his commentary with his classic snark and sarcasm really breathe life into the story. rick has always been very good at first-person narration and it’s still one of his major strengths as an author.

3. i like how the story is addressing how big of a deal leaving new york will be for percy. but it’s true that he’s not leaving home, he’s just expanding what “home” means to him. it really fits with the whole “we had one home, now we have two” idea from boo.

4. annabeth growing to be more silly and carefree as she’s gotten older means so much to me. this poor girl has been through so much and was forced to grow up so quickly so seeing her cracking jokes and being a little reckless is so nice to see. she’s healing :D

5. i liked the moments where the story slowed down to allow percy to have a heart-to-heart with grover. we don’t get nearly enough just percy-and-grover moments so the ones we do get are worth appreciating. it’s a great reminder that they have been best friends since the beginning of all of this and they truly care deeply for each other.

6. related to the previous one, but the moments where the plot slowed down in general and allowed percy to demonstrate his emotional intelligence were really great. he was the one who was able to get through to hecuba and gale because he was able to put himself in their shoes and make them feel understood. percy’s empathy is a huge part of his character that so many people in the fandom ignore so it was very nice to see it on display here.

7. like cotg, this was a fun and wacky low-stakes adventure, which is a welcome change of pace. it’s fun to see what everyone is like when they’re not in constant “save the world” mode all the time.

8. the story kind of builds off the message of cotg (“growing older is not only not a bad thing but it’s something to welcome and cherish”), because now that percy has embraced his future and growing older, he needs to figure out what he wants that to mean for him. a change in scenery, a change in people, these are all things that everyone needs to consider as they transition into adulthood. it’s scary to leave the familiarity of your old home and friends, but you’re not TRULY leaving if you put in the effort to maintain those connections. as a young adult starting to move into the next phase of their life (about to graduate, hopefully find a full-time job, might begin to consider moving out of my childhood home), this is a message that resonates a lot with me.

soooo yeah. it was fun, it was sweet, not groundbreaking but not necessarily trying to be. idk how often i’ll return to this book but i don’t regret reading it. peace and love on planet earth.

[thesungod]

On one hand I'm mad about the overall lack of Will content but on the other, every time we got his POV he was just in a constant state of panic attack and I feel like that was really unfair to him lmao??? I want to make RR write a sequel from Will's POV where Apollo takes him on a father-son bonding trip to make up for TSATS

his PoV was pretty nice, but it would have been cool to occasionally see him do something. i feel like the book missed the cool team dynamic of Percabeth or Meg and Apollo. even in HoO we had some really good trios/couple and it was a pleasure to see them work together (The Lost Trio, Reyna and Nico, Percy Frank and Hazel).

solangelo in this book occasionally gave me “why are you together” energy. you know. they also had very cute moments that i loved, but they seemed to be written like “oh no! they’ve been arguing and dying for three chapters now!! insert cute moment!!”

i really liked Will’s mental breakdown over Nico abandoning him in Tartarus and his nightmares over Nico saying he’s just a burden, but i wish it had been resolved better.

honestly i need to reread because i don’t even remember how they resolved it in the end, i just remember being disappointed. lol.

[bookwyrminspiration]

it is a staring off into space eating hot cheetos kind of day but also hey woah what the FUCK is this demon guy. i've gotten to uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. they JUST survived the old man in the maw (HELLO??? sitting here like OHHH A CHORUS OF DRAGONS. also the old vané hag is extremely cool and interesting and possibly a dragon and?????????) and kihrin just talked to taja (which btw SO cool--reminds me of a friend's design of the. face of luck in their oc universe? i canNOT find it rn but it was like it had two faces and it was abt the lack of dichotomy, lack of two things one bad and one good--it is just Both) but i am still thinking abt when he came across the demon w the long name starting with x that i cannot spell?? bc holy SHIT the way that scene was written. OUGH the fear. ough the helplessness. how shaken he was afterwards and yet how he had to carry on, too, but it staying with him. i love when things pick up in books w the timeline thing but i was N O T T expecting this one!!!! that scene was so well written it definitely is sticking in my brain. also i love ola as a character she is just so interesting and the way that she & kihrin interact is so fun to envision lmao... her and kihrin's dad forever trying to figure out how to parent.... ola thinking she's the cooler authoritative figure vs kihrin disobeying both of them With Ease hahaha???

also the discussion of morality in here is v interesting and i would look at it more if i could. maybe upon reread eventually bc if i try to analyze EVERYTHING we're staying in the first fifth of the book forever

!!! I am clapping with excitement irl rn. I don't even know what to comment on first because there's so much I cannot say, just imagine I'm staring at you excitedly over the counter or something rn. Like a cat who wants attention but won't ask for it so is trying to make you initiate

You put together the "a chorus of dragons" -> there are dragons that are important thing much faster than I did. I think I was like 3 books in before I went...wait a minute...maybe the several dragons who keep showing up...for which the series is named...are important...

And the old vané hag!! if you find her interesting let me just tell you. she only gets more interesting from here she's SO fascinating--especially in terms of right and wrong and what's moral and at what point can you no longer justify your actions for the greater good. Book 3 was a TIME for her. And Xaltorath! GOD its such a character. Which is pretty much all I can say except I'm very much looking forward to rereading that scene with the knowledge I have now. Keep an eye out for that demon it's real fucking important and also FULL of foreshadowing. I love how Kihrin's haunted by it, the tangibility of the encounter--it's not a trauma immediately overcome that he forces himself through, it takes genuine time and I love when stories do that.

Oh my god yeah, good luck to any and all parental figures in Kihrin's life </3. That kid is a menace and has the skills to actually implement his dumbassery. The threat of his impulsive reckless ideas can actually be realized. But my god do I love him to pieces <33

And yes!! Morality would be a great topic to analyze in a reread! I intend to look at a lot of things a lot closer the second time around because you're right, the first time is just such a wild ride you literally can't understand and analyze it the same.

You're making it very difficult to keep to my current TBR layout (finish hamlet, then magic of the unicorn, then sinf, then finish toa +tsats, etc) because I want to abandon it to join you <33