The Lost Hero

Rick Riordan's new promise- two books a year!- had me skeptical about the quality of The Lost Hero. I mean, how much attention can you devote to a novel when you're writing 576 pages in so short a time, juggling two series', no less? In particular, after the plunge in quality of The Red Pyramid, Riordan's first book in the new series The Kane Chronicles, I thought he'd peaked with the conclusion of the Percy Jackson series. Not to mention that The Lost Hero is the first of a spinoff series of Percy Jackson, and really, how good could a spinoff be? Percy Jackson ended well, all were happy, the conflicts were all resolved- what more could Riordan write about?

Well, actually, a lot. And, surprisingly, he could write it very well. The Lost Hero brings back all the fun and cleverness of Percy Jackson, with fun new characters and whole realms of information about the Greek gods and goddesses to dive into. Three new demigods are introduced: Jason, Piper, and Leo, all older teens, enrolled in a school for delinquent kids. But there's one catch: as the story opens, Jason awakens on the bus to the Grand Canyon, holding hands with Piper, listening to Leo: with no idea who they are, where they are, or even who he is. As the book goes on, and they find out the obvious- they're demigods!- yet another conundrum is introduced, one which hooks readers of the Percy Jackson series immediately: Percy Jackson is missing.

The plot follows the typical arc of Percy Jackson: the heroes go to Camp Half-Blood, receive a quest, and set out on it to appease the gods for some reason or another. This time, the reason is to fulfill the mysterious Great Prophecy that has been made about them, to stop the stirrings of a new and dangerous enemy, and discover the reason why the gods of Olympus have gone silent. Along the way, they encounter minor gods and characters from Greek mythology in adventurous escapades.

The opening is brilliant, hooking readers from the very beginning, intrigued by Jason's memory loss. And if that didn't hook the readers, the appearance of Annabeth her announcement of Percy's disappearance certainly does. The three new demigods make a good team; they're funny and complement each other well. And as an older reader, it makes me feel less geeky and childish to read these books if the characters are around my age, as they are (finally) in this book. The backwards romance between Jason and Piper (due to his memory loss) is cute, just present enough to satisfy girl readers without totally isolating the pre-teen boy audience. Though sometimes juggling three main characters is tough, Riordan seems to have no problem with it, alternating chapters from each's perspective, and creating very real characters. Not only are they ethnically diverse (Piper's half Native American, Leo's Latino), but Riordan also excels at making strong female characters: first Annabeth, now Piper. They're very different, but each can stand up for herself.

Familiar characters also abound in this one at Camp Half-Blood, though some are sadly lacking, such as Clarisse, the harsh and crazy daughter of Ares, and Grover, Percy's best friend the satyr. But old characters are brought back to play a more prominent position in the story, giving the world of Percy Jackson a fleshed-out feel.

Riordan said he decided to focus on minor gods and goddesses more in this series, and that's evident in the characters the three demigods meet on their quest. Even I, who know a lot about Greek gods and goddesses, hadn't heard of most of the gods he met. They were well-sketched, interesting, funny. Riordan manages to pack so much information about them just by their surroundings and personality that I feel I could almost base a school report off the book. I hardly feel like I'm being taught anything due to his clever presentation of the information.

Riordan took it even farther in this book by beginning to deal with the Roman gods as well, and the simultaneous existence of the two. I loved this part of the book, since the idea of Roman gods always bothered me while reading the original Percy Jackson series. My only complaint was that after a while, the constant pit-stops to meet a new minor god got old. I just wanted to find out the answers to all my questions: Where's Percy? Why can't Jason remember anything? Who are they fighting against? Why are the gods silent?

Most of these questions aren't answered until the very end. In this way, Lost Hero is dissimilar to Percy Jackson, reading more like a mystery than an adventure. Riordan drops several clues along the way, so that I had my suspicions about the mystery of Jason and the identity of the new enemy due to a history project I did two years ago... but I didn't fully get it, or guess where Percy was, until the very last sentence of the book. And what a brilliant ending it was! The whole plot worked so well, tied together so flawlessly, in such an intriguing way... I could say so much more about it, but obviously it would spoil the entire book. Suffice it to say that I'm very excited for the rest of the series!

My friend and I figured it out- we'll be in college by the time this series will end, at the rate of one book per year. We have no doubt we'll still be reading them then, too, even if the other kids make fun of us. Actually, I have no doubt that I'll still be reading many children's books and young adult books far into my college years. Immature as Riordan's humor can be, it's clean and truly funny. Though without flowery words, he creates vivid images. And young as his characters are, they're relatable and funny. All in all, one of Riordan's best, highly recommended, an excellent piece of good, clean fun!