The Lost Hero (2010)

This is the first book in the Heroes of Olympus series by Riordan. There are five books planned for this series, the series is a spin-off from the Percy Jackson series and takes place after the last Percy Jackson book. I enjoyed the book, it was well done. If you enjoyed the Percy Jackson series I think you would enjoy this book as well. You don’t have to read the Percy Jackson series to understand what is going on in this book, however that series does provide a lot of excellent background for this new series.

I listened to this on audiobook and really enjoyed it. The narrator did an excellent job with the different character voices and with conveying the characters’ emotions. This book uses a different narrator than the Percy Jackson series which was a good idea for starting a new series like this. I would definitely recommend listening to this on audiobook if you enjoy audiobooks.

The book is told from three points of view. Jason, Piper, and Leo all go to the Wilderness School for troubled children. Jason, however, has no memory of how he got there or who he is. Piper is the daughter of a famous actor and has a secret of her own. Leo can build things, pretty much out of nothing. All three of them end up at Camp Half-Blood and are sent on quest to help the Gods face a new and dangerous enemy.

This book was a solid addition to the extended Percy Jackson world. This book features a different set of characters. It's a bit formulaic, but I liked the Percy Jackson books so I am okay with more of the samish type of story done in a different sort of way.

All of the characters are very engaging, easy to relate to and interesting. They all have a lot of depth to them and have secrets and mysteries they need to unravel. As in the Percy Jackson books, all three of them need to figure out who their godly parent is.

They go on a quest to free Hera from capture and along the way find out they are facing an enemy even more dangerous than the Titans. I won’t say a lot more than that about the plot. As with previous books by Riordan there are lots of excellent action scenes and encounters with crazy and creepy mythological creatures. There is a lot of humor throughout as well which makes these books a fun read.

I pretty much liked all of the characters equally. It was nice to have part of the story from a girl’s (Piper’s) perspective. This should make the book a bit easier for young girls to relate to as well. I enjoyed the characters’ interesting powers too.

As I said above the layout of the book is very similar to other books Riordan has written; the characters get a quest, fight an evil monster, travel, fight another evil monster, travel to beat a tight timeline and then confront a very big bad monster. I enjoy the action and the mythological creatures, so I happen to enjoy the story even if it is similar in structure to previous ones.

I love how this books builds on the Percy Jackson series some. We do hear about the characters from the Percy Jackson series and they are in the story some. They don’t play a major part in the story, but they are there in the background and occasionally the foreground influencing events and helping out our new characters.

Overall this was a very enjoyable and entertaining read. I loved the expansion on the world we were introduced to in the Percy Jackson series. I enjoyed the new characters a lot and found them interesting and easy to engage with. I love the new plot and the new big bad enemy that these heroes have to face. I also enjoyed the mythological fights and creatures that we run into throughout the story. I definitely recommend this to fans of middle grade fantasy. I also recommend to anyone who enjoyed the Percy Jackson series. I can’t wait to read The Son of Neptune now! ( )

4Q 4P.
This novel is a continuation of the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series and I think I am in a unique position to review it having never read any of the Percy Jackson novels. Although Percy Jackson is mentioned many times in the novel I did not find this a hindrance to my enjoying and understanding this book. I gave it a 4 in Quality because it is an exciting adventure novel, with great characters (both heroes and villains) and all the Greek and Roman mythology makes it just that much more engaging. I gave it a 4 in popularity because I can see some YA's needing a push to read this (particularly due to its length). Jason awakens on a school bus with no idea who he is, although everyone else seems to know him. By the end of some 500 odd pages his memory is still not completely restored although he has; realized he is the son of the Greek god Zeus, been on an epic quest to save Olympus, found a "family" in his friends, and started to fall in love with a daughter of the Godess Aphrodite. He has also flown on a metal dragon, killed giants and cyclops, and saved his maybe-girlfriends dads life. This jam packed first novel in Rick Riordans new series leaves little to be desired for new readers, and is probably just what Percy Jackson fans have been anxiously waiting for.

I really liked his new angle with this. Bringing in the Roman aspect of Greek mythology was a stroke of genius. Along with the original series, reading these books is a great way to bring something that normally could seem dated and in danger of being misconstrued as dull into a contemporary and exciting context. Riordan has a gift! ( )

I loved Riordan's first effort in his new Heroes of Olympus series, The Lost Hero. It's probably just the geeky social studies teacher in me, but I was really excited to see the blend of both Greek and Roman mythology. (It's just a crazy coincidence that we were learning about Ancient Rome while I was reading it—really, just a coincidence. But a pretty cool one.) As much as I enjoyed the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series—and I did enjoy them thoroughly—I have to admit that by the last few books, I had a tendency to zone out from time to time while reading them because they tended to have that "same old, same old" feeling to them. This new series brought a fresh perspective to the universe that Rick Riordan has created. Old favorites—Annabeth, Thailia, Chiron, and Rachel, the new oracle—are back for bit parts, but the new characters—Jason, Piper, Leo, and Coach Hedge—are just as well written as the PJ&tO counterparts. The next book in the series is nicely set up; my old issue is that we have to wait until this fall to read it. Five enthusiastic stars! ( )

November 6-9, 2011

Another quick listen. I really really liked the new characters in this book, and I enjoyed seeing Percy Jackson's world again, even if he wasn't in this one. :( But Jason was AWESOME, and Piper was GREAT! I was a bit afraid that Leo would be Jar Jar Binks-ish, but he totally grows on you, and quickly. I still thought the narrator's voice for Annabeth was strange, but whatevs. I'm over it.

Overall, a really great start/continuation of the series! Now... on to the next one...

February 15-18, 2011

I think it says something that this audiobook was 17 hours long and I finished it in 3 days, two of which I was working... I wasn't the BIGGEST fan of the narrator. I didn't think his voices were right for many of the characters, especially the girls. (His voice for Annabeth, especially was really stilted and formal... It was weird.) But the story? Rick Riordan is pretty awesome! He knew we all wanted more Percy Jackson, and this was the PERFECT way of getting it without Riordan just writing endless PJ sequels.

I really like Percy, but I really really really like Jason, too. And not just because my husband's name is Jason, either! I thought he was a great great character! Piper was AWESOME, too! I was a little worried when I found out she was a daughter of Aphrodite (*eyebrow raise*), and she was not terribly confident at the beginning, but through the course of the book, she gets over that and turns out to have some pretty cool demigod powers. And Leo? Obviously the comic relief, but I instantly warmed to him. I mean, Hephaestus? The ugly one? But Leo's powers rocked! I was like, "Can I be a child of Hephaestus?" :)

Anyway, cool cool book. Terribly cliffhangery ending. Can't wait until the next book in the trilogy!! :) ( )