This is the second book in The Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan. It was first published 2011 by Disney-Hyperion Books and the audiobook is narrated by Joshua Swanson. The narrator has some real strange pronunciations of certain names which threw me off but otherwise he was fine. This is a young adult fantasy series and a sequel to the Percy Jackson series.
Percy Jackson is back, he has lost most of his memories and is path’s crosses with the Roman Legion, a camp made for the children of the roman gods. He is searching for one of the few people he remembers, the girl he loves, and is pulled into a quest to save the roman camp and prevent an attack on them by the slumbering titan Gaia.
We are introduced to the black girl Hazel, Nico’s older sister who died and was revived by her brother. She has bad memories of being used by her mother and later on killed by Gaia along with her mother. She is kind enough to sacrifice herself, even when it isn’t earned, and she is in love with the other new character. The other new character is Frank Zhang, who is the son of Mars, a klutz and a bit stupid but kind and he apparently is a master strategist. The master strategy thing is a gift from his father but he barely shows it in the book, he is actually shown to be rather simple, but we are told that he is a master strategist so… I guess he is. And he is in love with Hazel. He also has some strange prophecy over him that when a piece of wood he carries around burns down he will die.
The characters are a bit… strange. Both of them has parts that don’t make sense but are a bit stereotypical. For example, Hazel’s mother made a wish for all the riches of the world in exchange for her to give birth to Hazel. Hazel is cursed to be able to grow any riches such as diamond and gold from anything she touches but anyone who takes it will have misfortune befall upon them. Hazel mother ignores this making Hazel grow them and sell the minerals for money despite people being hurt. She hates her own daughter and later on sells her off to Gaia who uses her as a slave and then kills them both. Her mother is sent to hell but Hazel sacrifices herself, going to hell in her stead. Which sound nice, but makes no sense outside of the stereotype of girls always having to sacrifice themselves to save people. Boys saves the world and girls some random people, often people who don’t deserve it.
Frank is fairly interesting, but making him the strategist is just a weird choice when he is kind, empathic but not very smart. The author really pushes that Gaia fears him more than Percy but doesn’t give any real reason for it outside telling us that he is. Percy is the one who comes up with strategies and fight off monsters so why would she fear Frank more. Because she thinks she can control Percy but not Frank? Is she stupid? Frank’s entire being is about caring about people. Just take one of his friends and she will be set.
I don’t think the author thought this one through. Frank is in the beginning depicted as the one who trust, cares and shows forgiveness to his friends. Why would Percy’s care about his friends be a weakness while Frank isn’t. Both would sacrifice anything for their friends, why did the author change that for Frank in the middle of the book? The characters aren’t unlikable but it feels that they were a work in progress. Like Riordan wasn’t sure what to do with them and just changed it later on when he got an idea of what to do.
We are introduced to the concept of generations of demigods, many being descendants of gods instead of the son/daughter of one. Something the camp half-blood doesn’t have. I’m not sure why that is, the book doesn’t really explain it outside they have a barrier that protect their camp but so does the Greek camp so… Who knows? This also introduces legacy abilities. If someone is descendant of a hero who had a special ability, such as Heracles strength then the descendant gets it as well. These things expand the universe so I forgive that they don’t make much sense when comparing it to the previous books.
Overall, I enjoyed this book more than the first one. I liked the characters more even though there are some residue of the problems with his previous books. Hazel’s main thing is her curse and fear of dying again but Riordan couldn’t help but to throw in two romances in her storyline. The sole girl in the group just must have a romance. Percy Jackson is still over the top awesome, but I kind of forgives it more here because in this series he is actually more experience, but his Mary Sue sticks out compared to Frank who is the son of Mars but struggles and slowly grows into the role of a warrior.
I’m still a bit critical to how Riordan decides to use mythology. Such as the Amazons having men in collars, saying that they aren’t slaves but just are shown their place in society. Considering that Amazon in mythology lived separate from men, only engaging with them to reproduce, the male children where either killed or given to their fathers, his version makes little sense. Them being portrayed as these dominatrix warriors are just… overly sexualized and a stereotype.
Other accounts are at best mentions of Greek mythology. Such as the blind king Phineus who in the book was blinded because he told the secrets of people and was punished by the gods for it. In the mythology there are several different accounts but the three most common is that he either had his sons blinded and was punished for it, or he preferred long life over his sight. With other words, the only common thing between the myth and Riordan’s version is that they were both blind. This kind of use of mythology is common in Riordan and in many cases I wonder if they actually are good example to teach Greek and roman mythologies as many seem to claim. Using mythology loosely in fantasy is fine, but people seem to really think that this is an accurate depiction of the myths…
Now, I was also bothered by something else, which might be a nitpick but it grated on me. In the book, they mention that this was a battle to preserve the roman culture and history. Ensuring that the legion will live on, and who better to do this than a bunch of Americans… Frankly, the only one who has any relations with an actually roman is the Chinese guy Frank. The other’s are full bred American, with Hazel having some distant African blood. No Italians, no Greeks. Nope, the ones who will preserve the entire history of the ancient Roman Empire is the Americans.
So, my final conclusion is that this book is better than the first one. I enjoyed this one more but considering that I dislike most of the Percy Jackson and the first book of this series, I don’t think that says much. I will rate this one a 5 out of 10, making it average, but do consider that this isn’t aimed at me. I’m far older than the intended demographic and I aren’t a boy. Which means that all the things which most likely those in the demographic would enjoy, aren’t things that I would, so despite me not liking others most likely will.
With Kind Regards
Senefer.
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