September 30, 2016

The Hidden Oracle (Trials of Apollo #1) by Rick Riordan 5/5 stars

Hey, guys! I finally caved and read The Hidden Oracle. It was great. I was expecting to be disappointed like I was in the new Magnus Chase series (which I finished and though, "Well, I've aged out"). I was happily surprised. It looks like Trials of Apollo will be back on the level of Rick Riordan's earlier books. It feels most like the classic Percy Jackson and the Olympians than anything else he's written recently.

The Cover:
The Cover:
I love this cover. It shows Apollo, separated from his godly side (symbolized by the statue of the sun god that stood in front of the Colosseum) in a NYC alleyway, with trash cans in the foreground. I love it! It symbolizes the story well, has a nice design, and actually ties into the story. A+ cover

Official Description:
How do you punish an immortal?
By making him human.
After angering his father Zeus, the god Apollo is cast down from Olympus. Weak and disorientated, he lands in New York City as a regular teenage boy. Now, without his godly powers, the four-thousand-year-old deity must learn to survive in the modern world until he can somehow find a way to regain Zeus's favour.
But Apollo has many enemies - gods, monsters and mortals who would love to see the former Olympian permanently destroyed. Apollo needs help, and he can think of only one place to go . . . an enclave of modern demigods known as Camp Half-Blood.


Point of View:
First person from Apollo's perspective

My Review:
The Hidden Oracle is the first book in Rick Riordan's new series that I can tell will be amazing. The chapter title are all bad haikus from the god of poetry, there are fun cameos by previous characters, and new monsters. 

The characters are all great. Riordan did not follow his usual crutch of using his previously well-liked characters for every scenario (though they did occasionally feature). He made new characters, a lot with a different set of powers than we are used to. Apollo was especially great. He is funny, self-absorbed, and still mildly heroic, definitely a fun character to read about. The supporting cast was also well-developed and entertaining to read about.

The story was exciting, despite few grand quests. In fact, the characters didn't even leave the border of Camp Half Blood for the majority of the book, but it still kept my attention.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Hidden Oracle. I think that Rick Riordan has finally gotten his stride back. I look forward to reading the sequel (and the rest of the series)! I would recommend reading The Hidden Oracle. It could be a standalone, but it does contain spoilers for the Percy Jackson series and the Heroes of Olympus series. 

Phrase:
Combat ukelele

If You Liked This Book, You May Also Like:
A World Without Heroes
The Sword of Summer
Five Kingdoms series

If you're looking for a good book, check out my Suggestions Page!

Happy Reading!

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