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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The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1) by Rick Riordan 4.5/5 stars

Hey, guys!  This review was a long time coming.  I am an avid fan of Rick Riordan.  With his great success with Percy Jackson and the Kane Chronicles, I was fairly sure that I would find Magnus Chase amazing as well.  However, something about deciding to read a new series (realistically made for twelve-year-olds) that I would continue all the way through college was a bit of a stretch.  I'm glad that I did though.

The Cover:

The Cover:

It shows Magnus holding the Sword of Summer (nicknamed Jack in the books) with the World Tree (the backbone of all the Norse worlds) in the background and Fenrir the wolf in the foreground.  I don't really like it. It seems unnecessarily busy, a simple image would have sufficed.  No one is reading this book for its cover anyways.  B- cover.

Official Description:
Magnus Chase has always been a troubled kid. Since his mother’s mysterious death, he’s lived alone on the streets of Boston, surviving by his wits, keeping one step ahead of the police and the truant officers.
One day, he’s tracked down by a man he’s never met—a man his mother claimed was dangerous. The man tells him an impossible secret: Magnus is the son of a Norse god.
The Viking myths are true. The gods of Asgard are preparing for war. Trolls, giants and worse monsters are stirring for doomsday. To prevent Ragnarok, Magnus must search the Nine Worlds for a weapon that has been lost for thousands of years.
When an attack by fire giants forces him to choose between his own safety and the lives of hundreds of innocents, Magnus makes a fatal decision.
Sometimes, the only way to start a new life is to die...

My Review:
I enjoyed this book.  It was light and silly, much more so than the last few Rick Riordan books.  For example, the goofy chapter titles are back!  It wasn't at a laugh-out-loud level, but it definitely was at endearing-smile level.  At times, the goofiness seemed a bit much, specifically Magnus's sword in that it talked and was named Jack; however, it was still nice.
The characters were all unique.  Magnus comes from a completely different background than a lot of us do, and I thought it added a cool dimension to the story and his character.  Sam, the second main character, is one of the few female characters I've seen who have been strong/able to fight well without being completely two dimensional.  Cudoos to you, Mr. Riordan.  
While being fantastical and entertaining, it was also relevant to a lot of problems that kids face. Major characters faced problems with family that a lot of children can relate to directly.  It's important for them to know that they are not alone, and this book did a really nice job with that.
The plot was quick and interesting...  At least after a hundred pages in.  There was a lot of world building in this book that was lumped in the beginning. I believe the second book and past will have a faster start.
One thing that I couldn't decide if were good or bad but were certainly interesting was the nods to the Percy Jackson series.  From a chapter title to a joke about how to hide a sword to Annabeth being Magnus's cousin, these references were everywhere.  I would definitely recommend reading that series first to get the references as well as the fact that its a great series.

Phrases:
And then we died

Happy Reading!

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The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan (So Beyond Awesome)

I've been excited for this book to come out for about a week more than a year.  It didn't disappoint.  In fact, I think it's my favorite book by Rick Riordan so far.  If you haven't read any of the previous books in this series before, then you are in the wrong place.  Without further ado, the cover:

 

 

It shows Percy fighting Jason with the owl, the mark of Athena, in the background.  It's an amazing cover, even if it ended up not being what I expected it would be.

 

Description:  The Argo 2 sets sail for Rome with the seven demigods on it... and a slightly violent satyr as supervisor.  While they wind their way to Rome, a feud rises between the two camps.  Annabeth is charged with the important, yet impossible task of following the mark of Athena, which has the slightest chance of bringing peace to the camps.  With monsters, ballerina-wanna-be giants, and Diet Coke-drinking gods appearing everywhere, getting to Rome might be even harder than expected.

 

This was the most amazing story that I've read in at least two years.  It was suspenseful and sweet and sort of sad and amazing and so much more.  I actually laughed out loud way too many times to count.  This was the most hilarious, touching, and exciting of all of Rick Riordan's books so far.  It was SO amazing!

 

The next book, is The House of Hades.  The title's meaning you can guess once you finish reading it.

 

You may know how there was supposed to be a cliffhanger at the end and a part that Rick "got teary-eyed" writing.  I know now without a doubt what he was talking about.  It was so freaking sweet!  The whole second to last chapter has replayed in my mind so many times since I finished reading it.  About five minutes after I finished the book, I started crying because the ending was just so so so sweet.  You'll see what I mean.

 

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who lives.  Seriously, go read it.  Read the rest of the series first and then read it.

 

On a kinda-sorta related note, I saw Rick Riordan in Charlotte, NC yesterday.  That was super exciting and I listened to him talk about everything.  I made a couple of friends with the people around me and got to be in the third row, so that was awesome.  For the record, he didn't mean for The Mark of Athena to age in its maturity level.  And I officially love his "British" accent.

 

 But, I didn't have a chance to ask my question, so if you are going to one of the events and want to ask a question but don't have one, try to ask this.  "What monster did you feel the most evil about sending after the characters?"  I bet there's a good answer to this.  Write in the comments if you do and please tell me what he said.

 

Sorry that I've been so late, lately.  I'm going to try to post a lot to make up for all of the books on my to review list, soon.

 

PS I'd love to talk about Mark of Athena with basically anyone.  Please, please comment because I don't know anyone else who has finished and I really want to talk about it! 

 

Thanks for reading!



The Mark of Athena cover, first chapter, and my thoughts

Here's the cover.  Mine's not really good quality, but if you zoom in, there's really detailed faces.  You should check it out.  Get prepared for everything I think about it.  Left to right.

1. Jason vs Percy  (one's blond, the other's black haired)
2. venti vs pegasus
3. imperial gold vs celestial bronze
4. storm vs water
5. purple vs orange
6. Romans vs Greeks
7. owl = the sign (mark) of athena (hence the title)
8. owl's left eye is either way less angry than the right eye, or it's just not winking.

If I had to say, I'd think Jason was winning because there's lightning on Percy's side and no water on Jason's side. 

No matter what, I'm officially psyched.  Oh, and here is the link to the official first chapter link.

What's your opinion?