The second installment of Rick Riordan’s spinoff series, The Heroes of Olympus, is The Son of Neptune. The series began with The Lost Hero, which I read while I was studying abroad in England. This book reintroduces Percy Jackson, who is the protagonist from the original series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I reviewed that awhile ago, too. I know it’s confusing, but are you still with me?
I think both of Riordan’s Olympians series are the cleverest applications of mythology I’ve ever read. I laugh out loud at the goofy pop culture references and really appreciate the way Riordan updates the myths to fit modern times. This book is no different in those respects. Riordan leaves Jason Grace behind at Camp Halfblood and refocuses on Percy, who finds himself wandering around America continually battling monsters who don’t stay dead. This would be the usual for a demigod like him, but something is making his life a lot harder than usual: he can’t remember who he is or where he belongs. Luckily Juno appears and gives Percy two options. He can carry her to across the river and see his friends again, or he can retreat to the sea and live a long and happy life. Percy, being the courageous hero he is, chooses the former.
When Percy crosses the river (after defeating the Gorgons who were chasing him) he finds himself at Camp Jupiter. Once he is accepted into the camp as a Roman demigod, Percy is assigned a quest. He departs for Alaska with Frank Zhang (a son of Ares) and Hazel Levesque (a daughter of Pluto) to free Thanatos, the god of death. Until they do this, monsters will not stay dead once they are killed; instead, the creatures will continue to be undefeatable and terrorize the camp. Once the quest begins, Frank, Hazel, and Percy find out more about their pasts, presents, and futures than they ever expected. Above all, Percy hopes to find Annabeth and recover his memory, but with un-killable monsters and giants as obstacles, that’s a lot to ask.
This book delivers what I’ve come to expect from Riordan: lots of jokes, witty mythological tie-ins, and suspenseful cliffhangers. It really was fun to read, while also making me excited for the next part of the series: The Mark of Athena. It’s funny that all I wanted was to know how Percy was doing while I read The Lost Hero, because now that I know Percy’s okay I want to make sure that Jason, Grover, Annabeth, and the rest of Camp Half-Blood are as well. I guess I’ll have to read the next book soon.
One of Riordan’s talents is being able to equally develop a large cast of characters and connect the reader with each one. The other aspect of this book I really liked was that it continued to illustrate the differences between the Greek and Roman world: things are much more regimented on this side of the little Tiber and the gods aren’t as easygoing (for the record, they aren’t as funny either). More than anything else, Riordan’s novels are done well, and The Son of Neptune was a continuation of this. I’ve yet to see an adaptation of mythology made (whether it be film, TV, or books) for adults that works as well and is as sharp as Riordan’s young adult books. It’s safe to say that I’m still a huge fan.