***SPOILERS***
If you haven’t read The Blood of Olympus, the last book of the Heroes of Olympus series, then stop reading now!
Now that we got that out of the way. Rick Riordan’s new series, The Trials of Apollo we follow the God Apollo who is being punished for his role in the rise of the Giants in the last series. What’s his punishment? Zeus has made him mortal. This is something that Zeus has done to Apollo before so once again, Riordan has taken directly from the myths and created his own world. We first meet the mortal Apollo in an alley in New York in January, a couple months after the end of the The Blood of Olympus. (For those who’ve read, Riordan’s Norse series with Magnus Chase, the first book in that series also took placed in January. So both of his current series are happening at the same time which may mean there may be some crossover coming) Apollo is as you expect him to be. He’s vain, arrogant and totally can’t believe that Zeus would turn into a human. Again. He is quickly introduced to a new demigod, named Meg who he is now pledge to serve until he completes his trials and Zeus says he can be called a God again. Things are rough for Apollo. 1. His mortal name is Lester. 2. He has none of his godly powers. In archery he only hit the dead center. He only made one person cry when he played the guitar. 3. He has acne. 4. He has no idea of why he’s being punished for one of his son’s role in the rising of the Giants and Gaea. That’s totally not fair but then again when has Zeus ever been fair. With the help of some familiar faces, *cough* Percy Jackson *cough* Apollo is taken to Camp Half Blood where he finds that the sins of his past are coming back to haunt him and also it turns out that not everyone loved him before. With the help of the demigods, Apollo must face the trials to prove his worth and take down probably the biggest threat to humanity so far. No big deal. For those who miss characters from previous books, some show up here and we get updates on a few others and hints that others will be making appearances in later books. But what I like the most about Riordan’s writing is how he incorporates tough subjects into his stories without be heavy handed. Like how he handled Nico’s coming to terms with his sexuality. Here, we have one character deal with emotional abuse. It was heartbreaking to read and I feel it will only get worse before it gets better but no less important to talk about. I also love his sense of humor. Apollo isn’t as sarcastic as Percy or as sassy as Magnus but he is not without a sense of humor. Even when he isn’t in on the joke. All in all, this was a very promising start to the series and I can’t wait to see what happens next when Apollo aka Lester takes the show on the road.
I think this was the best book of the series so far. The world and the characters are now well established so we can get on with the conflict of the story. When we last left off, Garret left after hoping that Ember would tell him to stay. Ember was too raw from the fight with her brother and her dragon side feelings for Riley to say what she truly felt and let him go. They both understood that they are two different species so it probably wouldn’t work out. That’s how they justified it at least. Garret has gone to London where St. George is headquarters to get answers to if the order knows that their are good dragons, while Ember and Riley try to track down who is leaking information on his safe houses. Garret soon finds information that St. George and Talon have been working together and have set a trap for Ember and Riley so off he goes to rescue her. Meanwhile, Ember’s twin brother Dante gets promoted to a secret project that we won’t know it’s true purpose until the next book but it’s definitely not good. Even though he is all in with Talon, he is having some reservations about what he is doing but not enough to stop him from doing what he is told at all cost. So the stakes are much higher. Both Talon and St. George are after them and only if they can work together to break up the alliance. Ember is starting to come into her potential about how powerful she can be but in doing so she finds that what she has to do to survive is not always easy to live with. Killing is never easy. Garret knows that St. George is corrupt but it doesn’t make going against his former order and brothers any easier. Also Riley has been shut down for so long that it’s hard for him to open up to Ember. This book was far more action packed then previous book with a pretty big cliffhanger. One can only hope that everyone gets out alive or at least get a Jon Snow treatment.
Okay I’ve been trying to write this review for days now. How do I put into words how much I loved this book? How much I loved this series? And how much I’m going to miss these characters? I’m not sure I can. On so many levels this was everything I wanted it to be. It was atmospheric. It was at times intense. It was romantic. It was creepy. It was surprising. It had happy endings and ambiguous endings. It answered a lot questions but asked some more. In true Maggie fashion, she closed the door on some story lines but kept others open to interpretation. It had a little bit of everything. I was left wanting more because I am not ready to say goodbye but at the same time I’m satisfied with how she ended it. It’s been over a week since I finished it and I still have so many Feels! I guess I’m not going to write about the plot or the characters because I written about both many times and I don’t want to spoil anything but I will say this. This series should be read by all. Not just by Teens or adults who read YA. It should be read by fantasy lovers even though it’s not a straight fantasy. It should be read by literary fans even though many might turn their nose up to that. It should be read by history lovers, especially those Anglo Saxon fans. It should just be read!. So that’s it. I say see you later to Blue, Gansey, Ronan, Adam, Noah, Maura, Calla, Mr. Gray, Henry and Persephone. This may be our last visit but here’s hoping we will meet again some time down the road.
I have to remind myself that the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) is not the same as Marvel Comic Universe. The Captain America and Iron Man that we have grown to love in the movies are not exactly the same in the comics. They may share some story lines, traits and beliefs but really they are different characters. As is the story is going to be a different story then the movie. For one thing thing, in the comic the story relies kinda heavily on the involvement of both the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, both teams that do not exist in the MCU. So the reasons why the registrations of Superhero’s is necessary had to be changed but the central argument seems to be the same. To have a governing body to oversee superhero activities or continue to have autonomy on their work. I can understand both sides. On one hand, just because you have super human abilities does not mean you are or should be above the law and do what ever you like and then force other people to pay to clean up your mess. On the other hand, you can’t force someone to work for someone without a choice of employers.Not everyone has the same prioritize and they shouldn’t be forced to submit to others. I’m not sure how it’s going to play out in the movie since it doesn’t come out until Friday but I feel like the in the comic they were definitely more Team Captain. Team Iron Man was doing all sorts of shady things. Cloning older superheroes and creating new ones who will follow their directions. Release super villains to track down the rebelling superheroes. Who is supervising them? The more I read the more I felt that people’s anger was misplaced. What started it all was a few Mutants (were they actually X-men?) are filming a reality TV show. They track down other mutants in Stanford, Connecticut. Even though they know they are out matched and they confront them anyway for the sake of better ratings. They end up dying and taking with them a whole bunch of kids from a near by school. Now this is truly a tragedy but why blame all superheroes and not the producers and the network of the show that pushed them to get bigger rantings. I haven’t read all the Civil War collections, as I see their are many, so maybe there are more to this then just that but it seems to me this is blaming all for the actions of few. Say, like blaming the all Muslims for the actions of terrorist even though majority of Muslims live peaceful lives are are just as angry and appalled by the actions of Isis as everyone else. Captain America, The Falcon, Iron Man, The Fantastic Four Spider-Man and so on are not going out looking for trouble they are only responding when there is. That’s a big difference. Maybe regulations should be made but this all of nothing solution that is presented in this is probably not the way. I found this book to be enjoyable. Gave me a lot to think about. Not sure if if really prepared me for what’s to come in the movie since as I said in the beginning these are different beasts but I’m glad I did.
2 Women, So Many Books 