GoodRead - The Son of Neptune

Last year, I read my first Rick Riordan novel, The Lost Hero (not read my review? Here you go!) and I said I would read the first book in the Percy Jackson series before I dare return to the Heroes of Olympus. Well... I lied. Not on purpose as I read The Son Of Neptune because the mood took me to my kindle and this title called to me. I know some of you Percy Jackson fans will try and hunt me down because HOW DARE I! But... please, I am planning to read the series, I am. Not sure when but I am planning to...

So now we have that out of the way, let's talk. Around 8 months after The Lost Hero, Percy Jackson finds himself running from gorgons that refuse to die. He has no memory bar one - Annabeth. But before long, he finds himself in the safety of Camp Jupiter, camp of Roman demigods, and friends with Frank and Hazel. And then, we discover the Prophecy of Seven and, would you believe it, but Percy, Hazel and Frank must go to Alaska, rescue Death and return to Camp Jupiter in several days or everyone at Camp Jupiter will die...

No pressure! No pressure at all when the enemy is Gaia - aka MOTHER EARTH!

Before I go any further, I want to talk about the UK cover. I LOATHE the UK cover. I'm sorry if you like it/love it, but no. It just makes me a little furious at I'm not sure why. I much prefer the US cover (see below). But, weirdly, saying that, I much prefer the UK cover to Mark of Athena, the third book in the series, compared to the US cover.

*takes deep breath* Right. Now I have that out of the way...

I really liked this book. It was fast pace, fun and slightly addictive read. Very much like how I was when I read The Lost Hero. Plus, it was cool for me as this was the first time I met/read Percy. And I enjoyed him. I get why you PJ fans LOVE him. But I do think I need to backtrack and read the books in the Percy Jackson series to fully understand your love for him.

It was interesting, seeing as how in The Lost Hero (and in the Percy Jackson series), we have been at Camp Half-Blood and dealing with the ins-and-outs of Greek mythology and now, we are attacking Roman mythology and seeing how the two camps have NEVER met (good job, by the way, Rick) and how the Gods from one camp affects the other camp (Again, good job). And we saw the differences with these camps, also. There were characters in Camp Jupiter which saw very Ancient Roman traits to them (the power-hungry, backstabbing, etc) which you won't see in Camp Half-Blood because they're not very Ancient Greek of them. We saw this in the character Octavian, a character WE ARE MEANT TO DISLIKE! And yeah... I did not like him...

I did have one problem with this book and I know I am going to get shouted at because of all you Percy fans but, here goes. As someone who hasn't read the previous Percy Jackson and has dived right, there were moments I just went "Wait! what?" in this book. I know this is linked to Percy's history and, if I have read the previous, I would get that. But I don't, and I can imagine some readers doing what I am doing and going "Wait! How does Nico know Percy?", "Wait. Why isn't Percy bowing to Mars?" or "And why doesn't Percy like lightening?". These are titbits to all you Percy Jackson fans out there, but if you haven't... you'll be scratching your head going "Huh?"

But I am enjoying this series. I am. I have Mark of Athena in my To-Read pile and I plan on reading it in the next few months (or next year so I read 3 Heroes of Olympus books is one quick-ish go!) so... yes... am going to try and read Mark of Athena soon (if not, Lightening Thief)!

Oh, for those of you wondering which Camp I belong to...

I think I would prefer to go to Camp Half-Blood, but I am going to be excited over how each of them (4 from Camp Half-Blood and 3 from Camp Jupiter) are going to get on... LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!

GoodRead - The Lost Hero

Me having The Lost Hero on my Kindle is a weird story. One day, after hearing goodness knows how many  people on YouTube and Twitter talk about how AMAZING his books are, investigated and found that the first book in each of his series were full priced and yet, the third or last books were £1.99. After questioning this on Twitter (I forget that people READ my tweets), Amazon changed the price of all the first books in his series to £1.99. ACE! Thank you Puffin! Hence me downloading both the first book in the Percy Jackson series, Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief, and the first book in the Heroes of Olympus series, The Lost Hero. Several months passed and I haven't read either (Have you not see my To Read piles?!) and, after treating myself to the third book in the Heroes of Olympus series, The Mark of Athena, for a £5 (that's less than a penny per page! And that includes the glossary!), I was going to read this book. You know, guys, I jump into the middle of a series and work backwards. But no, I decided to go back to the first book in the Heroes of Olympus series, The Lost Hero.

When Jason, Piper and Leo go to the Grand Canyon, they have no idea that, within hours, they will appear in Camp Half-Blood, being told that they are demigods and one of their parents is a Greek Gods. Camp Half-Blood is the safest place for a demigod to be. Expect Camp Half-Blood is missing a hero - Percy Jackson - and a scary prophecy. With the three embarking on a dangerous quest, which has to be completed by the winter solstice (which is happening in 4 days!), the three have problems. Jason has happened his memory wiped and keeps calling the gods by their Roman names, not their Greeks and with both Piper and Leo keeping secrets, can the trio succeed?

Am going to be honest: this was a fun and slightly addictive read. Do you know how rare that is? I found myself enjoying clicking through the pages, trying to figure out what happen what's going to happen next. And with Rick writing every two chapters from either Jason, Piper and Leo's point of view, you read the chapters quickly to keep the story going fast-pace and you want to return to your fave character (I liked all of them, but Leo has a place in my heart as he was the book's light relief). Plus, the idea of Greek mythology and Roman mythology clashing together - BRILLIANT idea!

I know some of you true fans will be shocked as Percy's not in this book - THE OUTRAGE!!! But, trust me, it is explained! I promise. It is explained and you guys will then get mad at Rick...

Now, I have to say something before I go on. After I finished The Lost Hero, and tweeted people to say I read it and was excited to read the next book in the series, The Son of Neptune, I made a tiny mistake. I told people on Twitter that The Lost Hero was my first Rick Riordan's book. Oh, the shock on Twitter about this news! Mainly from my booky pals of @wingedreviews, @JeremyWest, @JeffreyWest, @livin_thru_arts & @CassJayTuck. They were SHOCKED that I read The Lost Hero without reading the Percy Jackson series. Guys, if I knew you Percy Jackson's fans were so dedicated...!

Ok, I wanted to read The Lost Hero. I just fancied reading it. No other reason! It was that or Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (I read both in the end! Am still reading Beautiful Creatures at the time of writing this, although by the time you read this, I should be finished and writing/editing my review). And while I read The Lost Hero, there was references to the Percy Jackson's series, but I thought I was fine reading. It was very much "Yes, this war happened, but you don't need to worry about that. Worry about the war you're in the middle of now!" so I was fine reading it.

I did promise them that, before I continued reading the Heroes of Olympus series, I will read Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief. So, that will probably be my next Rick Riordan book or The Red Pyramid (as that's the first book in the series that tackles myths for Ancient Egypt [which I'm a sucker for!]). So... yeah... I might be a new fan to Rick Riordan if he keeps the writing and story telling as addictive as it was in The Lost Hero!