REVIEW: Juvenile novel attracts grown-up readers
“The Lost Hero,” by Rick Riordan, is the first book in the second series set in an alternate reality where the ancient Greek gods rule the world, disguised right inside it all over North America. The gods didn’t stick with ancient Greece after it fell, see, they followed the center of power to Rome and took on the Roman names and characteristics, and continued throughout time to be wherever the epicenter of civilization was. Each major and minor god has a distinctly developed personality and specific role in the nuances of the world as we know it. The imagination that went into creating the world of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” and this series, “The Heroes of Olympus” – which happens to be above the Empire State Building, these days – make the read worthwhile all by themselves, in my opinion.
After the highly popular first series – five books featuring a half-mortal, half-god, American kid who finds out he is the son of sea god Poseidon – author Riordan promised that although that chapter was closed, it wouldn’t be the last readers would see of the intricate fantasy world.
Monsters, nymphs and other magical objects and creatures all have a role in helping or hindering the major players: gods, demigods, giants and titans.
“The Lost Hero” follows much the same basic plot as the first set of novels. A half-mortal child of a god –demigod– discovers who he is, makes friends, fights for his life, goes on a quest and ends up in charge of saving the world. What surprised me going into this – apprehensively, since I enjoyed the first series and didn’t want to ruin it – was the originality in the details Riordan substitutes in for the familiar quest story. This story pits Jason, Piper and Leo, three friends from a school for troubled kids who come to find out they are demigods, against even bigger, better monsters than the entire demigod cadre faced in the first series, right off the bat.
They make it to Camp Half-Blood, sanctuary of heroes, where they are almost immediately sent off again when they become the subjects of a Great Prophecy involving the eternal war between the Olympian gods and their foes.
If this seems like a lot to take in, it is. I wouldn’t recommend reading it if you haven’t read the first series, because Riordan doesn’t take time to introduce concepts his readers should already be familiar with. That said, it is light reading written to a middle-school-age audience and easy to follow. At the same time, kids that age expect some excitement from their novels, and Riordan delivers it in adult-size doses anyone can enjoy.
What surprised me about this book was how immediately clever it was. Three different times in the first two chapters I had to stop and read aloud a line or short exchange between characters that was just so funny and well-written everyone else in the room had to hear it – and I was not the only one laughing. The characters are all their own and mesh perfectly into Riordan’s vision of modern-day Olympians. This new book even adds a sprinkling of the Roman version, which makes it an interesting change from the first series and educational at the same time.
The settings are in real, familiar places like Omaha, Detriot, Quebec and California, but not the way we know them. Lots of cities have defining characteristics, and Riordan offers mythical explanations and additions. For example, Chicago is already known as the windy city, but did you know that’s because it’s the playground of the storm spirits, or that Pikes Peak sometimes looks purple because it is reflecting the extremely purple home of Olympus’ weatherman, Aeolus, which floats next to it? Me neither!
What didn’t surprise me was that some of it was a little ho-hum. If you are not interested in the story, it may not be exciting enough for you as Riordan stops to lay background or foreshadow and connect dots for younger readers. I also wasn’t surprised that he uses what works and some elements seem recycled from the first series. The book ends with one battle out of the way, but the war wages on, so perhaps the following books will veer away from some slight repetitiveness.
While I kind of hope the series doesn’t spawn another book-to-film like this year’s “Lightning Thief,” I definitely will look forward to the next installment as the adventure to understand the Great Prophecy continues.
This book is a great choice for someone who already likes the fantasy genre (yes, Harry Potter counts), anyone interested in ancient history or mythology, or those who work with kids or having children or siblings.
– chelsey.gensel@aggiemail.usu.edu