Guest Post: The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

Well since I was too busy to write a review on The Son of Neptune, I decided to ask my friend, Marc, to write it for me. I also thought that it would be interesting to see what a guy's point of view on a book would be, since not many boys these days enjoy the awesomeness of reading and as we all know have a totally different thought process then girls do. Enjoy!

Reading Level: Ages 10 and up
Hardcover: 544 pages
Release Date: October 4, 2012
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
Genre: Mythology

Heroes of Olympus

Book One: The Lost Hero
Book Two: The Son of Neptune
Book Three: The Mark of Athena
Book Four: House of Hades (2013)
Book Five: Unknown (2014)

Order On Amazon: Hardcover
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Author's
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Goodreads Summary:

Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,
To storm or fire the world must fall.
An oath to keep with a final breath,
And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.

Percy is confused. When he awoke from his long sleep, he didn't know much more than his name. His brain fuzz is lingering, even after the wolf Lupa told him he is a demigod and trained him to fight with the pen/sword in his pocket. Somehow Percy manages to make it to a camp for half-bloods, despite the fact that he has to keep killing monsters along the way. But the camp doesn't ring any bells with him. The only thing he can recall from his past is another name: Annabeth

Hazel is supposed to be dead. When she lived before, she didn't do a very good job of it. Sure, she was an obedient daughter, even when her mother was possessed by greed. But that was the problem - when the Voice took over her mother and commanded Hazel to use her "gift" for and evil purpose, Hazel couldn't say no. Now because of her mistake, the future of the world is at risk. Hazel wished she could ride away from it all on the stallion that appears in her dreams.

Frank is a klutz. His grandmother says he is descended from heroes and can be anything he wants to be, but he doesn't see it. He doesn't even know who his father is. He keeps hoping Apollo will claim him, because the only thing he is good at is archery - although not good enough to win camp war games. His bulky physique makes him feel like an ox, especially infront of Hazel, his closest friend at camp. He trusts her completely - enough to share the secret he holds close to his heart.

Beginning at the "other" camp for half-bloods and extending as far as the land beyond the gods, this breathtaking second installment of the Heroes of Olympus series introduces new demigods, revives fearsome monsters, and features other remarkable creatures, all destined to play a part in the Prophesy of Seven.

Marc's Review:

Ahhh a new Percy Jackson book. Well as you can tell I’m not the usual reviewer on this blog, but she felt it was time to share the workload and here I am. First off I’m a guy so you can expect a different view than from Daphne.

The reason I heard about the Percy Jackson is because I’ve always loved Greek mythology. Even when I was a little kid I would watch Greek mythology specials on the history channel. I’d love the story of the battles the Greek heroes would face, and the story of their adventures. My favorite story would have to be The Odyssey. I just loved the part with the man eating Cyclops. Well anyway, seeing as I loved Greek mythology I quickly heard about Percy Jackson and began to read the series. And I’ve been reading it ever since. When I heard about the second part of the series that would mix in Greek and Roman mythology, I was really excited.  And it was justified. First off this book has a good amount of story in it. It’s long and almost never gets boring. There are a few parts where I wished that the story would pick up the pace, but these were short and not very often. The story also pushes along the story of the prophecy of the seven very nicely, bringing into light just exactly who the seven are.

Now because I know that Daphne just loves the love sub plot I will briefly mention it in this review. Yes there is a long love story going on between the characters Hazel and Frank. I thought that this is one of those occasions where the author successfully shows a romance without shoving it in your face. I hate it when I’m being drowned in the romance stuff in a book, but this book had a small enough amount that it was good. As for the characters themselves, Percy is back and better than ever. I won’t spoil anything but let’s just say he will be in actual danger throughout the book. Hazel is a pretty cool character although I felt that it too long to tell us her story, not that it isn’t awesome. Lastly there is Frank, a demigod that somehow has a bloodline that runs from china, to Rome, to Greece. He is an awesome character that seems to kind of tie all of the characters together, having a relation to all of them. He also has one awesome ability, that might even rival Percy`s water ability. Now for the actual story. I felt that overall it was fantastic. Lots of action, comedy, and suspense. Yet I did feel like Percy`s problems were resolved really quickly, almost like the author couldn’t think of what to do and just said, Forget it I’m the author and I’ll do what I want, and then threw some crap together about why he was being healed. Aside from that however the book is fantastic.

Story: 4.5 out of 5

Romance: 5 out of 5(as in It didn’t ruin the book for me)

Comedy: 3 out of 5

Adventure: 6 out of 5(YA it’s that good)

Mythology: 5 out of 5

Overall: 5 out of 5 would read. Bonus points for you if you get the hidden joke.

 

-Marc