The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
Just when I thought The Last Olympian was the last I’m ever going to see of Percy Jackson and his delightful Greek mythology-filled adventures, I learned of the existence of The Lost Hero, the new book in the brand new Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan. I learned that this series is set in Percy Jackson’s world, only telling the adventures of different characters (but, as I also soon learned, Percy still made some pretty big appearances and remained an important figure throughout the series). What’s more exciting is that Rick Riordan now incorporated Roman mythology into this new series. As most of us know, Greek and Roman mythologies mostly mirror each other; they have the same gods only called by different names, and all of this was weaved seamlessly into the original world, making it even more vast and interesting than before. And the best thing is, even though all of it is totally new, it doesn’t feel like it is. It made me believe that all these Roman mythology has been there from the start, only hidden from us until now.
We learn that when the Greek civilization fell and the Romans thrived, the gods moved with them just like they’d eventually settled in America, always following the strongest civilizations. When they followed the Romans, they adopted their Roman personas and became slightly different gods than their Greek selves. You could view this as some sort of multiple personality disorder which might be found in a lot of human beings. And when these gods were in their Roman aspects, they also still kept procreating with mortals (some things never changed, I suppose) and thus Roman demigods were created. Roman demigods, just like their parents, are quite different than Greek demigods. They have entirely different ways of training, upbringing, and have much stricter rules in their own camp (which is decidedly not Camp Half Blood). They’re a pretty serious and battle-oriented lot.
Our story in The Lost Hero opens with one boy named Jason who couldn’t remember who he was or how he got on a bus he seemed to be sitting on. Next thing he knew, he was at Grand Canyon and being ambushed by monsters. Then a bunch of people picked him up along with his two friends; Piper McLean and Leo Valdez, and the three of them ended up in Camp Half Blood where they were informed that they were demigods. Soon after both Piper and Leo were claimed by their parents, revealing them to be Aphrodite’s daughter and Hephaestus’s son respectively. Only Jason’s identity remained a mystery. And he had the feeling he might not belong in Camp Half Blood after all…
As they tried to work together anyway and save Hera, Queen of the Gods, that have been captured by a new dangerous enemy that was even stronger than the Titans, they soon learned more and more about the different existences of the gods and the fact that there might be another demigod camp. But Percy Jackson, Camp Half Blood’s most important hero, was missing… so what did it all mean? What was going on? A new mystery and a new prophecy were to be solved.
I thought The Lost Hero was an excellent new series opening. I’m excited about the addition of Roman gods and demigods, and this new series might just be even better than the original Percy Jackson series. After all, the universe is even bigger now and has more history and interesting details. While I feel the original series was more lighthearted and had more funny moments, the numerous mythology references in this book kept me interested. And I’m most of all very, very curious to learn more about the Roman demigods and their camp, and Percy Jackson’s fate. If you loved the original series, definitely do not miss out The Heroes of Olympus books!
