Jason wakes up on a bus, without any knowledge of who he is. Apparently, he has a best friend named Leo and a beautiful girlfriend named Piper, but he cannot remember either nor can he remember why he is in a school for troubled youth. While on the field trip, storm spirits attack and a satyr named Coach Hedge saves them. Annabeth assists the Coach in saving them, asks them about her missing boyfriend Percy, and says that Jason and his friends are demigods. She escorts them to the camp, where they are met with a prophecy. They must go on a mission to find Hera, and hopefully find Jason’s memories along the way.
My first point that I would like to make about this book is that it is LONG. I felt that it would simply never end, unlike the Kane Chronicles which were about the same length. The plot just seemed rather slow at certain points.
Secondly, I really missed Annabeth and Grover. I thought I would miss Percy the most, but I didn’t miss him all that much. Coach Hedge was kinda supposed to replace Grover, but I found him more annoying than funny. In fact, many characters from the last series simply disappeared.
Third, I felt that the characters were slightly unrealistic for their age. Even though they were in a school for troubled kids, all of them just seemed to be too “good” and had no real issues besides a misdiagnosed demi-god-ness. I was expecting some of the issues in the series and other things to be aged up to more of a high school YA level since the characters are all about 16, but it simply seemed like 12-year-old issues in 16-year-old bodies. I was expecting the series to read a bit more like The Mortal Instruments, but it was more like the Kane Chronicles. I loved the Kane Chronicles because of the middle-grade memories I had, but without them this time around, I found the story to be disappointing.
Now onto the good things! I absolutely adored Leo and his storyline, as he comes to terms with his past and trains his powers. Piper, I had my ups and downs with. I loved her character, but I didn’t like how stereotypical the Aphrodite cabin was. I wanted the cabin to have more Pipers, strong girls who just happen to be the daughter of the goddess of love. However, most of them were just airheads without any special qualities. At least I had Piper to be the odd one out and change the story.
I enjoyed hearing more of Thalia’s backstory and was glad to see that at least she wasn’t forgotten int he old series.
Jason was…I don’t know what to think about him. He wasn’t a bad character, but it was difficult to connect with him when he himself does not know who he is.
Overall, I thought the book was pretty good! The action scenes were invigorating and the main story was unique. I was just hoping that Riordan would write a true YA novel, but this seemed like a really long book for middle-grade readers. I will continue with the series, and I hope that the next books won’t be as slow for me.
Overall Rating: 3.5/5
Leo was my fave in this gang. And I agree that Jason was hard to place because he seemed too good or just not interesting enough or along those lines. I actually read Son of Neptune first before this book because Percy was there lol so I definitely missed him in this book.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. ^^ Great review!
You have some very interesting reviews about books that I think my students might find interesting. I will check out them out and their opinion. You’re so helpful!