"The Lost Hero" By Rick Riordan

Yep. Rick Riordan must have quite a racket going on. I read this book, and even though everyone I've talked to essentially replied "OMG i LUVVVVV teh lost hero!!!!!!" I thought it was...okay. It was considered "good" because it was almost exactly like "Lightning Thief" and THAT was considered good. Don't get me wrong, I loved the Percy Jackson books...but this?

****WARNING!! SPOILERS!!!****

Number One- This book spends pages and pages and chapters and chapters talking about how beautiful and sexy the main characters are. Honestly? I hated it. It was annoying. Especially when you consider how many kids have had self-esteem issues due to the way people are portrayed in the media. Seriously, the main girl was a daughter of Aphrodite, so there is an entire sub-plot about how gorgeous she is. Plus her dad is a movie action star with "bronze skin and rippling muscles and a smile that drives grown women to scream and beg him to sign their bodies". And then the main guy is supposed to be super cute or whatnot- it talks more about him than about the girl, even if the author was a man. Too bad the main guy wasn't a son of Aphrodite; there might've been a subplot about how gorgeous he was too! I guess the overly descriptive words were part of describing the characters or whatever, but everything said was either cute or hunky or handsome or beautiful.

Number Two- Since this is supposed to be an add-on to the Percy Jackson series, the author spent barely any time going over the old characters or locations, so Annabeth and Camp Half-Blood felt shallow and colorless. Anyone should be able to pick this book up cold and understand it.

Number Three- The author throws too many curveballs at you. You really have to read the Percy Jackson series to understand this book. And then when you have, suddenly you're dealing with ROMAN gods and Thalia being the main character's sister and there being another Camp Half-Blood in California. What? There was nothing about this in the old series! It just doesn't make sense that no one would have mentioned this at all in the Percy Jackson series. Mr. Riordan shouldn't have applied this in his first book that mentions this at all.

Number Four- There was not enough tension built to really feel any emotion about the "final" battle. When they battle the little giant, then the snow princess and the big giant and free Hera...it happened too fast. The author spent to much time on describing the character's overwhelming beauty and not enough time on plot. Percy Jackson was thick on plot...This was a story. Not much plot. I never felt like rooting for the characters to win, because I never felt enough. They just said "It will be the end of the world if you don't win!!" and I thought to myself "Okay. Why does that matter to me? It doesn't. I'm not attached to this book."


Number Five- There were three resolutions/climaxes!! First, when they kill the little giant and free Piper's dad. Then when they battle the big giant and free Hera. Third, when they become aware of the other camp and start preparations to go there. He just kept writing and writing long after it should've ended!! The ending came too fast. They shouldn't have fought the big giant and freed Hera until a later book. And he just wrote and wrote for too much after the climax, trying to keep the tension up. It didn't work.


Number Six- It was a near identical copy of the Percy Jackson series. Lets see-

Jason= Percy
Piper= Annabeth
Leo= Grover

The reincarnations of these characters basically go on a recycled adventure from the Percy Jackson series.

****SPOILERS END HERE****

That is all.

Sorry, I had to get that off my chest. And I couldn't tell my family because they all love that book!