Title: The Son of Neptune (Heroes of Olympus #2)
Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Published: October 4, 2011
Genre: Young Adult / Greek Myth
Source: Kindle store
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
Oh wow, this book is something else. After reading and loving the Percy Jackson series, then the first book in the Heroes of Olympus series, my excitement for this book was just sky high. I'm happy to say that I wasn't disappointed!
The Son of Neptune starts off with the infamous Percy Jackson, who is believed to be missing by everyone back at Camp Half-Blood, his home. After escaping two gorgons, meeting Juno and arriving at Camp Jupiter, he meets and quickly befriends Hazel Lavesque and Frank Zhang, two demigods at the Roman demigod camp, Camp Jupiter.
First of all, can I just explain how much of a relief it was to finally read about Percy again. The Lost Hero was great, don't get me wrong, but we all love Percy, and after reading that he'd mysteriously disappeared, just when we finally got some Percabeth action, it was awesome to finally see things through his eyes.
Percy finds Camp Jupiter, and it gives a whole new twist to the stories we're used to reading. Up to now, we had only ever seen Camp Half-Blood, the camp for Greek Demigods, and as much as I disliked the new camp, I'll admit getting to know it was pretty cool. Predominantly, 'The Son of Neptune' is set in this new camp, so of course we're going to expect a fair bit of world-building, and fortunately, the author, Riordan doesn't let us down. To be honest, he never does! By now we're all geniuses when it comes to Greek myths, because of the Percy Jackson series, and 'The Lost Hero' book, but now we are offered more insight to the world of Roman myths. I loved learning about how the demigods were sorted into Cohorts, as opposed to by their Godly parent in Camp Half-Blood. Albeit that my heart will always be with the Greeks, I thoroughly enjoyed the flipside, the Romans, too.
Hera's/Juno's devious plan may not have been too good for our beloved character Percy and others back at Camp Half-Blood, but it certainly was for us, in terms of meeting a load of new characters and becoming invested in a whole new group of demigods. Though Percy still was the main character, and I found his development really entertaining, I just loved reading about Hazel and Frank. Riordan, I suppose, has now perfected the art of creating backstories, as seen in the previous book. It was the same for this book. Frank's story with the burning stick, and the legacy of his family, was so interesting, and enthralling to read, but it was Hazel who really did it for me. I just couldn't get over how creative her past was, how she was actually from the 40s, but was resurrected, how she's cursed with deadly precious stones. I absolutely ate it up!
As per usual, Riordan's writing is fantastic! It's really uncommon nowadays to come across a good read, where the author attempts to write light-heartedly yet still be serious at the same time, and actually succeeds. Riordan does all that, and then some! It's so refreshing, and makes reading the book so much easier, because the flow of the story is so easy and smooth.
There's so much more that I haven't covered, but I think I'll just leave it at that. Obviously, I loved the book, and thought it was a brilliant second book in the new Heroes of Olympus series! Highly recommend this series, and the Percy Jackson series, if you haven't already read them!
Thanks for reading guys!
