Mythological Mondays is a feature I created to spotlight books brimming with--you guessed it--mythology! I adore this sub-genre and can't wait to share my love with all of my fellow bookworms! This feature isn't just focused on novel reviews; it may also include interviews, looks at original mythological tales, etc. Please feel free to do this with me! If you guys ever do a mythological feature and want to join this and snag my lovely mermaid, I would LOVE to see the feature. I’ve even included a Linkbox for you. It doesn’t have to be Greek mythology, or even mythology per say. It can be mermaids, unicorns, or heck, even fairy tales (because I’m too lazy to do a separate fairy tale feature…). It doesn’t even have to be every Monday. I’m sure there will be Mondays when I skip, too. ^_^
Title: SON OF NEPTUNE
Author: Rick Riordan
Release Date: Out Now (Oct. 4, 2011)
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Received: Purchased
Goodreads
SUMMARY:
In the first pages of this standalone sequel to The Lost Hero, Percy Jackson remembers only his name and the name of Annabeth, a mysterious woman he associates somehow with the city of San Francisco. From those sparse clues, he must somehow complete a mission for the leader of the Roman camp even as he is being pursued by the two sisters of Medusa, who possess an apparently unquenchable thirst for vengeance: Even when killed, they spring back to life. Rick Riordan's second Heroes of Olympus promises even more excitement than the first.
If you have yet to read THE LOST HERO, the first book in THE HEROES OF OLYMPUS series—or finish the original PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS series—you really shouldn’t keep reading. Otherwise, continue on! :-)
It’s been a long wait for THE SON OF NEPTUNE. THE LOST HERO ended at the worst spot, leaving everyone hanging for an entire year. And just like with its predecessor, THE SON OF NEPTUNE also has a cliffhanger to bring readers back next year when THE MARK OF ATHENA debuts. I must say, I didn’t love this book quite as much as I did THE LOST HERO. Last year’s book was just…so refreshing. I loved the way we saw the powers of three new demigods and the mystery of who Jason was. I feel like I loved the new characters from the first book more than I do with this book. At the same time, it was a lot of fun to see the Roman camp, Camp Jupiter, and how different it is from our beloved Camp Half-Blood. The Roman gods have such different personalities, and the campers are much more hardcore. Plus, Percy’s back! At the same time, this is a second book, an introduction to the rest of the seven prophesized demigods. The third book is when these two worlds will really collide and I am anticipating a power-house novel.
Since we’ve already been down the amnesia route with Jason during THE LOST HERO, Riordan chose to spin Percy’s story differently. Percy remembers only one thing (person?): Annabeth. Nothing else. He remembers fragments here and there, such as Medusa or knowing he doesn’t like Ares/Mars. He has trouble using Roman names for the gods despite remembering nothing about his Greek upbringing. As with Riordan’s previous novels, the “Percy Jackson formula” is put to good use as Percy goes off on a quest with friends from camp. This time around, however, the quest is much more epic in scope and infinitely more dangerous. The novel is also much more mature in tone. Instead of an oracle, Romans are able to see the future by ripping out the innards of stuffed animals (since it’s no longer politically-correct to do this to poor, live animals). There’s also more focus on romance since the campers are all older than they were in the original series. These books are growing up alongside their audience, just like HARRY POTTER did.
I can’t wait to see what happens when everyone comes together in the third book and follow Percy as he grows up to fulfill his ultimate destiny. With all the new information coming to life in THE SON OF NEPTUNE, I really worry for the horrors he’ll be going through on the quests to come!
COVER DESIGN:
Well………………..the cover features a major spoiler. Major, major, major. So I can’t comment on this cover. But I can say that it’s fierce and powerful and depicts the scene—and items—it’s supposed to perfectly. Plus, it has the Son of Neptune/Poseidon on the cover. What more could you want?
I think my favourite thing about Riordan's books is that they're growing up too. PJ:O - especially the first few - were definitely MG, but the Heroes of Olympus are so much more involved and definitely YA.
ReplyDeleteAlso I pretty much felt the same way about the book as you did. After the really cool twists of Lost Hero, SoN (I hate that abbreviation but this morning I hate typing it out more) seemed like a throwback to something we'd already done.
Except the Romans. Romans are cool.
It's cool that the characters are growing with the series. I read the PJ books back to back (years later it seems), so I had no idea they matured with the readers. I really liked The Lost Hero. I thought the merging of Greek and Roman myths was great. I haven't read this one yet, but I hope it's great. I'm a little sad it's sounding like it had a sophomore slump. =/ I think the rest of the books in this series will be EPIC. Can't you imagine what it will be like when the two camps combine forces? Amazing.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read past the Lightening Thief book. It was ok, not my favorite. Maybe one day I will continue on with the series and than read this one as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm sad I wasn't able to read a mythological book this week and participate I have been to busy with reading the Dark Days books. Hopefully soon Ill be able to join.
The linky didn't work for me. =/ oh well. I found a children's book this week! It looks pretty good.
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