Rick Riordan
Official Website of Best Selling Author Rick Riordan, Including the Award-Winning Book
The Son of Neptune
IN THE PRESS
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The one thing that Percy Jackson has, that makes him stand out among the many, dashing modern fantasy heroes is his wonderful sense of humour. I had forgotten this because the last Rick Riordan book I read did not feature Percy, but the rather brooding Jason Grace. The opening lines of The Son of Neptune, the second book in The Heroes of Olympus trilogy, reminded me how much I loved the dyslexic son of a sea god.
When he attempts to describe two gorgons chasing him, he states, “Her name badge read: Hello! My name is DIE, DEMIGOD SCUM!”
The Son of Neptune starts off where the first book left off. (If you haven’t read it, I’m not going to spoil it for you.)
“Percy Jackson is confused. When he awoke after 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. Somehow Percy managed to make it to the camp for half-bloods, despite the fact that he had to continually kill monsters that, annoyingly, would not stay dead. But the camp doesn't ring any bells with him.”
Joining Percy in his quest are Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang, both adorable and both with terrifying secrets. The story is quite easy to read for those familiar with Riordan’s simple and fast paced style. He does a brilliant job once again, twisting age old legends into the story and mingling it with the modern in a way that’s refreshing and sometimes, downright hilarious. Like how Death checks his schedule on an iPad and Amazon.com is really masterminded by the legendary warrior Amazons who are using us mortals to fund their worldwide franchise.
There is a load more to talk about when it comes to the word, ‘camp,’ but I can’t if I am to keep this review spoiler free.
For me, this book is by far the best in the series; it picks up the pace and is twice as violent and funny as The Lost Hero. Riordan has timed the events to perfection, obviously leading us up to the grand finale in the third book – The Mark of Athena. But then, he is a genius. The only time his writing doesn’t work for me is when the characters speak a kind of long monologue filled with so much witticism that it gives me a headache, but thankfully, The Son of Neptune doesn’t fit that bill, probably because Percy Jackson is the king of snarky commentary and it does not come off as out of the ordinary. A good read and a great book filled with surprises. However, to enjoy it completely, I suggest reading the previous Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and then coming here. Can’t wait for The Mark of Athena…
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Fantasy Book Review, by Dash Cooray on The Son of Neptune
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After spinning his wheels in series opener The Lost Hero (2010), Riordan regains his traction with book two of The Heroes of Olympus.
Gaea is raising an army of giants to defeat the gods, and Juno has switched heroes Percy Jackson (son of Poseidon) and Jason Grace (son of Jupiter) in order to unite Greek and Roman gods and demigods in battle against her. His memory wiped, Percy knows only that he has another life and a girlfriend, Annabeth; he needs to focus now on winning the trust of the Roman demigods. As per usual, he has two appealing companions with intriguing back stories, Hazel Levesque (daughter of Pluto) and Frank Zhang (son of…?). The three undertake a quest to Alaska to defeat the giant Alcyoneus and free Thanatos, "the border patrol" of the Underworld, assisted and opposed along the way by a pleasing variety of magical beings. Riordan achieves freshness within his formula by giving characters and readers a new environment—Camp Jupiter, similar only in broad concept to Camp Half-Blood—to discover, and his pell-mell pacing has returned. As with all of Riordan's mythological tales, the details that bring the legends into the 21st century delight: The camp's augur reads the entrails of Beanie Babies; tiny, malignant grain spirits dissolve into Chex Mix; the Amazons' headquarters are in Seattle at, well, you guessed it.
Should pacing and wit continue unabated into the third volume, whose foretold European setting promises further freshness, fans will eagerly await numbers four and five. (Fantasy. 10-14)
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Kirkus Review
BIO
Rick Riordan is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of over twenty novels for YA readers, including the Percy Jackson series, the Kane Chronicles, the Magnus Chase series, Heroes of Olympus series, and the Trials of Apollo.
Rick Riordan used to teach English and history at public and private middle schools in the San francisco Bay Area, and in Texas. He received his his Masters while he was teaching in San Antonio.
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You can find just about any of Rick Riordans book today, as he's sold eighty-six million copies of his books which are in print in the United States, with rights that have been sold into more than 37 countries.
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Rick Riordan continues to write full time in Boston, where he lives with his wife and two sons.