It’s never easy
being a mortal teenager with acne and love handles, especially when you’re
normally the blindingly handsome, immortal god of the sun, archery, prophecy
and healing to humbly call out some highlights. Apollo (a.k.a. Lester
Papadopoulous) remains on his path to restore five ancient oracles, defeat a
Triumvirate of evil Roman emperors and return to his throne on Mount Olympus as
a [reformed] immortal god. Apollo and Meg McCaffrey journey to Camp Jupiter in
the San Francisco Bay Area where the Roman demigods are preparing to die … er,
make a frantic last stand against the Triumvirate and the “foul undead thing”
they have aligned themselves with. Camp Jupiter is already in dire straits
after the ambush that Leo Valdez barely made it in time to tell them about.
Losses were heavy, and they are not over. They officially say goodbye to a
familiar character. And Apollo is the
worse for wear for much of this book, as he’s working hard so as to not turn
into a zombie. One knows it’s bad when even the Arrow of Dodona is trying to
give a pep talk.
Fortunately, Apollo and Meg are not
alone. At Camp Jupiter, they meet up with Tyson (Percy Jackson’s Cyclops
half-brother) and Ella (the harpy with a photographic memory), both of whom are
working to record the Sibylline Books. It’s in Ella’s memories, and Tyson
“helps” her (“Oh boy! Tattoos tickle!”). Hazel Levesque, Frank Zhang and Reyna
Avila Ramírez-Arellano also make substantial character appearances in this
book. It is like meeting up with old friends, but I’m hoping that the last
installment includes our oldest favorites like Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase
and Grover Underwood.
Again, Riordan regales us with
ceaseless action, cheeky banter, spot-on comedy and the right amount of drama
in this fourth in The Trials of Apollo
series. Also, don’t forget the haikus. As expected from the author, all action
scenes are sequenced with all the detail of a cinematic film. His
mythology-based, middle-grade novels are hard to put down; it takes great
effort to spread the book out over a week when all I want to do is read without
interruption like the happiest hermit in her own personal library. Fans will
likely enjoy seeing familiar faces in Riordan’s ever-expanding, though
well-developed, cast of characters. These are characters that we all root for
and would gladly fight monsters with. Be sure to avoid those eurynomoi, though, as I’ll be conflicted
about it if I have to dispatch an ally-turned-vrykolakai.
Book One: The Hidden Oracle
Book Two: The Dark Prophecy
Book Three: The Burning Maze
The Tyrant's Tomb was a very good book. Filled with twists and turns, a grand adventure that captured my interest from the first page. At one point I put this book down to go to bed (had to work the next day). This was a terrible idea on my part as I was up a few hours later worrying about the characters and how this story would unfold. Luckily happiness prevailed throughout the land (meaning me at my house with no objects being thrown across the room or tears being shed). I look forward to the final installment of this series: The Tower of Nero.
ReplyDelete