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I'm about half-way through it. It's a lot shorter than the books of the previous series, thanks to the absence of the romantic pairings (which I thought really bogged down the last series). Since I haven't finished, I will only confirm that, yes, Solangelo is a thing! Will refers to Nico as his boyfriend, and Nico used his powers to manipulate Chiron into letting him sit with Will during meals instead of alone at the Hades table. And Apollo comments on the relationship. We do see them interact, and it is very sweet, but not nauseating, unlike the relationships in the previous series.
Also, many people speculated that only a few people may know that Lester is Apollo. No. Apollo, despite the fact he is forgetting things that happened while he was immortal, makes everyone aware as to who is. No one doubts him at camp. Percy never tells him to conceal it.
Percy, so far, only appears in a few chapters. He drives them to camp (which doesn't end so well). After an encounter with an enemy of Apollo's, Percy is forced to return to Manhattan while Apollo and Meg head to camp.
I liked the reappearance of Rachel. Her appearance is short, but funny. I loved how she gets jealous towards Apollo when it is revealed that there were/are other oracles.
Riordan is a little uneven with Apollo's point of view. Some of his narcissistic moments are pretty amusing, while others seem a bit forced. He attributes some of the more compassionate thoughts from Apollo as a result of being mortal. It mostly works.
Wow! That's amazing. Thanks for posting it. I was literally dying to find out what happened. I see that Leo is mentioned in the last chapter title. When you finish, an you tell us what happened?Thanks so much.
Finally finished. I enjoyed it. Here are some thoughts:1 - Riordan sets-up the scenario right away. Apollo pretty much knows what he needs to do to retrieve his immortality when he lands in the dumpster. His rescue by Meg is a little cliched, and Meg herself is a cliche. But it mostly works. I liked Apollo's annoyance when she claims him for his servitude (to regain favor with Zeus) and Zeus affirms with the thunder. Thus he is now "tied" to her.
2 - I thought the scenes with Percy's mother were great. I also like how Riordan sets-up Percy as the default hero. Apollo clearly would rather Percy be involved than any other demigod.
3 - Percy's involvement is way to short. He drives Apollo and Meg to Camp Half-Blood, which worried me that we might not get to see it (due to some catastrophe that would cause them to re-think their destination). Apollo's arrival isn't too dissimilar to Percy's. He arrives fleeing entities that dispense illnesses. I was amused that Percy is forced to leave Apollo and Meg on their own because the police found the car wedged bewteen trees.
4 - Will taking care of his father in the Apollo cabin was great, and Apollo's disappointment as to the plainness of the cabin was funny. But it was when Will refers to Nico as his boyfriend that I practically cheered, and their bickering was fun. Apollo gets a little jealous watching them during his time at camp.
5 - Despite the disappearance of campers, they go ahead with a three-legged "race" through the labyrinth, which of course sets-up Apollo's first quest, which is to find the oldest and most ancient of the oracles, a grove of trees created by Rhea. I felt this was a bit forced, especially when the Labyrinth takes him and Meg to Delphi where he overhears Python and an enemy he knows but can't identify discuss it and the trap they are setting for him.
6 - Rachel's return was great. I really love that she is completely jealous that Apollo has/had other Oracles. And it's clear he is very fond of her. I loved that they both behaved like an old couple that had just divulged their unknown pasts to one another.
7 - Apollo's first trial is to find the Hidden Oracle (Rhea's grove trees) and protect it from being destroyed (and to rescue two of his children, who had gone missing during the three-legged "race"). However he and Meg go it alone. I was a little disappointed, as I wanted Will and Nico to be a part if it for some more Solangelo.
8 - Unlike Percy, who had more help than he wanted from gods and goddesses, Apollo only gets minor help from Rhea, who is stuck in her "hippies", flower-child phase. I really enjoyed that.
9 - Meg and Apollo discover the way to the grove is through the giant ants layer (which is seen in a short story in the Demigod Files, I think). When Meg is taken, Apollo manages to rescue her and at the same time ally himself with the queen ant.
10 - We discover the main baddie is Emperor Nero. Riordan is clearly setting-up the end of the Percy Jackson series, as Nero is discovered to have masterminded the attempts of Kronos and of Gaia to return and destroy the world.
11 - I hated that Meg is discovered to have been a double-agent. However it was set-up earlier when they overhear the now-identified Nero talking with Python, but Apollo dismisses Meg as the agent since she has been helping him.
12 - Apollo's prophecy, like all the other prophecies, isn't clear to us. But it turns out that Apollo's quest is a distraction so that Camp Half-Blood could be attacked by an Automaton of Nero as Apollo. Since Apollo has no real power, I'm not sure why it was entirely necessary. But Apollo's commentary and his references to the automaton are hilarious. Percy returns, and Apollo has never been happier (which makes me think he has an attraction to Percy beyond him simply being a hero).
13 - Riordan doesn't hide Apollo's bisexuality in this book. And he even has a thought about stealing either from a boyfriend-girlfriend couple for himself.
14 - Percy interprets Apollo's prophecy (but not to us), and in doing so is able to summon Leo, who had been lost due to communications problems caused by Nero. I actually thought the book was about to end, but no. Leo returns, and it's pretty funny how the campers greet him.
All in all, this was a great book. I was a bit disappointed that there was no interaction between Percy and Nico. I would love to have seen their dynamic since Percy is now aware of Nico's former feelings. Riordan doesn't treat homosexuality with kid gloves here. There is a moment earlier where Nico calls-out Will for "staring" at another camper. I hope we get more of it!
I have to say I was more than pleased with this book, I actually loved it!! This wasn't Rick's normal formulaic "we're off on a quest!" book (even though I love those), we spent most of our time at Camp Half-Blood. I enjoyed this aspect a lot because we hardly ever really get to see Camp Half-Blood anymore so being in it for most of the book was great.I was worried beforehand Rick would go overboard with Apollo's humor but I was thrilled that there was so much hilarious humor that I did laugh out loud many times, but it wasn't cheesy and overdone.
I adored Apollo's narrative. Seeing him go from self-pitying, self-centered ex-god to humble mortal and someone who realized their past mistakes was deep and incredible. It made me emotional actually and I started tearing up when he started singing about Daphne and the dude I can't spell his name and then about his own failures.
Meg. Meg was such a fun character I fell in love with and to see her true identity and alliegiance at the end made me so mad! She was a boss with those blades of her's and the first powerful Demeter kid we've ever seen.
Let's also acknowledge all the campers as well. Will and Nico had the perfect banter and relationship and the whole part about Nico sitting with Will because of the doctors note was hilarious. Kayla and Austin were both so supportive of Apollo and helpful people. Chiara and Damien were so cute and I shipped them so much by the end. They're bickering was such a red flag to their true feelings. Poor Connor was so lonely without Travis and I feel so bad for him. Sherman was a jerk like most Ares kids but provided entertainment. The Hermes girls were funny but the Victor twins from Nike were so competitive it was hilarious. We didn't see much of Valentina but she was a typical Aphrodite girl and same with Billie Ng from Demeter. Nyssa was so funny when she slapped Leo and then Harley was just adorable. Overall, a fun bunch of campers!
PERCY! I'm glad he's not so big in this series so it gives other people a chance to shine but I'm glad we saw him and he's gonna be a big brother so happy!
The rest of the seven along with Reyna are all in California at school or at Camp Jupiter and I can't wait to see them!!
Leo's back with Calypso!!! So happy for that and I can't wait to see their roles, which seem fairly important.
Peaches was perfect.
Rachel being a major character was awesome and I love having her back!
Seeing Rhea was so cool and groovy man XD
Okay, finally, the bad guy. So yes, Python is a bad guy but the main baddies were so unexpected to me but now it makes so much sense. The truimane or whatever it's called. The fact that they're behind everything is incredible to me and makes so much sense now that it was explained!! I have to say, when Nero was named as the leader and The Beast, I was scared because Nero killed so many people. And I cried in this book I did when Apollo started talking about what Nero did to Christians. That was more of a me thing because as a Catholic, these were my people. I knew that Nero brutalized them and killed them in horrible was, but I didn't know the extent. I found out and I cried for those people. UNCLE RICK I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR CRYING!! Anyways, I can't wait to figure out the other two emperors. I'm going to guess Caligula and maybe the original Octavian.
Anyways, loved the book, 5 stars. Can't wait for #2!! And hey Rick, where was the title of Book 2 at the end I didn't see one!!!! Outrageous!!!
This is a really little thing but was anyone else really sad that Connor and Travis were split up, and they weren't the camp pranksters anymore? The whole "Connor has mellowed out" thing is something I never thought would happen.
Hannah wrote: "This is a really little thing but was anyone else really sad that Connor and Travis were split up, and they weren't the camp pranksters anymore? The whole "Connor has mellowed out" thing is somethi..."They were never really that integral, so it didn't bother me at all.
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Meg being a child of Demeter was one of my guesses. I thought it was done really well.
I'm also really proud of the fact that I guessed that Leo would return at the end! (Of course I assumed at the very end, but Rick allowed us to actually talk to him, which was nice, because otherwise it would have been too big of a cliffhanger).
We didn't get to see Apollo interact with any Olympians (hopefully in the next few books) but I liked his scene with Rhea (and her lions :p)
One thing I'll admit I don't understand (so please help me out guys) was... where are Apollo, Leo and Calypso actually going?
Because Percy mentioned something about the middle of the US and Apollo said he would start with Indiana...
But then they also talked about going to Camp Jupiter and seeing Jason, Piper, Frank and Hazel. That's in California, which I'm pretty sure is West Coast... So where are they going? That part confused me, I am ashamed to say.
I just wanted to mention that the second book is named "The Dark Prophecy" since it wasn't at the end of the book like usual!
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This book was better than most others in the series. It was too well plotted.
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Agreed... it had an interesting structure (different to his other books) but I felt it worked. Do you think we'll get a similar structure in the Dark Prophecy, or not?
I think the structure will be same. That's good. I personally think that Rick has a better writing style when it comes to first person narration!
It's absolutely true that Riordan writes better in 1st Person. Dark Prophecy would have a different structure for sure. Hidden Oracle took place mostly in the CHB and the woods. But, in Dark Prophecy, we're going on a huge journey with Leo. It has got to be different.
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Paridhi wrote: "I think the structure will be same. That's good. I personally think that Rick has a better writing style when it comes to first person narration!"
The return to first person was pretty nice, I admit. You both make convincing points about the structure though... I hope Rick doesn't just return to usual quest format though.
Yeah.. We had enough of quests in PJO. Even in Magnus there was a quest and a prophecy...
I think that maybe the one prophecy/quest might be the only one. Or maybe each oracle (like the grove gave one, maybe Rachel might give one... I don't) might give a new prophecy and all the prophecies fit together?
Mod
Interesting theory! I actually like it a lot. It would make sense if each oracle only gave a piece of the puzzle, for added suspense...
However, the only thing is, we don't know if the oracles are linked in any way. Like obviously the oracle of delphi (Rachel) didn't even know about the others, so it may not be possible. Of course, perhaps there is some greater force behind it that links the oracles?
That probably didn't even make sense xD But definitely, it's a great theory. If it's true, I wonder what Apollo will learn from the other oracles...
What if the other oracles get mad at Apollo for forgetting them??? It seems like the only one he remembered was Delphi so if Rachel acted so jealous that Apollo had other oracles and she's the remembered one how are the other oracles gonna react to Apollo suddenly remebering they exist after putting all his time and energy into Delphi?
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I hadn't even considered that, but you're right. Do we know if the other oracles are sentient though? I thought one of them was like a 'cave', but I'm not sure. I think it would be really interesting if that happened, so I hope it does now. Apollo has kinda failed the other oracles by only focusing on one, so it would be an interesting plot point to bring up, though I don't think the Dodona Grove touched on that. So hopefully in the next book...
Wait, so there are different people who control the other oracles like Rachel? The one with the cave would probably be the Trophonus one or whatever its called. So are there just a bunch of caves with a person controlling it?
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It's uncertain right now. My understanding is that it's probably not a person, in the same way the Grove of Dodona was not a person, but I guess it could be different! It would make it more exciting I guess, if there was a person there too :)
Arch wrote: "The wrote: "Wait, so there are different people who control the other oracles like Rachel? The one with the cave would probably be the Trophonus one or whatever its called. So are there just a bunc..."Yeah because Apollo did mention there were other oracles out there and Rachel was jealous. It'll be exciting to meet new characters but I'm not sure because Apollo as the narrator never mentioned them.
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Yeah I remember that scene! That's a good point, and now what I really want is Rachel meeting these other oracles, even if they're not people. It would be great :p
Arch wrote: "The wrote: "Arch wrote: "The wrote: "Wait, so there are different people who control the other oracles like Rachel? The one with the cave would probably be the Trophonus one or whatever its called...."I would really want that to happen.
Mod
Agreed (and not just because Rachel is an amazing character haha)
So we have a predictions thread for this book, but if you've read the book, you can come discuss it here!
You can talk about whether your predictions became realities, whether you liked the book, and just general talk about it.
This thread is NOT spoiler-free. However, please keep the predictions thread spoiler-free, as some people there (like me) have not read it and may not for a while.
Thanks, and first off, did you enjoy the book (if you've read it?)