Book Review: The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus, #1) by Rick Riordan

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BOOK review

Started on: 5.December.2014
Finished on: 13.December.2014

The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus, #1) by Rick Riordan

Title : The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus, #1)
Author : Rick Riordan

Publisher : Disney Hyperion
Pages : 557 pages / 540 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication : 2010

Price : $ 13.17 (www.bookdepository.com/)

Rating: 5/5

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"I hoped that after he succeeded in the Titan War and saved Mount Olympus, we might have some peace. I might be able to enjoy one final triumph, a happy ending, and perhaps retire quietly. I should have known better. The last chapter approaches, just as it did before. The worst is yet to come."

Jason suddenly woke up in the backseat of a school bus without a single memory on his mind. He couldn't even remember his name, and couldn't recall the two people who claimed to be his best friends: a pretty girl called Piper who said she's his girlfriend, and a boy named Leo. They are on a field trip to the Grand Canyon when suddenly one of their classmates turned into a Venti—storm spirit—and started attacking them. Their trip leader, Coach Hedge, who then turned into a satyr sacrificed himself and saved the three of them. Soon after the fight, a girl named Annabeth arrived on a flying chariot whilst looking for her missing boyfriend, Percy Jackson. The three of them are told that they are demigods, children of gods and mortals. And they are taken to Camp Half-Blood, to figure out what's exactly happening.

"Now is the time to pay your debt, she said. Find my prison. Free me, or their king will rise from the earth, and I will be destroyed. You will never retrieve your memory."

Upon their arrival at Camp Half-Blood, the three of them are separated to get further explanation. Jason went with Chiron, the director of the Camp, who said that Jason should've been dead—which leads to much more questions in Jason's head. Piper had something on her mind that worries her, and she kept having visions that scared her even more. On the other hand, Leo was quickly claimed by his godly father and settled in his cursed cabin. Later he found out, he's probably the only one who could solve the problem.

"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."

As they're discovering themselves in the Camp, they figured out they must go on a quest to rescue Hera, to be able to avoid worse things that are yet to come. The three of them—Jason, Piper, and Leo—are the ones who'll be going, to finish the quest and retrieve Jason's memory back. But their journey won't be easy because the monsters are unleashed and came back from the dead. And it will also be a test to their friendship, which will determine their end.

"When monsters no longer stay in Tartarus, and souls are no longer confined to Hades... Olympus has good reason to fear."

image source: here. edited by me.

I am so happy to finally be able to start reading this series. Mostly I'm just glad to be back into this world created by Rick Riordan and just sink into the wonderfulness of his writing. This book is so much fun to read, action-packed, fast-paced, fun and everything about it makes me want to keep reading. It's definitely very engaging right from the start. I also love the new set of characters, although I know that Percy Jackson will also be making a comeback in this series soon. And yes, I'm looking forward to more and more goodness as this series progresses ♥♥

The book is written from the perspectives of our 3 main characters in this book: Jason, Piper, and Leo. There are a lot of confusing things at first, obviously because Jason remembers nothing, and the other two are just as clueless. It was when they met Annabeth, things started to get a little clearer and they were brought to Camp Half-Blood. And from that point onwards, the three of them started discovering themselves and their identity as a demigod. Then came the quest which the three of them must complete to be able to discover what's going to happen next, and especially to retrieve Jason's memory back. I don't really want to say anything else other than that, because I don't want to spoil anything! There's a lot of mystery right from the beginning, and the way the story unfolds little by little is what makes it exciting to read. Sometimes it can be pleasantly irritating when a secret is about to be revealed, but then suddenly something/someone interrupted the moment. And that actually pushed me to keep reading until the end, when everything finally made sense. There are also a lot of interesting villains throughout the story, and it's fun to see a twist in Greek Mythology. I was quite shocked when I found out who's the 'big boss' behind all the bad things that are about to happen. Because I obviously had no idea when the others are giving hints about 'her' being extremely strong and undefeated. But I won't spoil anything here, you will have to discover it for yourself ;) As I've said earlier, the whole book is fast-paced and action-packed; obstacles kept coming one after another. And it's really nice to see how the characters' relationships are built throughout the story. I absolutely love the ending, and it instantly made me want to jump right into the second book. It's a pretty shocking revelation, and I am eager to quickly discover what exactly happened to Percy.

"He was the class clown, the court jester, because he'd learned early that if you cracked jokes and pretended you weren't scared, you usually didn't get beat up. Even the baddest gangster kids would tolerate you, keep you around for laughs. Plus, humor was a good way to hide the pain."

As for the characters, let's start by talking about my favorite: Leo Valdez! Right from the beginning of this book, Leo managed to keep the smile on my face. He's the comic relief of the story, and I laughed at almost of his dialogues. But as the story goes, his character was developed further and I realized that he's not just a typical happy boy. He had a pretty dark childhood, and always had that scar he tried to cover up by cracking jokes all the time. And that conflicting side of his just made me sympathize with this character even more ♥♥ I think he has the coolest 'ability' in this book, compared to the other two. And I love how much he adores Festus, Happy the Dragon :))) However, it doesn't mean I don't love the rest of the characters. I still love Jason for his deadly good looks; but his personality and background is still pretty vague—since he didn't remember much about his life. Although we do find out a little bit about his story and his Roman side in this book, I still want to know more about Jason. We will see how his character develops in the continuation of the series. Piper is also a very interesting character, because of her unique ability and her undeniable attraction towards Jason (even though it was affected by the Mist). Piper is a strong character, and she also had her own dilemma, which puts her in a spot to make a choice: to betray her friends or not. Oh well, I really ship these two, so I hope they'll get together in the end *fingers crossed*

"She could never betray her friends, but the tiniest part of her was desperate enough to think, What if I did?"

I think this book is a great start to The Heroes of Olympus series, and I'm definitely looking forward to read the rest of it. The action, the mysteries, the adventures, the friendship, and even the little bit of romance—I love everything about this book. It does feel a bit confusing in the beginning, but everything made perfect sense in the end. I didn't remember much about Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, because I read it 4 years ago in 2010. Thankfully I don't really need to remember the details, because the story helped refresh my memory by recounting the past at certain points. For those of you who didn't read the Percy Jackson series, I think it'll be fine for you to read this one separately. But I personally think it would be better if you have read the Percy Jackson series, because you'll understand the situation of Camp Half-Blood and what happened before the story of Heroes of Olympus begins. In the end, I guess you can just decide for yourself :)) Anyways, I'm currently reading The Son of Neptune, the 2nd book in The Heroes of Olympus series. Hopefully I can finish it soon! ;))

"But beauty is about finding the right fit, the most natural fit. To be perfect, you have to feel perfect about yourself—avoid trying to be something you're not. For a goddess, that's especially hard. We can change so easily."

by.stefaniesugia♥ .