So I finished this book in 8 hours of solid reading. Yes, even 400-something pages of Greek mythology take that long.
And the first thing which I should mention is that this book, and some others which have come before it and all those which will follow, have nothing going for them except for plot. Absolutely nothing. (Well, unless you count occasional hilarious one-liners on the side. I guess I should.)
Of course, we can't discuss this book without discussing the original Percy Jackson and the Olympians. What made Percy Jackson such a success? He was new. Some people call him the Harry Potter of the new age, but he was much more interesting than that; a smart-aleck, good-hearted 12-year old who sets out on the ultimate road trip to save the world from a god-scale war. The reader befriends the stumbling hero from page two. We want things to turn out alright for our demon-slaying protagonist, but, peeking from behind our fingers, we also really don't want them to, because the result will be much funnier. The most important thing about Percy was that he evolved over the course of his series. That was probably greatest asset Riordan could have granted to Percy: change. It takes Percy half the first book to even admit to himself that gods are toying around with mortals/demigods; he doesn't fall into the role of leadership until book three, or perhaps book four. But here, in The Lost Hero, our new heroes simply are. Jason is the new Percy, and he fails miserably at the job. Piper, although deeper than the Mary-Suestic (is there a male counterpart to that term?) Jason, will never be as likeable as Annabeth, and Piper's relationship with her father will never reach the depth or strength of the Percy-Sally relationship. The only interesting character of the trio proves to be Leo, who is haunted, a little insecure, and on occasion jealous.
But ever since The Last Olympian itself, all of Riordan's books have lacked something. What is it? Soul? There's little life in the writing style of the The Lost Hero. Gone are the mirthful chapter titles of the Olympian series (e.g. "I Accidentally Vaporize my Pre-Algebra Teacher"), and the sassy first-person tone of voice which worked so well in Percy's case will never again be. The third-person narration in this book distances us from the characters. There’s little to no illustrative description. The focus is instead of bland action and scenes which we have already encountered countless times. Needless to say, all of this becomes a little tiring. Riordan is trying to write a different series about different heroes in a different voice, but he has retained the writing style of the previous books, something which should not have happened.
But hey, all in all, there’s some fun to it. Although redundant, The Lost Hero avoids being boring. Sure, the plot structure is terrible (Evil powers are rising! Go on a quest! Leo, save the day! Piper, save the day! Jason, save the day! Boss battle, everyone – with the aid of a dues-ex-machina, of course, the fourth in a row!), but I was loathe to the put the book down, and that must say something. There was a great deal of focus on who finds what other character attractive, which irked me (someone tell me, where did this trend start?), and I was really surprised that the characters are initially are older than the targeted reading age group, since authors generally want to have as much connection with the reader as possible. I know that Riordan wanted to pick up where the Olympians left off, but maybe our new heroes could’ve hung around Nico, or something. The best aspect of the book, I think, is the whole dual idea of Greek and Roman camps, which means that this series will have just as much character-character conflict as character-bad guy conflict, if not more. The part which will doubtlessly hold readers on tenterhooks is the news of what has happened to Percy. Although this plot thread was not entirely unprecedented (Riordan has become about as suave as Suzanne Collins in his plot twists), I have to admit I was a little heartbroken, and now I nervously await the next installment.
Speaking of that… I am clearly very curious about the next book in the series. It will be titled The Son of Neptune, and, if I’m not mistaken, there will be a great deal of focus on a greatly beloved character. But I am afraid that Percy will not be Percy. What is he now? Seventeen? He’ll never again be the slightly naïve but courageous middle-schooler who chose to journey to the Underworld, granted, but I wish that Riordan could bridge that gap and take us to the old world of Percy Jackson once again.