(Review) The Hidden Oracle

The Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan

Publication Date: May 3, 2016

Pages: 384 (harcover)

Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy

My Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars

Goodreads Synopsis:
How do you punish an immortal?

By making him human.

After angering his father Zeus, the god Apollo is cast down from Olympus. Weak and disorientated, he lands in New York City as a regular teenage boy. Now, without his godly powers, the four-thousand-year-old deity must learn to survive in the modern world until he can somehow find a way to regain Zeus's favour.

But Apollo has many enemies - gods, monsters and mortals who would love to see the former Olympian permanently destroyed. Apollo needs help, and he can think of only one place to go . . . an enclave of modern demigods known as Camp Half-Blood.

My Review: 

A couple of things before we get started: 

1. I'm under the influence of cold medicine. 

2. Rick is one of my favorite authors so I'm physically not able to say a bad word against him. 

3. Chances are, if you put one of my favorite literary characters in a new series I'm going to want to read it and read it good. 

Okay, here we go. 

All joking and Percy Jackson aside, I loved this book. When I picked up the first Percy book years ago I didn't expect to fall for a series like I had done with Harry Potter, but it happened. 

Apollo was always a fun spot in the Percy books. He's cocky and funny, bursting with sarcasm and innuendo. I was pretty excited when I heard that there would be books based on him that took place at *gasp* Camp Half-Blood! 

Apollo is cast down by Zeus with no recollection of the past six months. He has no idea what's going on within the demigod world and, even in human form, is still totally selfish. Immediately he is attacked by thugs and saved by a young demigod. Meg and Apollo make their way to Camp Half-Blood where the are filled in with most of what Apollo is missing. 

Meg's an interesting character. There's something off about her and you can tell right from the start. She knows too much but doesn't know anything, if that makes sense. Meg knows she's a demigod but literally has no idea about the world around her. 

Because she saved him, Apollo is bound to her, which is fun because he isn't really used to taking orders from others. Things get bad at CHB when two of Apollo's children go missing and, since The Oracle isn't working, they have to set out on their own to find the missing campers. Watching Apollo struggle with his mortality and not having his godly powers is fun and heartbreaking at the same time. It's interesting to see how he overcomes the things set in front of him. 

This book is really good in a way that's different from any of Rick's others. (Okay, I'm strictly a Percy girl. Maybe one day I'll branch out.) But really. The Percy Jackson series is about kids who are learning how to use their abilities and manage their hormones and friendships at the same time. It's about finding themselves with the help of others. 

Apollo's story is like that too, only he's a four-thousand-old god trying to do it. I loved reading about his struggles and heartaches throughout his life. Honestly, I hope that we get much more of Apollo's backstory in the rest of the series. Watching a character (especially a super old god) grow is one of my favorite things. 

Read this book and suffer the wait with me. (When does the next one come out?)

Oh, did I mention Percy is in it?

I'm using this gif to emphasis Percy, not because I endorse this movie.

Hooray for my hundredth post!