The Lost Hero

 There are no spoilers below, so do not feel afraid to read. TL;DR at the end.

Hiiii xD Today I’m going to be reviewing a book called The Lost Hero. It is the first book of the fantasy-adventure series ‘Heroes of Olympus’ which is a pentalogy. The other 4 books consist of The Son of Neptune, The Mark of Athena, The House of Hades and The Blood of Olympus. These books are written by Richard ‘Rick’ Riordan, a 51-year-old American author who is most known for writing the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. Two of his books have been turned into movies: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters.

These books are all based on Greek mythology and centered around a male character named Percy Jackson and his friends. This book, however, is based around three new characters to the serieswhose names are Jason Grace, Piper McLean and Leo Valdez. A character from the previous series, Annabeth Chase (who is Percy’s girlfriend, if you didn’t know), remains. Percy is nowhere to be found. Jason, Piper and Leo find out they are actually the half-sons and half-daughters of Greek gods, you can call them demigods. In this story, they go on an action-packed quest to save Hera (Zeus’ wife), rescue a dad, slay a giant, and find out a few rather confusing things that Hera has done. And that isn’t all that happens.

This book, alongside all the others in the series, is easily one of my favourites. Unlike the previous series (Percy Jackson), this was written in 3rd person. I, personally, love this book not just because there is constant, non-stop action, but because sometimes it seems just like a group of ordinary friends going on adventures together, but they aren’t exactly ordinary, which makes it all the more interesting. The characters all have their own unique personality, way of doing things and a backstory that is so deep and well written I could almost feel as if I knew them and could relate to them at some points. And, even with so much battle going on, there was humor and that gave me a sense of refreshment and a sort of comfort. A little like the calm before the storm, you could say.

Another cool thing is that this book, as you probably could already tell, is based on Greek mythology. Throughout the story, it shows. Quite obviously. Many of the monsters they fight are from the myths, the weapons they use, all the gods, etc. I am a Greek/Roman mythology geek so naturally I loved this book once I got into it.

But, there were one or two things that I didn’t like about the book. For example, I didn’t like how sometimes, the plot just felt a little dragged out just to be a chapter or two longer. It just gave me the thought saying do you really need to be fighting these guys right now and why are we here again. But it doesn’t happen too often, so that was easily looked past. Another small thing is that I didn’t particularly enjoy all the point-of-views the story was told from, but that’s only my opinion.

I suppose if I am to do this right, I need to do a star rating, so out of 5 stars I give this book a 4.5 because of the minor flaws. No book is perfect, no matter how perfect it seems, right? If I were to recommend this to anyone, it would have to be someone who could take a big plot, many characters and a cliffhanger. (Goodness, don’t even get me started on the cliffhanger.) And lastly, of course, that person shouldn’t hate (better yet, he/she should love) mythology because that is a big part of the book itself. 

Even though I have mentioned this quite a few times throughout this review, I'm going to give a warning. This is a fiction, fantasy-adventure story. It is packed to the brim with action, but it doesn't have all that many emotional parts. So, if you prefer deeper and more touching stories, this isn't for you.

Anyway, that just about wraps up my review on The Lost Hero. In conclusion, I loved this book, I love the rest of the books and I hope you do too. Yes, yes, I’ve been rambling on and on about this one book. It would be best if I stopped before I wrote anymore. Till next time... maybe =P

TL;DR
Rating: 4.5/5
Level of difficulty: Not too difficult as the book's target audience is middle schoolers.
Pros (my opinion): Tons of action, good characters, humourous, based on Greek/Roman mythology

Cons (my opinion): Plot feels like it's dragged out at times, not all P.O.V.s I enjoyed
Would I recommend?: Yes. 
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Main character descriptions:

+ Jason + your blond, brooding male character who has amnesia and doesn't know who he is but fights with a sword and a lance and a hazy past.

+ Piper + your pretty, sassy, down-to-earth, caring girl character who is really good at convincing people to doing what she wants them to do just by saying so.

+ Leo + your funny, smart, flirty and an extremely likable male character who has such a past it leaves you really confused until it all makes sense in the end.

+ Annabeth + your courageous, smart and slightly bitter girl character who is caring all the same and has a slight problem with dealing with her pride.


Written by: Serene Tan
x Year 8 x