Rick Riordan predicted that there would be disgruntled readers starting around October 3rd. It's October 3rd, and here I am. Not disgruntled, though. Try deliriously happy.
...Well, okay. There's a little bit of disgruntled too. Needless to say, SPOILERS will be flying from this point on, so consider yourself warned!
Seeing as I am living at home and have three siblings concurrently reading this book, there's not a lot I can say or do without setting someone off. As the sibling who has finished the book, I am a dangerous liability. Anything I say or do could give something away. Literally. If I look at someone the wrong way, they are likely to burst into tears, claiming that I spoiled something.
And, okay, they have a solid reason for thinking that I might. I have to admit that my record isn't all that good when it comes to keeping secrets. What can I say? I get so excited when I finish something spectacular that I want to share it with everyone! I have this awful need to talk about everything: the good, the bad, the absolutely painful. I never mean to spoil anything, but...let's just say it happens sometimes.
So. The solution? Ha ha, blogging. I'm not expecting a ton of people to even see this, but it gives me the opportunity to get things out of my system without causing World War III in the Haddock home.
SPOILERS. For real, this time.
Am I disgruntled? Yes. But not in an angry, throw-the-book-across-the-room kind of way. (Ha ha, though I did slam it shut when I finished, but that was more out of excitement than anything else.) Funnily enough to anyone who has actually finished this book, the thing that disgruntles me most is the army of Romans gearing up to attack Camp Half-Blood. I know, right? Of all the things that happened, particularly that cliffhanger ending, that's the part that gets me upset? Let's just say I have a hyperactive sense of fairness and the Romans attacking the Greeks is so NOT fair. Oh, sure, I understand their reasons. But if Octavian has the power to work the Romans up into this kind of a frenzy, shouldn't Reyna have the same ability to calm them down? Not without risking her position, I know, but still. She's praetor. Octavian isn't. She should be able to do something. Something that doesn't involve unfairly attacking the Greeks while their leaders are on the other side of the world. And I want Octavian to get his comeuppance, too. He spent most of the book annoying me, though some of Percy's best moments were prompted by acts and words of idiocy from the Roman auger. Percy dumping him into the harbor in Charleston was easily in my top ten favorite scenes from MoA, and not only because Octavian was humiliated.
And that's a perfect lead-in to the deliriously happy.
Three words, my demigod friends: Percy and Annabeth.
The central focus of both TLH and SoN was getting Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase back together. Jason, Piper, and Leo didn't even know who Percy was, but their quest in TLH to free Hera (and Jason's personal quest to get his memories back) was the first step in figuring out what happened to Percy, even though they didn't know it at first. It was hidden deep in the background, but it was there. SoN brought that goal into sharp relief with the return of Percy as a narrator. Again, we were distracted by a seemingly random quest and the introduction of new characters with new problems, but Percy's drive to recover the fifth cohort's standard came from his desire to get back to Annabeth--even though he could barely remember her.
MoA starts out from Annabeth's perspective (finally!) and Rick apologizes to his rabid fans for SoN's truly agonizing cliffhanger by getting straight to their reunion. I'm going to be brutally honest here: it was kind of a let down...at first. Rick's not a romance writer by any stretch of the imagination (and we wouldn't want him to be!) so Annabeth's thoughts when seeing Percy for the first time feel a little forced. But any misgivings I had about my favorite demigod couple were quickly erased when, after a long-anticipated kiss, Annabeth judo-throws Percy to the ground in a release of pent up frustration and worry. Percy can only laugh at this, probably because he wouldn't have expected anything else from Annabeth. She helps him up and, just like that, we know everything is back to normal. Pure brilliance. So perfect and in character that everything I spent the past year imagining pales in comparison.
And their relationship just got better and better. I won't go into detail about any more of their scenes here, but it was perfect. After MoA's cliffhanger ending, which also happened to be one of the most touching and heartbreaking things I have ever read, I don't see how anyone could come out of that book NOT invested in Percy and Annabeth.
I really can't help it. I've got to talk about Percy's "budding bromance" with Jason. I went into MoA with my fingers crossed, hoping that the two camp leaders would get along but afraid that there would be trouble (and for good reason too, after the scene of the two of them locked in battle was released as the cover for the book!). While in New Rome, things seemed to be headed in the right direction. Percy and Jason bonded over a shared distaste for Octavian and everything looked like it was going to be butterflies and rainbows until a hoodwinked Leo opened fire on Camp Jupiter, cutting negotiations short before they could really begin. That's when the tension between the seven started to show.
With a son of Jupiter and a son of Poseidon, there's going to be more than a little tension. And that's not just because one is Roman and one is Greek. Zeus and Poseidon (or Jupiter and Neptune, if you will) are brothers, but they are also rivals. Jason and Percy were both more accustomed to leading rather than being led, and bringing them together was bound to have consequences. At one point they both tried to sit in the seat at the head of the table and spent a few minutes locked in a staring contest. Fortunately, both boys had the sense of mind to surrender the seat to Annabeth, who had been acting as leader up until they made it to Camp Jupiter. Percy and Jason spent a lot of time working around each other and staying out of each other's way. Fortunately, their rivalry stems more out of their individual desire to prove that they are useful than out of any real negative feelings. It isn't long before they're forced to work together, and in summoning up the mother of all hurricanes with Percy's control of the ocean and Jason's control of the skies, they realize just how strong they are when they do.
Can I just say again how brilliant Rick is? The easy thing to do in this book would be to make the seven get along unnaturally well throughout or to make them butt heads most of the time. And, okay, Frank and Leo spent a lot of time butting heads. But let's not forget that Frank was also the first of the seven to give Leo the benefit of the doubt when he couldn't explain why he'd started firing on Camp Jupiter. NONE of these characters was one-dimensional. They each came across as their own complex, realistic person, and with seven of them to juggle, that's no easy feat. The seven started out willing to trust each other because of shared alliances and experiences. Then they met some hiccups and speed bumps that caused plenty of tension and even dislike. But they worked through that and came out on the other side, able to work as a team. They understood that they were stronger as a team.
Maybe that's what I liked most about this book: these characters worked through their problems rather than letting them sit and stew. Some people might say that the issues were resolved a little too easily, but that's not something that bothers me. In a book like this, I would rather see the heroes dealing with their problems and coming out of them in better shape than they were before, and all the better if it's done realistically, which I think Rick has pulled off. Percy and Jason learn how to work together. Frank and Leo are attracted to the same girl--not only that, but Leo's special talent is one that could snuff out Frank's life in a heartbeat. Long story short, they're both scared of each other, though neither lets it show. Despite this, they learn how to trust each other by the end of the book. Better yet, Leo comes out of it maybe a little better at dealing with people.
Leo's story was another one that almost broke my heart. He's easily my favorite of the five new demigods we met in this series, probably because he's the most like Percy (though as my sister said, Leo is far crazier than Percy). My heart just goes out to him--how determined he is to do the right thing and take care of the people around him, even when he's inherited his dad's inability to handle living things. The poor guy is a seventh wheel in MoA. Gaea spends most of her time working on his insecurities about dealing with people by telling him how he will never truly fit in with the rest of them. She has a point, at least from the couple viewpoint--the other six are paired off. But one thing I admire about Leo is that he refused to be brainwashed by Gaea's lies. Gaea says "walk away"; Leo says "I'm gonna face-plant you, lady." Gaea says "you're a seventh wheel"; Leo says "this is my family." He's clear-sighted when it comes to her manipulations, and I just LOVE that. That being said, he doesn't always see the truth right away. He spent a good portion of the book troubled about being that seventh wheel, wondering if he's going to fit in any more than just being the mechanic. I was so happy that he was able to see past Gaea's lies to the truth: they all care about him, not about his Hephaestus powers.
I think that's far and away enough for now. I haven't even scratched the surface here. I could go on and on about Piper and Jason, or better yet, Piper, Jason, and Reyna. I'm rooting for Piper and Jason, truthfully, but I'm also rooting for Reyna here. I want her to see that things CAN go right for her. I want her to be happy. I could wax lyrical about my love for Coach Hedge and his musical quirks. (Singing the Pokemon theme song, only using "kill" instead of "catch?" I died!) I could give any number of theories about what's in store for Hazel in the next book, House of Hades. But I think I'm going to have to stop here. It's time to get dinner ready. I'll be compiling that list of top ten favorite scenes in the near future, though.
Loved it.
Hey friend!
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