Finally...The Lost Hero

So I finally finished a book today. I have to read two to three more this week. I see a long run with an audio book in my future!

I've been curious about Rick Riordan and the Percy Jackson series for a while now, and I actually considered buying the first book a few years ago. I admit that I am glad I didn't. I liked The Lost Hero enough that I might consider reading more Riordan books, but I didn't love it, and so I would not go out and buy it.

And finally...a recent review!

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Piper, Leo and Jason are demigods, the daughter and sons of Aphrodite, Hephaestus and Zeus, respectively. When they find themselves and a camp for other sons and daughters of the gods, they discover that Hera has called them there for a reason. They have a quest to complete, and they must complete it together in order to save Hera and the world as they know it. Throw in a flying mechanical dragon, a satyr, some more minor gods, wild weather, and encounters with cyclops, giants, Midas and Medea, and there you have it. A nice little adventure for the juvenile set.

I might be missing something. I'm not sure because I didn't read the Percy Jackson series first. I found this book in my parent's house and figured why not? In any case, I'm seeing a lot of really good reviews, and I am not sure I understand why.

I liked it (I did finish it, after all), but I didn't find it compelling. There are things that I really like about the story, but there are things I really didn't love, so three stars seemed like a good compromise.

This is what doesn't sit right with me. I'm really not into the writing style itself. It's simple and a little unpolished. I got tired of reading "But yeah..." over and over. Halfway through the book, though, something dawned on me. it is juvenile literature, and maybe I should imagine myself reading it to my nine-year-old nieces and nephews. It helped me to recognize the audience Riordan is writing for, and so it didn't grate on me as much. But that doesn't mean that it couldn't have been better. Still, I've read a few juvenile lit books over the past year or so, and I think that it's often the writing style that turns me off to these books.

On to the story itself. It had it's moments. I like the idea of demigods on quests to save the world from the evils that lurk beneath...or above...the earth. But then, I also like complexity and development. I most especially don't like it when things feel slap dash, put together because it's convenient. As usual, my beef is that the characters weren't developed enough. When characters are developed, their actions don't feel convenient but instead feel like what the person would do based on what we know about them.

The moments of conflict lacked complexity. They were over a bit too quickly and easily. I wanted to be actually worried for the characters' safety. Don't you find that when you fret and worry about a character you like them more? I wasn't fretting or worrying. Everything was always set up a little to perfectly so that I knew they would be fine. Defeating the cyclops or the giants or Midas or Medea was all to simple. Oh...and I wanted less exposition. There was a lot of back story...explaining things that happened in the past. It's the same thing I thought of Clockwork Angel. Don't tell me. Show me.

All that said, I know that this sounds like a one or two star review. However, after I started thinking about reading it to a kid, it grew on me. I am certain that I would have loved this story when I was a child. I would have had a crush on Jason, and I would have wished I was Piper. And I did like it enough that I might actually read the second novel in the series...or even try out the Percy Jackson series. Just probably not right away.


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