Book Review: The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan

The famous Greek god of the sun, archery, music and (bad) poetry, Apollo, has gotten into some trouble with his father, Zeus. Apollo has been outcasted as a sixteen-year-old mortal boy and will have to face many trials to become the god he once was. The Oracle of Delphi has been inactive, unable to produce prophecies, so Apollo sets off to Camp Half-Blood to hopefully find some help from the demigods there to restore the Oracle's power. 

3.5/5 stars

It's been a while since I posted a review, so here's my incredibly late review of The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan.

I was highly anticipating the release of this book, just like so many other people. I had pretty high hopes, after all, we were promised more of the seven and Camp Half-Blood. However, I was let down by this book. Don't get me wrong, it definitely wasn't a bad book, but it fell short for me. I found I wasn't flying through it like some of Rick's other books, and I just didn't love the new characters. 

Spoilers ahead.

Let's talk about the negatives of this book first. As a mentioned above, I wasn't a huge fan of the new characters. I didn't hate Apollo, but he wasn't my favourite of Rick's protagonists. He was just mediocre for me. Then there was Meg. Honestly, she was a bit annoying, and not in a good way. The new side characters, Apollo's children, didn't stand out for me either. I just wish we got to see more of the old characters, like Nico and Will. Also, we only got to see two of the seven, Percy and Leo. We didn't even get to see Annabeth (but I guess she was in Boston with Magnus), and we only got minimal updates with the remaining seven, which I found disappointing. 

One of the pros for me is that it looks like Leo is going to be playing a larger part in this series, which is great because he was one of my favourites of the seven. 

Also, Solangelo became canon! Although, I'm slightly disappointed that we didn't get to see more of them. I also appreciated that Apollo was openly bisexual, and Rick treated it like it was a completely normal thing (which it is). It's really great that his books are getting more and more diverse.

The fact that Nero was basically made into a god because people remembered him opened up a whole new can of worms in this universe. Does that mean anyone with a Wikipedia page can become a god? 

On the topic of Nero, do you think Meg will stay loyal you him? I think that she will realize that she was being abused and will have a character arc throughout the series, eventually coming over to the good side. Hopefully she will also become less annoying.

Overall, The Hidden Oracle was a slight disappointment, but still enjoyable.

The Serpent's Shadow by Rick Riordan

***The following synopsis and summary contain spoilers for The Red Pyramid and The Throne of Fire.***

The giant snake of Chaos, Apophis, still threatens to take over the world despite Carter and Sadie Kane's efforts. They, along with the help of a now deceased magician, managed to buy the world some more time, but that time is quickly running out. If they want to live, the siblings must do the impossible, defeat Apophis himself. And the only way to do that is to find an ancient spell, and use the serpent's shadow against him.

Rate: 4.5 stars

This was my favourite book of the trilogy. I really loved the final battle and the way things ended. I just love Rick's books, his writing, his characters, his stories. It's all just so great! Everything was wrapped up nicely, and overall this was a great conclusion to an awesome, action-packed series!

SPOILERS AHEAD.

Did anyone else catch that Camp Half-Blood reference? We got to see Drew and Lacy, which was pretty cool! I love authors who do that sort of thing!

Anyways, let's get on with the review. I'm pretty much just going to be talking about the ending because that was the best part. First off, the final battle against Apophis was pretty epic. Action is always the best. That's one of the reasons why I don't like contemporaries. I think that all of Rick's action scenes are written pretty well. Although I enjoyed reading the last battle, I was expecting a tad bit more. I thought that defeating Apophis would be a bit more tricky.

Besides the end scene, I also liked the scene in "A Friendly Game of Hide and Seek (with Bonus Points for Painful Death!)" (I also love the chapter titles, they're hilarious!), where Walt and Sadie played a "friendly" game of hide and seek with Neith. Also, the Jelly Baby Conspiracy thing was hilarious.

Speaking of Walt and that chapter, let's talk about what happened to him in the end. So may recall that a deadly curse runs in his family, and he was dying. So naturally he hosted Anubis (well maybe that's not exactly natural). I actually suspect that Walt and Anubis would join forces. I have conflicted feelings on this topic.On the one hand, I'm glad Walt is alive and well, but on the other, isn't it a bit odd that he's basically two people in one (buy one get one free!)? I preferred Anubis and Sadie together over Walt and Sadie. Don't get me wrong, I liked Walt, but I just liked Anubis and Sadie together better. And the two-for-one-deal that is Walt (is that what we're going to call him?), wasn't exactly the same, and it was like dating two people at once. Weird right?

On the topic of hosting gods, I'd like the mention Ra/Zia. For the short time that they were one, that was a bit odd. Also, Ra is back, but he's not taking the throne? That was surprising. Instead he decided to give his place to a fifteen-year-old magician/Horus. Good for Carter and all but will he be able to take that responsibility? I also really loved that little scene at the end with Carter and Zia.

Moving on. I was glad that at the end we got Bes back. He was able to save Carter and Sadie (again), which, you know, is always handy. Plus it was great to have his character back in the story.

Overall, I was quite happy with the ending. There we no cliffhangers in the series surprisingly enough (I mean have you Heroes of Olympus?!?). And everything was wrapped up quite nicely. It was a great book to end the series. 

The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan

***The following synopsis and summary contain spoilers for The Red Pyramid.***

After defeating the Egyptian god of evil, Set, Carter and Sadie Kane have learned that he was the least of their problems. The giant snake of Chaos, Apophis, is starting to rise, and he is way more powerful than Set. 

Carter and Sadie must stop Apophis before he swallows the sun and plunges the Earth into darkness and destruction. And if they don't stop Apophis, the world will end. So Carter and Sadie must reawaken the sun god Ra if they want to survive. The must go on a dangerous mission to find the book of Ra which they will use to awaken the sun god. Will Carter and Sadie be able to awaken Ra and defeat Apophis?

Rate: 4 stars

I liked this instalment of The Kane Chronicles just as much as the first book! I still love the brother/sister dynamic of Sadie and Carter. We still got all that action, mythology and that uniquely funny writing style. A love triangle began, which I actually didn't mind. Overall this was great sequel.

SPOILERS AHEAD.

I liked the new addition of Bes in this book. He was a great god to have around, and he saved Carter and Sadie many times. He was very helpful when he showed up in the scene where Sadie was visiting in London for her birthday, and Nekhbet and Babi possessed her grandparents. It was too bad when they were gambling their souls for time and he gave up his soul for Carter and Sadie though.

Along with Bes we got to see some of the kids that Carter and Sadie were able to recruit like Walt and Jaz. I thought Walt was a great addition to the story. His presence certainly caused more drama within the story, that with his curse and the love triangle. Although I liked Walt and felt bad about his curse, I still liked Sadie and Anubis together better. I just love their banter! 

We also got the real Zia this time around. I felt a bit bad for Carter since he had to rebuild everything in between them. I really like Zia though, she is a strong female character.

In this instalment we got to see more of the Duat and magic. The Duat was a tad confusing for me, so I was glad we got more insight. I thought the whole adventure the Kanes went on in the Duat was more eye opening, interesting and action packed. I really loved all the scenes in the Duat.

The end was especially great! The awakening of Ra (who was ridiculous and sad), and the one fight against Apophis with Menshikov and Desjardins. It was great that Carter and Sadie teamed up with Dejardins, even thought they didn't like each other, to defeat Menshikov and Apophis, however not permanently. Desjardins died a heroic death, and in the end was on the right side. Kind of like Snape in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (I'm assuming everybody has read it or seen the movie by now).

Honestly I'm surprised that Rick hasn't ended any of the books in cliffhangers yet. But the book was still great!

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

When Carter and Sadie Kane are brought along to a museum with their Egyptologist dad, they don't think anything of it. But of course they're dead wrong. They discover that their father has a secret plan, and it just so happens to go incredibly wrong. An explosion destroys an ancient Egyptian artifact, the Rosetta Stone, and releases the Egyptian god of chaos, Set.

Set encases Carter and Sadie's dad in a golden coffin, and if they want to free him they must embark on a quest that could cost them their lives. Along the way they discover that they have connections to the old empire of Egypt, and powers that they must learn to use. While Carter and Sadie are on the dangerous quest to save their father, they also learn that there is more at stake than just their father's life... 

Rate: 4 stars

Yet another Rick Riordan book. What a surprise! Anyways, I enjoyed this book as well! Although I didn't like it quite as much as Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus, I still thoroughly enjoyed this book. That may be because I enjoyed the Greek mythology better. The Red Pyramid had the same fun adventures, awesome writing style, amazing characters and mythology. So I would definitely recommend you pick this book up if you are a fan of Rick's other work!

SPOILERS AHEAD.

I really liked the characters in this book! All of the characters that Rick creates are really fleshed out, and are written very well. I loved the brother-sister relationship that Carter and Sadie had. They were great characters on their own, but they were even greater together. I loved reading their banter! And since this book was a recording of their adventures, I liked how we got comments like "[No, Sadie. It's not an old person's soda! Be quiet!]" Those were great!

I love the fact that with Rick Riordan's books you get to learn in a fun way. I got to know more about Egyptian mythology while reading about an epic quest. He does it in such a way so that you don't get a huge info dump, and it's actually entertaining. Plus you don't need to know anything about Egyptian mythology when you start reading, because the characters don't know too much either. I think Rick's books would be a good read for when you are learning about mythology in school. I think they would really help people get into it and help them remember it better, all the while having fun while reading.

The plot and set up of the was similar to Rick's other books. We had the discovery of the powers, an epic quest (with lots of action of course), and then a final battle at the end. And this really works for his books. 

The powers that Carter and Sadie had were pretty cool. Although I did like the different powers that the characters in PJO and HoO had better. They were more varied and ultimately, I think they were more powerful. Maybe I should just stop comparing the series though. Anyways, the whole magician thing was still pretty awesome. Plus they had the extra help of Horus and Isis. I'm glad that they decided not to host the two gods at the end of the book. As cool as hosting a god is, and as powerful as it made them, I wanted to see what the two could do on their own.

The ending was of course the best part. The final battles are always the best! It was kind of sad to find out Zia was really a shabti. I wish it was really her that went on the adventure! Anyways, the ending set up well for the next book with the Carter and Sadie making a deal with Set (I can't believe he was using Amos as a host!), and they discovered that Set was the least of their problems. Apophis was really the bigger problem.

Overall this was another great book! I just finished The Throne of Fire so I should have a book review for that up soon!