by Ryan Leahy
The Son of Neptune
by Rick Riordan
Rating: 4.5
The Son of Neptune starts off with a bang, answering all of the questions that readers had in the previous book, The Lost Hero. This book focuses on Percy Jackson, who was missing throughout the first book of the series.
Percy is led to a camp that is different in origin than the Greek camp by the wolf Luna. They are Roman demigods and follow the ways and traditions of Rome. He cannot remember anything about who he is after awaking from a long sleep, but he knows that he is a demigod and remembers the name “Annabeth.”
At the camp, he befriends two other demigods named Hazel and Frank. Hazel is the daughter of Pluto, who holds dark secrets. She was killed after her mother was possessed by the “Voice” and overcome by greed. Frank has not been claimed by a god, but he is very good with a bow, but feels he has no other talents. These three are sent on a quest to free Thantos, the god who guards the Doors of Death, while he is captured in Alaska and they are brought closer together and find out who they are. Along the way, they face death and must overcome it.
I really enjoyed this book. Bringing back the character of Percy Jackson and adding new characters was a nice touch because over the years, I have really grown close to his character. He is extremely heroic and funny. Hazel had a very interesting back story, and she brought a darker element to the book being the daughter of the god of death. She caused everything that is happening in her previous life. I also really enjoyed the loveable character of Frank, who could never do anything right. He is very amusing and fit the plot very well. Constantly, he would trip over things and mess up the plans of Percy and Hazel.
This book was an interesting change from his previous books because he introduced a Roman Camp and switched up the Greek mythology with Roman mythology. The plot had many exciting twists, especially at the end. Frank Zhang was supposed to have a special power and when it finally came, it shocked me.
Finally, dramatic irony appeared throughout the book. We knew that Percy Jackson was from the Greek camp and who he really was, but the characters did not know about it because he was brought to the camp by the wolf Luna, the same as the other Roman demigods were. They did not know that the Greek camp still existed and were bitter enemies before.
The only thing that I did not enjoy about the book was the ending. It ended with another cliffhanger, which I felt was disappointing because the whole book felt like it was leading up to it and you have to wait until the next book. I would recommend this book to anyone that has read his previous Percy Jackson novels and people that like adventure and mythology. But, people should probably read The Lost Hero to understand what is happening in this book.