The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

I probably need to begin by saying that this book is totally based on Greek and Roman mythology. Also, this is the first book in The Heroes of Olympus series, the next big adventure in the Percy Jackson universe. This book is suspenseful, action-packed and keeps you turning page after page. If you have read the Percy Jackson books, you know that things aren’t always as they seem.

This book begins with Jason, a fifteen year-old boy, waking up on a bus on his way to the Grand Canyon: and he can’t remember a single thing, not even himself. He finds out that his best friends are Leo Valdez, who was orphaned as a child and is good at building things, and Piper Mclean, whose father is a famous actor. He apparently goes to Wilderness School, a school for “bad kids”. Then a freak storm hits them and they get attacked by an evil creature called a venti, a storm monster.

The three are then rescued by an unhappy Annabeth, who is one of the main characters in the Percy Jackson series. When she rescued them, she was actually looking for someone named Percy Jackson, the mighty son of Poseidon. Then she tells them a shocking secret: they are demigods, half human, and half god. She takes them to a strange place called Camp Half-Blood, a safe place for demigods, and so they can be claimed by their godly parents.

The three friends are placed into a world of monsters, legends and gods. A god stole Jason’s memory and his friends discover some of what role they are suppose to play in saving the world. This is a very fast-paced book and is packed full of action. The friends fight monsters, meet legends from Greek mythology, and talk to gods. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone.

This story is very well written and kept me turning page after page every night I would pick up the book. One thing that I thought was interesting in comparison to the Percy Jackson books is this book was written in third person instead of first and focuses on one of the three main characters, each one taking two chapters at a time. Rick Riordan is a fantastic author. He did a great job portraying the characters by making them easily likable. I also really enjoyed how he incorporated some of the characters from the series before (Chiron, Annabeth, the Hunters, etc.).

As I said before, this book is full of action and defiantly worth the read, even though it is 552 pages long. One suggestion I have is if you don’t know much about Greek and Roman mythology, you might want to get some background on that so it will make more sense. Also, you might want to read the Percy Jackson series first so you can pick up on some of the jokes and slang they use. This book is a good one and I give it an A+!