The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo, #1) By Rick Riordan
Title | : | The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo, #1) |
Author | : | |
ISBN | : | 0141363916 |
Language | : | English |
Format Type | : | Hardcover |
Number of Pages | : | 374 |
Publication | : | 09 May 2024 |
Is heavily borrowed from pre existing mythology Percy s return is a mirror of Annabeth s in the Sword of Summer which leads me to believe that since these two series are released near each other and seem to have the same timeline that they will at some point at least partially intersect But Percy s reappearance being very much like his girlfriend s before him again shows that Riordan is running out of fresh material and reusing his own plots. Cringey Dad Jokes Mythology Edition SMH Rick writes Apollo in his own voice desperately unhip yet trying way too effing hard to be cool And completely oblivious to this fact as a writer His references are outdated and will go over the heads of the target Middle Grade audience They won t get the mess that was the 2007 Britney Spears VMA performance unless they care enough to google it because they either weren t born at the time or were watching cartoons instead And this is something that is mentioned on page one.
1 5 stars A Tired Spin on the Same Old FormulaI ll be perfectly blunt you don t look to Riordan for originality We all know this to be true Hell the very first Percy Jackson books rode the Harry Potter ripoff wave to C List stardom and even then he just rewrote ancient myths in a modern format Now he s going back to his roots and just ripping off his previous stories under that hypnotic guise of nostalgia We return to Camp Half Blood Prince and meet some familiar characters like Percy and Nico only to go on the same old adventures. The main difference here is that Apollo has been stripped of his godly powers and must face a road to redemption instead of just being a godly offspring This theme again yet the whole book is littered with these gems This is also the basis of Riordan s books The gods got bizay with mortals So it comes pun intended as no surprise that Apollo has had many lovers both female and male a fact that Riordan seems to hammer yep still punnin home at every possible chance to prove how hip both he and Apollo are with teh ghey stuff when he finds out his son has a boyfriend This is peak Riordan dad joke cringe right here because he continually beats heh punz this long dead horse way past trying to make any point that he s so kewl with it. If that wasn t bad enough each chapter heading has increasingly lame haikus over them I feel like this whole book could have used a good editor to show Riordan that so much of it is just cringey or trite but according to a source with the same publisher they just don t care about quality and expect the author to do it all I guess Riordan in his utmost dweebiness thought this was a good effort then again he also chose this as his book jacket picture No seriously This guy thought this was a flattering pic Yikes The villain here is laughably melodramatic and not in a good way It s like watching Bailee Madison in basically any of her roles just chewing the scenery and not believable at all Honestly how the hell does that annoying actress get roles She has no talent whatsoever Hardcover I fell on my divine face. This is one hilarious book No matter how terrifying some of the situations might be laughing at Apollo takes over everything else in this book And after all the world ending battles it s kind of nice to go back to a slower pace at least for a little while This one felt a somewhat similar to PJO Lightning Thief where everything began with Percy and not just because of the first person narrative Considering Apollo wasn t never made out to be a favorite character before I m sure most will be laughing throughout the first half of the book It starts on the fourth of the major scale They say it s called Lydian after the old kingdom of Lydia but actually I named it for an old girlfriend of mine She was the fourth woman I dated that year. It was kind of nice being back at Camp Half blood and to meet some of our old beloved characters but I did wish the main plot would ve begun a little sooner Camp part didn t feel like anything new Still Meg s first camp experiences made things interesting And Meg awesome new character. The adventure part start in the second half of the book and the overall direction of the book and probably the entire series is revealed By the way things ended with HoO I expected the plot to continue from the Gaia s leftover supporters but it seems Riordan s had his mind set on an entirely original path to continue things along and one that has a lot of potential to grow in many possible ways. What would Dylan Thomas and William Wordsworth have to say I don t know This book was hilarious than anything else of which I m not complaining but I do hope things will get thrilling as we move on. The journey is greater than the destination Hardcover Things can turn out differently Apollo That s the nice thing about being human We only have one life but we can choose what kind of story it s going to be Dammit Rick Riordan This book was actually really good WHAT THE HELL When I first heard about Trials of Apollo I had very mixed feelings On one hand I felt like Jeez Rick please don t turn into a huge sell out On the other hand I was like I GET TO BE REUNITED WITH ALL THE PJO HOO CHARACTERS YET AGAIN YESSSS Honestly the premise which is that Apollo turns mortal a punishment from Zeus and has to attend Camp Half Blood sounds like someone s fanfiction idea or something So I was a little like Oh boy how is this going to last for an entire book an entire five book series for that matter I guess I can only speak for the first book so far but somehow it works I was honestly just going to read this book for kicks and to find out what had happened to certain PJO HoO characters But I ended up being way invested in the story than I thought I would be Not only is this book good but I seriously think it s the best thing Rick Riordan has written in the past few years I liked this book than Magnus Chase and honestly I think I liked it than Blood of Olympus as well What I liked Apollo s narration Oh my goodness it s hilarious I always loved Apollo in the PJO books and it s amazing to get to read a whole story in his perspective Somehow he manages to be super conceited but also so lovable at the same time And I think it s because we all know he actually has a heart hidden underneath all that vanity But also it s hilarious to see him trying to adjust to being mortal Oh and I loved that all the chapter titles were haikus It s not a journey story I think this may be the first ever Rick Riordan book where the characters don t go on an epic quest Not that I don t mind a good journey story but I was relieved this book didn t follow the typical Riordan formula. This is where The Kane Chronicles and Magnus Chase and even Heroes of Olympus fell a little flat for me I liked them but it was starting to feel like the same story over and over again the characters go on some long journey they meet a bunch of quirky mythological beings along the way The Hidden Oracle on the other hand mostly just takes place at Camp Half Blood Yet there is still tension mystery and conflict without the characters having to wander all over the country Towards the end I got the sense it was setting up for a journey story in the next book s but I at least appreciate that Rick stepped out of his comfort zone for this first installment Percy Jackson gets a freakin break I was excited Percy was in this book of course and I found it hilarious that Meg immediately has a crush on him oh my god everyone is in love with this kid But I also liked that Percy didn t stick around for the whole book as much as I love him He s just like Look I ll give you a ride to camp and I ll check in this weekend but I also have a life and stuff I m sure he ll get dragged into shenanigans in this series but I m also glad to see him trying to live a normal life trying to catch up on schoolwork thinking about college etc LetPercyLive2k16 The humor Rick really brought it with the humor in this one I haven t laughed so much at a book in a long time Then the glow become brighter a holographic golden sickle with a few sheaves of wheat rotating just above Meg McCaffrey. A boy in the crowd gasped She s a communist A girl who d been sitting at Cabin Four s table gave him a disgusted sneer No Damien that s my mom s symbol Just oh my gosh dies of laughter MEG I love Meg I love that she wears glasses and eats a lot and has a little bit of hair above her upper lip I love that she s a daughter of Demeter and that being a child of the harvest agriculture goddess is actually portrayed as being pretty badass I love how endearingly odd she is I love that she gets to be an important part of the story when most of the time a similar character would have to take the sidelines. I also love the friendship between Meg and Apollo He starts off thinking she s a total nuisance and then ends up really caring about her in the end and just mY HEART THE SOLANGELO OH MY GOD OH MY GOD I was grinning my head off about these two throughout the whole book I am ridiculously happy to finally see a canon gay couple in one of Riordan s books and it was worth the wait These two are PERFECT OMFG Will put his hand on Nico s shoulder Nico we need to have another talk about your people skills. BOYFRIEND HE SAID BOYFRIEND Nico I said at last shouldn t you be sitting at the Hades table He shrugged Technically yes But if I sit alone at my table strange things happen Cracks open in the floor Zombies crawl out and start roaming around It s a mood disorder I can t control it That s what I told Chiron And is it true I asked. And you know what I also love I love that Apollo is so open about being bisexual Honestly this just means so so much to me The first time Apollo mentioned that his two true loves had been Daphne and Hyacinthus my jaw kinda dropped because I really hadn t expected Rick Riordan to acknowledge that. And I was already happy with that one little nod to Apollo s sexuality but it doesn t end there Apollo clearly states at one point that he has been in relationships with numerous men and women and throughout the story he notes the attractiveness of both male and female characters I had expected that at most Rick Riordan would hint that Apollo was bisexual so I was just overjoyed that he didn t try to hide it at all In all seriousness this representation means a lot to me There were no LGBTQIA characters in the books I read as a kid None I don t think I saw queer characters in a book until I was like 15 So to see a book like this where there is both a canon gay couple and a bisexual protagonist and to know that gay and bisexual kids could grow up reading this book series and actually feel represented that gives me so many feelings I wish I d had this kind of representation when I was a kid What didn t work for me As I said I did appreciate that this book took things a little slowly than most of Riordan s books However I did wish there d been a little bit going on The whole book felt like it was building up to something bigger which isn t necessarily a bad thing but it also made it feel a little incomplete The references to modern technology Look I know Rick Riordan wants to appeal to the cool kids and all but at times I found this a little cringe worthy All the references to things like Skype YouTube Snapchat etc tend to feel forced and unnecessary to me not only that but they re probably going to seem silly and obsolete to any kid who reads this book in ten years There was a major plot twist I was a little iffy about I m talking about the whole thing where Meg sort of betrays Apollo It was a tad clich d and I was slightly disappointed that Riordan took it that route I just feel like the same plotline has been done a million times However I did like that it added depth to her character It s pretty messed up how much Nero has manipulated and emotionally abused her The final word This book really came out of left field for me I had lost a bit of faith in Rick Riordan over the past few years but I feel like he redeemed himself with this one I was initially anxious about yet another PJO spin off but now I m finding myself really excited about it I love Apollo s narration I love the humor I love the new characters and I love seeing the old characters again I guess I ll be reading this series until I m like 30 Dammit Rick Pre release ranting fangirling under the cut 2 11 16 WELP THAT S IT I M SOLD 12 10 15 YESSSS MORE INFO First of all we have a book cover now OOOOOH pretty Apparently this is going to be a 5 book series Which means I m literally going to be almost 30 by the time the last book comes out That s a scary thought Most importantly PERCY IS IN IT THIS IS NOT A DRILL You can read a short excerpt from the book here 10 8 15 Oh boy I know I shouldn t be excited for this I know Rick Riordan is just milking the Percy Jacskon franchise for all it s worth I know he s essentially just writing fanfiction of his own series at this point. AND YET I don t care honestly And despite what the rational side of me says I am excited Because Apollo s point of view is sure to be hilarious I m just imagining Apollo trying to adjust to Camp Half Blood life and it s glorious Heroes of Olympus left a bunch of loose ends and I want to know what happens WE GET TO SEE ALL THE OLD CHARACTERS AGAIN WE GET MORE PERCABETH WE GET TO SEE NICO AND WILL AS A COUPLE HOPEFULLY Hardcover 5 Golden Starsnot complete but 98%READERS ATTENTION before starting this series you should have read these first Percy Jacksonthen Heroes of Olympus Also Trials of Apollo is happening at the same time with Magnus Chase they have crossovers sometimes or if it s hard to remember go here read in this order Camp Half Blood Chronicles I literally warned everywhere I could so I should ve put it in my review too Dnow clapping my hands where were we Trials of Apollo Book 1 the Hidden Oracleyessss I loved this book. so much fun Solangelo of course my other OTP I want I NEED Kayla Austin Damien Ellis Sherman so great so fun thrills feels not so tense but I m so emotional Apollo sounds like Kuzco I love Kuzco I love Apollo the first part was the funniest the last part was the best funny too you can t expect Apollo s narration not to be fun XD the COVER is GORGEOUS OMG mesmerizing with the beauty I always loved Apollo in Greek mythology before reading Percy Jackson he is awesome in this world of modern Greek mythology retelling Camp Halfblood Demigods too I love we have a series about him he is completely a DRAMA QUEEN he even approved himself as a dramatic god somewhere in his haiku Of course he was a whining wimpy Narcissistic sometimes idiot character at first that was funny he was an immortal punished to be a mortal those are very different statesHow do you punish a powerful immortal By making him powerless mortalbut he started to change soon. He stood up for his mission because he believed that was something he must have done himself he changed from this I would rather have pick a nice group of heroes sent themto this I won t allow any others to put themselves at risk. He actually changed besides I thought I don t want to risk losing you again I risked my life for you I said in amazement and that actually means something because I can die as Percy said at nearly the end to his statement ofgods do not change and grow and mature You sure about that You seemed pretty different to me. Also meeting his children was one of the fantastic moments of the book funny ofc I loved to see some of the older familiar favourite characters is back in this series I wish we see others too and the good feeling of rushing adrenaline through my veins inside the pages even after 3rd re read I love the excitements it makes me feel alive. at the end He still whines but as long as he cares sometimes acting courageously doesn t matter he thinks like a crybaby also his whining brings fun to the story XDI can understand him. Bless Riordan s writing style Seems so real all the characters events I think sometimes Apollo his haikus Percy his friends might really exist world came to an ending twice that s insane I know p. s 3 I think I can say Riordan is a Supernatural fan World building 5Characters 5 Characters development 5Written style 5 Fun 5 Feelz 5Plot 5General idea 5 Hardcover This was tons of fun The perspective of a god is great to read from especially since Apollo made for a hilarious narrator While I didn t enjoy it quite as much as his other books it was still great Hardcover My name is Apollo I used to be a god But that was before I was cast down from Olympus a terrible misunderstanding and woke up in a New York dumpster I persuaded Percy Jackson to give me a lift to Camp Half Blood But the place is in chaos Demigods are going missing and the all seeing Oracles have fallen to a mysterious enemy known only as the Beast I figured that regaining Zeus s favour would involve a series of harrowing trials and I was right I usually am My first task Protect the final Oracle hidden away for millennia If I fail the Beast will control the future but worse I ll be stuck as a teenage boy forever The Hidden Oracle The Trials of Apollo 1 Suffice to say Apollo you are awesome This book made me literally LOL multiple times and brought a smile to my face seeing old characters I love again YAY Ill be uploading my review to my youtube channel this week Hardcover Zeus needed someone to blame so of course he d picked the handsomest most talented most popular god in the pantheon me. This might be my favourite Riordan book I was actually disappointed with his last one The Sword of Summer and I began to question in my review if it was finally time for Mr R to take a step back from these books about Greek Roman and Egyptian gods The conflicts were similar and the teen voices had begun to blend into one Magnus Chase could just as easily have been Percy Jackson. BUT then RR had to throw Apollo into the mix Apollo stands out because he is not a teenage boy Well technically he is in this book But he s actually an age old immortal who has been cast out of Olympus by Zeus and turned into a regular human teenager His voice however not to mention his snark and humour are that of a selfish narcissistic hilarious asshole. Truly this book is so refreshing Apollo doesn t even pretend he s a do gooder in fact it s clear from the beginning that he s out for himself and views humans as meat sacks Imagine his horror when he discovers that not only is he human but he also has acne and flab Is anything sadder than the sound of a god hitting a pile of garbage bags Of course there s a whole lot of godly drama going on too You don t get to be an old god like Apollo without making a LOT of enemies But this mostly stood out to me as being the funniest book Riordan has written and that s really saying something given that all his books are defined by his trademark snarky humour Pure entertainment. Apollo is the Gilderoy Lockhart of this world and it is hilarious There s a nice bit of schadenfreude to be had when this self obsessed god finally gets what he deserves and has to rely on Percy Jackson for help And yet there is something undeniably lovable about him too On that note many familiar characters come in and out of this book You don t have to have read the other books to understand and enjoy this one but it does contain spoilers for the main series and the characters This for me stood out amid a sea of similar stories and characters I m still not 100% sure I would want to read any books that focus on teenage demigods we ve kind of been there and done that in my opinion but I will definitely see Apollo s story through to the end It warmed my heart that my children had the right priorities their skills their images their views on YouTube. Blog Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube Store Hardcover NOOOOOO OMG That final chapter killed me and brought me to life at the same time Apollo s team in this trials will be THE DREAM TEAM I m so excited to read the adventures of these three Also everytime Percy appeared I couldn t stop SMILING OH And Apollo was FANTASTIC He made me laugh out loud every two paragraphs Humor on point I really loved this book. UPDATE 05 10 2015 WE HAVE THE SYNOPSIS AND THIS IS EVEN BETTER THAN I EXPECTED I ve always loved the way uncle Rick writes Apollo and all the gods tbh This is gonna be so epic and hilarious And I can t wait to see of my babies at Camp Half Blood Nico Will Jason Piper Leo And hopefully also Percy and Annabeth and Hazel and Frank YES PLEASEEEEEE. EDIT I don t understand why people complain so much about Rick sticking to this universe and being like Cassandra Clare SO WHAT IF THE AUTHORS LOVE THE UNIVERSE THEY CREATED LET THEM BE They are the authors and they can write whatever they want If you don t want to read of their amazing books then you don t have to do it There are plenty of people including me who are VERY EXCITED for this new series and for all of Cassie s new Shadowhunter Chronicles too Hardcover Is anything sadder than the sound of a god hitting a pile of garbage bags Or to paraphrase is there anything sadder than your favorite author becoming a sellout It s blatantly obvious Riordan isn t even trying any He knows he can put out a steaming heap of crap and Percy fangirls and Solangelo diehards would still be clawing over each other for a copy sending This Hidden Disappointment to the top of the NYT bestseller s list. I don t understand Solangelo Will and Nico They never had chemistry They were slapped together in The Blood of Olympus for the sole purpose of Nico getting over Percy Yeah it was sweet then and I was drunk on the magic of the finale but their relationship is never fleshed out They re presented as this oh so cute couple and we re automatically supposed to be on board because they re gay. To that I say We ship Percy and Annabeth because they have history They went to hell and back for each other Their relationship weathered problems like Luke and Rachel They work so incredibly well as a couple and a team as The House of Hades demonstrated. What do Will and Nico have A few conversations behind the Hades cabin I expected their relationship to develop in The Hidden Oracle not a simple PSA about LGBTQIA rights from Riordan through Apollo I m glad we re seeing diversity in campers with Chinese and Brazilian demigods but the way they re presented feels like a big neon sign flashing Look how inclusive I m being Solangelo isn t the problem I can live with them and the obvious fanservice in the form of Leo and Percy s reappearance Props on ushering the son of Poseidon out of the story early so Apollo and new characters can shine I was dying to use that pun But the fucking plot It was formulaic and recycled and I can feel angry tears springing to my eyes as I type this I can bitch and whine about Riordan not leaving Percy in peace but I grudgingly and eagerly accept new series as long as he kept delivering quality content The pacing of Apollo s character arc can be described by one word whiplash Too fast too out of the blue The writing itself has regressed For the first time I feel like I m reading middle grade Percy Jackson the Olympians had the occasional beautiful sentence and the Heroes of Olympus showed leaps and bounds in prose The Hidden Oracle is filled with short simple sentences and quickly dated popculture references You don t want to wake the Beast is a shameless ripoff of Game of Thrones Its predecessors knew when to put a lid on the enchilada jokes and get serious Percy s fight with Ares way back in The Lightning Thief was dead serious The grand climax of The Hidden Oracle is frankly ridiculous The statue sneezes his head off for fuck s sake. Rhea portrayed as a tree hugging hippie is a tired Riordan stereotype Yes mighty gods are door to door salesman and hobos Call me when it s 2005 again Then there s Meg the demigod that claims Apollo into her service and obligatory female partner in crime like Annabeth or Sam from The Sword of Summer She s a bratty annoying version of your typical Strong Female Character One that doesn t have a lot of personality but she can fight and backsass so that automatically makes her the face of feminism. I wouldn t be as peeved had Riordan not shown himself capable of creating complex female characters Reyna is a goddess Her character arc in The Blood of Olympus was one of the highlights of the whole book She got rejected by both Jason and Percy but sucked it up to fight a war She became allies with their girlfriends and eventually friends She sought to bridge the Greek and Roman camps even though she had every reason to hate them She doesn t magically find a boyfriend to mend her broken heart in the end and gets over it through time and space I officially ship Reyna with herself. I ve loved Percy and his adventures for nearly 8 years I lived through the movie announcement then subsequent disappointment at the actual product My edition of The Lightning Thief isn t even in print any. I m as big as a fan as before All I m asking for a little respect My review of The Dark ProphecyPre review Cynical Natalie grumbles Not another one Nice Natalie OH MY GOD IT S ABOUT APOLLO MAYBE IT LL BE IN HIS POV I CAN T BREATHE Cynical Natalie Stop it stop it Don t you see this is another attempt to squeeze money out of the Percy Jackson series How can he prove himself a relevant writer if he keeps writing the same thing Nice Natalie SQUEEEEE WE CAN SEE PERCYCynical Natalie You didn t hear a word I said did you Nice Natalie Cynical Natalie We ve lost her Hardcover 4. 5 I LOVED THIS A review will be up on my channel on Friday Hardcover Rick Riordan is the 1 New York Times bestselling author of many books including the Percy Jackson series You can follow him on site_link Twitter and via his official site_link website Rick Riordan is the 1 New York Times bestselling author of many books including the Percy Jackson series You can follow him on site_link Twitter and via his official site_link website site_link.
, For we have not gone gentle into this good nightBut have wandered lonely as clouds: Malcolm looked like the perfect battlefield commander except for the fact that he d forgotten his pants. Hey I m just stating the obvious If this is Apollo and he dies we re all in trouble, Nico rolled his eyes Could you not Would you prefer special guy Will asked Or significant other Significant annoyance in your case Nico grumbled: CAN YOU HEAR ME SCREAMING THESE TWO DORKS I CAN T HANDLE IT. My heart melted when he was singing like I could actually hear him told his stories his remorse He accepted he made mistakes, s I want to eat tortillas with seven layered dip blue cookies am I the only one p, s 2 the only thing I didn t like much was Myrmekes because I don t like bugs p.THY CHANTING SUCKETH METHINKS THOU HAST BLOWN IT.Then all Hades broke loose.Oh geyser my geyser Let us spew then you and I.And this poem I couldn t resist selecting it as a quote.Will turned to me I apologize for my boyfriend.Nico smiled thinly I have a note from my doctor.Will raised his hand I m his doctor.I M FANGIRLING SO MUCH.First impressions September 2015 OMFG OMFG OMFG