He just keeps writing them, doesn’t he.

On the one hand, this is the most predictable, tired thing Riordan has ever written. And on the other . . . it was really fun. I’m so conflicted.

Firstly, you really can’t go into this book not having read all the other Percy Jackson books beforehand. You will spoil the other books for yourself, which sucks, but more importantly, this book leans on the emotions and plots created in those series. You just won’t care very much about certain things that happen in this book without having read the other ten. The text doesn’t work very hard to build up Percy and Leo as characters, just to name two examples, because either it assumes you’ve already read the stories where all that work was done, or because it doesn’t realize that more work needed to be done. I tend to think it’s the latter. As is, when Percy shows up, old readers get excited, and new readers I imagine would just be ‘meh.’ I mean, probably most people reading this are long-time Riordan fans, so this might be a moot discussion I’m having with myself just now, but I think it does make it a weaker book. Not to mention it makes the reliance on deus ex machina plot twists stand out even more.

On the positive side, I find myself really liking Apollo as a narrator. He’s not as funny (or good looking or smart or anything else) as he thinks he is, but it’s satisfying all the same to see him made humble by his experience as a human, and to see him reconsider his behavior over the past 4,000 years in a new light.

But back to the first hand, Apollo’s emotional journey is predictable, despite how fun and easy it is to read. To sum up: I like Rick Riordan’s style, and I like what’s he’s done here to shake things up slightly by having a god-to-mortal protagonist who’s already familiar with the world (instead of having a demigod who has to be introduced to it), but also having villains who are more down to earth, and honestly more effective for it, instead of yet again trying to amp it up and top his previous villainous creations. I also liked what Riordan did with Apollo essentially creating all the problems he has to face in this book, but I wish he had taken it further. As nice as it is to see a protagonist who is openly bisexual and deep in the throes of an existential wake-up call, for me to really love it I would have needed more emotional oomph.

All in all, worth the read if you’ve read and loved his other books, but if you’re starting to get weary of his gods and demigods shtick, I’d give this series a pass.

[3.5 stars, rounding up because I read it super fast]