Book Review - The Lost Hero

The Lost Hero
Author: Rick Riordan
Series: Heroes of Olympus #1
Genres: Mythology, Urban Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: 10th October 2010
Publishers: Puffin
No. Pages: 551
Source: Borrowed
Rating: 
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Jason has a problem. He doesn't remember anything before waking up on a school bus holding hands with a girl. Apparently he has a girlfriend named Piper. His best friend is a kid named Leo, and they’re all students in the Wilderness School, a boarding school for 'bad kids', as Leo puts it. What he did to end up here, Jason has no idea - except that everything seems very wrong.

Piper has a secret. Her father, a famous actor, has been missing for three days, and her vivid nightmares reveal that he's in terrible danger. Now her boyfriend doesn't recognize her, and when a freak storm and strange creatures attack during a school field trip, she, Jason, and Leo are whisked away to some-place called Camp Half-Blood. What is going on?

Leo has a way with tools. His new cabin at Camp Half-Blood is filled with them. Seriously, the place beats Wilderness School hands down, with its weapons training, monsters, and fine-looking girls. What's troubling is the curse everyone keeps talking about, and that a camper's gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist they are all - including Leo - related to a god.

After finishing Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Kane Chronicles, there was not a single doubt in my mind that I would continue reading more of Riordan's work, and after being warned that I may not enjoy The Lost Hero as much as the Percy Jackson series, I have but one question.. Why on earth were people affected by the lack thereof a central character from another series? Maybe my lack of care on this subject allowed me to enjoy The Lost Hero more than I could have imagined, or maybe Riordan really is that good a' writer. Either way, The Lost Hero was most definitely a highly enjoyable read.

So what is this 'character' that may or may not affect your enjoyment of The Lost Hero you ask? Let me be completely honest and just a tiny tad bit spoilery, you will not find Percy Jackson in this novel. This 100%, 551 pages of anti-jackson writing and I think that this is what other people have issues with, but me? I didn't care in the slightest, in fact, I almost enjoyed it on exactly the same level I did Percy's stories, and not only that, I enjoyed having completely different perspectives that you get in The Lost Hero. Maybe my previous reading experience of The Kane Chronicles, experiencing different perspectives, and multiple perspectives, allowed me to be completely comfortable with a story in another persons voice, through another persons eyes, who knows, but I definitely didn't think this was a bad feature, I absolutely loved it. I really enjoyed having The Lost Hero through three different perspectives, especially considering all three characters were battling their own demons, trying to find their own futures, and most of all, trying to understand and relate to their parents, it was all quite an enjoyable and thrilling adventure - and did I mention that the plot is none stop? That too. While Jason and Piper were definitely characters that developed, especially Piper, man did that girl become something else, Leo was most definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, the highlight of this novel; his past, his uncertain present and future, his fear and pain about what he's done previously and what he's capable and his own self-concious reflection, they all make what he is good at, essentially creating the most fantastic of inventions, absolutely fantastic. He's got such a wonderful sense of loyalty, of care and attention to his friends and hides his sorrow and pity behind a humour that is so bold, so bright, it's almost impossible not to love him. Leo definitely made this novel enjoyable and I cannot wait to see more of him.

While the characters and their development really led this series, there's no denying Riordan's talent for creating vivid and beautiful worlds, linking up the Urban with the Mythical and creating a fast paced, action packed and enthralling story, he is a genius at it, with the ability to rival Kagawa, Landy, even Rowling in these features, and I cannot fault this at all. While the world of Percy Jackson was wonderful, this was entirely different, or at least, it felt like it was - this time, Riordan took a world we all knew with Gods and their demigod children and really flipped it, switched it, made it grow and develop into something that felt so much better, so much bigger and so much more interesting. The extra twists and turns Riordan took, introducing old characters, creating connections between characters, even giving us a better insight into some of their other gods and how they feel towards their children thanks to the different perspectives we had in The Lost Hero, they were all fantastic touches and I really thoroughly enjoyed reading it all. The extra insight on Aphrodite and Hephaestus and they're personalities and their affections towards their children was really wonderful, and meeting more of their enemies, they're fellow gods and their most toughest villains was really fantastic, it worked well with the plot, with the pacing and with the overall feel of this story. It felt bigger, it felt better and it felt on a completely different level, and this was most definitely a good thing.

The Lost Hero wasn't completely perfect; there were moments were I found myself skimming a paragraph here and there, not because it wasn't entertaining, but because I felt like these areas were necessary, and the fact that I didn't feel as though I missed anything by skipping them really highlighted the point entirely, but other than that ever so small issue, there is absolutely nothing I didn't enjoy about this novel. I loved the interesting background behind Jason and his life, I loved watching and seeing Piper develop into one heck of a charcater with gusto, passion, energy, action and love and I couldn't have appreciated or loved Leo more. The action was jam packed, the pacing was brilliant, the world, as ever, was superb and the gods and mythology aspects continued to take my breath away. I really doubt there will be a time where I won't read something by Riordan, but I will most definitely be continuing this series, and if The Lost Hero is anything to go, it'll firmly put itself infront of both Percy Jackson and The Kane Chronicles. I cannot wait.