The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

The sequel series to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians, this book is the first that introduces new (additional) demigod characters: Jason, a boy who wakes up on a school bus with no past or present memories. Piper, who's father went missing and she has absolutely terrifying nightmares that she doesn't understand yet, could possibly find her dad and bring him to safety. And Leo, who feels at home in his cabin at Camp Half-Blood filled with tools and machines, yet his bunkmates believe he is a god. Each serving a purpose to an important quest, we follow and explore each of their backstories, as well as stories of already existing characters as well.

I loved every second of this.

I say this a lot, but for those who don't know, I'm one of the few who grew up with the Percy Jackson series instead of Harry Potter; in fact, I just got into the Harry Potter series in the past recent years.

Because I grew up with Percy Jackson -- and I consider him my first book boyfriend, anything involving Percy hits a special place in my heart.

I haven't read any of Rick Riordan's works after the PJO series but as I've recently re-read it as an adult, I thought I'd dive into a newer part of the world and bring you all along with me!

I wanted to start off this review with the characters for many reasons, but mainly because how genuine these characters are. Rick Riordan's characters are truly my favourite sets of characters -- which is hard to believe isn't it since I love Six of Crows and Throne of Glass so much.

But I feel like these characters are the most realistic. You feel the grief Leo feels as he constantly expresses his sorrow and determination to run away from any foster home after his mom passes away. You feel the neglect through Piper as she feels her dad doesn't truly care for her. You feel that connection between Jason and his sister Thalia. These characters are so genuine yet so relatable.

 At the beginning of the novel, I could right off the bat admit I love Leo's character and perhaps no one else. Because he is such an interesting character, he also brings such comic relief and humour into this book - honestly, I haven't had a book that literally made me laugh out loud in a long while.

But the more you spend time with these new characters as a whole, the more you love all three of them; each in their own ways.

I feel like characterization plays a huge part in this book; if Rick Riordan chose to write completely different characters with completely different personalities, I don't think it would have been as enjoyable.

I also really love the fact that Rick Riordan brought old characters into this novel as well. So if you have read the PJO series, theres a high possibilty you'll hear from Annabeth, Thalia, and even Percy. *wink, wink*

To add onto that, the writing is phenomenal.

I re-read the Percy Jackson series very recently, and I can admit, it's pretty rough writing. With the first book, The Lightning Thief, it kind of feels like Percy is talking to you; but not necessarily in the most enjoyable way.

But I admitted in my review of the PJO series (which will be linked here if you want to read it), from book one to book five, Rick Riordan's writing progressed a lot. But in comparrison to those books, Riordan's writing became a million times better. I know theres the Kane Chronicles as well which is based on Egyptian mythology and I will definitely get into reviewing that in the future; but that series has also probably helped a bit with Rick's writing proving. Hard to say yet though because I haven't read the series.

One of my favourite things about this novel is how fast paced it is.

This book is over 500 pages yet, because of the plot and how Rick Riordan has set everything up, the book is incredibly hard to put down.

It is also very easy to become obsessed with this demigod content and the ideology of having one parent a god or goddess.

Mythology has always sparked my interest since I first learned about it in the 5th grade. Every year, mythology was something I looked forward to until high school, where it was barely taught.

This whole franchise sparks my interests greatly; the idea of mixing mythology and fantasy together is an absolutely brilliant idea.

I've just picked up the second book and I cannot wait to dive into it.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the whole demigod ideal! Have you read any of Rick Riordan's books? Did you grow up, wanting to be a demigod like myself? What god or goddess do you think would fit best as your parent? Let me know in the comments section or on my Instagram!