Day 2: Favourite Heroes of Olympus book
This'll possibly change after Blood of Olympus comes out in October, but as it stands right now -
Book 3, The Mark of Athena.
There are just so many good things happening here. We get to finally get inside Annabeth's head, for one thing, which up until then had never happened before, in spite of the fact that she'd been around for seven books already (the five Percy Jackson books, two Heroes of Olympus). And like, she'd never really clicked with me in the Percy Jackson books - like, I liked her and accepted her character, but it's like, she was less of a person and more of an entity in those books. Which is why thank god for third person omniscience! (Which god do I thank for that? Apollo? One of the Muses?) And now I love her and relate to her and she's just awesome. She's just so much more interesting when A) we're in her head, and B) when she's away from Percy once in a while.
And there's just so much about the book that's freaking hilarious. Particularly, but not limited to, the scene where Leo has to distract Narcissus (and Narcissus's fan club) from his reflection.
Leo: Narcissus is a loser! He's so weak he can't bench-press a Kleenex. He's so lame, when you look up lame on Wikipedia, it's got a picture of Narcissus - only the picture's so ugly, no one ever checks it out.
Narcissus: What are you talking about? I am amazing. Everyone knows this.
Leo: Amazing at pure suck. If I was as suck as you I'd drown myself. Oh wait, you already did that. Team Leo for the win!
Narcissus fan: (about Leo) He is funny. And cute, in a scrawny way.
Leo: Scrawny? Baby, I invented scrawny. Scrawny is the new sizzling hot. And I GOT the scrawny.
Or the scene where Percy scares a crew of dolphin pirates into thinking that Dionysus will curse them. (Google that myth, it makes sense).
Percy: We are doomed. If you don't believe me, let's check the ice chest! (runs to the ice chest and digs around to find a can of Diet Coke). Behold! The god's chosen drink! Tremble before the horror of Diet Coke!
(Dolphin people begin to panic.)
Percy: The god will take your ship. He will finish your transformation into dolphins, or make you insane, or transform you into insane dolphins! Your only hope is to swim away now, quickly! Save yourselves! It is too late for us! (points to Frank, who has the ability to turn into any animal) Oh no! Frank is turning into a crazy dolphin!
(Frank does nothing).
Percy: I said, Frank is turning into a crazy dolphin.
Frank: Oh no. I am turning into a crazy dolphin.
Just golden. Or when Annabeth has to trick Arachne, who takes no small amount of pleasure in killing her, into weaving her own trap:
Annabeth: As I said, I'd love to take your tapestries to Olympus and hang them everywhere. You could rub your craftmanship in Athena's nose for all eternity. But the only way I could do that... No. It's too difficult. You might as well go ahead and kill me.
Arachne: No! That is unacceptable. It no longer brings me any pleasure to contemplate. I must have my work on Mount Olympus! What must I do?
Annabeth: Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. Just push me into Tartarus or something.
Arachne: I refuse!
Annabeth: Don't be ridiculous. Kill me.
Arachne: I do not take orders from you! Tell me what I must do! Or... or -
Annabeth: Or you'll kill me?
Arachne: Yes! No!
Anyways, point is, it's very good at being hilarious.
And then, whoa my god, the tension - and not even just, like, plot-wise. I mean, for sure, they have four days to save Nico from suffocating and also stop Rome from getting destroyed, and Annabeth has to strike out on her own to find the Athena Parthenos, and they have to defeat two giants with supposedly no help from the gods which, by the way, is impossible, so yes, there's a lot of plot things happening.
But what's great about the book is that the two books before were all about introducing the cast. Book 1, The Lost Hero, introduces the Greek half of the Seven: we meet Leo, Piper, Jason and Annabeth. Book 2, The Son of Neptune, introduces the Roman half of the Seven: Frank, Hazel and Percy. Book 3, The Mark of Athena, is finally the book where we're like: "Okay, we know who these people are now. So what happens when we put them all in a room together?"
Answer: some greatness and a bit of tension.
Things I love: Everyone assumed that when Jason and Percy met, since they were the leaders of their respective camps, that they would be all up in each other's faces, like getting in a who's-more-macho-and-awesome competition. What actually ended up happening was they almost immediately started getting super bromantic. And they make a really good team. I love bromances.
Things I feel guilty for enjoying: the tension between Hazel, Frank and Leo. So, Hazel's a child of the 1940s who gave her life to stop Gaea, and then, since the Doors of Death are open, was brought back to help stop Gaea again (kinda like Nico, who incidentally, is her half-brother on the godly side - she's a daughter of Pluto, who is Hades's roman aspect). Anyways, back in her old life she had a boyfriend called Sammy. So, just as she starts dating Frank (SHE AND FRANK ARE PERFECT I JUST CAN'T) she meets Leo, who happens to look exactly like Sammy. Leo has no idea who Sammy is, or why Frank asked him if that wasn't his name, or how it could have anything to do with him if Hazel's from seventy years ago. And he starts getting a crush on Hazel, which is super awkward for Frank because now Hazel's getting all confused, and Frank starts gettin' a real hate on for Leo. It doesn't help that Leo can summon fire, and Frank's life literally depends on a piece of firewood. It also doesn't help that Frank makes Leo nervous, and so Leo tends to hide that with humour, namely by razzing Frank.
Anyway, as it turns out, Sammy was actually Leo's great-grandfather. Awkward.
It was a close toss-up between this book and The House of Hades (Book 4), though. Because there's a lot of good character stuff happening there too. Like, Frank can take on a whole freaking army by himself. And Hazel is capable of anything. And Piper starts to understand her power. And Leo and Calypso meet, which, in spite of how arguably lazy it was to write it the way he did, they're still adorable. But the book was also like, ANGSTY ANGST ANGST DID I MENTION ANGST (at least by this series's standards). So that's why I chose the Mark of Athena instead.
Because
tension and laugh balance
but also
character interaction
character interaction
CHARACTER INTERACTION
*clears throat*
I believe I've made my point.
I just really like observing how all the relationships between the Seven evolve so sue me.
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