The Son of Neptune

By Rick Riordan

fantasy  – 513 pages  Seems right for middle school and beyond fantasy readers.  You won’t be disappointed.

I finished The Son of Neptune and was immediately anxious for more.  That is one problem with reading a series as it is released – waiting, wishing and wondering.   I like how these books have me wanting to know more – both about the story and about myths from around the world.

In this book three demigods – Percy Jackson, Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang join forces, first to defeat Alcyoneus and free Thanotos, and then to defeat Polybotes and the other forces aligned with Gaea.  Gaea wants to overthrow all of the gods and have ultimate control of everything on earth.  Hazel and Frank are Romans connected Camp Juno.  They need Percy – but believe he may be a spy because all Romans know Greeks can’t be trusted.  Throughout the quest, pieces of Percy’s past come into the story and more and more the characters realize mythologies from around the world share common elements.  After all there is only one Earth whether called Gaea or Terra.

Through unique twists and turns in the story the past and present are joined, souls escape the underworld and the fate of our world rests upon the fulfillment of the Prophecy of Seven.  Just as the book ends, Festus and Leo and Tyson play a small part in the story connecting this book to The Lost Hero.  We have met six of the demigods by the end of this story.  Who will be the last?

We have a while to wait until The Mark of Athena is released in 2012.  I am hoping the title is a hint as to who the seventh demigod will be.  While I am waiting to read I think I’ll find out more about the Argonauts, the Titans and the Giants.  I am curious to learn more about the mythologies of the world in order to understand more of the links and connections that Rick Riordan creates in the Heroes of Olympus series.