Rainer Maria Rilke

"Live a while in these books, learn from them what seems to you worth learning, but above all love them. This love will be repaid you a thousand and a thousand times, and however your life may turn,-it will, I am certain of it, run through the fabric of your growth as one of the most important threads among all the threads of your experiences, disappointments, and joys."--Rainer Maia Rilke


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Saturday, March 17, 2012

Better Than Percy

The Lost Heroes of Olympus, Book One:  The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
(Fantasy)
I'm a bit angry with myself.  I avoided this book series for so long because I thought it just couldn't be as good as the Percy Jackson series.  How wrong I was--and how much time I wasted!

This book started off with a bang-just like all Riordan's other books.  A wonderful combination of humor, adventure and loss-all carefully designed to pull the reader in and never let her go.  Only a very few authors reach this lofty goal and Riordan is one of the best.

The format of the book is the same as Percy:  same three character set up-2 boys and a girl (Jason, Piper and Leo) with a latent romance simmering in the background.  At first, I was disappointed because I knew the same formula couldn't capture the magic of the other series. But, then I saw the two minor characters weren't minor at all and I really liked that part.  Each seem to be equally important with their own secrets and agendas. 

Jason is the main Main character and is suffering from one mother lode of amnesia.  He remembers pits and pieces of things but his real character is a mystery to him and the reader.  Truly, it isn't clear if he is the bad guy or not and this aspect is so tantalizing.  Piper has some secrets of her own and she's more than a little miffed that her true-love, Jason, doesn't seem to remember her.  Leo is the third in this trilogy and isn't the playful goof he seems to be.  He has his own dark curse that he wants to keep hidden.

The three are told early on they are the children of gods and are given a task:  rescue Hera....or else.

What I loved most about this series was the Roman mythology.  It totally sent me into a spin and had me rushing to brush up on Roman gods and goddesses.  I actually like this series better than the Percy Jason one, which really surprised me.  There was more action and more mythology and a mystery that had me guessing along to the very last chapter.  Book One ends gearing up for the very next chapter in Book Tow and snap!  Just like that, Riordan has me hooked again.

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