![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainwatersparkRead to about halfway through the book. Unless I suddenly get a catastrophic dump of schoolwork next week, I'll finish the book next Friday. (But sadly, my local bookstore doesn't have Goliath! Blasphemy!)
Non-spoilery impressions:
- The pacing is a lot slower in The Son of Neptune than in The Lost Hero. I'm trying to decide whether it's because each POV character has 4 consecutive chapters rather than 2, or whether it's because there are extensive flashbacks early on in the book, but I'm not sure. I mean, it takes over 200 pages for the three main characters to go on their quest.
- So far, Frank is my favorite character. I really like his background, and his mom sounded really awesome, totally unlike the traditional Asian American (or Asian Canadian?) stereotypes.
- The tone of the book somehow feels more somber than in The Lost Hero. I don't know whether it's because it's the Roman camp, which is stricter than Camp Halfblood; whether it's due to the lack of Leo Amazing Valdez; or whether it's because Percy seems to have largely lost his sense of humor (which is a bummer).
- The beauty of The Lost Hero was that each POV character had a distinct voice and personality. (Again, Leo totally stole the show.) But in The Son of Neptune, the three POV characters don't feel distinct from each other. Several times I forgot whose POV I was reading from, which I don't believe happened while I was reading The Lost Hero.
- I'm not sure I like how the flashbacks are so extensive and so front-loaded in TSoN. Hazel's in particular. While they are extremely descriptive and vivid, they also really slow down the action.
- Camp Jupiter is an interesting antithesis to Camp Halfblood.
Spoilery impressions:
- I'm still gnashing my teeth about the fact that Hazel is a daughter of Pluto. It doesn't make sense to me. For one, the Great Prophecy is about the seven strongest demigods of the generation, and both the Percy Jackson series and the Heroes of Olympus series keep rambling about how powerful Nico di Angelo is...so why the hell (no pun intended) isn't he one of the Seven? Aside from the fact that he's an interesting character with a lot of potential to begin with. Also, it always seemed logical to me that Hades/Pluto had the least number of children among the gods (Hera, Hestia, and Artemis notwithstanding)--both because he's the god of the dead and because he's supposed to be loyal to his wife.
- Hazel is kind of angsty. Just saying.
- Why is Percy kind of depressed in this book? Also, did he always have power over *boats* (not just the sea)? It's kind of weird--Percy was more personable in the previous series (partly because of the first-person narration), yet in this book he seems like a distant, ridiculously overpowered figure. Well, except for that mental breakdown he had. I didn't really like that scene.
- I was kind of hoping that Riordan would take the differences between the Greek and Roman gods further, especially for Mars/Ares.
Non-spoilery impressions:
- The pacing is a lot slower in The Son of Neptune than in The Lost Hero. I'm trying to decide whether it's because each POV character has 4 consecutive chapters rather than 2, or whether it's because there are extensive flashbacks early on in the book, but I'm not sure. I mean, it takes over 200 pages for the three main characters to go on their quest.
- So far, Frank is my favorite character. I really like his background, and his mom sounded really awesome, totally unlike the traditional Asian American (or Asian Canadian?) stereotypes.
- The tone of the book somehow feels more somber than in The Lost Hero. I don't know whether it's because it's the Roman camp, which is stricter than Camp Halfblood; whether it's due to the lack of Leo Amazing Valdez; or whether it's because Percy seems to have largely lost his sense of humor (which is a bummer).
- The beauty of The Lost Hero was that each POV character had a distinct voice and personality. (Again, Leo totally stole the show.) But in The Son of Neptune, the three POV characters don't feel distinct from each other. Several times I forgot whose POV I was reading from, which I don't believe happened while I was reading The Lost Hero.
- I'm not sure I like how the flashbacks are so extensive and so front-loaded in TSoN. Hazel's in particular. While they are extremely descriptive and vivid, they also really slow down the action.
- Camp Jupiter is an interesting antithesis to Camp Halfblood.
Spoilery impressions:
- I'm still gnashing my teeth about the fact that Hazel is a daughter of Pluto. It doesn't make sense to me. For one, the Great Prophecy is about the seven strongest demigods of the generation, and both the Percy Jackson series and the Heroes of Olympus series keep rambling about how powerful Nico di Angelo is...so why the hell (no pun intended) isn't he one of the Seven? Aside from the fact that he's an interesting character with a lot of potential to begin with. Also, it always seemed logical to me that Hades/Pluto had the least number of children among the gods (Hera, Hestia, and Artemis notwithstanding)--both because he's the god of the dead and because he's supposed to be loyal to his wife.
- Hazel is kind of angsty. Just saying.
- Why is Percy kind of depressed in this book? Also, did he always have power over *boats* (not just the sea)? It's kind of weird--Percy was more personable in the previous series (partly because of the first-person narration), yet in this book he seems like a distant, ridiculously overpowered figure. Well, except for that mental breakdown he had. I didn't really like that scene.
- I was kind of hoping that Riordan would take the differences between the Greek and Roman gods further, especially for Mars/Ares.
