Full Review - The Son of Neptune
Oct. 22nd, 2011 07:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainwatersparkThe Son of Neptune - Rick Riordan
I have mixed feelings about this book. I really, really wanted to like it after how amazing The Lost Hero was. I was so hyped for this book over the entire summer. But it just couldn't hold a candle to its predecessor.
*SPOILERS BELOW!*
The whole book had a much more somber tone than The Lost Hero did. Moreover, everything felt very slow-moving. I suspect that the decision to give each character four consecutive POV chapters may have had something to do with it, but compared to The Lost Hero, which grabbed you from the beginning and didn't let go, The Son of Neptune was really easy to put down. That's not exactly a good thing.
Jason, Leo, and Piper were such a strong trio. I mean, Jason may have been the most colorless, but then again he had amnesia. Leo was absolutely hilarious and awesome, and Piper had a very strong character arc.
Sadly, the trio of Percy, Hazel, and Frank couldn't beat them. Percy is much less snarky than he was in his own series, which is quite sad. I also don't get why Percy is downgraded in this book--most of the time, he has to be rescued by Frank and Hazel rather than the other way around. One of the things I loved about The Lost Hero was how each of the three main characters took turns saving the others, so they all seemed like equals. It's too bad the same didn't happen in The Son of Neptune.
I really liked Frank's background--his mom sounds so awesome--but I felt that his character arc wasn't as strong as Piper's. To me, it seemed that Frank didn't change very much over the course of the story; he wasn't fleshed out as well as he could've been. Also, whereas Piper and Leo's powers, for example, are integral to the story, Frank doesn't do much until the very end. And then at the end, he seems like a sort of walking Deus Ex Machina. (Well, not quite that bad, but almost.)
And Hazel. Oh, Hazel. Where to start?
I don't understand why she's one of the Seven. The Seven are supposed to be the most powerful demigods of the generation, right? Well, frankly Hazel's not that strong. Her powers revolve around building/collapsing tunnels and summoning precious metal from the vicinity. They're very context-specific, and if it wasn't for the fact that the three kept running into places with a lot of metal, she would have been useless. Although somehow she has amazing combat skills against the Big Bad (where did that come from?). Also, she's really young (13 years old?) for all this romance and stuff.
Moreover...I'm sorry, but I just seriously don't understand why Nico di Angelo isn't part of the prophecy. He's freaking powerful, as the PJO books have shown. He's also wildly popular in the fandom. He's one of the most interesting characters, and yet he's been tossed aside. I'll admit that I was really against the idea of another child of Hades/Pluto, because it always made sense to me canonically that Hades never had many children (fairly loyal to Persephone, god of death, children would be very powerful, etc. etc.). I wouldn't have minded if Hazel had some sort of awesome power like Piper's charmspeaking or Leo's fire/amazing building skills. But Hazel really isn't that powerful, and she's flat and angsty as a character.
I loved in The Lost Hero how Riordan took children of gods who aren't normally considered powerful and made them the center of the story. I wish he'd done the same in The Son of Neptune. Demeter/Ceres, for example, is the goddess who probably has had the least presence in the entire series--if Riordan wanted a demigod with power over the earth, as Hazel sort of does, why didn't he consider a child of Ceres? Plus, it would've made an interesting clash with Gaia. Or, he could have picked a minor god. There are plenty of minor gods whose children could potentially be powerful--think of the possibility of a child of Hecate, goddess of magic; Morpheus, god of dreams; or Deimos, god of fear. I suppose I was expecting a child of Apollo, because I assumed a medic would be necessary for the journey. But yeah, so many possibilities, but Riordan chose to take the predictable route. (Why? Why???)
On the plus side, Ella the harpy is a totally amazing character. And I actually like Octavian--well, for being creepy and evil, but in a well done way.
Tangent: Percy, Hazel, and Frank keep buying food/supplies/etc. along the way. Where the heck does all their money come from??? [Oh, I get it--Hazel summons gold for them.]
I have mixed feelings about this book. I really, really wanted to like it after how amazing The Lost Hero was. I was so hyped for this book over the entire summer. But it just couldn't hold a candle to its predecessor.
*SPOILERS BELOW!*
The whole book had a much more somber tone than The Lost Hero did. Moreover, everything felt very slow-moving. I suspect that the decision to give each character four consecutive POV chapters may have had something to do with it, but compared to The Lost Hero, which grabbed you from the beginning and didn't let go, The Son of Neptune was really easy to put down. That's not exactly a good thing.
Jason, Leo, and Piper were such a strong trio. I mean, Jason may have been the most colorless, but then again he had amnesia. Leo was absolutely hilarious and awesome, and Piper had a very strong character arc.
Sadly, the trio of Percy, Hazel, and Frank couldn't beat them. Percy is much less snarky than he was in his own series, which is quite sad. I also don't get why Percy is downgraded in this book--most of the time, he has to be rescued by Frank and Hazel rather than the other way around. One of the things I loved about The Lost Hero was how each of the three main characters took turns saving the others, so they all seemed like equals. It's too bad the same didn't happen in The Son of Neptune.
I really liked Frank's background--his mom sounds so awesome--but I felt that his character arc wasn't as strong as Piper's. To me, it seemed that Frank didn't change very much over the course of the story; he wasn't fleshed out as well as he could've been. Also, whereas Piper and Leo's powers, for example, are integral to the story, Frank doesn't do much until the very end. And then at the end, he seems like a sort of walking Deus Ex Machina. (Well, not quite that bad, but almost.)
And Hazel. Oh, Hazel. Where to start?
I don't understand why she's one of the Seven. The Seven are supposed to be the most powerful demigods of the generation, right? Well, frankly Hazel's not that strong. Her powers revolve around building/collapsing tunnels and summoning precious metal from the vicinity. They're very context-specific, and if it wasn't for the fact that the three kept running into places with a lot of metal, she would have been useless. Although somehow she has amazing combat skills against the Big Bad (where did that come from?). Also, she's really young (13 years old?) for all this romance and stuff.
Moreover...I'm sorry, but I just seriously don't understand why Nico di Angelo isn't part of the prophecy. He's freaking powerful, as the PJO books have shown. He's also wildly popular in the fandom. He's one of the most interesting characters, and yet he's been tossed aside. I'll admit that I was really against the idea of another child of Hades/Pluto, because it always made sense to me canonically that Hades never had many children (fairly loyal to Persephone, god of death, children would be very powerful, etc. etc.). I wouldn't have minded if Hazel had some sort of awesome power like Piper's charmspeaking or Leo's fire/amazing building skills. But Hazel really isn't that powerful, and she's flat and angsty as a character.
I loved in The Lost Hero how Riordan took children of gods who aren't normally considered powerful and made them the center of the story. I wish he'd done the same in The Son of Neptune. Demeter/Ceres, for example, is the goddess who probably has had the least presence in the entire series--if Riordan wanted a demigod with power over the earth, as Hazel sort of does, why didn't he consider a child of Ceres? Plus, it would've made an interesting clash with Gaia. Or, he could have picked a minor god. There are plenty of minor gods whose children could potentially be powerful--think of the possibility of a child of Hecate, goddess of magic; Morpheus, god of dreams; or Deimos, god of fear. I suppose I was expecting a child of Apollo, because I assumed a medic would be necessary for the journey. But yeah, so many possibilities, but Riordan chose to take the predictable route. (Why? Why???)
On the plus side, Ella the harpy is a totally amazing character. And I actually like Octavian--well, for being creepy and evil, but in a well done way.
