Review: The Hidden Oracle

Title: The Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle

Author: Rick Riordan

Released: May 3, 2016

Synopsis

How do you punish an immortal?
By making him human.
After angering his father Zeus, the god Apollo is cast down from Olympus. Weak and disorientated, he lands in New York City as a regular teenage boy. Now, without his godly powers, the four-thousand-year-old deity must learn to survive in the modern world until he can somehow find a way to regain Zeus's favour.
But Apollo has many enemies - gods, monsters and mortals who would love to see the former Olympian permanently destroyed. Apollo needs help, and he can think of only one place to go . . . an enclave of modern demigods known as Camp Half-Blood.

Let me get this out of the way; I am 19 years old and a major Rick Riordan fan girl. I have been reading his books since I was in third grade. The Battle of the Labyrinth is the first book that I can remember being super excited about and buying when it was released. Of course, I was the coolest kid in school because reading was still cool in fourth grade and I had the latest book by the Amazing Rick Riordan. I haven’t read his other series, but all of his books involving the Greek and Roman Gods I have. I love them.

So fangirling time over.

Of course I picked up The Hidden Oracle whenever I found out that there was another Rick Riordan book coming out! I was so happy to be back in the Percy Jackson world and back at Camp Half-Blood that I couldn’t put the book down. My boyfriend got a 3-D Printer and instead of being interested in that, I was reading The Hidden Oracle.

The world is very much the same as it has been in other books in the Percy Jackson world. There was a lot of references to Greek myth and now some towards Roman after The Heroes of Olympus series that was recently released, but there is an index in the back of the book to help us out! I loved being back at Camp Half-Blood. Honestly, I am happiest when my books are based there!

The humor in this book is so well written. I am always amazed by how funny Rick Riordan’s books can be. I still love all the dam jokes that come up in the books. I was laughing hysterically at some points, especially the beginning of most chapters. With Apollo being the God of poetry and all, of course there was a bunch of poetry. Each chapter starts with a Haiku and they are so great. You can’t fit much in those 17 syllables of a Haiku, but they were still so great.

Now with all of this being said, I absolutely hated Apollo at the beginning of the book. He was an arrogant self-centered jerk that couldn’t get out of his own head. Yes, I realize he used to be a God, but that doesn’t mean he needs to be so self-absorbed and not understand why people care about other things than just the Sun God.

Though, like any Rick Riordan book and frankly YA book, there was major character development. I was proud of how well Apollo developed as the book progressed. Yes, he still annoyed the hell out of me at some points, but he was really growing and wasn’t as self-absorbed. Rick Riordan is so good at character development that it didn’t surprise me that I actually loved Apollo by the end of the book.

There was still a certain character (you’ll find out which one when you read the book) that I couldn’t hate no matter what. I just wanted to hug that character and smoosh their face to make the feel better. But I can’t. Sadly. And I am not a people person at all. I would rather smack sense into someone than comfort them. So Rick really made me feel for this character.

ALSO PERCY MADE A CAMEO AND I WAS SO HAPPY!!!! I LOVE PERCY. NOW ONLY IF ANNABETH WAS THERE TOO. THEN I WOULD’VE BEEN ECSTATIC.

If you couldn’t tell I was already excited about Percy being there and a few other cameo’s that happened, then I’ll just lay it all out there. I loved this book. I am so glad that I get to be back in the world of Greek Mythology and the world that Rick Riordan has created for his loved readers. Now guys, if you have ever liked one of Rick’s books, then go and read The Hidden Oracle. It is worth your time. After you read all of the other Percy Jackson and the Olympian books and The Heroes of Olympus books. Then you’ll be good.