The Son of Neptune

by Rick Riordan

            Another elementary yet addicting installment in the Heroes of Olympus series brings heaps of suspense, humor and more than a few confusing plot twists into the world. Once again we follow the storyline of Percy Jackson, demigod son of Poseidon, as he discovers a whole new realm of demigods, the New Roman haven of Camp Jupiter. There he meets an old friend and some new ones, and winning the honor (somewhat) of a quest. But this quest isn’t just any old quest. No, it has to be to fulfill a deathly prophecy (Another one? The avid Riordan fans among us might wonder.)  This time, the quest takes Percy to Alaska along with Hazel, daughter of Pluto, and Frank, son of Neptune, to stop Gaea, the evil earth goddess, from rising to power.            

            This book is full of mildly funny moments. But as a teenager, I think it was a little generic. The first five Percy Jackson books were amazing, deep, funny, and emotional. These long, 500-page monsters are getting a little tedious. We just want to see Annabeth and Percy have their back-together-again kiss. But we have to wait until October for that. I’m not sure where Rick Riordan thinks he’s going with this. The characters are in their mid-teens, but the lexile rating (660) is the rating late elementary-level novels usually receive. It was a good read, but in all fairness, slightly boring. It had its moments occasionally, but don’t rush out to pay the close to twenty-dollar hardcover price. It’s not worth that much. Riordan has made a name for himself, what with writing the first book of  the popular fad series The 39 Clues, and with Percy Jackson and Red Pyramid books, but he's got himself into a bit of a mythology rut here.

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