Young Adult Review: The Lost Hero

The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus, 1) by Rick Riordan, October 12, 2010. 557 pages. Published by Hyperion Books for Children. Source: library.

Jason has a problem. He doesn’t remember anything before waking up in a bus full of kids on a field trip. Apparently he has a girlfriend named Piper and a best friend named Leo. They’re all students at a boarding school for “bad kids.” What did Jason do to end up here? And where is here, exactly?

Piper has a secret. Her father has been missing for three days, ever since she had that terrifying nightmare. Piper doesn’t understand her dream, or why her boyfriend suddenly doesn’t recognize her. When a freak storm hits, unleashing strange creatures and whisking her, Jason, and Leo away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood, she has a feeling she’s going to find out.

Leo has a way with tools. When he sees his cabin at Camp Half-Blood, filled with power tools and machine parts, he feels right at home. But there’s weird stuff, too—like the curse everyone keeps talking about. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist that each of them—including Leo—is related to a god.

First Sentence:

Even before he got electrocuted, Jason was having a rotten day.

Yes, I have finally got around to checking out the Percy Jackson spin-off, and while I enjoyed it and the characters (mostly), I found that I liked it just a little less than the first series.

While I really enjoyed reading about Jason, and see how his story differed from that of Percy's-even more so that revelation of who he really is and who he's related to-I was not as invested in this series as the previous one. Not for a lack of an interesting story-line or poor writing, I was just maybe hoping for the author to brand out from the world that was used in the last one.
    On the bright side, I really enjoyed how we got to hear about what happened elsewhere during the final battle of Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian because I knew there had to be something that was left out, something that was kept hidden from those of Camp Half-Blood. And to finally know that Rick Riordan did not forget the Roman side of the Greek gods mythology was interesting; I really enjoyed seeing the differences especially the little things that Jason remembered about his life before losing his memories.

Jason and Leo were two very interesting characters whose stories I enjoyed reading about-they had some of the most interesting back-stories within the world they were set. While I enjoyed not only the back-story of these two, I thought Rick Riordan did a great job of developing their characters throughout the book. It was interesting to see Leo garner control over the power that had previous frightened him; and watching Jason come to terms with who he truly was made for some excellent reading as well.
    The only character that was disappointing was Piper. I just did not care for her and her attempts to get her father's attention by being bad. After reading about Annabeth in PJO, Piper turned out to be a thin comparison is- not to say I was comparing them, just that she lacked the presence that Annabeth had.

In all honesty, the thing that kept me reading till the very end was the hint of things to come in the next book. I enjoyed knowing that The Lost Hero was just the beginning of the adventures that would bring the children of both the Roman and Greek gods together for another epic battle.
     Besides, Rick Riordan definitely knows how to write an interesting and thrilling book about mythology that (usually) makes you want to keep reading till you know the ending.  

Even though I found The Lost Hero to be an enjoyable read, it was extremely predictable. I pretty much had the entire plot-line puzzled out before I hit the half-way mark. While the plot twist were easy for me to unravel, I thought the author did a pretty good job of laying out the clues for the reader to follow. Though not the most challenging plot, this book was well written and fast paced, so, all in all, not to shabby.

Final Verdict: The Lost Hero- An interesting bridge between two series. I look forward to seeing where Rick Riordan will take the story next.

The Lost Hero earns 4 our of 5 griffins