The Hidden Oracle

★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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Only 361 pages? Riordan is taking it easy on his readers. And maybe himself.

Anyway, following the events of The Heroes of Olympus, Zeus is a little displeased with Apollo and demonstrates this by turning him into a human teen (read: YA/MG novel star) and casting him to earth. He appears to be fully human – not even a demigod like Percy and the rest. Speaking of Percy, as soon as Apollo figures out what happened to him and where he is, he makes a beeline for Percy's apartment to get help. Smart move. Percy gets him to Camp Halfblood and disappears back to NYC to do homework.

Once there, Apollo begins trying to figure out what quest he'll have to do to return his status to quo. Along the way, he'll make some friends, get a better perspective on himself and his offspring (yeah, that's not weird), and maybe go through some of that personal growth. Note that I said, “some” personal growth and “better” perspective – that's not saying much, basically Apollo comes across as a a teenaged-Gilderoy Lockheart with a conscience. Instead of the large number of missions that we've become accustomed to in these books, there's really just one (plus the series-arc mission) – such a nice change.

A lot of people from the Percy Jackson and The Heroes series are name-dropped and discussed, not to mention the few that we see – there's even a nod to the Magnus Chase series – thankfully, my favorite is one of those who shows up in the flesh. There's also a good amount of in-jokes to please the long-time fans. But readers new to this universe shouldn't be put off by any of this – it's absolutely approachable, maybe even moreso than anything since The Lightning Thief.

This is told in the typical breezy style that characterized non-adult mystery Riordan novels, but given the different protagonist, feels a little fresher. A little briefer, a little change of pace – still full of that Riordan magic. The Hidden Oracle is a sold first-entry in yet another adventure in this world. Give it a shot.

5/5 stars

Rick Riordan never fails to impress.

I had high expectations for The Hidden Oracle, and not only were those expectations exceeded, but they practically got squashed by a giant s-oops sorry spoiler alert.

Years ago, when I read PJO for the first time, Apollo was my favorite god. He was just so full of himself, and so obsessed with haikus, that every scene he was in made me laugh so hard. I'm glad to see that he hadn't changed. I've seen countless reviews contain this comparison, but I have to agree. He's Gilderoy Lockhart, but severely less annoying.

I only have to complaints about this book: not enough Percy, and absolutely no Annabeth. But the fact that there was Percy, and the moments of Nico and Will's relationship made this book even more perfect.

It's getting really formulaic. So, for every single book in every single series written by Rick Riodan, it goes roughly the same way. A threat that could result in the destruction of human civilisation. Then a new, bigger quest is hinted at and we learn of an EVER BIGGER THREAT TO HUMAN CIVILISATION FJDJSJDJDHAHSHSHALDKS, rinse and repeat.

After the first couple times being told that my darling protagonists are bravely facing the most dangerous danger, introducing an even bigger threat just... loses it's impact. My emotions get worn out, danger loses meaning. Riodan is trying to make the Triusomething sound significant it hopes that us readers will care about the story, but sorry, it might work the first five times but not now.

I was eagerly awaiting the climax of the book, when I looked at the pages and realised I'm already 90% through. There was some pacing issues, but I'm a poor writer myself and find it hard to identify the problem.

I wish Riodan wrote his books in Percy's universe in a way more similar to how Orson Scott Card wrote his books in Ender's world. At least for Ender's series, different books and different series have different challenges: some big some small, unique, but still relevant to the bigger picture. It doesn't have to be bigger threat after bigger threat. This isn't a damn d*ck size contest.