Review: The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus #1) by Rick Riordan

Title: The Lost Hero
Author: Rick Riordan
My rating: 4.5 mythological, please-give-me-more-Percy hearts
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Mythology
Pub. date: October 12th 2010
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion Books
Synopsis: 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 about his being in trouble. Piper doesn’t understand her dream, or why her boyfriend suddenly doesn’t recognize her. When a freak storm hits during the school trip, 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, and some camper who;s gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist that each of them—including Leo—is related to a god. Does this have anything to do with Jason's amnesia, or the fact that Leo keeps seeing ghosts? (synopsis from Goodreads)

My thoughts: After finishing The Last Olympian I had huge expectations of this book. I absolutely loved Percy Jackson, all books, which is rare in a series, there is often one or more books that are disappointing. Because of that, I had huge expectations of The Lost Hero. And it lived up to them! Sure, the Percy Jackson series was, so far, better, but The Lost Hero was really good, too.

Three new awesome characters

   The Lost Hero is about Jason, who has a severe case of memory loss, Leo, who can control fire (which is such a cool ability, by the way), and Piper, who can convince anyone to do anything for her (also a very cool ability). I thought all the characters were really interesting to read about, they were all very different, but they were all trying to do the same thing, more or less. They were all good characters. And I have to say, I ship Jason and Piper. It’s not Percabeth, but I still ship them a lot.

   In the end of The Last Olympian, a new prophecy was introduced, and it didn’t sound good. The Heroes of Olympus will be about that prophecy. I am so excited to read about these seven half-bloods.

I love the mythology!

   One of the reasons why I loved Percy Jackson so much (except the obvious) was that I love mythology. Greek mythology, roman mythology, Nordic mythology, anything mythology really, and I think it makes for some great books if used properly. I never thought you could mix different mythologies together in the same book, though. Of course, I knew that there are similarities (to say the least) between Greek and roman mythology, but mixing both in a book hadn’t really hit me as possible. Riordan just proved to me that it is possible to mix two different (although similar) mythologies and make it a completely new, different, and definitely interesting story. I loved it!

   The plot was fast-paced and interesting, and the writing was good, although, I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed. The writing in Percy Jackson was so entertaining and fun, and it’s still entertaining at times, but not as much as in Percy Jackson, which was disappointing. The writing was one of my favourite things in Percy Jackson. But overall, it was a great read, and I loved every moment of it. It’s not as good as Percy Jackson, but it was still amazing. And I can’t wait to get more of Percy in the next book!