I actually think the lost invincibility will make for interesting story telling. For one, Riordan said something about fans of PJO claiming that Percy didn't use his elemental/Poseidon powers enough (forgot at which reading he said that). As I remember, the invincibility thing only really comes into play when dealing with short-range combat (eg swords, hand-to-hand). Since Percy's god-powers are water-oriented and more long-range in effectiveness, I'm sensing that we'll get some more long-range aquakinesis in the SoN, something I'm excited about.

Seriously, the some of best parts of Avatar: TLA were the waterbending fights, such as Katara v Pakku. Therefore, the loss of the Achilles Mark is not entirely a bad thing.

And gullibleoats said it really aptly. Even without the invincibility, Percy was pretty awesome. I can't imagine what the Roman Camp would do to increase his powers. If the lost Achilles Mark is a price for Roman Camp Training, there was must be some power increase to make up for it.

I'm actually hoping that Reyna turns out to be a daughter of Ceres/Demeter. We need a decent plant-person. I've always had a soft spot for Poison Ivy and chlorokinetics in general.

btw, the Seven Half-Bloods - probably Percy, Jason, Piper, Leo, Nico, Reyna or Gwendoline, Extra Roman. Somehow, I doubt that Annabeth would be one of them. Ditto for Thalia.


EDIT: That "June" sounds suspiciously like Juno/Hera. It'd be like her to be a manipulative bitch. Love the reference to the myth of Jason.

 

Thalia isn't considered a half blood anymore. She became immortal when she joined the hunters.

 

Okay so I have to ask when reading the Lost Hero the first time was I the only person who was hoping that with all the references to the myth and how human spirits were getting out of the Underworld that Jason might turn out to be the original Jason? At first I thought they were just taking pokes at the old stories about it but then when all the people who knew the original started getting him confused I really started to think for a bit that he might be the original or at least his reincarnation.

 

I did, but I wasn't really hoping for that. If he had been the original Jason, he really would have overshadowed Percy, despite Percy having the more significant accomplishments.

So, while it would have been interesting, it also would have felt a bit out of place.

 

Unless...OMG PERCY IS A REINCARNATION OF THE ORIGINAL PERSEUS!!one11!

 

Meh fair enough, I just thought it would have been a really out of left field twist for Riordan.

 

Okay, I just had a question, so bear with me.

We know that Hades took Bianca and Nico out of the Casino because he didn't want Percy/Thalia to become the Child of the Prophesy. Something about not wanting the other gods to hog the glory. But then why did he wait until the third book to release his children? Yes, the cynical answer might be that Riordan conceived the di Angelo siblings after the first two books, but is there an in-universe answer?

Hades clearly knew about Percy even pre-LT, considering that Alecto was posing as a teacher at Yancy for a period of time. Why didn't he release Bianca and Nico during or even before the LT, then?

Plot Bunny: Hades releases Bianca and Nico approximately six months before the LT. That would make Nico around Percy's age, while Bianca would be 14? 15? Anyway, Bianca would be approaching sixteen when the events of the LT start. Presumably, you'd either kill her off and make her become a Hunter to postpone the Prophecy. Kronos, seeing that a Child of the Big Three might reach sixteen earlier than expected, urges Luke to fast-forward events. Hence, Thalia's resurrection is pushed forward as part of the Ripple Effect, and the Titans War is triggered earlier.

Percy has to get the Mark before the canon timeline, and we explore guerilla warfare between the Olympians and the Titans. The War eventually finishes when Percy turns sixteen, because he's the prophecised one. However, the extra time/gap is spent exploring how Thalia, Bianca and Nico, who are older than Percy, all manage to avoid the prophecy. Maybe Nico dies in a Badass Sacrifice? Thalia could either become a Hunter or get killed by Luke, to show how "evil" Luke has become.

 

So any word on these ideas having decent stories that are worth reading? D:

 

The first idea seems... I dunno. I agree with you that Thalia is a pain, but I never minded Zoe, especially with her backstory. It is a brave thing she did, considering she knew that her father was going to kill her from the very beginning. If I were her, I would feel a little crabby and jerkfaced too. Plus if Percy looks at Thalia wrong, Zeus will finally have an excuse to kill him.

The second idea has lots of merit. To my recollection, no one has done a decent Percy/Hades alliance fic. The closest thing we have is that weird PJO story by TheseusLives, which I detest because of GodSue!Percy and the derailed, jackass Poseidon. But seriously, Space Ghost, write it. Just make sure that you throw in some Nico for good measure. Nearly all good Hades stories have some mention of Nico.

BTW, somebody needs to write a decent Persephone. In every fic, she's either a rabid stepmother or Miss "I fart butterflies". D:

 

Meh. I hate Zoe much more than Thalia, but both need to die. No, I haven't explored the PJO fanfiction yet, mostly because I know I won't find anything worthwhile.


On another note, some posts ago someone stated that since it's a choice between going to the Roman camp and losing the Mark, or go off on his own and do whatever, there better be something the Romans will teach Percy that will equal the mark.
Of course there will not be anything new as powerful as the Mark. That (awesome as it would be) would beat the whole purpose of Percy losing the Mark. That purpose being that we will again worry when Percy goes to some quest, instead of going all "who is he going to rape this time?"

 

Thalia was a bit unlikable at first but I never really hated her. At the very least, I could respect her. Zoe, I feel the same as Solaceon. She had every reason to behave the way she did and again, one could respect her.

I don't think one can respect Piper the same way. While she was not exactly a character I hated, she also was nothing really special. She was way too hung up on the whole being in love with Jason thing from literally page 1 and all that "I hope he has no girlfriend, he's my true love" got annoying really fast, especially since the book hints pretty hard to the fact that Jason obviously does have a girlfriend and I am less than interested in dumb love triangle. Unless Jason dumps her immediately or something, which would be funny.

Same with her endless laments about her daddy.

I am also unhappy with the fact that only some demigods are born with special abilities like charmtalk or the fire ability. Boy, must that suck to have all the problems of a demigod and not all the perks.

Does Percy have some powers that other children of Poseidon don't have, or worse, do other children of Poseidon have powers that Percy doesn't?

Is it the same with flight and Thalia or is that really because she never tried it?

@republic

I actually doubt he will get something in return. If Jason is set up as the main guy, I doubt that Percy will get something special, while Jason got nothing.

I mean, the main cast was perpetually tried to be upstaged in this book by the newcomers. Percy had riptide, Jason has a coin that could become multiple weapons. Annabeth earned the plans of Daedalus, Leo stumbled on this workshop which somehow is better that that, Grover could charm nature, Piper can charm everyone and everything, Jason seems to be more proficient in his powers than Thalia was.

Only thing is, as Howdy, Krogan and Ryuugi Shi have pointed out earlier, that Percy still remains to be much more powerful and much more impressive, despite all that.

 

Percy is already God-level without being immortal. One thing that will piss me off to no end is if he does just "lose" his invulnerability. It's a fucking mortal curse. It should kill him.

What I want to see happen is that Percy and maybe others (it almost seems like Riordan is leaning this way with Percy and Jason surviving insta-gib god powers) becoming gods themselves without any sort of "power-up" handed them from their parents.

Would make things a hell of a lot more interesting to see the Olympians themselves become villains because their children are legitimately challenging their power.

 

Gods like Dionysus, Poseidon, Hephaistos were shown to be too sympathetic for it to go down like that.

By the way, which insta power for Jason are you talking about? I can't remember him getting anything like that.

 

Even the "sympathetic" gods like Dionysus, Poseidon and Hephaestus are implied to have some pettiness and dickwadness, like their Classical interpretations. Especially Poseidon, as Athena suggests to Percy. One word: Odysseus.

In fact, the only "Olympian" who probably can't be reimagined/portrayed as villainous is Hestia/Vesta, because a) she had a minimal presence in mythology and b) she's a legitimately nice and altruistic being.

If you want to write a demigods-usurp-their-parents fic, you don't need to make ALL of them villainous. You could always pull a "Helios and Selene". As seen, when Apollo and Artemis came of age, Helios and Selene both decided to give up their thrones voluntarily and slowly fade away, like Pan. Even gods can get sick of their jobs.

By "insta power", he probably means the flying thing.

nb: Thalia could probably fly too. I'm guessing that her fear of heights (which I still find supremely funny and ironic) probably prevents her from utilising THAT ability.

EDIT: Reading Death God Alliance, atm. It's probably the only PJO/Kane Chronicles fic that is even half-way decent. I'm just glad to see a fic that doesn't make Sadie a rabid bitch. http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5953965/1/The_Death_God_Alliance

DGA Summary: "Sorry," said the son of Hades, "but if I surrendered to an organization called the House of Life, my dad would kill me." After a run in with the Kanes, Nico unwittingly ends up becoming a host for the Egyptian death god Anubis.

 

I read that one and while Sadie started out as a rapid bitch, she did grow to be more likable over time.

Overall, rather decent although very heavy on the Percy and Nico being like brothers stuff.

 

Technically, they're cousins, so the idea does have some merit. Just sayin'

Um, again, has anyone read a fanfic (no crossovers) of PJO that is decent?

 

Sure, but it didn't needed to be mentioned that much >_>

 

Then you, republic, are in full-on douche mode. Zoe, as is noted, at the very least has a reason to be an utter bitch about the entire thing and does get a bit of redeeming light with her death.

Thalia, on the other hand, just shows up and is all like "D8 WTF PERCY I WAS HERE FIRST AND I R LEADER." And everyone but Percy just goes for it.

Zoe has some rationalization and excuses and even gets a bit of redemption. Thalia, to the point I have read, just says FUCK YOU IM NOT GONNA TURN SIXTEEN THEN!!! when Zeus wants them all offed.

Maybe I'll go finish the last two books now. >_> I sincerely hope Thalia gets some kind of personality make over, cause she is utterly unsympathetic.

 

Ok, I know all that. I still hate Zoe more. These reasons were an incident that happened millenia ago. Now, it's been a while since I last read the book, but I know that Zoe made me want to strangle her. Thalia was annoying, but tolerable, she had her moments. Zoe was just a bitch. At least I thought so. I don't remember the specifics.
And yeah, even overlooking the fact that god-knows-how-many years have passed, I don't really care what heartsobbing story she has for her bitchy behavior, it's still bitchy behavior. Her "reasons" are noted.
I'll admit that most female characters in PJO annoyed me. Besides Percy's mother. But we have Annabeth, Thalia and Zoe, don't remember any others. They all irritated me to different extends.
So maybe I'm being a douche. If this were irl, I wouldn't, I'd be more lenient. But it isn't. If a character in a book irritates me to the point of dropping my enjoyment of it, I hate that character, reasons be damned. And that's what Zoe did.
To Thaia's credit, everyone immediately ralied behind her, if I remember correctly, and all but ditched Percy.

 

Thalia becomes better after the Titan's Curse, to be honest. Same with Nico, who becomes angst-whiny over Bianca's death, but also fully utilises his Hades badass powers. To be honest, I only really started to like Thalia after reading a very nice one-shot about her. It sums up her motivations quite nicely. And becoming a Hunter mellows her quite a bit, since she gets her "RESPECTME!" hit from Artemis and chooses not to bother Percy anymore.

And Republic? I know you're referring to the Hercules incident, but I was referring to the waaaay more contemporary explanation which explains Zoe's behaviour. a.k.a The Oracle's prophecy. Zoe knew from the very beginning of the quest that her father was going to kill her; she was prophesised to die by "the Titan's hand". The book heavily implies that this reason is why Zoe is rather grumpy throughout the quest.

And Zoe's redemption? The fact that even though she wasn't happy about dying, she still chose to proceed to the Mountain to rescue Annabeth and die a hero's death. Artemis functions as the author's mouthpiece when she says that Zoe "deserved to become a constellation".

Riordan weaved in Percy's dreams about Zoe and Hercules throughout the entire book for a reason. You're meant to sympathise with her, even without the major "my Titan dad will kill me for allying for the Olympians" reason. In fact, one of the major themes of PJO is about Percy discovering that not all Greek heroes and/or Olympians are good people (e.g. Zoe and Hercules, Theseus and Ariadne, the Calypso thing, etc.)

imo, you might as well call the Titan's Curse "Zoe's Sacrifice"; she's basically a one-incident character who mainly serves to anchor that book thematically.

nb: A good non-Crossover PJO fic is probably the Broken Bow series. Someone mentioned it a few posts before in this thread, I think.

The one-shot I was talking about is Yesterday's Feelings, btw. Yes, it's an introspective character-study, but it sums up Thalia's character very nicely.

The Three Lives of Luke Castellan is also decent, if you can stomach romance.

lol, I pulled both recommendations from TVtropes.