So it craps precious metals?

 

Xed Alpha has finally finished his Broken Bow series. It's quite a meandering tale, but it's also pretty good, so check it out if you haven't already.

In other news, I decided to order Son of Neptune from Amazon. I saved a fuckton of money on textbooks this quarter, so I decided I might as well contribute to the guy who's work has provided me a fair amount of entertainment. It comes on Friday...2 days after the release, but oh well. I'll be swamped with work, anyways; might as well get that done beforehand and read the book during the weekend.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/enter...n-norse-gods/2011/10/02/gIQAkdiYGL_story.html

So, he is planning to write an urban Norse mythology series. Thoughts?

Personally, as long as they are way better than the Egyptian books, which were half-assed by the way, I am fine with it. Heck, if it's done well, I would love it.

 

I expected a Norse series, and I'll be interested to see if it's actually any good.

Love Greek series, but the Egyptian one never really grabbed me. Dunno.

Norse mythology has a lot of potential, and is often overlooked. Especially in comparison to Greek/Roman and Egyptian.


Wonder what other series he might be willing to do?

 

I think Neil Gaiman already beat him to it.

What I want to see is an Incan series, with the bratty kid, whoever it turns out to be in that one, getting sacrificed, blood pouring down the pyramid, um... maybe a dragon/snake/god demon too.

 

Unless he goes "screw the demographic that made me tons of money", I don't think he is going to do that xD

But I would like him to tackle "minor" cultures too.

 

Got out the kindle and saw where SoN had already downloaded.

Be back after a little light reading.

 

Yeah, I was just checking my email during halftime of MNF and to my surprise, SoN is already being charged. Got out my Kindle and it's downloaded...damnit, read or watch my Colts?

Why couldn't we just get blown out tonight? No...of course, we must actually make a game of it.

 

Nothing on my Kindle app (via Android).

 

Have you got the email receipt yet? If so then I don't know why it wouldn't show up yet.

I had to go do a sync on my Kindle for it to download. Maybe it's a few hours earlier for Kindle users? Don't think I've ever heard of them doing that, but I dunno.

Spoiler

Oh, looks like Juno is going to be taking away the curse. Shame, but expected.

 

Norse series sounds interesting, but 2015 is some time away...

Regarding SoN release...well, fuck. I kind of do want to read it early now. Argh. I must stay resilient! >_>

Nothing we didn't expect, but disappointing.

 

Am halfway through, book is shaping up real nicely. Really love the Roman Camp so far

 

Alright so I just grabbed SoN and finished reading it and I have to say although I was a bit iffy on it before I am 100% behind this new series now.

Spoiler

Lets see where to start here. Well first off I loved the shit out of Camp Jupiter and quite honestly I liked it more than Camp Halfblood. It also really reflected the difference in the Greek and Roman cultures well. With Half-Blood more than anything else it reflected the peace before war attitude but with Jupiter you really got the impression that they lived and breathed war and discipline. I loved the Lare running around and Terminus was hilarious xD.

As for the Roman characters, I wasn't sure what to expect out of them and I have to say I really enjoyed all of them and especially Reyna. She struck me as sensible, a real warrior and most importantly not Annabeth. Maybe it was just me but given all the hints being dropped over Annabeth doing something very bad in the near future I want to see a real thing crop up between Percy and Reyna. Jason has Piper and he seems happy and Reyna said herself their relationship was just "Maybe something might have occurred" so it is a real possibility.

I also really enjoyed Hazel and her powers over precious metals, it was an interesting alternative to the power over the dead for a child of Hades and pretty hilarious to see put into action when she stapled the Amazon bimbos to the roof. Also I thought it was hilarious that Amazon.com is now a business front for the actual Amazon nation, I love it when Riordan includes stuff like that.

Frank was....not bad but for some reason I just couldn't really get too attached to the character. I don't mean to say I didn't like him or that he was a bad character but I just didn't find him terribly compelling for some reason. Although I did find the fact that his life was attached to the wood very cool.

As for the big guy himself Percy, I really enjoyed his characterization in this book, I think he regained his memory a bit too fast but beyond that I have no real complaints. He wasn't a genius but he wasn't sidelined as an idiot like I feel he tends to be whenever Annabeth is involved which I really enjoyed. He showed lots of fun and creative uses of his power and his fight scene in Ice Camp in Alaska was just utterly badass, I loved the Hurricane trick. I do admit to being surprised he took the the Praetor position but not displeased in the least I cannot wait to see the looks on everyones faces when they touch down and Percy is sitting on the Praetor throne next to Rayna.

As for the over-all plot, I can't help but feel things progressed just a bit too fast in terms of the memory loss but its nothing huge in any way and is most likely the best way it could have been handled. I loved the pretty much the entire thing though from uncovering the truth about Hazel and the fact that she built the Giant to the chase to Alaska on Arion the Mach One horse. I also have to say Percy's fight in the Ice Camp is probably one of if not my new single favorite fight scene in the series, everything from his water whirlwind holding off all of the damned Legionaries to his casual "Bitch Please" attitude when Hazel and Frank don't understand why the several hundred foot drop among raging dead spirits, massive chunks of ice and a tsunami didn't kill him.

Finally what did you guys think of the implications about Annabeth? I personally am very happy about all of this and says Riordan is heading in a direction that I had not expected. My personal prediction at the moment is that Annabeth is going to do something in the remains of Old Rome thats going to put the entire quest in danger and then Percy's point that everyone and their mother keeps bringing up is going to come where he has to decided to try and save her and doom everything or let her go and save everything. He won't be able to make the right choice in the end and thats where Frank and his "Duty above all else" will come into play, he'll do something to stop Percy from going to her or something like that and save everyone at the cost of Annabeth.

At least that's what I'm hoping, I really don't like Annabeth and now that we have more solid female characters like Reyna and Hazel that dislike is just compounded even more.

 

Finished it and guys, buy it. Buy it now. This was like a thousand times better than the last book. It is not perfect, it has some flaws, but it is maybe my favorite of the Percy Jackson books, even though Dionysus wasn't in it. Will reread it in a few weeks.

Spoiler

Yeah, Camp Jupiter was pure awesomeness. Much better developed and explored and quite frankly pure genius. Love the concept of it being a home for all kinds of demigods, for being a place where they can live and study and have families. I smell a million fanfics spawning and this might very well be the one thing that pushes PJ fanfiction forward. What HP had, what PJ lacked, was a place like Hogwarts, in a way.

The amnesia thing, don't know if I agree with you here Krogan, it wasn't really too fast if you consider that Percy seemed to have a bigger resistance to the Amnesia than Jason did. Percy could always remember Annabeth, meaning it wasn't fully working. Makes only sense that he would regain his memories faster than Jason would. That and Percy is a lot better than Jason.

Plot was okay, nothing groundbreaking but I enjoyed the fast pace. Writing was funny, the action was good and yeah, dialog was as entertaining, if not more so, than the previous books.

In terms of Characters it took a huge step forward, as Krogan said. Hazel is the best developed female character in the whole series, with interesting abilities, a good personality, a solid backstory and overall really likable and sympathetic. Even though, just as Krogan, I liked Reyna a lot more. So yeah, Percy/Reyna shipping encouraged. Piper and even Annabeth can't hold a candle to them.

Frank was interesting as well, a lot better than Jason or Leo even, but at the end I found him a bit too...I don't know the right word, hyped? I liked how he was made team leader in a way that didn't downplay Percy but meh, he somehow didn't grip as much as he should have. Probably the case that I compare him to Percy and thus find him lacking. He is still a good character though, funny, good personality, likable and decently strong, if only a bit "overimportanced" in this book. I am sure I will like him more in the next one.

The Roman aspects were handled very well too, like Mars and Pluto.

I really liked the scene where Percy actually attacked Juno. Wish he would have done more.

To Percy losing his "curse", yeah, it was just as lame as we imagined it to be. I got over it pretty quickly.

So, yeah, really good book, enjoyed it a lot. How do you guys think the next books will go, once both camps are together? Will we have a "ASOIAF" like book with six-seven POV characters? I would actually prefer it to be Percy centric again but that doesn't seem likely

Also, who do you guys think the final seven will be?

Spoiler

Percy and Jason are given. Leo, Piper, Frank and Hazel are probably part of it too. Six, three Greek, three Roman. Seventh? Reyna or Nico? Or even Octavian? Or someone completely new?

Nico would make sense, seeing he is kind of part of both camps in a way and his powers are vastly different from Hazel's

I am miffed though, that I didn't get the better cover. This is the UK cover



Not nearly as cool as


Wonder why they changed it

 

Couldn't wait for my physical copy; I ended up downloading it and reading it.

Overall, I had pretty much the same impressions as you guys. Definitely a very strong book, and I was happy with Percy's role in things.

Spoiler

Percy on the glacier and Percy vs. Polybotes/becoming praetor were among my favorite parts. So much win.

-------

Given the whole Athena's mark thing, I suspect Annabeth will be the 7th quest hero.

 

Spoiler

I also liked the heavy implication of

Percy > Nico > Jason

Pretty much confirmed how much of a third seat fighter Jason is. Also, it seems equally possible that either Frank or Percy could become the leader of the mission, with Percy seeming the most likely candidate.

About Annabeth, yeah, I guess, but somehow Nico makes more sense to me, seeing he sort of belongs to both camps, whereas otherwise there would be more Greek heroes than Roman. Then again, Nico got himself captured, so, who knows.

Also, Annabeth, while being smart, doesn't seem to have any kind of power akin to the others. Jason is formidable, even if he is not on Percy's level. Leo is pretty much a beast with his fire abilities, making him a potentially more dangerous fighter than Jason and even Frank. Frank is pretty dangerous too, with his bow and the ability to go Beast Boy. Hazel, with her horse and her ability to control precious metals is up there as well. Piper is the only other one who could be comparable in combat efficiency to Annabeth but even she has an ability that could make her win many one on one situations.

 

Gotta say, I liked it quite a bit. Was excellent getting to see Percy again, that alone made it way better than the previous book.

Spoiler

I'm interested in the Sammy Valdez/Leo Valdez connection. Remember that Sammy apparently moved to Texas, Leo was from Texas (iirc). I would assume he's like a grandson or something?

Hmmm, fire boy Leo and Frank whose life depends on a easily flammable stick? I'm sure they'll be fast friends, even without tossing Hazel into the mix.

I noticed that there were several references that seem to suggest Percy is still THE major player, the resident half-blood badass and that it's highly unlikely that Jason will equal him. Several people seemed to suggest that Percy is the most important one, that the way he goes so goes the quest.

Camp Jupiter was pretty interesting as well. Very distinct from Camp Half-Blood and very Roman. I liked it a lot.

If I had one real complaint, it's that I often found myself wishing it was all from Percy's point of view. I liked Frank and Hazel well enough, but whenever I read from their point of view, I kept wanting to see it form Percy's.

Now I'm eagerly awaiting The Mark of Athena.

One other thing, whoever did the Kindle version really sucks. There were numerous times where either there was no space between two words or a letter from one word would be with the word before/after it. i.e. 'now all...' was 'no wall...' Kind of annoying.

 

Read it, liked it. The jumping POV style of RR's is starting to really annoy me. Pick a character, even two, but three was just too much. I can't imagine what's going to happen when there are seven of them.

 

Huh. I got an e-mail tonight from Amazon that they've updated SoN due to the aforementioned typos. It said to just reply to the email with 'Yes'.

Will have to check it out in a bit and do a reread, hopefully those are all fixed. Was very annoying.

Yeah, as I said in my previous post, it annoyed me a bit too. I would much rather just Percy's PoV.

Never bothered me in aSoIaF, but don't care for it in the HoO series or that Egyptian series. Must be the way Riordan writes it.

Or perhaps the fact that in aSoIaF there are many different characters in many different locations doing many different things while in HoO the characters are, for the most part, together the whole time that it is jumping about from one to the other.

 

The shifting pov was highly annoying bit I still enjoyed the book. Not as good as the Last Olympian but better than the Lost Her