That's sort of my hope as well. Based on the hints we receive from Jason about how they go about doing things there, it should hopefully serve to up Percy's badassity a few notches

Like fat camp, only with Romans.

Or you could read the book and find out.

 

I can only assume Republic21 is offended that they brought in Romans to rape his country's gods...again.

 

Just finished the book and I have to say I actually did really enjoy this, there were a few things that made me facepalm hard enough to leave marks but overall I think its a good start to a new series.

Spoiler

Alright first thing that had me facepalming was the whole Jason is Thalia's long lost brother thing, that was just so completely and totally out of left field it was painful. One of the parts I hated the most in the book.

Jason going brain dead over Piper and how hot she was so often got really old as well and Aphrodite's whole "the power of Love thing" was a bit cliched for my tastes.

Leo playng firebug and his bronze dragon were pretty fucking awesome.

Two I like the idea of a Roman camp and everything and Jason seriously racked up the badass points in his fight with the giant, "The Praetor of the First Legion" is possibly one of the badass sounding titles I've heard in this series.

However I'm hoping that it wasn't just me but was anyone else thinking that Jason was the actual Jason from the myths for a while? Aside from the Zeus powers which could be handwaved, it would have fit great. All the bad guys are raising henchmen from the dead left and right to serve them so it would only be fair that the gods brought back a champion as well, the Hera connection meshes really well with the idea too since she was the original Jason's patron and now she brought back her champion from so many centuries ago when she was in danger. Chiron's reaction to seeing him would have worked perfectly, instead of him being stunned Thalia's brother isn't actually dead, he's stunned the ancient hero he personally knew is walking around the mortal plane again. Zeke and Cal's reaction would have fit great as well being former crewmates of his, when they saw him they almost recognized him for a moment but dismissed it because they thought Jason died centuries ago but what if they really were recognizing him?

If nothing else it could possibly make an interesting fanfic.

Lets see moving on here, I very much liked how they provided an actual explanation for the collapse of the temple collapsing other than the little handwave they gave. I would have loved to read Jason leading his army to topple the Black Throne though, it would be awesome. Also kind of tied into that point, I found it very interesting that the Roman camp was placed in the dead center of Titan country to keep an eye on them where as Camp Half-Blood is out in the middle of nowhere in a hidden valley. It makes me very curious to learn more about the Roman camp if they were considered to be strong enough to stand guard over the Titan lands.

Also I'm really curious on where this Percy is helpless thing came from, he's not even actually featured in this book, the biggest mention he really gets is at the end when you find out Hera did the same thing to him that she did to Jason but plopped him in the Roman Camp. Also considering the next book is titled "The Son of Neptune" I'm figuring he's going to have a big spot in it.

 

Since the Roman gods are the Greek gods renamed, how can there be both a Greek and a Roman Camp? Aren't both from the same gods?

And I would read the book, had it been out. Only Lightning Thief and Sea of Monsters has come out as of yet. I have red the others after downloading them, but I had instruction from the awesome CareOtters on how to do it, and don't know if if it is possible, or how, to download this book.

 

Spoiler

Long story short, the Roman versions are aspects of the Greek Gods. Important aspects, at that, because Rome was around for so long.

Anyway, since Rome was...Rome, the Roman Aspects of the Gods are a bit more...violent. Keep in mind, Rome coined terms like 'salt the fields' and 'poison the well', made a point to nail people that went against them to crosses beside common roadways, and were pretty colossal jackasses all around (though they were also one of the greatest civilizations ever, I admit). They had a crush-tastic propensity for violently ruining the lives of everyone in their general vicinity, who was not Roman. And sometimes, even then. See also: Pretty much every single dealing between the time that Romulus first suckled a she-wolf and the time when Mehmet the Conqueror's Turkish forces finally overran the last bastion of Constantinople something like two millennia later.

So anyway, Roman Camp for Half-Bloods; a place the Gods sometime put their kids instead of Camp Half-Blood. They put it pretty much in the middle of Titan-ville, too, because they're just that badass or something. You are either awesome or you get ripped to pieces by wolves while your still alive.

Now, Jason Grace, son of Zeus and brotherof Thalia through both their mom and dad, was given to Roman Camp (well, to Hera, as a gift to keep her from doing to the Grace's what she did too...uh...all of her Husbands other Bastard Children), at least until the start of the book. Then, Hera wiped his mind for reasons brought up in the book, and tossed him at Camp Half-Blood.

Only she took Percy in return, and gave him to Camp Rome.

So, yeah.

Krogan:

Spoiler

It's basically because of what Jason said at the end, I believe.

I admit, I think it's stupid that they (the characters in the book) think that, though. I mean, the new characters are understandable, sure, but Annabeth? What are you hinking, girl? Your boytoy is a beast.
At age twelve, new to the world of Myth, he was attacked by the Minotaur, and he killed it with his bare hands. He's taken on the God of War in a fight, and won. He's taken on three Titan', and won. He fought the king of the Titan's while he was in an invincible and held him off. He is, himself, invincible, except for one small weak-point. He's got a list of powers that is huge as all hell:

Upon contact with water (or later, with his abilities more developed, near water), Percy gains a disproportionate amount of strength, combat skill, and speed. This effect wears off soon after leaving the water.

Percy can control large volumes of water with great force (hydrokinesis). For example, he can redirect rivers, create currents to push boats or himself, or even increase surface tension to the point where it is firm enough to stand upon. On a smaller scale, he can also hold back the tide and redirect waves, apparently relying on pressurization.

In the end of the first series, he pulls air bubbles together to form one larger one for Annabeth and himself.

Percy can breathe underwater. He is unharmed by water pressure of any amount, or by falling from great height into water.

When Percy is underwater, he stays dry unless he consciously forces himself to become wet. When Percy touches objects underwater, they also become dry.

Percy can create seawater with little effort with things that used to be in the sea (such as petrified seashells, as in the book The Battle of the Labyrinth). With effort, he can also do this without any derivatives.

Percy can communicate telepathically with marine life, horses, horse related creatures (including mythical horses, such as pegasi), most of whom also obey him and treat him with respect. They tend to treat him with some deference and work to accommodate him; a notable exception are the flesh-eating horses in The Battle of the Labyrinth.

While at sea, Percy has perfect bearings on his exact coordinates.

Percy can control all parts of boats telekinetically, especially sails.

Percy can sense objects if they are underwater.

Percy can communicate with children of Poseidon, such as the Cyclopes, underwater.

Percy is very resistant to burning, and is able to survive for a time while immersed in magma because of the power of the ocean inside of him.

Percy can summon water from bodies of water that are vast hundred of miles away from Percy. However, doing this nearly killed him the one time he tried in Mt. St. Helens.

Percy can summon hurricanes, as he did in The Last Olympian, since his father is the god of the sea and storms, though he can't sustain such tremendous force for very long.

Percy can release the oxygen diffused in water and force the surrounding water to recede, making an air bubble so his friends with non-hydrokinetic abilities can breathe.

Percy can control ocean currents to propel him at great force underwater, or even up into the air, as he does in his duel with Ares.

Percy can cause water to form stronger-than-normal hydrogen bonds on the molecular level to form shields strong enough to deflect shards of glass.

Percy has an accelerated healing factor when standing or immersed in water, quickly healing any wounds and curing him of most forms of poison.

Percy can summon earthquakes as he does at Mount St. Helen's in The Battle of the Labyrinth, since his father is the god of earthquakes.


Guys, seriously. If there's anyone that they should be worried, it's the Roman Camp. Based on Jason, he'll keep his fighting skills, but he's going to be dropped in a hostile enviornment, and he generally reacts to that by ripping horns out of peoples heads and stabbing them repeatedly with them.

 

Yeah I totally agree with what your saying what I'm asking though is

Spoiler

What's with the impression that Percy came off weak or something in this? All that was said at first was that he was missing, then at the very end we find out he got nabbed and mind wiped just like Jason. My prediction honestly is that he's going to be the same Percy just much more stab happy after his time in the Roman camp.

 

Well, I finished the book and overall I thought it was pretty damn good, and a big improvement over the last series. Couple of things though

Spoiler

Was it me or did Aphrodite and her progeny get one hell of a massive power boost? Last we left she was this superficial god who was boning Ares, and got caught in a net. Now she is so powerful her Charmspeak can slumber a Titan? I call bullshit.

I know the next book is called the Son of Neptune but I have a feeling it's going to be about someone other than Percy. Percy is the son of Poseidon not Neptune. This seems to fit with what we have seen. Zeus has two kids, Hades had two kids. Poseidon should have two as well. It further fits as Neptune isn't really a sea god like Poseidon but more so the god of fresh waters.

Leo was a great character and i like what was done with his powers.

I appreciate that they mentioned the Gods getting pissed at Percy not accepting Godhood an scolding them about how they treat their children.

I like the concept of the dual nature of god's between their latin and greek counterparts.

 

Spoiler

I know it was mentioned that Aphrodite was closer to the titans because of her birth so that could be the reason why it could worked.

In the fifth book Poseidon does make a comment about more kids, it might have been a joke but does open the possibility of another son.

 

Spoiler

Technically, we already saw two of Poseiden's sons. Protip: Tyson. D:

 

We saw more then that.

Spoiler

There were a number of Cyclops hanging around Poseidon's palace, and there was his son Triton, and there was that other guy Percy killed.

Krogan:

Spoiler

No idea, but it's probably because he needs to be 'rescued', or that's what they think, at least.

Anlun:

Spoiler

Neptune is the Roman name for Poseidon, so that's unlikely. I mean, sure, the Roman's mixed and matched with his domain, but he's not the only guy they did that with.

Also, since this book ended on the note that Percy was in the Roman Camp, and therefore would be using the Roman names like Camp Half-Blood used the Greek ones, it pretty much only makes sense if it's about him. Especially because Percy disappearing is a big deal; maybeno Hera level big, but still, everyone in Camp's worried, it important to Jason's rolein the story, it shakes things up something fierce, etc.

Not to mention how many people probably want their hands on a Godlike, invincible, Titan-beating, superpowered Demigod, especially since his mind is wiped.

 

I think you might have missed the main point of the book

Spoiler

Neptune is not the Roman name of Poseidon. It is a different aspect of the god with a different persona and character. That's is why Hera acted completely different when she was Juno. It was why Zeus was able to break the pact when he had Jason as Jupiter. Based on this we can infer that its almost as if the gods are two separate beings incorporated into one person. Furthermore in the books the children of the gods respond based on which god sired them. Jason calls his father Jupiter and knows latin not greek. Percy calls his father Poseidon not Neptune. And also Neptune is the equivalent of Poseidon but its not just a change of name. Neptune was based more on other religious deities and he's not the God of the seas in Roman mythology. He's more the god of fresh waters. Oceanus is the god of the oceans in Roman myth. Also I'm aware Poseidon had other kids, I meant more along the lines of a kid after making the oath not to have anymore. While some gods remain mostly the same, others are completely different between roman and greek mythologies. I think Neptune is one of them.

 

Spoiler

Yes, yes, but Jupiter is still Zeus, as shown by how He's the father of both Thalia and Jason. They may be a different, but they're the same person. Saying Percy's father is Poseidon and saying it's Neptune is still saying the same thing, which was another point of the book. In addition, Neptune was also God of the Seas (Oceanus was too, that's all), it's just he was also associated with fresh water, since that was more important to the Romans. He was also still god of Horses, another thing the Roman's cared more about.

Also, that's just because Jason is used to calling him that, and has practiced speaking Latin, as state by Chiron; he called Jupiter Zeus, too. n the same way, Percy hangs out in Greek-ville and uses Greek more often.

Also, if that's what you mean, remember that Hades never brook that Oath.

Which is to say you're wrong.

 

Well I just finished the book and I have to say my reactions are very, very mixed.

Incoming rant warning.

First off, this is starting to seem like a DBZ continuation rather than a well thought out progression of the story.

Spoiler

I get that the giants were created specifically to defeat the gods, but that in my mind doesn't necessarily make them a more credible threat than the titans were. To me it's like the giants are simply titans, but less cool and with a +1 power advantage. These are guys that were created for the sole purpose of destroying the gods after they took out Kronos, and they even managed to fuck that up. I'm much more interested in reading about the Lord of Time trying to retake his throne. I mean one of the giants already got snuffed and the "big bad" one ran away like a little bitch.

One thing that really disappointed me about the original series was the poor characterization of Kronos. If it had been done better, it would have been awesome.

I liked the addition of new heroes, but was really disappointed that it wasn't another Percy-centric story. In fact, it seems like he got nerfed in a big way considering everyone's reactions. It's been alluded to that Jason will be leading the big mission, and I'm not keen on sidekick!Percy, nor even a team effort between them. Jason is just not that badass, despite the poor efforts Riordan put forth to put him on Percy's level.

Sure he dueled Krios, but all I can think about is the scene in which Krios was whining like a little girl to Hyperion about being left behind to guard the mountain. No doubt he's the bitch of the fighting titans.

Jason has one cool power - flying, and that's it. He can summon like one thunderbolt on a good day. I remember when Thalia hit Percy with one of those and he just shrugged it off. It's just not that impressive.

As was said above, Percy dueled the god of war when he was 12 with only a few weeks of formal training. Jason has been training for this since he was 2, and still is meh. Percy blew up Mount Saint Helens and released the most powerful monster there ever was - a guy who could crush a giant like a bug. He almost single-handedly won the war against the titans and orchestrated Typhon's defeat. Jason was off vandalizing the bad guy's pad while he wasn't at home and beating up the house sitter.

They're not even in the same league.

The gods' treatment of Percy in this really, really pissed me off. After all that shit he went through he gets abducted and his mind wiped? I loved that they were very unhappy with his decision, and pretty much all hate him now if they didn't before, but I'd like to think he's earned enough respect that they wouldn't fuck him over like this. Percy isn't the kind of guy who would lead a war against other demigods, no matter how fucked up they were. In fact, I think he goes out of his way not to kill a single one in the Titan War.

If someone had just said, "hey Percy, there's this other camp of demigods that you should probably go talk to," he probably would have just said okay and done it. It all just seems very convoluted and drags the story out.

After this all plays out I would be almost upset if Percy didn't just decide "fuck the titans, fuck the giants, I'm burning this shit down." I don't remember Percy ever doing anything simply because a god asked him to. It was all about completing his quests so that he could protect his family and friends. Even stopping Kronos was more about avoiding the apocalypse than protecting the gods. In fact, Percy has never had a high opinion of any of the gods, except maybe his father, Artemis, and Hephaestus.

That's another thing that sort of upset me about these characters. Hera basically strong-armed Jason and Leo into saving her. That's not something that would have gone over well with Percy at all. Basically these new characters strike me as watered-down versions of Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia. They had actual convictions and weren't afraid to tell a god to fuck off. Thalia almost gets herself blown up in this one because of it. Reading Jason try to rationalize why Zeus is the biggest prick in the universe made me sick.

Basically, original cast > new cast.

Another thing. Percy should be pissed as all hell to find out that Zeus had another kid. I mean it's pretty clear at this point that a god's promise sworn on the River Styx means shit. He gave up immortality and godhood for a promise that the gods are already trying to renege on by closing off Olympus. It's totally fucked up.

Honestly, I wish Riordan would focus more effort on the demigod/god conflict than the oh-no-someone-else-is-coming-to-kill-the-gods-and-we-have-to-bail-them-out-again conflict.

Lastly, I think I'll just agree with everyone else saying that the Roman camp is about to get raped. I can imagine everyone flying their boat over there only to find Percy surrounded by a pile of corpses. "I don't know who I am but all these crazies tried to attack me with swords! What the fuck?"

Honestly, though, I'm very much afraid that Riordan is going to do something stupid like stripping Percy of his curse (which, you know, is supposed to be a bad thing) just to nerf him down. That or something stupid like have him forget where his mortal point is and get skewered so that he has to get rescued from the underworld or some shit.

The problem, I think, is that Percy is too competent a hero at this point for me to be really interested in the fight against the giants. They're going to get raped just like the titans after all. Especially since (supposedly) the gods will actually lift a finger to help this time.

I hate reading giant spoiler texts.

One more thing I think I should mention in a general sense, is that I don't really like this whole "gods have to act through demigods and can't interfere directly" thing. I don't remember anything like that in the mythology. It always seemed to me that the gods had no problem smiting or ruining the lives of whomever they damn well pleased. Even in the books the gods interact directly with the demigods, so this whole plot device, which I think is meant to give more relevance to the demigods, is used very selectively. In book 1 Zeus tries to kill Percy outright with a lightning strike, and as the story goes on other gods try to kill him or threaten to kill him personally, so it's not a real rule.

I mean if the enemies of the gods can do whatever the hell they want without following any rules, then why can't the gods do it too? I just wish there was some consistency here. After all, Riordan does a good job of writing the gods out of the plot due to their own stupidity, indifference, or having their hands tied anyways. Why add a flimsy reason for the gods not to interfere? We already know they're a bunch of asshats, that's reason enough.

 

Basically, what Howdy said.

Spoiler

I mean, the Giants in Greek Myth went down like bitches the moment the Gods stoped trying to just brute force things. A little thought and they were on their knees. The Titans, on the other hand, were basically this huge War in Heaven thing that we don't even get to many details about because it's so awesome or whatever. And they generally had powers that were really unfair; Kronus made Time itself his bitch and was invincible in that body (minus that one spot nobody knew about).

And I sgree on the Percy-Jason issue. I mean, Jason is okay, but no matter how I look at it, he's just second-best. Like you said, while Jason was dualing Krios, Percy was dualing Hyperion, who's way more badass. And do you know how that fight went? It involved Percy going 'Rock You Like a Hurricane' all up and down Hyperion's ass, who eventually got turned into a tree.

And the whole thunderbolt thing, where Percy got hit with one? You're forgetting something. It hit him, while he was wet and in metal armor, turned his chest plate into slag (meaning on anyone less badass, it would cause horrible burning and agony), and flung him away. Percy? Just gets up and looks pissed.

And as for those other feats? Those few weeks of formal training were barely that. Percy had picked up his first sword, what, a week ago (and promptly kicked Luke to the curb)? And before blowing up Saint Helens, he got dumped in lava and summoned a huge amount of wate from, like, several hundred miles away. And he blew it up by causing an earthquake strong enough to make a Volcano blow. A bit cooler then a lightning bolt, huh? And during the Titan war, Percy just ran around dishing out death to any monster he could find. My favorite scene? The Bridge scene. The one where he basically tells the entire Apollo cabin, who are getting pushed back by a huge amount of monsters, 'Chill the fuck out, guys; I got this.' He then had them run for cover, and curb-stomped the enemy army by himself, pushed them back off the bridge, and was gonna keep going if Kronus hadn't shown up. Allow me to simplify:

The entire Apollo Cabin, a cabin full of expert marksmen who never miss, and who are loaded down with magic arrows < A Legion of every Greek Monster you can think of < Perseus 'Motherfucking' Jackson.

Agreed on the Gods. What the fuck guys? Even if you don't like him, didn't you see what he did to Ares? Hyperion? Uh, pretty much everybody else he fought?

Agreed on the whole asking him to go thing.

I'm also hoping Percy gets pissed and shows people how it's done. If the next book doesn't involve a fight between Percy and Jason, at least, I'll be sad. And if Percy doesn't dominate that fight, I'll be pissed.

Agreed about how the new cast treats the gods; I was fucking cheering when Annabeth flat-out said 'No' when asked to save Hera, and said she had better things to do.

Agreed on Percy being angry about that. He should German Suplex someone onto a bed of hot coals for this shit.

I would overjoyed if things went demigod/God, if only because seeing Percy pimp-slap Ares made me cheer.

Seriously; he's an invulnerable son of the Big Three who has powers out the ass, can create Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Floods, and who knows what else at will, and the Curse makes him flip out and kill shit the moment combat starts. The next book better either involve Percy atop a mountain of copses or being crown Imperator Perseus in order to keep him from pound random people ino unconsciousness and dropping them into random ditches.

And I will rage so hard if he randomly makes Percy weak.

True on Percy being to badass. But you know what I really want? I want the Gods mindwipe to backfire horribly. I want Gaea or whoever to get to Percy first and make everyone else fight him, just so we can have a real bad guy, not these losers. Of course, he's to strong for that, too. I usually hate plot lines like that, but I wanna see Percy show up to fight one of the Camps (the entire Camp) by himself, and I want everybody to go 'Oh, Shit' when they see him.

Agreed on the Gods. I mean, they always say they aren't allowed to interfere, but every damn book, I swear, they show up and interfere. Heavily.

 

I need to go back and reread Titan's Curse. That's when everyone starts being awesome.

Edit: I'm also watching the movie 'Troy' to get my Achilles fix. I think that this book set me off in a bad way more than I even touched on.

 

I'm doing the same thing with TLO. I love that book; Percy spend basically the entire second half kicking ass.

And on the movie front, I think I'll watch Gladiator again; I hope that's what Percy will look like.

By the way, about Troy. I've never seen it; is it any good?

 

If you want a nice action movie, definitely watch it. It might not be the best, but it's well made and really focuses on Achilles' awesomeness. He's not invulnerable though, just a master of death.

 

Historically, it's one gigantic pile of bull crap. Just like 300 and, to a lesser extend, Alexander. Movie-like, it's awesome as hell, though the Trojan armors seemed a bit too detailed and rich.
BTW, Achilles on Troy is how I imagined Percy fight during TLO, especially on the Bridge scene.

 

Just saying, the Gods have an advantage that Percy has no way of overcoming(unless his curse protects him from it).
The Gods can just turn into their full divine form and kill him outright. Remember, one look and you die.

 

Which has been shown to be counterable by...not looking directly at them.

Granted, fighting without looking at someone is nut-aching hard, but it's not impossible, and Percy has shown the ability to know somethings location without looking at it.

He also did pretty damn well against Hyperion.