Sneak peak at a new story by Rick Riordan

Do you remember the Son of Sobek where Rick Riordan crossed over Percy Jackson and The Kane Chronicles? Well,  he's doing it again! This time with Annabeth and Sadie. The short story will be called The Staff of Serapis and, per usual, take place in New York. It will be released on the 8th of April in the US paperback edition of Mark of Athena, and sometime after that will be available as a separate ebook. It about 60 printed pages long, according to Riordan's blog.

Click here for the sneak peak at the new story!

Happy 2014! Overview of 2013

Happy 2014 everyone! Last year was a huge one for literature, with countless series both starting and ending (autumn was extremely busy with so many books coming out – some of which I still have yet to read). You had the Divergent series coming to a close with Allegiant, James Dashner’s new book The Eye of Minds - the first in the Mortality Doctrine series, Cassandra Clare’s The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Princess, The Alex Rider prequel Russian Roulette, the US release of Oblivion - the final book in Anthony Horowitz's Gatekeepers... So many books in such a short time! Not to mention all the books that got turned into movies.

Of course, with so many books coming out, you did have the good and the bad and the controversial. The much anticipated Allegiant was one of the greatest flops of the year. Poorly written, it left more than just a few fans unhappy with it. On the other hand, there was Light, the final Gone novel written by Michael Grant and Clockwork Princess, both of which have received overall high reviews.

            One of the biggest biggies of the year was definitely The House of Hades, written by Rick Riordan. He took a huge risk with *mini spoiler* making Nico gay (if you didn’t know that already, you probably haven’t used Tumblr since before October). There was a lot of controversy over that, with many parents upset with the fact that he chose to make that decision. Then again, the book series was about Greek mythology and if someone can’t stand non-heterosexual relationships, they should probably avoid that area in general.

And then there were the movies! I lost count of how many adaptations I had seen. There was The Great Gatsby, directed by Baz Luhrmann, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones directed by Harald Zwart... Let’s not forget The Sea of Monsters, which Thor Freudenthal (hehe... Thor...) directed and ended up with very mixed reviews (hey, I give him credit for working with the mess of a film the first one was and managing to do a fairly decent job). There was also Catching Fire, directed by Francis Lawrence, which was possibly the most successful book-to-film adaption that I ever seen in my entire life. And that was just a few of them.

2014 is going to be a huge year. We have the film Divergent coming out, directed by Neil Burger, first of all. The casting may be a bit iffy, but I have a feeling that it’ll be a pretty decent film. There’s also going to be The Fault in out Stars, directed by Josh Boone, so prepare your tissue stash when you go to the cinema.

And as for actual books, by the gods there will be a lot. We’ll be having the second book in The Mortality Doctrine; The Rule of Thoughts by James Dashner, which is supposed to be released in the autumn. The Mortal Instruments will have its conclusion with City of Heavenly Fire, which is planned to be released on 27 May – but don’t worry. Cassandra Clare is planning on writing yet another series in the Shadowhunter Chronicles; The Dark Artifices (The first book is planned to be titled Lady Midnight). Let’s not forget about The Blood of Olympus, the final book in the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan.

            Finally, there is no way we can forget about the film based around Newt Scamander who had written Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them to the Harry Potter universe – with a screenplay written by the brilliant J.K. Rowling. There are also rumours that she may be writing more books based around the HP universe, so keep your eyes peeled for more news about that.

            2013 has been a giant year full of new releases, and I expect nothing less from 2014. Have a happy new year, and don’t forget to keep reading!

Heroes of Olympus: House of Hades Review

The Heroes of Olympus has been a hot mess full of underdeveloped characters, Mary Sues, and a general disconnect from the original Percy Jackson series up through The Mark of Athena.

And then the House of Hades came.

When I first picked up this book, I was very apprehensive. Of course I wanted to know what happened to Percy and Annabeth after that terrible, and literal, cliff hanger at the end of the Mark of Athena, but I didn't expect Riordan to be so good at writing dark. This book is possibly one of the darkest books he was written. From the description of Tartarus that originates from both classic myth and his own imagination to the descriptions of some of the gods, the book was very well written. Anthony Horowitz still takes the cake for being one of the best dark YA authors, but Riordan holds much potential.

Can we talk about the cover for a moment? It is just so perfect! As mad as it may sound, the US cover perfectly fits the book. It is dark, symbolistic, and actually partially portrays a scene from the book (unlike the UK covers – sorry, but those still scare me). It is a near-perfect portrayal of Percy and Annabeth in this book. John Rocco, this is a shout out to you being an amazing cover artist for the books since The Lightning Thief!

Up to this point in the series, there was a certain disconnect from the original books. This book completely patched that over; references to the Second Titan War, old characters appearing, and our good ol' Annabeth actually acting like herself again. For once, I felt as though I was reading a continuation of PJO instead of a [poorly] written fanfiction. Old characters also popped up in this book. Remember Rachel? Grover? And if you've read The Demigod Files and The Demigod Diaries, be prepared to see some references to some of the stories in there.

And the characterisation. Of my gods, this book did an amazing job at it. Ever wonder about some of Nico's past? This book connects the dots and even sneaks in a little detail in about him where, unless you've come across a spoiler before reading the book, you will have not seen coming. Flat characters are turned into round, dynamic characters and, overall, this book fixes most of the mistakes from the prior books.

Now let's discuss the plot. It moved along quickly - almost too quickly than what I would have liked. 600 pages went by way too quickly, and although I like a fast book, this one went a little too fast. Individual scenes weren't generally very descriptive, and were done in a choppy manner through the switching of perspectives between scenes. The chapters were also almost to Maximum Rider length, the shortest being only two or three pages long. The story itself was entertaining, but it could have gone into a bit more detail.

Uncle Rick has also surprised us in a way other than a troll-worthy cliffhanger. As some of you may or may not be aware, Riordan had a reputation for being a bit of a homophobe. It seemed, in prior books, that he purposely avoided any and all myths that involved any sort of gay characters. This book changed this. I won’t say who, but besides there being a blatant mention through a myth, there is also a gay character. And it is seamlessly written into the story – not at all forced like I would have assumed.

Overall, I would give this book a 4 out of 5. It is the best book in the Heroes of Olympus by far, and though there are a few mistakes (and misquotations), it was overall well done and well thought out. I was definitely not expecting this high quality of work and I will be expecting something even better for the last book, The Blood of Olympus, planned to be released Autumn of 2014.