#but I am going to reread HOO

[joyglass]

okay. somewhat consolidated thoughts on the pjo series

percy is just so fucking funny and riordan's writing style is so charmingly witty for a children's novel. percy is definitely a child but it's so entertaining even reading it now at my old college age.

i do wish pjo handled some more mature themes especially considering the entire basis of the novels are greek mythology but i understand the sanitation and im not mad at it. it is a kids novel. but reading about how so many kids literally died during the war i do think it's kinda inescapable though. percy and annabeth really did live through 2 wars they need to live in PEACE for the rest of their lives not whatever rick is making them go through in the new series 😭😭😭

luke was right.

controversial opinion i think i don't think luke loved annabeth romantically and i think it's silly that rick forgot about the existence of platonic love in that moment. she clearly did love him.

favorite book was TLO because of said mature(r) themes. i think rick did great balancing levity and the urgency of the war

that being said, idk if it's because it's a children's novel but i enjoyed the pace. i thought it was perfect. but it's probably because i get bored super easily so a children's series appeals to me more

one of my favorite scenes in the series is probably when they find pan and he tells them that the wild is in every single person. that they need to make 'the wild' themselves and that the responsibility is in their hands. i think it's such an important theme and heavy handed reminder of global warming even back them when the books were originally written!!! pan was so right for that,

percabeth percabeth percabeth. they were my original otp for a reason. i could go on about them but they're relationship progression is one of my favorite things ever. also being older i can understand where annabeth was coming from.

hades was so mean to nico for no reason at all. i heard he's somewhat of a better father in the recent books but damn. he straight up implied he wished bianca had lived except for him ouch??? anyway new appreciation for nico. i feel so bad for him😭😭😭

justice for the Aphrodite kids because RR was NOT nice to them at all 💀

[valewritessss]

I need help finding a fic

A while ago I read a percabeth fic and it was a high school au where Percy was dared by Octavian and his friends to hook up with Annabeth and the fic was either 10 or 17 chapters long with a happy ending. Also it had bi Percy I think and Annabeth was a Taylor swift fan (might’ve been Speak Now specifically), and I suddenly remembered this fic and now I want to read it but I remember everything about it but its name.

[romantichopelessly]

making a post about my interpretation of the sun and the star prophecy because I haven’t seen anyone else have these same takes:

“Go forth and find the one who calls out your name / who suffers and despairs for refusing to remain / there leave something of equal value behind / or your body and soul no one will ever find”

First and foremost: who calls out. I don’t think it’s Bob. I’ve seen a couple of people suggest this, so that’s not new, but the second line sort of proves this to me. “Who suffers and despairs for refusing to remain” sounds like Damasen to me.

In HoH, Damasen leaves his prison, where he remained for eons, and suffers at the doors for it. May still be suffering. So I think either the person calling out to Nico is Damasen, or the who in the first line is not the same as the who in the second, and it is BOTH Bob and Damasen.

Then for the line everyone is dreading, the third line. For some reason I think that the thing of equal value Nico will have to leave will be his memories. Maybe not all of them. Maybe just some, like the last few years of his life, but this makes sense to me.

He was part of the reason why Bob lost his memories. Narratively, Nico losing his memory just makes sense to me. In a way, his story started in the Lethe. Also I think Nico would make that sacrifice. It would make him realize that despite everything, he wouldn’t change where he is in life, which is what makes it so valuable for him to lose.

Also we know from Bob that lost memories can be eventually recovered. I feel like this is something Rick would do. (Plus it could “make up” for us never getting to see Solangelo come together if we got to see them reform.)

[hanicchy]

nearly finished with my reread of the second HOO book and i have so many thoughts that i couldn’t articulate when i was young but have now invaded my mind

[bikananjarrus]

i have a few thoughts about how the lost hero actually sets up the darker tone for HoO really well and then. well. there was never any follow through.

now some of my hindsight about TLH is probably fueled by nostalgia (i actually am really fond of tlh and also i was 14 when i read. impressionable on my teen brain). i’ve reread it several times, but i have really strong memories of the first time i read the book too, and i just remember it having a very gloomy, dark vibe to it. (the way that TTC is set in winter and definitely feels like a winter book, this is the HoO equivalent for me.)

looking at the actual contents of the book, the book starting off with jason's pov, who has no idea who he is, so immediately the feeling is 'oh shit. something happened to this guy. and it's not good.' and then almost immediately after that, getting sucker punched with the “she's been looking for one of our campers, who’s been missing three days…her boyfriend. A guy named percy jackson.” percy??? thee percy jackson. MISSING???? (look, that put 14 year old me flat on the floor. it still hits. but in 2010 when we had no idea percy was going to even be in these books….you kinda just had to be there okay.)

alongside jason, we have piper, whose dad got kidnapped by a giant and she'd being blackmailed! all before she finds out she's a demigod!! like she's already having a ROUGH time. we find out leo was manipulated by gaea to use his flame powers, which resulted in the fire that killed his mom (genuinely wtf).

their quest starting the lead up to the second great prophecy, which is happening so soon after percy's great prophecy (like they JUST finished fighting a war. give them a chance to breathe dammit. but also implying that some major things stirred with the defeat of kronos. But how could there be something more horrifying than kronos?).

their quest taking them to all these abandoned and/or cold places (the run down wolf house, they're hiding in the sewers at one point, the cyclops lair in that abandoned warehouse, the cave where they shelter from the cold and where the hunters of artemis find them, boreas’s house being in canada, even the mall where they meet medea being empty iirc). jason being abandoned by his mother. piper feeling abandoned by a father who doesn't have enough time for her. leo being alone too (not his mom's fault she died; not his fault for the fire; but he's alone nonetheless). even their primary mode of transportation being flying on festus feels strange and out of the place, bc for so long, we were seeing through percy's eyes and he had to stay on the ground.

and then to end the book with jason dying, however briefly. literally a dead man walking from the very beginning.

the tone was something different and darker, and combined with percy, hazel, and frank going to alaska, the land beyond the gods, in SoN, we were really venturing into unknown territory. it felt like our heroes would be tested. that gaea truly was something to be feared, even more so than kronos, and that it would take the generation's seven greatest demigods to defeat her.

and then it never followed through with that set up.

[the-pjo-archive]

My thoughts on Piper McLean

Warning: This will be a lot of my personal story and a lot about me and the real world instead of Piper and fiction Also Spoilers for HoO

I have seen people hate on Piper for being a pickme, for being cringy

But my take is that she is the most real character, she is the one I can relate to the most. Rick managed to capture the experience of denying yourself who you are and the struggles of accepting yourself later.

I grew up surrounded by people who found dresses unpractical and we had a very holier than thou view of "Well I don't feel the need to wear makeup because I'm pretty the way I am" and very much thought we were better than all those "girly girls" who said literally too much and did makeovers or whatever. And now, 10 years later, I am slowly putting on makeup, in private, constantly worried I'll be bullied for it. I'll want to wear a dress and have a whole breakdown about if it's even right for me wear one.

Piper grew up trying to run away from the spotlight, she hated the camera, she hated being rich and famous, and wanted attention from her dad, so she tried to look boring and normal and messy so she could pretend to be a regular kid, so she wasn't like the ladies in hollywood always chasing after her dad with their pretty, fake smiles. Then she gets claimed by aphrodite and gets thrown in with all the fake ladies who are chasing after her father, she was repulsed by them the moment she saw them (she did change her mind when she met Mitchel and Lacey though) but not only that but she was also forced to wear makeup and have her hair up nicely. At the time she was upset about the whole situation and stressed about her dad, but if Aphrodite's blessing had happened when Piper wasn't so worked up I think she would have liked it. Because she's like me, she is drawn to art and self expression, she is drawn to true (inner) beauty, she just never got to experience it and instead was only shown the ugly sides of makeup.

Reason I went on this tangent is in chapter 22 of the Lost Hero:

"Her jeans were tattered from the fall through the roof. Her boots were splattered with melted dirty snow. She didn't know what her face looked like, but probably horrible. Why did it matter? She'd never cared about things like that before."

Now she does go on to blame Aphrodite for "messing with her thoughts" but she has always been a daughter of aphrodite, the only thing that's changed is she has been given permission to explore that part of herself.

If any of this is covered in later books then I just don't remember, I am rereading for the first time in like 5 years or longer.

[pinkblahaj]

rick riordan's female characters pt 1: annabeth

this year i reread pjo and hoo for the first time since finishing the series five years ago, and i now understand the (somewhat?) common opinion that the way he wrote female characters was definitely flawed in some ways. although, i don't completely agree with all the criticisms, and i still love the majority of his characters. because i have so many thoughts on annabeth, i'll make this post just about her and discuss other characters later.

i'm certainly not one of those avid annabeth haters, but i do think there are valid reasons to not like her- I think there are valid reasons to not like any character. for me, there are moments where she is a bit too arrogant or mean. but i don't think she should have been written with an entirely different personality either- it makes sense why she is the way she is, and all the characters are flawed in their own ways, which is what makes them relatable. i just don't relate to annabeth like i do to the characters i like more.

i see how some ppl dislike the dynamic between percy and annabeth, but i feel like a lot of those issues are just a product of their time. the judo-flipping scene in mark of athena has been made to be way bigger of a deal than it is. it was not annabeth "abusing" percy- it's more akin to play wrestling. but... i do agree that moments like this would be clearly unacceptable if annabeth were a boy (which, i know, those "if the roles were reversed" type discussions sometimes are used to weaponize the suffering of men in order to diminsh women's issues, and i am not trying to do that here). it unfortunately does make sense when you think about the whole anti-femininity trend that used to be so common, and existed in rick's books as well (ex: aphrodite's children). annabeth is supposed to be tough and scary, not soft and weak. but we should also keep in mind that every relationship's boundaries our different- annabeth might joke about percy being dumb, but it's obvious that doesn't bother him and he likes the nickname "seaweed brain".

annabeth's treatment of rachel in botl seems to be a dividing topic, and i can see both sides. i honestly was quite bothered by it when i reread botl, and i find it strange that some ppl will hate on percy on this book while not criticizing annabeth. but honestly that's probably because i'm a sensitive person. some ppl find it funny, which is probably how it was supposed to come across. it was probably just as obvious to rachel as it was to us readers that annabeth was only being mean out of her fear of losing percy... and rachel did indeed like percy. but i do wish that we would've seen someone call her out or see her apologize, and while her abandonment issues are an explanation for her behavior, they are not an excuse. but again, it's safe to assume that rachel was not that affected by it, and being a teenager who is rude to someone bc they like the same guy as you is not the worst thing a person can do. (i do think it's interesting how this situation is brought up more frequently than leo bullying frank, which actually did hurt frank.)

contrary to what i've seen other ppl say, i actually really liked annabeth in heroes of olympus. i thought her povs were great, and i loved to see her interact with the new characters, especially piper. i also found her more likable (ik some think she was too perfect, but i loved seeing her as a competent leader). the scene with frank and the finger trap was so cute and because i love and relate to frank, i will forever appreciate her for that. however she was def underutilized- outsmarting arachne by attacking her pride made sense because of arachne's backstory, but that strategy became overused (the way she defeated nyx was kind of ridiculous). and of course, who doesn't love the percabeth scenes- sure they were obsessed with each other, but that makes sense. they just met the rest of the seven, ofc they're not going to care about their new friends to the extend that they do for each other (side note: i don't disagree that seven felt like "co-workers", but i don't see a problem with it either).

leah was a perfect choice for the tv show adaptation. i honestly could not care less that she's not blonde and white. yes, the acting could be a bit better, but they're young and i've seen worse acting from older actors. what i do have an issue with is how annabeth was written in the show. i feel like the writers read that she's the brains of the group and she's serious and forgot that she's also a twelve year old girl. annabeth is a great character because she is strong, smart and skilled, but still flawed, realistic and relatable. i wish the show delved into other parts of her character, such as her love for architecture, the scene with the spiders, and her relationship with luke- this last one especially is such an important part they missed out on, because it's a huge source of her vulnerability in the books. i'm completely fine with them cutting out her crush on him, but the fact that she looks up to him and sees him as family is so central to why she can't accept that he's betrayed her. her believing that there is still good left in luke is also key to how they defeat kronos with luke's help. show luke says that annabeth is like his little sister, but without us actually seeing this relationship, it's going to be hard to understand in later seasons why annabeth defends him.

overall, annabeth is a great character and deserving of her popularity, but i don't think that if you dislike her you hate complex female characters. while she's not my favorite, i see her as a testament to both rick's ability to write good female characters and some of his shortcomings in this area.

[pjo-andsequels-confessions]

This is going to be long/a rant.

I dislike all the ships. Even Percabeth, heck, especially Percabeth, even though I used to adore them. I read most of RRVerse when I was younger but now that I am rereading them as an adult with actual healthy relationships... I just feel as though they're not necessary to push the plot (Caleo, Frazel, Solangelo, you name it).

Or even good.

All characters have the potential to be very interesting and have more nuanced arcs that are not dependent on romance but noooo.

They need to be paired off.

The MC needs to get the pretty girl.

I believe that majority of Percabeth shippers only ship it either because it's canon, Riordan based it on his relationship with his wife, they ignore all the blinding red flags that could be seen if they just... read the book and actually think about what's happening instead of just taking the words at face value.

Luke's redemption is undeserved. And I'm pretty sure I like Luke more than the average PJO fan.

If it was ever even hinted in PJO that he cared instead of acting akin to a cartoon villain, it might have been more realistic.

Show him struggling against Kronos when it showed that the titan was no better than the Olympians. Show him caring for the TA, the demigods that the books claims he wanted to have a better life (Ethan, Alabaster, etc.)

He was fighting for a good cause, only it felt like Riordan didn't even know where to go with the guy. The majority of his characterization are seen through fans that actually try to understand his ideals in the book and those who watched the TV.

The TV part because he didn't look like he meant any of the kids any harm and was only really there to recruit for the TA.

All the Olympians suck, except Hestia. Yes, even Poseidon. We only like him because he calls Percy his favorite, and even then why?

That doesn't make him any less unlikeable. He shouldn't have favorite children in the first place. I know it might seem silly to judge a non-human character using human standards but he's still a bad father.

The leap from TLO to CotG, where Poseidon tells Percy that he had a price to pay for being alive (paraphrasing)? No wonder the dude said Poseidon was his dad in name only.

Speaking of, Percy is not without fault either. His fatal flaw is supposed to be personal loyalty. But in HOO it basically turned into loyalty to Annabeth only.

Wtf was that treatment of Nico now? Telling the rest of the crew some stories to the point that it made some of them doubt if they should save Nico in the first place?

Like??? Dude, you spent THREE books making sure that you are the hero in the Great Prophecy so that Nico doesn't get it??? Hello???

Where did the Percy we grew up with go? He's just so obsessed with Annabeth now? Is that all he is now?

Am I the only one that sees this?

Someone please rewrite the entire series lol. I love the fanfics that stage a mutiny against Riordan's canon— making it more complex, nuanced and basically just better.

…

[martydearest]

My live reading of the first chapter of Wrath of the Triple Goddess

- dear god I keep forgetting Percy is still high school

- the intense focus on Hera as the cause of personal interference in HoO is still weird and still feels sexist, it is written here funny as hell though

- SPANISH DUEL ENROLLMENT!! Latin!Percy confirmed???

- “online class” the consistent timeline was the friends we made along the way

- god I really hate the New Rome worldbuilding

- percy “working super hard to get into university” Jackson is a direct contradiction to the image of him sleeping in class on the next page

- NYC SUBWAY MENTION!! No more expensive taxis Rick I love you

- DROOL REFERENCE

- hecate as a school principal is a very funny image

- Percy she was a major god involved in the war, how the fuck do you not know this (i know it’s a kids books I don’t care)

- “Hecate had always struck me as a team player—as soon as she was sure which team would win.” THIS LINE IS SO TASTY I LOVE IT

- hecate preventing a nice chill fetch quest/hangout with gods he’s on good terms with is so so funny she so awful i love her

- Rick forgot that Hecate is a major part of neopaganism didn’t he

- A FUCKING BUSINESS CARD!!! SOMEONE WAS REREADING SON OF MAGIC. I can’t believe Alabaster canonically got that from his mom 10/10 my favorite part of this story so far

- Percy not mentally acknowledging at all that Hecate called herself a Major Goddess… bro do you remember the end of TLO??

- Maidan Mother Crone was going to come up and I like it generally

- HAHA I AM GOING TO USE THAT EXIT TO CONSIDER MY FIRE TRAVEL SPELL CANON

[shadowqueenjude]

I just finished The Chalice of the Gods (damn I am going through books quickly now) THE NOSTALGIA😩 I love Uncle Rick's writing sm. I swear he slaps EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I love the way his writing has evolved over time as well. It was short and not quite as action-packed as a typical PJO book, but it was really funny and light-hearted while also having an important message.

This book is making me want to reread all 15 PJO HOO and TOA books AGAIN, and I have reread them god knows how many times. This is why he is my favorite author.

[swans-chirping-in-the-distance]

welcome to your new home :D

my cognate: @sparklenarniawizard <3

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tags (I rarely use most of these except for twilomiwb and tiwtr-vc):

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[physalian]

Am I the only one who likes Heroes of Olympus less and less as I get older?

Sometimes I think about how much better Heroes of Olympus could have been if there was A Plan. I have reread my copy of TLO so many times I have to be careful with it because the spine is falling apart, meanwhile I don’t think I’ve opened my copy of MOA. Originally read it borrowed from a friend as the copy I have came with the box set.

I don’t know what went on behind the scenes or why choices were made and they weren’t written that far apart so it can’t be nostalgia interfering—I was in middle school when the first few HOO books came out, I distinctly remember being a little jealous seventh grader that an eighth grader in my criminology class had the hardback of Lost Hero. But I wish I did know what went through either Riordan’s mind or his editor’s or the people at Disney-Hyperion because this series… just pales in comparison in so many ways to the original.

Not to say it’s all bad! So before anyone starts screaming, here’s the shortlist of things I liked:

I think SON was probably the best written overall as a cohesive story between all POVs, never got bored waiting for Percy’s POV to come back around and Frank and Hazel are awesome characters

Still adore the Tartarus sections in HOH, I loved all the callbacks and how it felt like a hellish road trip through everything that brough these two legacy characters to this point, digging up even the oldest of old foes

The main seven are solid, more so now as I get older and can appreciate them all for what they brough to the table, however the changes in characterizations for the legacy characters is… something else

I liked a lot of the minor gods and villains, despite Cupid’s role in the story, he was fantastic. I liked the exploration into both wider known Greek myths, like Narcisus and Heracles, and myths you’d definitely have to google, and the exploration outside the US

But regardless of what the actual plan was, it doesn’t feel like there was a plan, and a lot of that comes down to the plot and the complete lack of a thematic throughline. There was so much plot, that there was just no time for theme.

What I mean by this is that a message really front and center in PJO was the neglect of the gods and how they became their own self-fulfilling prophecy, by treating their kids like tools and toys, they can’t be surprised when the actual human children wake up to their neglect and attempt to do something about it, and that whole story was anchored by the different paths of Luke and Percy—Luke is what could have happened to Percy, whether by not having a slightly-less-shitty god for a dad, or having a mom who wasn’t cursed by the Oracle.

Fully admit that my memory of HOO is less than stellar because I haven’t read it nearly as much, but there was no Luke of that series, there was just Gaea and a couple secondary villains like Octavian, who is not nearly present enough or significant enough to be more than an obstacle. Kronos did a whole lot of nothing for the entire series until the final book, just whispers and threats and moving pieces around his chessboard, but his proxy was Luke. Luke was a personal, meaningful villain to Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Thalia, the Camp as a whole. He wasn’t just some guy. Gaea didn’t have a proxy—she had the giants and little short-lived minions, but none of those gave personal stakes to the story. If, say, something catastrophic had happened and Jason became the New Luke for the same damn reason—didn’t have anywhere else to turn and thought a world without the gods would be better than this—after spending a whole book getting to like him, maybe?

Obviously a big difference is the pacing, but I won’t fault it for the attempt at telling one huge, months-spanning story. Making a bold choice like that and seeing what sticks was always going to be interesting, but doing so did sacrifice seeing these new characters grow over five years like we did with Percy, and then having to share page time with multiple POVS, and not showing up at all for an entire book, either in TLH or SON. Not only was it less time with the former protagonist, but on top of all this plot, we’re having to race through it with a majority of new faces.

Another thing is the very intentional meta rivalry between the Greeks and the Romans. When I was a kid people hated Jason. We got incredibly protective of Percy and didn’t like Jason creeping in on Percy’s spotlight, this dude who we’ve never met and are simply told “he’s the Roman version of Percy but slightly better” and yet the book reinforces that idea constantly. In SON, I can’t pull specific page examples, but the Roman condescension of CHB’s way of life—like the campers being split by godly parent—isn’t just a condemnation of their ancient enemy, it also mocks the older books themselves, like “oh, you thought this was cool? Well you’re supposed to hate it now”. In MOA, literally, on the front cover, is the repeated skirmishes between Percy and Jason, once again asking readers to pick sides instead of thinking of these two as a team. If Jason really is Percy But Better, contrived fistfights never would have happened because they’d respect the fuck out of each other—and they didn’t happen organically for that reason. They had to be possessed and brainwashed. For…tension?

But I think the treatment and the arcs of the legacy characters, Percy, Annabeth, and Nico [no footage found for Grover], is the most confusing decision. I really don’t know what was going through their heads when they decided not to give a single POV to Percy, the sole narrator of five years of books, to the (presumed at the time) last book we’d ever see him in. So many choices with his characterization, too from MOA on, like the lack of meaningful reaction to Calypso, or Nico randomly getting kidnapped, to just… just the whole climactic nosebleed in BOO. He just became a caricature of himself, popping up to throw out a Persassy one-liner or getting weirdly jealous of Frank for being able to shape-shift. One of the only lines I remember clear as day from him, probably because it was a quip and not anything with substance, is “I can’t drown and neither can my pancakes.” If this isn’t his first line in BOO, I do remember waiting like, 60 pages to hear this boy speak. He was at his best in a return to form in HOO, and man was that a fall from grace from the last chapter of HOO to the first chapter of BOO.

Annabeth… is Annabeth. Ironically it was because her character didn’t change that makes it worse. I only recently had the “she actually is hell abusive” revelation, but beyond that, I know there are fierce defenders of her not being useless, but she… kind of is? Not in the vein of her not having combat powers, and I know she has her role with the Parthenos, but so much of her skill overlaps with or is overshadowed by Percy (he's incredibly clever and saves them at least half the time, and is a perfectly servicable strategist and tactician who, when he doesn't know something, consults his friends), and always has been. She’s the only character whose fatal flaw bites them in the ass without them even realizing it, more than once. Percy’s loyalty sees him drop with her into Tartarus, but it’s Annabeth’s hubris that got them into that situation. I will always appreciate a character who has to be clever because they aren’t strong, but she is also abusive and arrogant and instead of trying to exercise her fatal flaw, she keeps it in her corner like it justifies her every decision.

Nico. I do have more to say about him than the “lone queer character forced out of the closet at gunpoint in a shocking twist reveal” trope but I still, to this day, am confused about what the heck he was doing for two books only to suddenly get kidnapped by giants because the plot demanded it. “Oh we have to rescue Nico he’s suffocating in a jar with pomegranate seeds as his only lifeline.” Why couldn’t we see that battle? It feels like he only showed up as the “Ambassador of Pluto” so audiences could do the DiCaprio pointing meme, sometimes. But of course, the Cupid scene, and how Nico’s entire character is now and forever more defined by his sexuality and the traumas associated with it. Loved the scene for the tension, hated it for what it did to his character.

A few other legacy characters did pop up, like Thalia, but I don’t remember her role well enough to properly comment on it in this post. All I remember is Phoebe getting killed rather suddenly and graphically.

And then the whole “at least one of you is going to die” bait and switch, which could be a whole post on its own. For a series that was supposed to be darker and more adult, more for teenagers than the YA audience, for a book that got as dark as HOO did with everything in Tartarus, to then completely wimp out on the promised major character death on a technicality was definitely. A choice. That was made.

Look I don’t hate these books, I just feel mostly apathetic toward them and I think that’s worse. I don’t need every story I read or watch to have a moral and a message, but when the moral and message was so strong in PJO, to have just nothing to say for a series with a 50% longer wordcount was a letdown. We have to stop Gaea because the world will end. Yeah, okay, we know you’ll do that.

When you have stakes like the end of the world in a fantasy setting, the tension rarely comes from “are they gonna let the world end,” but from what the cost of preventing catastrophe will be. We knew in the back of our minds in PJO that Kronos wasn’t going to win, but TLO opened with a kid blowing himself up in what amounted to a vain effort to end the war early, who’s death haunted his surviving girlfriend so much, she then also died trying to redeem herself for her role in getting him killed. The cost of stopping Kronos was the possibly-avoidable death of a teenager who, at the last second, woke up to his grooming and gaslighting and killed himself to kill the villain.

If I’m not mistaken, BOO opened with Jason in cosplay and he and Piper on yet another fetch quest. Leo technically did die, but he didn't stay that way for long, and the climax was so confusing that I don't recall even being upset about him dying.

I might not remember the story very well, but I do remember this confusing uncertainty while reading BOO for the first time just… waiting for it to get good. The only thing I was holding out on by the halfway mark was somebody important dying to stop this, to make any of this matter. And that did not happen. Considering how manipulative the cliff-hangers were, I wouldn’t be surprised if “oooo somebody gonna die” was just a carrot on a stick to keep readers’ attention to the end.

PJO, what did it all mean? The tragedy of child heroes and the consequences of neglectful parenting, the lives it ruins and the means hurt people turn to just to get the respect and attention they were robbed of by their parents and those who were supposed to care about them.

HOO, what did it all mean? I guess… when the world’s at stake even the oldest of foes can set their grudges aside for the greater good? Even though the main seven weren’t foes, or rivals, and the big climactic Greeks vs Romans battle was kind of background fodder for the grand plan of singing Gaea a lullaby.

Not awful books by any means, but books that were full of bizarre choices in everything from characterization to pacing to conflict both internal and external and a lacking throughline of meaningful tension without a decent, meaningful villain.

[breathing-inthemoon]

ok. here goes nothing. unpopular opinion (riordanverse version)

I actually enjoyed, and enjoy rereading, The Lost Hero.

In fact.. if I skip a book in HoO.. it's usually The Son of Neptune

HEAR ME OUT

I'm not saying I'm right and you are wrong. It makes the most sense to want to skip the book with no Percy in it. And I didn't find Jason super fun either. BUT

I loved The Lost Hero.. yes it felt weird.. the third person felt weird but then I got hooked. Piper and Leo are two of my favorite characters in the series. Leo might be my ultimate favorite (I haven't reread the series in a while so I only remember how I felt about it not so much the reasons behind my feelings)

Also, I've always had a special spot for the beginning of stories. Especially those where you see the MC getting introduced to a fantasy world hidden within our world. And TLH had the added bonuses of 1- I already knew and loved the world 2- We were getting new lore through Jason 3- We had 2 MCs going through what Percy went through in TLT. 2 claiming scenes. I love claiming scenes ok??

Now.. about The Son of Neptune.. we got Percy back but.. at what cost! LISTEN this is my personal beef but I hate amnesia tropes. In this case I didn't hate it as much bc it happened all at the beginning and not thrown in the middle bc they ran out of conflict ideas. Also Jason's didn't bother me bc I knew nothing about him. But Percy... it was too different. Yes, same beloved character but everything was different, and I always had a weird relationship with change. The 3rd person pov was also something that made me feel weird cause I was so used to reading Percy through his own voice. But not only the narration changed but also he had no memories. I pick boring Jason over that. I said what I said. I also never connected to Hazel and Frank the way I did with Piper and Leo. And I am way too attached to CHB to enjoy CJ scenes with the same enthusiasm.

So, there's my confession

Adiós

[maygirlsposts]

4,14,24,37,39 and 40 for Piper and Leo!

@scarareg Thank you so much for your ask!

leo x piper is kinda my self-indulgent secret ship heh, it's nice to talk about it sometimes hgjfkl;

4. Their favorite show to watch together?

I think they would love watching stupid movies (romcoms or unnecessarily sentimental and cheesy) together not bc they like them but so that they could make fun of the lines/scenes together like best friends do (bc ofc they are best friends first, lovers later). leo mimicking them in his stupid way, and piper giggling and rofling about like a buffalo the way she can't before others. they are the kinda couple who would enjoy everything they watch together.

but their ultimate fav, repeat to 10000x movie list till they have memorized every line is HTTYD, cuz yeah, leo-hiccup, toothless-festus, and ig piper is a lot like astrid? AND DRAgons!!! so yeah their go-to, top-of-head movie when they are lazy to try something new

(the only thing they never watch is tristan mclean movies lmao)

14. Who falls asleep during a movie?

Neither, but on hectic days when they are super tired, both of them catch the sleep bug and fall asleep.

if Leo is first to wake up to find the movie is over, he'd pick up piper and carry her to their bed, taking care she doesn't wake up (watching her sleep is secretly his fav thing, yk cuz of piper's cute way of sleeping: "inhaling through the nose, exhaling with a little puff through the mouth" and "her hair looked like it had become a nest for a friendly hamster")

on the other hand, if piper is first to wake, she'd prob simply arrange some pillows for their necks and go back to sleep, snuggling into him bc no chance she is getting cold lol

which brings me to the next choice!

24. Sleeping/cuddling positions? (Big spoon, little spoon, etc.)?

ggfhjk i love this question specifically for this ship cuz Piper is 100% the little spoon!

iirc (forgive me my knowledge of HoO is getting rusty! seriously, it's time for a full reread T_T) both piper and leo are the same height, right? maybe as adults, leo gets a late growth spurt of a couple of inches over her (which is annoying cuz leo is finally taller but secretly she likes it, cuz perfect for a side snuggle)

even otherwise, piper is always, subconsciously snuggling into his side cuz he is so hot warm. even if he hasn't used his fire, there is always some residual warmth in him all the time, which she has got used to searching out for. say, if leo gets up in the middle of the night to drink some water/got a brand new design idea in his head he just has to jot down NOW,,, by the time he returns to bed, piper is completely rolled up in his side of the bed, searching for him in her sleep (he loves this habit of hers! it also probs makes him feel better about his fire too)

iirc, his mom's warehouse caught fire in the middle of winter, right?? ig he'd slowly come to like winters better, bc of piper snuggling more into him during winters agfhjk

and iirc, he likes to sleep with a hug pillow, right? his old hug pillow has been replaced by piper!

39. Do they get along with the other's family? If not, how do they deal with the other's family?

on leo's side, hephaestus will be very suspicious of the daughter of aphrodite (cuz of his own experience with her) but talking to piper, he will be slightly mollified abt her… yet, his advice for Leo always will be to trust his machines more than the human specimen of his girlfriend (ofc leo won't take it seriously)

//toa spoilers/// now josephine and hemithea are his foster mothers i am sure piper would get along with them super well as well <3

on piper's side, leo has already met Tristan in Lost Hero and knows him as piper's friend, so he'd be pretty much chill with what pipes does and who she dates,, he might try to give Leo The Talk as his duty as her father, but Piper would kick her dad out before that ever happens (Leo just being the awkward bean like during the whole helicopter ride in TLH lol)

oth, leo would be mildly (understated) scared of Aphrodite. if they ever meet her (by chance) he'd keep fidgeting and tapping 'i love you' on his jeans till piper clasps his hand and taps back 'it's okay' but i think aphrodite won't be as scary as leo imagines in his head; she'd probs find him amusing and intrigued that her daughter actually prefers leo over jason.

40. Who is the skilled shopper for holidays? Who always waits 'til the last minute to get all of their gifts? (Which one gets stressed out easily)?

piper! she won't--but she would use her charmspeak to bargain for the best prices in those overly expensive, money grabbing malls, something that leo always finds terrifyingly awesome lmao,, piper gets excited for holiday shopping and stuff whereas leo tags along obediently (and use his magic toolbelt to stove away the shopping bags lol)

leo always forgets all of the important days because of his adhd (extreme even by demigod standards) and piper, having known him for long, understands this and never gets mad or anything but he'd always feel guilty about this and makes up for it in a completely random surprise gift he handdesigns for her. Of course, piper loves his stupid (affectionately) and most times, completely non-functional (cuz Leo himself doesn't know what they do loool but they are always weirdly complicated) gifts so much! like say a music box that goes moo! but bake out fresh cookies lmao

[look-at-the-stars-tonight]

I have more thoughts about Chalice of the Gods

When I was getting through the first hundred pages or so I was a little :/ prob because I’m getting back into the books over a decade later and I had Expectations that I didn’t have as a kid. You could have thrown anything at me and I would have been DELIGHTED just to hear more of Percy’s story. I think the nostalgia factor was actually kind of a negative for me because I kept getting mad at the modern references and how low the stakes seemed to be. I did see a post about how it was good that Rick kept the books at whatever time he wrote them (in terms of references) because it’s literally just like the olympians growing and modernizing. You can’t stay stuck in the past. And I think keeping that perspective in mind will make rereads a lot more fun.

The low stakes seemed to bother me just because we’re so used to seeing Percy in horrible world ending situations and we just got out of HOO. But he really did deserve a break and it was helpful with developing his characterization

I didn’t expect the books to make me feel so emotional! I’ve been out of the horrifying college admissions process for a while now. But the questions he was wrestling with were very universal. At this point he’s accepted that the gods are what they are. There’s not much he can do to change them. He has to focus on himself and his future. And I am a little disappointed that his goals all seem to be around Annabeth. Like I love them but also he’s going to new Rome JUST for her it seems. But also when I was in high school I decided to go to college because that’s what Everyone Does right. I didn’t know trade school was an option. Feeling a little bit like ur life is on a set path and your choices are controlled by other people a bit was at least part of my high school experience. But also from a story perspective it does make sense that he wants to stick with Annabeth! They’ve been through a ridiculous amount together.

Sally having a kid and the emotions that it brought up was also a good way to show that transitional period between leaving home and starting a new life. Your parents are going to move on and do their own thing and their lives won’t revolve around you anymore. Also in general the whole Paul/sally/percy/annabeth dynamic was fucking amazing. The way Paul and sally accepted Annabeth into their lives and how happy they all are is what she fucking deserves!!

I think the end is what really got me. Some of it felt really silly and I did absolutely roll my eyes when Percy told the god he loved him and hugged him. But also him ACCEPTING that he would likely get old was so cathartic. This is a boy who was supposed to die at 16. And barely escaped death again after having his memories wiped and falling into fucking Tartarus. Hes never gotten a break and hes said, in multiple books, that he expects to die very young. This is the first time he says ‘wait I might survive this. I might get old and if I do it’ll be by Annabeth and Grover’s side.’ Percy fucking Jackson who has been the subject of COUNTLESS prophecies, who is reminded time and time again that he isn’t supposed to exist, even by people that he loves, (that was a lil mean of u in the intro Poseidon) CHOOSES to accept that he might get old. Like of course this boy doesn’t have much of a plan for his life yet other than ?? Follow Annabeth?? When has he gotten a chance to think about it!

This is something I did project upon a bit because I didn’t except to live to 18! Or 20! Or 22! And it’s only now at 24 that I’m starting to Accept that I might be here a little longer than I expected and now I have to Plan Accordingly. Like I have to learn these stupid life skills and figure out what I Want from my life now. And unlike Percy, I’m a little angry about it lol because I never expected to have this problem!! But, I too, am slowly accepting that time on earth is a gift or whatever. At the very least I’m stuck here for the foreseeable future so I might as well use it to learn who I am. I GUESS. In my life, Death has always been this ever-present choice I could take if things got a little too tough and I don’t know if that door will ever fully close but I have been dragged away from it kicking and screaming so. Might as well stick around. I’m still a little bitter about it honestly but I’ll get over it. I have to learn how to COOK guys. How fucked up is that. To care about the mundane all of a sudden??

Anyways. I doubt that’s the metaphor Rick was going for, it was probably more of a ‘your childhood ends! You’re gonna get older and that’s a good thing’ instead of a ‘one day you might not have killed yourself and you’ll realize that you’re actually stuck living this life and you gotta learn to fucking deal with it.’

Ok I could go on for hours so this is the last thing. Percy’s conversation with Poseidon, about how small waves are the ones that matter the most, REALLY resonated with me. Like I think I teared up at two parts of this book, the old age part and the conversation with between them at the end. It’s really easy to convince yourself that the way you alter your life is through Sweeping All-Consuming Change where you move to a different continent and begin anew. Unfortunately, through bitter experience, I’ve learned that’s not how things fucking work. Changing your surroundings does lead to new experiences but it doesn’t make ur problems go away! I moved halfway across the state and got what I genuinely believe is the best job on earth and I. Still have the same issues?? And then I thought ok maybe I was wrong this Wasn’t the best job I just need to find one that’s Better but that’s. Not how things work.

This is getting away from me but basically what I’m trying to say is u can make grand changes and it might fix u for a little while but unfortunately you have to put in the work and do the stupid boring mundane things like go on walks and journal and exercise and do things that scare the fuck out of u to actually change and grow and it’s so goddamn annoying. I should be able to become a different person just by being somewhere else but I can’t.

Wait I’m supposed to be relating this to Percy Jackson. So Percy can go on these life altering world defining quests right. And make all the right choices. But who he is at his core is defined by the choices that he makes when the stakes aren’t that high. When it would be So Easy to walk away from Ganymede and go live his life. And I know some people didn’t like that Poseidon was like ‘this is when I knew you were a hero’ of fucking COURSE he knows Percy has been this hero his whole life. But he’s also this person when there isn’t some prophecy, when he doesn’t have to be, when it’s just a mild inconvenience. It’s easy to talk about changing the world. It’s harder to go out there and take those little baby steps that don’t feel like they matter all that much. He has actually changed the world and just not talked about it but hopefully u get what I’m saying. I just liked that thing about small waves being able to sweep you off your feet when you didn’t expect it ok!! Most change is incremental!!

Ok that’s it. Loved Chalice, will probably enjoy it more on a reread and it resonated with me in ways I didn’t expect.

[pinkblahaj]

rick riordan's female characters pt 2: aphrodite's children

during my reread of pjo, rick riordan's portrayals of aphrodite's children was what made me first realize that his writing of teen girls might be problematic. it does make sense considering the demonization of femininity that used to be so popular, but it is valid to still be bothered by it. i have thoughts on how cabin 10 is described overall, as well as the specific characters.

cabin 10

in the earlier books, rick made the aphrodite cabin way too one-dimensional. yes, the goddess aphrodite is known for her vain and shallow personality, and yes, the other campers tend to possess well-known traits of their godly parents (ares' children are aggressive, hermes' children are tricksters, nike's children are competitive, etc.). but the way that aphrodite's children were portrayed as especially weak, preferring to look at their reflections and gossip rather than play capture the flag, did feel blatantly sexist to me. like of course because their mom is the most stereotypically feminine of the gods, they have the least battle skills.

at the beginning of HoO i thought rick might be atoning for some of these flaws. it was interesting that piper, a character who explicitly rejects traditional standards for femininity and beauty, turned out to be a child of aphrodite. but then her siblings were still very stereotypical and their cabin literally made her "gag". i found it unnecessary that rick specified in the lost hero that most of the cabin were girls. sure, it makes sense that aphrodite would want to have more daughters than sons, but that combined with the fact that they lack the skills of other demigods just doesn't look good. i liked that rick mentioned that despite her reputation, aphrodite was a war goddess and the oldest of the olympians, but i was disappointed that he continued to stereotype her children so harshly.

silena

i don't have many criticisms of this character, other than her being described as one of the few nice campers from cabin 10. i really liked that she valued love and kindness, which more of the aphrodite campers should have been like imo. although aphrodite and her children have a generally shallow reputation in the original pjo series, i appreciate the impact that silena had on the series and the way that she showed that aphrodite's children can still have bravery and strength.

i do wish that more attention is paid to how luke manipulated/groomed her and others (which i've been seeing the pjo fandom do more now, fortunately), as this is a big reason why i can't see him as a redeemable character.

drew

call me delusional but i am a proud drew tanaka defender. yes, silena was manipulated by luke and she sacrificed herself heroically. but she still betrayed camp half-blood and is part of the reason why several of them, including charles, died. drew likely looked up to silena and felt this betrayal extremely severely, and her bitterness is justified. i just don't believe that she became mean for no reason.

because rick is clearly capable of writing his characters with more depth, it's so disappointing that he put so little thought into drew. clarisse was a bully, but she is revealed to be under severe pressure from her dad and later becomes friends with percy. luke is a main antagonist but evokes sympathy from many readers. even octavian, who was unlikable from beginning to end, was suffering mentally and enabled by apollo, and thus didn't deserve all the blame. yes, some people are truly horrible for no good reason, but with all the trauma that the pjo characters go through, there was likely a much better explanation for why drew is the way she is. i hate that he just made her the most archetypal mean girl who immediately hates the female lead because they are interested in the same guy. (side note: it's funny that the only other living female asian character in pjo/hoo i can think of is annabeth's stepmom, who i do NOT claim)

piper

this character seems to be quite controversial, but i honestly was not as bothered by piper as i thought i would be upon rereading. her "not like other girls" phase lasts pretty much only one book... and it's realistic for teenagers to have cringey phase. since i do have a problem with the larger context of how rick wrote aphrodite's children, i do see why some are more bothered by it, bc rick portrays piper as better than her more feminine siblings. in this aspect, i do think piper had some lost potential. i think it's great that we have characters like piper and frank who aren't pure stereotypes based on their godly parents and who have to learn to embrace that side of them. but i wish we would have seen piper realize that being feminine does not mean you are stuck up and that she possibly had internalized misogyny. i really like the interpretation that her identities of being indigenous and queer affected her relationship with femininity and gender expression, but i doubt rick himself actually thought that deep into it. however, i've only read the first two books of toa, so there may be parts of her character i am missing.

i remember finding piper and jason to be boring characters during my first read of hoo, but after rereading, i think they are good characters who were placed in an extremely bland relationship. i personally am a subscriber to the lesbian piper + gay jason headcanon, as hera manipulating them into a relationship feels a lot like comphet. but i don't find their relationship unrealistic either. i feel like our standards were raised pretty high by percabeth, a relationship based on an actual friendship between two people who knew and loved each other deeply. but it's also normal for teenagers to get together quickly without knowing whether they are compatible. also, considering how short the expected lifespan of demigods are, it makes sense that we see couples like jiper and frazel who start dating less than a year after meeting. i also was never that bothered by piper being "obsessed" with jason... the other hoo couples tended to do that too, and her mother is the goddess of love.

piper's charmspeak was an interesting power, but i don't think it was super well thought out. obviously, there are some ethical questions about her using it on people, including her own friends, that are never answered-- especially because sometimes piper doesn't even realize she's using it. also, i found it hard to believe that in the lost hero she was already able to use it on gaea. i enjoyed the moments where we saw her other skills and would have liked to see more of them. her emotional intelligence (as seen in the way she helps annabeth defeat mimas) was underutilized and could have been a great staple for all of aphrodite's children.