#elf sideeyes Percy the blog

[elfgrove]

So I've been audio-booking my way through the Trials of Apollo novels, and I just got to the bit in the Burning Maze novel I knew was gonna piss me off.

Yep. It pissed me off.

And the narrative voice the Trials of Apollo are written in works really well. The sniveling self-centered god who is protected by the narrative the same way Percy was through all the prior books fits. And he very much is protected by the narrative, so it takes out some of the tension because like Percy, RR isn't really going to let anything permanent happen to him. The audience knows that, and that's fine for a YA book to do.

Here's the thing.

How RR handled the Solace/Di Angelo get together made no sense. It was poorly written. You don't put a character through the absolute abusive/neglected hell he did for Nico then pair him up romantically with a character he has had zero interaction with beyond that character telling him he was exaggerating all his troubles and just being "emo" about it unless you plan to make that story arc about bad relationships where one partner constantly belittles the experiences of the other or it's gonna be about the dismissive partner learning to listen and be empathetic to lived experiences outside their own. Reading Trials of Apollo, Nico is basically a fresh slate acting as a brand new teen character as if his past experiences hadn't happened or having a boyfriend really did magically fix him into a standard goth teen. It's NOT good.

RR never handled the entire wind wipe, fake memories, and charm speak mind-controlling that littered Piper and Jason's relationship. And I like both of those characters.

You take an insecure, hormonal teen girl, put her in the middle of traumatic events, mess with her brain, give her magic mind control powers and no training about ethical use of said powers, of course she's gonna misuse them to try to ease her circumstances. It doesn't make it right, but it's understandable character behavior. What isn't right is no one ever calls her out about using mind control on her kidnapped amnesiac boyfriend or using it in situations where it's not needed just to get her way. She never develops a moral code about when it is or not okay to mind control people. In Trials of Apollo she regularly uses the mind control to steal cars from her neighbor because they don't like each other and gets the car in regular legal trouble. They're both rich assholes. She minds controls people over minor shit because she can. I am glad once Trials hit that she and Jason broke up. That it's because she realized she doesn't know who she is outside the emergency and the influence of the gods? Good. That the relationship was founded on mind manipulation could have stood to be a bigger factor, but that would require Piper an RR to examine how she uses her power too, something he's clearly not about to do.

The novels never really work through the fake memories & fake relationship part of the equation.

So you have Jason Grace who has almost as traumatic a story as Nico, but in different ways. The boy deserves some respite and a happy ending or at least a future. He got the romantic mind control form multiple sides. That's never worked through. He was kidnapped form the only home he recalled and his memories wiped. His ties to New Rome were never really properly addressed/explored. We got some tell rather than show that he felt torn between camps and chose to belong to both. We don't get his perspective on the break up with Piper or the manipulative mess that romance was. It's just Jason is (comparatively) well adjusted and does what the narrative needs the doll to do.

So in this book about Apollo, RR brings in Jason for a single book cameo, focuses entirely on Piper's side of the narrative equation, then kills Jason off dramatically. No narrative closure for him. He's killed to further Apollo's story and to traumatize Piper. It's shitty to put the character through all he's ben through and kill him off to protect a character with narrative immunity. And to follow up that death with lines about oh yes death is often unreasonable and good people die unjustly while bad people live does not sit right when you have Apollo and Percy Jackson who are never at risk of death despite having been in numerous situations that should have killed them. You don't get to play the oh no death is often unfair and not a good/reasonable story when you have 10+ books of Percy Jackson the narratively immune to all fucking consequences.

UGH. I fucking hate how RR treats characters that by all rights should have more nuanced stories or the same narrative immunity his other leads get.

[elfgrove]

I have no plans to read the Apollo story because I am not down with how the Nico and Will thing was executed and I do not need one more minute of Percy’s POV in my life. 

[elfgrove]

I’ll admit, there is a small part of me tempted to get the Magnus Chase book and do screeching furious live blogs of it. To continue the set, you know.

On the other hand, I need to collect candy from Pumpkin Hearts on Tsum Tsum.

[elfgrove]

Dropped thing that kills me about the Heroes of Olympus books:

JASON WAITED ALONE IN CABIN ONE.

Annabeth and Rachel were due any minute for the head counselors’ meeting, and Jason needed time to think.

His dreams the night before had been worse than he’d wanted to share—even with Piper. His memory was still foggy, but bits and pieces were coming back. The night Lupa had tested him at the Wolf House, to decide if he would be a pup or food.

Then the long trip south to … he couldn’t remember, but he had flashes of his old life. The day he’d gotten his tattoo. The day he’d been raised on a shield and proclaimed a praetor. His friends’ faces: Dakota, Gwendolyn, Hazel, Bobby. And Reyna. Definitely there’d been a girl named Reyna. He wasn’t sure what she’d meant to him, but the memory made him question what he felt about Piper—and wonder if he was doing something wrong. The problem was, he liked Piper a lot.

One of Jason’s first memories when he starts getting his memories back is a short list of his closest and most important friends i New Rome. It’s a really short list, five people. Hazel is one of them. Dakota and Gwendolyn are the current Centurions of his cohort right before becoming Praetor, of course they’d be close. Reyna is his partner and co-Praetor. Bobby is mentioned in passing and then never developed.

But Hazel? HAZEL LEVESQUE MADE THAT SHORT LIST. Fellow child of the big three and brought to camp by Nico Di Angelo, another child of the big three. -- She made that short list of closest friends.

When we first meet Hazel, one f the first things she asks Percy is...

Hazel leaned forward. “If he’s survived as a loner all this time, maybe he’s seen Jason.�� She turned to Percy. “Have you ever met a demigod like us before? A guy in a purple shirt, with marks on his arm—”

and

“Jason isn’t dead,” Hazel snapped. “You’re the augur. You’re supposed to be looking for him!”

and

Hazel’s whole body tingled. She glanced at her friends. “Jason,” she whispered. “She fought Jason. He might still be alive.”

Then we get them in the same place in the books, and neither character really reacts. Jason doesn’t go THIS IS ONE OF THE FIRST PEOPLE I REMEMBERED! Why would he not?!

And Hazel acts like she only looked up to him, not that they knew and cared about each other, not enough to justify her reactions in the Son of Neptune book nor for her to be on Jason’s BFF short list.

Holy dropped plot points Riordan.

Where is my Hazel and Jason tight-knit friendship?

[elfgrove]

lizthefeminist3 replied to your post: eastofthemoon replied to your post: I love a few...

I feel dumb for asking but how does he belittle Piper’s heritage and Frank’s grandma’s heritage? I’m not trying to start an argument, just curious.

First, watch the wording there. It’s Piper’s heritage AND Frank’s heritage. Fai “Frank” Zhang is Chinese. It is his heritage. It didn’t magically stop being his or his mother’s heritage with Grandma Zhang because Frank’s mother had a child with Ares or because Frank goes by a nickname.

I’m not really in the mood to write a full treatise on this right now, but I’ve touched on my issues with it before here: http://elfgrove.tumblr.com/post/75526140056 | http://elfgrove.tumblr.com/post/75535448869 | http://elfgrove.tumblr.com/post/75570953536 | http://elfgrove.tumblr.com/post/100532311513 | http://elfgrove.tumblr.com/post/100555565003

Short version: There was a lot of cultural white-washing with Frank/Fai and Piper especially, hand waved by the author saying that neither of these kids with rich cultural heritage that they actively had access to were interested in it at all. It’s lazy writing. Piper’s “Snake Song” and other myths were ultimately credited to be watered down versions of “original” Greek myths and Fai’s Chinese heritage was white-washed (going so far as to even reject his name for a White version of it) as the great things his ancestors did and the dragons and powers were actually just Roman powers from lost/transplanted legionnaires foolishly believed as the active works of spirits/deities by locals, not actual Chinese stuff. The great works were all the actions of Roman demigods in Chinese lands, and these Chinese people only gained the power Frank inherited because of relations with that Roman bloodline.

[elfgrove]

Pjo, for the meme?

I’m gonna do PJO/HOO as one thing.

Oh hohohohoho. Y’all that came here for SPQR, but missed me live-blogging my way through the books, are probably not gonna like me much after this.

my beautiful cinnamon roll too good for this world fave: Nico Di Angelo and Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano

my trash-shit fave: Clarisse La Rue and Thalia Grace

my I love to hate them fave: Octavian

my I hate to love them fave: Mike Kahale (which I blame on writing the SPQR fic because there is next to no content about him)

my I wouldn’t piss on them if they were on fire non-fave: Percy Jackson [receipts]

my I didn’t care about them either way at first but the fandom makes such a big deal about them now I can’t stand them non-fave: Annabeth Chase

my I could take them or leave them kinda non-fave: Leo Valdez (It depends on who is writing him or at what point you are in the books)

my I will go down with this ship and I won’t put my hands up and surrender, there will be no white flag above my door. I’m in love and always will be fave ship: Nico/Jason, Hazel/Frank

my dirtybadwrong fave ship: Jason/Piper I like them a lot individually, but as a couple they need a lot of development to work out the consent/free-will issues that Riordan conveniently ignored for the only-one-love-in-your-life-counts-as-real narrative and ignored the non because-I-said-so chemistry that the characters actually had with other people.

my they’re cute together and I dig them but I’m not all that terribly invested kinda fave ship: Reyna/Annabeth, Annabeth/Piper

my I didn’t care about this ship either way at first but the fandom makes such a big deal about it now I can’t stand it non-fave ship: Percy/Annabeth

my MAKE IT STOP non-fave ship: Leo/Calypso (consent/free-will issues out the wazoo, women are not prizes)

[elfgrove]

tinybro replied to your post:tinybro replied to your post: SPQR: Legion of...

yessss all this. back when i was RPing jason there was an excellent clarisse in my game and they got along pretty wonderfully and we had tossed around ideas about a roman!clarisse AU and all that :’>

Clarisse would have THRIVED in the Roman camp. I mean, most of the Ares cabin would have liked it, but you go back and look at what caused she and Percy to clash, what she put value and importance in? She would have thrived in Camp Jupiter. And I can only imagine how good a more-disciplined Roman Mars aspect of her father would have been better for her. I swear there was one scene that hinted she was physically abused either at home or by Ares directly. She could have stayed at Camp Jupiter year round and dealt with a better version of her dad.

Clarisse should have been born Roman.

But then, it would probably be like removing Nico from his toxic relationship with Percy. Camp Half-Blood, and Percy, and Olympus would have been screwed several times over without Nico’s actions. I bet if we removed Clarisse and the way she kept discipline among and trained the Ares campers and organized the defenses of CHB, the camp would have been dead a few times too.

Fictional children who’s well-being was put through the ringer to support Percy’s narrative as the savior.

[elfgrove]

So #Stray Demigod AU is finished now.I’m really flattered by the responses I’m getting, and I’ll try to respond to them all.

A big thank you to tinybro for letting me take your concept an run with it for the past week. It’s been fun.

Emotional tag responses continue to give me great joy.

( tinybro, kiiika, heijihattoris )

Thank you guys for those tags. I want to pick them up and press them to my cheek.

Fun fact about that final snippet. I really was debating whether to end it on a happy or sad note. In the first draft that “No.” (search for it) was a second “Get out.” Jason left. Nico took his few personal possessions and never returned to Camp Jupiter again. I was about to wrap up with a paragraph about one of them getting word of the other’s demise years and years later and end it there. I just didn’t have the heart to leave it like that, so I went back and re-worked it. -- So basically, you were right to worry. I’m just not mean enough to follow through on the worst case scenario. 

Part of what was fun with this for me was I was always bothered by how Riordan handled Jason’’s pre-”The Lost Hero” life. You had a guy that had been living in New Rome with the Legion since he was two-years-old. It was literally the only life he knew. The Jason we met in the books seemed like a good but flawed guy with a lot of personal doubts. Good character material. Then we never saw much hint of who he was pre-memory loss. Aside from a couple of lines mentioning he was MIA in Son of Neptune (all from people who’d been there less than 4 years -- Reyna, Frank, & Hazel), no one at New Rome seemed particularly disturbed that someone who had literally grown up in the Legion was gone or that when he re-appeared that he didn’t remember his old life or seem at all interested in coming home. It was treated as though being a military organization meant none of the Legionnaires had emotional ties to each other. That’s not how a military group works. They go through hell together and they often bond like family. It was like he’d been a stranger in his own home, which doesn’t seem likely at all. A toddler literally growing up in the Legion ranks would have been the darling of the Legion. Would have memories that made it hard to leave New Rome behind. Certainly more memories and attachment than Percy had to Camp Half-Blood, but Jason’s entire pre-”The Lost Hero” history was treated as a barely consequential footnote. New Rome was largely reduced to being a narratively convenient army (almost as faceless and nameless as Hades’ army in “The Last Olympian”), and a happy ending monster-free-out for demigods (especially Percy and Annabeth) instead of it’s own rich culture. 

I finally went through last night and re-read it all in one sitting. There were a lot of things I set up and forgot to make call backs to -- stuff lost in the speed of churning all of this out in a week. But I seem to have two modes for writing fanfic I churn out a bunch of connected snippets, skipping the transitions that are dull or difficult to write, or I write it out on slow chunks until I get distracted and never finish it. This was a pretty epic (for me) case of the first scenario.

Missing things I meant to address or have circle back into the narrative but dropped, forgot, or couldn't make fit in smoothly:

Gina - I meant to bring her back.

Nico calling Jason “weird” when embarrassed by his affection. Assume this was a running joke while they were dating.

Praetor Alexis Dunn - daughter or Pales. In ancient Roman religion, Pales was a deity of shepherds, flocks and livestock. The god/goddess is referred to as male by some sources, female by others, and at least once as a pair of deities. I was going to have Alexis’s inherited godly power be the ability to shift between genders at will, and have Alexis present as male and be referred to as “he” during his second appearance, but dropped it as distracting from the story to stop and explain it to the audience because I wanted it to be normal to the Legionaires. Praetor Alexis, my superpower is to be whatever gender i feel like this morning both physically and emotionally ultimate gender-fluidity.

Retired Praetor Marius talking to Nico about how New Rome views sexuality after he and Jason started dating.

More Aurum hanging around Nico, especially when he was watching the Legion train before he got involved in helping with it.

More stray cat Dust, generally being jealous of Nico getting Jason’s attention. It ruined the parallels I was using the cat for to make him directly antagonistic to Nico.

“Jason/Nico is going to be the death of me.” I wanted to re-use that during the memory loss section, but it seemed out of place.

Another trip to the bathhouse.

Ex-Legionnaire Cato -- I wanted to have him pop up again to tease Jason or give Jason an excuse to have a moment of jealousy visible to Nico (intentionally riled up by Cato who decided Jason was being too laid back).

Nico lamenting his inability to tell Jason no.

Nico finally talking to Bianca’s ghost, but with Jason instead of Percy.

Nico in the Stygian Iron armor. Jason thought it was attractive as hell (excuse the pun) and asked him to wear it again later.

[elfgrove]

Note: I am in no way recommending Riordan's Greek & Roman Demigod books. I fell down a deep hole of caring about poorly-handled, conceptually-great secondary characters. Do not attempt to follow. It's dark down here, and the canon writing is terrible. If there is ever a book just focusing on the Romans or the Underworld children, I'll send up a signal flare. Otherwise, for your own safety, stay away.

[elfgrove]

THANK GOODNESS.

And finally --in the 10th and last book of the fucking series-- your goddess and savior REYNA AVILA -RAMIREZ-ARENELLO does what I've been screaming for SOMEBODY, ANYBODY to do for this baby child since he showed up in book 3.

‘All right,’ Nico relented. ‘Maybe a little …’ He managed to take off his aviator jacket and wad it into a pillow before he keeled over and began to snore.

Reyna marvelled at how peaceful he looked. The worry lines vanished. His face became strangely angelic … like his surname, di Angelo. She could almost believe he was a regular fourteen-year-old boy, not a son of Hades who had been pulled out of time from the 1940s and forced to endure more tragedy and danger than most demigods would in a lifetime.

When Nico had arrived at Camp Jupiter, Reyna didn’t trust him. She’d sensed there was more to his story than being an ambassador from his father, Pluto. Now, of course, she knew the truth. He was a Greek demigod – the first person in living memory, perhaps the first ever, to go back and forth between the Roman and Greek camps without telling either group that the other existed.

Strangely, that made Reyna trust Nico more.

Sure, he wasn’t Roman. He’d never hunted with Lupa or endured the brutal legion training. But Nico had proven himself in other ways. He’d kept the camps’ secrets for the best of reasons, because he feared a war. He had plunged into Tartarus alone, voluntarily, to find the Doors of Death. He’d been captured and imprisoned by giants. He had led the crew of the Argo II into the House of Hades … and now he had accepted yet another terrible quest: risking himself to haul the Athena Parthenos back to Camp Half-Blood.

The pace of the journey was maddeningly slow. They could only shadow-travel a few hundred miles each night, resting during the day to let Nico recover, but even that required more stamina from Nico than Reyna would have thought possible.

He carried so much sadness and loneliness, so much heartache. Yet he put his mission first. He persevered. Reyna respected that. She understood that.

She’d never been a touchy-feely person, but she had the strangest desire to drape her cloak over Nico’s shoulders and tuck him in. She mentally chided herself. He was a comrade, not her little brother. He wouldn’t appreciate the gesture.

...

She glanced at Nico. Despite the warm night, he shivered on the tile floor. She pulled a blanket out of her pack and covered him up.

Reyna no longer felt self-conscious about wanting to protect him. For better or worse, they shared a connection now. Each time they shadow-travelled, his exhaustion and torment washed over her and she understood him a little better.

Nico was devastatingly alone. He’d lost his big sister Bianca. He’d pushed away all other demigods who’d tried to get close to him. His experiences at Camp Half-Blood, in the Labyrinth and in Tartarus had left him scarred, afraid to trust anyone.

Reyna doubted she could change his feelings, but she wanted Nico to have support. All heroes deserved that. It was the whole point of the Twelfth Legion. You joined forces to fight for a higher cause. You weren’t alone. You made friends and earned respect. Even when you mustered out, you had a place in the community. No demigod should have to suffer alone the way Nico did.

Tonight was 25 July. Seven more days until 1 August. In theory, that was plenty of time to reach Long Island. Once they completed their mission, if they completed their mission, Reyna would make sure Nico was recognized for his bravery.

She slipped off her backpack. She tried to place it under Nico’s head as a makeshift pillow...

...

‘So thank you,’ Reyna concluded. ‘All of you. We could’ve chosen hatred and war. Instead we found acceptance and friendship.’

Then she did something so unexpected Nico would later think he dreamed it. She walked up to Nico, who was standing to one side in the shadows, as usual. She grabbed his hand and pulled him gently into the firelight.

‘We had one home,’ she said. ‘Now we have two.’

She gave Nico a big hug and the crowd roared with approval. For once, Nico didn’t feel like pulling away. He buried his face in Reyna’s shoulder and blinked the tears out of his eyes.

Also, bless ACTUAL GOLDEN RETRIEVER IN HUMAN FORM, JASON GRACE for being both respectful of Nico's secrets and boundaries but also reaching out as hard as he can within those boundaries then being ridiculously and genuinely happy when Nico lets him in. Baby child probably needs that sort of enthusiastic reciprocation and encouragement to help him accept that it's real.

He flashed back to the last time he’d plunged into a mob of evil spirits, in the House of Hades. If it hadn’t been for Frank Zhang and Nico di Angelo …

Gods … Nico.

Over the past few days, every time Jason sacrificed a portion of a meal to Jupiter, he prayed to his dad to help Nico. That kid had gone through so much, and yet he had volunteered for the most difficult job: transporting the Athena Parthenos statue to Camp Half-Blood. If he didn’t succeed, the Roman and Greek demigods would slaughter each other. Then, no matter what happened in Greece, the Argo II would have no home to return to.

...

‘You’ve got a point.’ He straightened his glasses. ‘Look, Nico, the reason I wanted to talk to you … I know what you said back at Auster’s palace. I know you already turned down a place at Camp Jupiter. I – I probably can’t change your mind about leaving Camp Half-Blood, but I have to –’

‘I’m staying.’

Jason blinked. ‘What?’

‘At Camp Half-Blood. The Hades cabin needs a head counsellor. Have you seen the decor? It’s disgusting. I’ll have to renovate. And someone needs to do the burial rites properly, since demigods insist on dying heroically.’

‘That’s – that’s fantastic! Dude!’ Jason opened his arms for a hug, then froze. ‘Right. No touching. Sorry.’

Nico grunted. ‘I suppose we can make an exception.’

Jason squeezed him so hard Nico thought his ribs would crack.

‘Oh, man,’ Jason said. ‘Wait till I tell Piper. Hey, since I’m all alone in my cabin too, you and I can share a table in the dining hall. We can team up for capture the flag and sing-along contests and –’

‘Are you trying to scare me away?’

‘Sorry. Sorry. Whatever you say, Nico. I’m just glad.’

The funny thing was Nico believed him.

[elfgrove]

When you destroy primordial gods, there really ought to be cataclysmic sorts of consequences.

I'm side-eyeing you and your weak ass narrative consequences, the blog. By Elf

Yeah.

Blood of Olympus (Heroes of Olympus Book #5 / Riordan's Greco-Roman Demigods Book #10) I finished this series and I have a lot of thoughts installment number 1.

This isn't so much a straight criticism of the book -- because I do understand the need to more or less return to status quo and keep the universe more or less the same. Keep your YA characters identifiable with your target audience. I get that. It makes sense

And yet, here I am also pointing emphatically and suggesting lost narrative opportunity because DUDE.

There was all this pointing out of the way to defeat Gaea was to do unto her as the Greco-Roman gods did unto Uranus and that what they did was ultimately the same damn thing.

Overnight, the satyrs and nymphs disappeared into the woods for a convocation of the Cloven Elders. In the morning, Grover Underwood reappeared to announce that they could not sense the Earth Mother’s presence. Nature was more or less back to normal. Apparently, Jason, Piper and Leo’s plan had worked. Gaia had been separated from her source of power, charmed to sleep and then atomized in the combined explosion of Leo’s fire and Octavian’s man-made comet.

An immortal could never die, but now Gaia would be like her husband, Ouranos. The earth would continue to function as normal, just as the sky did, but Gaia was now so dispersed and powerless that she could never again form a consciousness.

There was also rightfully salty demigods at having to pull their godly parents' asses out of the fire YET AGAIN.

At announcement time, Chiron stepped forward and raised his goblet.

‘Out of every tragedy,’ he said, ‘comes new strength. Today, we thank the gods for this victory. To the gods!’

The demigods all joined the toast, but their enthusiasm seemed muted. Nico understood the feeling: We saved the gods again, and now we’re supposed to thank them?

Then Chiron said, ‘And to new friends!’

‘TO NEW FRIENDS!’

Hundreds of demigod voices echoed across the hills.

But the status quo didn't change? Really?

Because let me tell you something, that could have been a fun next series to take the Prophesied Seven defeating Gea to the logical next conclusion. Not that I really want to read more stories by Riordan. So fanficcers, maybe someone can run with this one.

What happened when the Titans defeated Ouranos/Uranus? The world changed. The Titans, his kids, became the new rulers of metaphysical. they took up the roles and powers he once was responsible for. Divied up the duties as needed. Then the Olympian Gods, most of whom were children of the Titans, rose up, defeated the Titans, and what happened? The cosmic power and responsibilities fell to them.

So now we have Riordan's Greco-Roman demigods who, over the course of 10 books, their combined force defeated the Titans, and now a Prophesied Seven plus two -- one could argue plus three-- about half of whom were instrumental in taking out the Titans personally have now utterly destroyed the primordial goddess, Gaea.

The next logical step? The Prophesied Seven are the new gods. The camps might even become the new Olympus.

Not that the Olympian Gods would stand for that, but what if by taking out Gaea the way they did, in the coming days the Prophesied Seven find themselves with new levels of power while the Olympian Gods find their power waning? The Delphi prophecies are still kaput. No one really knows what happening next. The kids we followed could be rising to literal godhood as the old powers waned, their children in victory over a primordial god taking up the powers and responsibilities the Olympian Gods once held.

Imagine it. As the ones that struck the final blow, Jason, Piper, and Leo are the new Big Three. Octavian is reborn from his role in destroying Gaea in dark counterpoint to the new Big Three. Jason as the new lord of the sky. Piper the goddess of love and home (combining Hera and Aphrodite's duties). Leo over invention and fire. Percy becomes lord the seas. The rest you could debate a bunch who became responsible for what. Reyna and Nico were so instrumental, so involved in the events, I'd suspect you'd see them rising up too. Watch the kids grow into and come to term with the powers. Who does the power and responsibility make more pure, better forms of themselves and who does it corrupt?

Could be a fun plot.

Of course this could be part of the plot of Riordan's next demigod series with the Norse Gods and Ragnarok and the hinted ties to Annabeth Chase of the Prophesied Seven, but who knows?

[elfgrove]

I have finished Blood of Olympus. There's a lot of individual things I'll write posts on over the next few days. There were things I liked about how it ended, and things I didn't.

Overall, the book gave me a huge dose of Nico, Reyna, and Jason (which is what i mostly wanted at this point), and finally did something towards the emotional healing that poor underworld child has needed since book 3. I wish there'd been more Hazel specifically, and more of the women in general, but I only expect so much with this author. I just thank the stars there wasn't a single Percy or Annabeth POV. I am really happy the second book series ended with the same 3 demigods that started the HOO story doing the final battle.

[elfgrove]

ElfGrove Reads: Blood of Olympus Part 13

Festus being reborn made me happy.

Was that really necessary? I'm gonna have some extended commentary on Octavian.

SOMEONE is a great flaming asshat. LITERALLY.

All my favorites (Roman Praetors and Underworld Babies) are so freaking adorable and sweet I can't even.

I'm happy for these two kids in theory, but wow. Forced much?

Speaking of, I'm gonna have extended commentary on the lady relationships too.

NO ANNABETH OR PERCY POV CHAPTERS AT ALL. THANK THE GODS.

[elfgrove]

It always struck me as a real missed opportunity that Riordan never really addressed any sort of everyday religious/cultural clash for the demigod children.

Whether it being raised in a dominantly Christian environment or being raised actively believing in a particular faith only to find out they're demigods and the Greco-Roman gods are very literally real.

We know there are mortal Demigod parents who never realized the other parent was a god. Why was this never really addressed? Either demigods in the real world or in camp being openly dismissive of other faiths and practices because they've met gods, or demigods having to deal with the clash of believing something only to learn something else is (also?) real. 

The most we really got was kids who didn't really believe in anything in particular suddenly having real gods shoved into their lives. Even then they didn't have strong atheist beliefs, it was a matter of oh hey this is real in the same way that oh hey the monsters attacking you are real. No one really had to deal with issues like a crisis of faith.

The closest we got was Piper and Frank, but both of them essentially reject any real belief in their cultural heritage and parts of their heritage are co-opted by the narrative as really being watered down versions of the "real" Greek myths (which is so incredibly fucked up a narrative choice that I want to throw stuff).

Give me hardcore Christian kid finds out they're a demigod. Atheist kid finds out their a demigod when they literally meet their godly parent for the first time.  Buddhist. Jewish. Try something. A Chinese kid who believes their cultural heritage learns the dragon hero of myth is Zhang's ancestor transforming via the inherited power of a Poseidon legacy. A child who actually believes their Native American teachings faced with these old European gods and Greek nymphs claiming to be the real source of some of their legends. DEAL WITH THAT instead of hand waving it with hundreds of kids who apparently never believed anything strongly enough to care.

Give me Roman demigods and legacies who grew up in New Rome interacting with the outside world for the first time, overwhelmed by the different belief systems they encounter. Trying to come to terms with a world where the gods aren't actively a part of life. Where it is not the norm to enroll in the Legion when you hit a certain age and serve for a decade.

The United States is overwhelmingly Christian, that should create some level of cultural and theological clash by itself.

Isn't part of why the Roman and Greek demigods have to be separated because of religious cultural clash? Why doesn't a lesser version of this apply to anything else?

[elfgrove]

ElfGrove Reads: Blood of Olympus Part 12

Reyna and Nico continue to be the absolute best. Bless these children.

REYNA WITH THE BLESSING OF ATHENA AND  BELLONA. YOUR FAVES WISH THEY WERE THIS GREAT.

Nico's chauffeur, ah hah. So that's why that was brought up. We can't do stuff purely for character building, it has to provide a Deus Ex Machina for a plot hole. Riordan really needs to work on foreshadowing more than a chapter or two ahead of using something. It comes across as cheap cover-up. This guy's writing is such crap, I swear. Good concepts, shit execution. There's a reason his best characters are the ones he barely uses.

Nico is attempting to give me heart attacks with his suicidal plans. I blame Percy and Camp Halfblood for not being there and taking responsibility for (like they said they would--CHIRON. PERSEUS.) a 10-year-old orphan child of the big 3. Nah. Homeless, traumatized, under-fed walking monster target, 10-year-old totally should be making his own decisions. FUCK Y'ALL. That camp did this child WRONG. Please Reyna, take him home with you to New Rome after all this and surrogate-adopt a little brother.

Will Solace. The child of Apollo in dream walking earlier that Nico was all, he looks like a softer version of Jason Grace? This guy is gonna be Nico's romantic interest when we wrap up, isn't he? Riordan's writing is about as subtle as a sack of bricks.

...Okay, put a bow in this guy's hands and I'd swear Will Solace is what happens when Green Arrow and Black Canary procreate.

I like that he's stopping Nico from some of his more self-sacrificial plans. I reiterate my concerns that Riordan will de-power Nico at the end of this which is bullshit. Also, pick a plot. Earlier in the book he had Nico saying he could never just summon skeletons to fight for him (something Nico actually has done in previous books), then in the Legion battle camp, he can summon a few skeletons up to fight. INTERNAL NARRATIVE CONSISTENCY. GET SOME.

I disagree that no one at camp ever pushed Nico away, but I can get that maybe Will didn't know about that. Riordan don't you dare hand Percy a get out of jail free card on this shit, even though I know you will. How old is Solace? He's been around in the background since book one, hasn't he?

Reyna flying in with the statue against a sunrise and a glittering Athena-powered-up cape. Bless this girl. I fully expect half of both camps to be in love with her now.

A sense of belonging like he hasn't felt in, he can't remember when... I'm giving Nico all the hugs and hot chocolate.

And there goes Octavian. Well, I things have pretty well ironed out that the moron Augur was listening to Gaea thinking it was Apollo and did have more or less good intentions for Rome, although massively selfish, opportunistic, and short-sighted in execution.

Enter the army of the gods.

...'Bout time you shitheads made yourselves useful.

[elfgrove]

ElfGrove Reads: Blood of Olympus Part 11

Oh good. We're co-opting Cherokee myths again as really just a watered down, game of telephone version of the "REAL" Greek myths. 

And by "good" I mean "fuck you and the horse you rode in on".

Other cultures and religions outside Greek and Roman? Nah! It's just people reinterpreting the true origins and holy stories -- by which we mean the Greek ones. Seriously Riordan, Cultural Appropriation and Erasure. Google it.

Entering chapter 44, I kid you not, I yelled at my car stereo (audio book).

The hell were these chuckleheads doing that they got caught so fast? For fucks sakes, these nincompoops!