I simply should never be so impatient. Son of Neptune snuck up on me. I had been watching diligently for its arrival, but I must have been distracted. The next thing I knew, there was a request list nearly 100 patrons long and my name was nowhere to be found in the queue. Luckily for me, a co-worker was first on the list and finished it in record time. She offered to loan it to me, but I only had 2 weeks and I was still mucking through Going Bovine. While I managed to finish it by the deadline, I also had to return it before I could write about it. Without the book sitting on my laptop pressuring me, well, no pressure… no output! Next time – be patient!
Let me preface this by saying that I really enjoyed The Lost Hero, its prequel. The idea that Greek and Roman gods and goddesses are the same deities, but show different aspects was intriguing. Roman gods are aggressive and military-minded. Greek gods are passive and philosophical. Most especially, I was delighted with all of the new characters. The three new Roman demigods, Jason, Leo and Piper successfully carried the book. I wanted to learn more about them. Alas, not in the sequel.
After all, the title is Son of Neptune and another name for Neptune is Poseidon. And who is the son of Poseidon? Why, yes, Percy Jackson, again. I like Percy Jackson just fine, but he’s already got five of his own books. I want more Jason! And Piper. And Leo. But no, it’s not to be, yet.
It’s interesting that in the majority of this book, Percy’s memory is still vacant because I found quite a few holes in my memory as well. I am no longer one of those people who rereads all of the Harry Potter’s every time a new book or movie comes out. There just isn’t the time with all of the incredible new books out there. But to truly catch every piece of the puzzle and every “in” joke, it might be worth your while to revisit the original Percy Jackson series. Old characters are back and making their mark.
Along with the old characters, we do get quite a few new characters when Percy finds the Roman kid’s camp, Camp Jupiter. Hazel Levesque is a girl with a past. No, really. She lived a long time ago in New Orleans. She died, but then her brother Nico di Angelo brought her back. Something very bad happened during her first life and she really deserves to be dead, but she gets the opportunity to redeem herself.
Frank Zhang rounds out this book’s triumvirate of hero demigods. Frank has his own battles to fight. One of his ancestors caused the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 so he is an outcast or maybe just an underdog at Camp. He’s really big and perhaps a bit clumsy and he looks way too young for his manly bulk. According to his mother, a Canadian soldier who died in Afghanistan, he has a special ability because he can claim another god as his ancestor on his mother’s side. Frank just hopes he can figure out what that special ability is before it’s too late.
No, this is not my favorite of the series. Some portions read too much like a script for a movie. It took too long to get caught up in the action. But when those last battles finally exploded, I was “in”. And Jason is on his way!
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