I'm very excited for this epic-looking book. You can find out more about what to expect here. Sadly, that is all I know for now, although it does look very promising. I will keep you posted if anymore information is released! :)
Oct 17, 2013
Percy Jackson's Greek Gods
I'm very happy to be showing you the cover for Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, which will be out sometime in August 2014! :)
Oct 13, 2013
House of Hades: Review & Discussion (SPOILERS INCLUDED)
WARNING! Contains MAJOR House of Hades spoilers! Do not read past this point if you haven't finished the ENTIRE book!
Friday evening, I finished The House of Hades. Although it wasn't perfect, it was phenomenal. When I was finished, I wondered, "Now... what am I supposed to do with my life?" My answer? Re-read the Heroes of Olympus again! ;D
The characters overall in this book were BEYOND incredible. Getting seven points of view was both a gift and a curse. I was really excited for all seven to get their own POVs, because I absolutely LOVE all of the members of the seven. However, when I read them, it kind of seemed crowded. I do see why Uncle Rick had to do it: each member of the seven had a little "on his/her own" scene, where none of the other seven were involved (The exception may be Percy and Annabeth, but one does not simply put in one of their perspectives and not put in the other)... Hazel with the Hecate scene in the beginning, Leo with the Calypso thing, Jason with Nico & Cupid (and the dream), Frank with the poison cows and blessing of Mars, and Piper with her Khoine showdown. Everything got really confusing at some points (maybe I was reading too fast?), BUT I did enjoy seeing how each of the characters reacted to the situations and how they viewed each other. It's kind of like a giant reality TV commentary, except a thousand times better. (One can only take so much of America's Next Top Model.)
I'll take this review/discussion thingamajig character by character, then just add any extra general comments at the end. :D
Percy & Annabeth: Sorry guys, but these two count as one. They were together for almost the entire duration of the book, which made me (and I'm sure many other Percabeth fans) very, very happy, although I can't say that I would have liked to be in their situation. The cute Percabeth scenes and dialogues really made me smile.
Let us all take a moment to reflect upon Annabeth's cleverness when they came to the Hermes shrine. That entire situation astounded me. I just thought it was really cool! (AND RIPTIDE CAN BE USED AS A PEN! WOOT!)
I was also very relieved that they found a friend in Bob the Titan, even after he remembered who he was. Percy and Annabeth did a good job of convincing him to do what he thinks is good, and they were fortunate enough for him to pick their side! Little Bob also really made me smile.
Damasen, the anti-Ares, was a great character. His return in the end to help was somewhat predictable (which is a recurring problem throughout the book, sadly). Percy and Annabeth's visit to his home was the answer to what we were wondering about their clothing on the US cover. (For the record, the fact that P&A look like models on the UK cover still bothers me, especially when they're standing in front of Tartarus himself.) The creepy Death Mist chick, Akhlys, was really depressing. I can't say I liked her all that much. The scene with Nyx was priceless. "You weren't in the brochure!" xD
A lot of stuff happened in Tartarus, and I could go on forever about it, but I won't. My personal favorite scene was the confrontation with the arai (the creepy Fury-like old grandma curse demons). I swear, I'm not a sadist! I just found it very intriguing. It really made them think about how many monsters they've killed or hurt. My heart pretty much broke when Annabeth thought Percy had abandoned her. </3 Calypso is mean. :(
One last thing on the adventures in Tartarus: Tartarus himself. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around how Tartarus could manifest himself inside of himself. It's kind of hard to understand, and it kind of ruined some things for Percy and Annabeth when he just popped up out of nowhere as they were about to cut the chains!
Hazel: HAZEL WAS AMAZING IN THIS BOOK. That girl has never ceased to amaze me. If anyone doubted her power before, they aren't now!
If I had to pick a leader out of the six demigods on the Argo II in House of Hades, Hazel would be my pick. She was the glue that held the group together in the absence of Annabeth and Percy. She's just fabulous.
I felt kind of bad that she had to do the Mist tricks and work with magic, because that was, after all, one of the many factors that ruined her mother's life. When she did master it however, I couldn't help but be proud of her.
Piper: Piper had quite a bit of character development in this book as well. Her showdown with Khione was awesome, and I love how she didn't let Khione get under her skin. She found a way to turn the tables, and I think that, in her own way, Piper is just as clever as Annabeth.
It's also pretty epic how she brought Festus alive with her charmspeak. I'm not quite sure how that really worked, but hats off to her for believing in herself! (I'm beginning to think that belief is a huge theme throughout this series, or at least this installment.) Oh, and she's learning how to sword fight from Hazel. Can I just have more of this friendship?! When I found out that they were becoming friends I kind of freaked out. Little details like this just make my imagination go crazy with ideas about what they could do with each other and how they spend their free time (when they actually have some), and also what they talk about. I hope for a conversation between Piper and Hazel in the future. I don't think that's asking for too much.
Finally, I have to wonder... WHERE IS MY PRECIOUS JASPER?! Yes, I ship Jasper now. One TLH re-read is enough to get one to that point. Jeyna just seems so unrealistic at this point, and I love both Piper and Jason and simply want them to be happy. So where were the precious Jasper scenes? We had like, two lines. Grrr.
Frank: Fai Zhang, how you've grown.
I'm incredibly proud of Frank. C H A R A C T E R D E V E L O P M E N T. When he got the blessing of Mars around him (TWICE), I couldn't help but just be super happy for him. AND HE'S PRAETOR NOW WHICH MAKES ME BEYOND HAPPY BECAUSE I LOVE FRANK A LOT AND I THOUGHT THAT HE DIDN'T GET ENOUGH CREDIT IN PREVIOUS BOOKS! :D
Jason: I missed Jason. We got Annabeth, Percy, Piper, and Leo POVs last book, and Frank and Hazel POVs two books ago. It's been three books. I truly missed him. (I may have actually written a post about this at one point...Hmm.)
Now that I actually got to see inside of that mind of his, I got to appreciate how he's changed since The Lost Hero, and how he's been since his memories have been restored. I was actually astonished to see that he wanted to go completely Greek, but it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside at the same time. Finding out that he chafed under the rules of the Romans excited me, because it actually revealed some of his personality. I may be perceiving this incorrectly, but Jason seems really guarded and unreadable sometimes. I just wanna know him better, know him better, know him better now. (Hehe. Anyone get the reference?)
However, Jason's combat skills were underwhelming, to say the least. Dear Jason, why must you always become incapacitated so quickly? Dwarves: Upside-down. Khione: Oops, frozen. In the Necromanteion: Can't control the legion, gives up praetorship. Et cetera. He just makes it really hard for me defend him when people point out these things. I love him so much for no apparent reason, and I want to show people that he's not what they think he is, except... Usually, what they think of him is right. Which is sort of depressing for me.
Nico: Nico seemed to act really strange in this book. I know that he's always been reserved and quiet around people after he figured out his lineage, but he seemed to be sulking around the Argo II for the majority of the book. It made a bit more sense after the scene with Cupid, but his behavior still creeped me out. Nico has mildly scared me since the end of The Titan's Curse. I'm not sure why. Maybe it has something to do with the whole making skeletons pop out of the ground at his will thing. But you know, probably not.
As I said, Nico was very quiet. Half of the time, I forgot he was there. Until we met Cupid.
I have to say, the Cupid scene gave me chills. Most of the minor gods in this book were pretty lame, and I didn't really take them seriously: Triptolemus, Sciron (who's technically a demigod but whatever), Favonius.
Not all that impressive. However, Cupid I could take seriously. He was very mysterious and somewhat frustrating. He was making me very anxious. Cupid could be a dangerous enemy...
So Cupid forced Nico to reveal his secret: he has a crush on Percy. Um... What?
I have to say, I was not expecting this. Either Rick Riordan just came up with this recently, or Nico has done a really good job of hiding it, because I've never even thought of that being possible. Sure, I've seen fanart, but people draw the weirdest things sometimes (Example #1: Percy/Jason. o_O). It just seems completely out of the blue...
And to add to that, the only person who knows is Jason! (Did a Nico/Jason ship cross anyone's mind at that point...?) I have the strangest feeling that he's going to spill the beans to someone, and I feel like that person would most likely be Hazel (because she's Nico's sister) or Piper (because she's Jason's girlfriend). This "secret" also builds a golden opportunity for a friendship between Nico and Jason. Secret sharing brings people closer! It seems that Nico pushes away friendship. All the things that Jason said to him are true. He needs to stop running and find a home, and some friends. There are people willing to befriend him.
Leo: Leo was wondrous, as always. His humor is always in the right place, and that's one of the things I love him for. I had to admire how he handled those dwarfs (aka epicly) and how he sent them after the Romans. xD
Now, I know the thing that I'm sure all of you want to talk about is the Calypso thing. I have to say, when Khione said that he was going somewhere that he could never leave, I instantly thought of Ogygia. When he crash-landed on Calypso's table, I was first of all relieved that he survived, and secondly very angry at Calypso. I just don't like her after this. She was basically screaming her head off at him for something that wasn't even his fault. (I hate people like that.) In addition to that, she was very quick to judge him on appearance. "A SCRAWNY, GREASY KID JUST LANDED ON MY TABLE! CURSE YOU, ZEUS!"
One could argue that she has the right to be angry, because the gods didn't set her free (by the way, what's up with that?), but could she at least have a shred of humanity (yes, I know she's a Titan, not a human, but still...) and help the dude up? If someone fell from the sky onto my table, I'd be more concerned about the health and safety of whoever fell than I would about my table, regardless of how he or she LOOKED. My best friend described Calypso as "acting like a spoiled brat that got cut off from her daddy's money".
Oh, blah blah blah, they fell in love. I have to admit that Calypso wearing jeans and a t-shirt to help Leo out was somewhat cute, but I still don't like their "relationship", but that's just me. :P
I was kind of annoyed at that point that I was reading the book on my Kindle, because it will break if I throw it at the wall, and I really wanted to throw it against the wall when Leo swore on the River Styx to come back for Calypso. LEO. WHY? DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH? D: My poor Leo. :( If he doesn't find Ogygia again... I don't even want to think about that. He has to find it! He will find it. He will always find it. (OUAT, anyone?)
Assorted Thoughts: Hazel's and Pasiphae's Mist manipulation confuzzled me. I wasn't sure what was real and what was a product of their minds, but I suppose that's the point of the Mist. I also wasn't quite sure how the whole "hey-Piper-brought-Festus-back-to-life-with-charmspeak-alone" thing. I suppose that I'm like Leo in that respect. That kind of magic just doesn't make sense... There's no reasoning behind it. But hey, if it works... it works!
I also thought there was a huge buildup to a death of one of the Seven or Nico at the end when they had to close the Doors, and it never happened. That was rather anti-climactic in my opinion, but I'm still relieved that none of them died. However, this probably means that someone is almost definitely going to die in the next book. When you have seven to eight main characters, at least one, if not two of them, is most likely going to die. It really wouldn't be realistic at all if all of them made it out of The Blood of Olympus unscathed.
CAN WE JUST TAKE A MOMENT TO TALK ABOUT COACH HEDGE?!? He married Mellie?! When did this happen?!? AND THEY'RE HAVING A KID??? haotaowipetiai;otwhawtji!!! This is one of the cutest couples ever. I just love them. <3
I was a little bit baffled at a few things, which were probably just mistakes that Rick made and the editor didn't catch. (Patrick probably would have caught them. :P) It said something about Tristan McLean's secretary "Jessica"... I think that was supposed to be Jane. Also, Rachel called Octavian the son of Apollo (which he isn't), and Octavian didn't correct her. Maybe he didn't want to humiliate himself, or maybe it was just a mistake. He strikes me as the "correct-someone-to-avoid-needing-an-actual-good-comeback" type.
Finally, I think it's important to address the lack of a real cliffhanger, or even a tiny one. With The Mark of Athena, everyone was dying to know what happened to Percy and Annabeth after the fall, and I was right there with them. However, with The House of Hades, we don't have anything nearly as bad as that. Perhaps Mr. Trolldan wishes to make up for the last ending, or maybe he figures that a cliffhanger isn't necessary to keep people reading, since the next book is the last book and we may as well finish out the series. There are plenty of unanswered questions, which will hopefully be answered for us in The Blood of Olympus. Let the waiting begin once again...
P.S. Feel free to leave a comment, send an email (PJOForever@gmail.com), or tweet us (@HotSauceValdez)! I love to hear your opinions on this. :)
The characters overall in this book were BEYOND incredible. Getting seven points of view was both a gift and a curse. I was really excited for all seven to get their own POVs, because I absolutely LOVE all of the members of the seven. However, when I read them, it kind of seemed crowded. I do see why Uncle Rick had to do it: each member of the seven had a little "on his/her own" scene, where none of the other seven were involved (The exception may be Percy and Annabeth, but one does not simply put in one of their perspectives and not put in the other)... Hazel with the Hecate scene in the beginning, Leo with the Calypso thing, Jason with Nico & Cupid (and the dream), Frank with the poison cows and blessing of Mars, and Piper with her Khoine showdown. Everything got really confusing at some points (maybe I was reading too fast?), BUT I did enjoy seeing how each of the characters reacted to the situations and how they viewed each other. It's kind of like a giant reality TV commentary, except a thousand times better. (One can only take so much of America's Next Top Model.)
I'll take this review/discussion thingamajig character by character, then just add any extra general comments at the end. :D
Percy & Annabeth: Sorry guys, but these two count as one. They were together for almost the entire duration of the book, which made me (and I'm sure many other Percabeth fans) very, very happy, although I can't say that I would have liked to be in their situation. The cute Percabeth scenes and dialogues really made me smile.
"College," she gasped. "Could we go there together?"Things like that really tickled my funny bone, especially amid all of the sadness. And when Percy referred to Annabeth as "hot" in a barbarian princess kind of way... <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
"Y-yeah," he agreed, a little more confidently.
"What would you study, Percy?"
"Dunno," he admitted.
"Marine science," she suggested. "Oceanography?"
"Surfing?" he asked.
Let us all take a moment to reflect upon Annabeth's cleverness when they came to the Hermes shrine. That entire situation astounded me. I just thought it was really cool! (AND RIPTIDE CAN BE USED AS A PEN! WOOT!)
I was also very relieved that they found a friend in Bob the Titan, even after he remembered who he was. Percy and Annabeth did a good job of convincing him to do what he thinks is good, and they were fortunate enough for him to pick their side! Little Bob also really made me smile.
Damasen, the anti-Ares, was a great character. His return in the end to help was somewhat predictable (which is a recurring problem throughout the book, sadly). Percy and Annabeth's visit to his home was the answer to what we were wondering about their clothing on the US cover. (For the record, the fact that P&A look like models on the UK cover still bothers me, especially when they're standing in front of Tartarus himself.) The creepy Death Mist chick, Akhlys, was really depressing. I can't say I liked her all that much. The scene with Nyx was priceless. "You weren't in the brochure!" xD
A lot of stuff happened in Tartarus, and I could go on forever about it, but I won't. My personal favorite scene was the confrontation with the arai (the creepy Fury-like old grandma curse demons). I swear, I'm not a sadist! I just found it very intriguing. It really made them think about how many monsters they've killed or hurt. My heart pretty much broke when Annabeth thought Percy had abandoned her. </3 Calypso is mean. :(
One last thing on the adventures in Tartarus: Tartarus himself. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around how Tartarus could manifest himself inside of himself. It's kind of hard to understand, and it kind of ruined some things for Percy and Annabeth when he just popped up out of nowhere as they were about to cut the chains!
Hazel: HAZEL WAS AMAZING IN THIS BOOK. That girl has never ceased to amaze me. If anyone doubted her power before, they aren't now!
If I had to pick a leader out of the six demigods on the Argo II in House of Hades, Hazel would be my pick. She was the glue that held the group together in the absence of Annabeth and Percy. She's just fabulous.
I felt kind of bad that she had to do the Mist tricks and work with magic, because that was, after all, one of the many factors that ruined her mother's life. When she did master it however, I couldn't help but be proud of her.
Piper: Piper had quite a bit of character development in this book as well. Her showdown with Khione was awesome, and I love how she didn't let Khione get under her skin. She found a way to turn the tables, and I think that, in her own way, Piper is just as clever as Annabeth.
It's also pretty epic how she brought Festus alive with her charmspeak. I'm not quite sure how that really worked, but hats off to her for believing in herself! (I'm beginning to think that belief is a huge theme throughout this series, or at least this installment.) Oh, and she's learning how to sword fight from Hazel. Can I just have more of this friendship?! When I found out that they were becoming friends I kind of freaked out. Little details like this just make my imagination go crazy with ideas about what they could do with each other and how they spend their free time (when they actually have some), and also what they talk about. I hope for a conversation between Piper and Hazel in the future. I don't think that's asking for too much.
Finally, I have to wonder... WHERE IS MY PRECIOUS JASPER?! Yes, I ship Jasper now. One TLH re-read is enough to get one to that point. Jeyna just seems so unrealistic at this point, and I love both Piper and Jason and simply want them to be happy. So where were the precious Jasper scenes? We had like, two lines. Grrr.
Frank: Fai Zhang, how you've grown.
I'm incredibly proud of Frank. C H A R A C T E R D E V E L O P M E N T. When he got the blessing of Mars around him (TWICE), I couldn't help but just be super happy for him. AND HE'S PRAETOR NOW WHICH MAKES ME BEYOND HAPPY BECAUSE I LOVE FRANK A LOT AND I THOUGHT THAT HE DIDN'T GET ENOUGH CREDIT IN PREVIOUS BOOKS! :D
Jason: I missed Jason. We got Annabeth, Percy, Piper, and Leo POVs last book, and Frank and Hazel POVs two books ago. It's been three books. I truly missed him. (I may have actually written a post about this at one point...Hmm.)
Now that I actually got to see inside of that mind of his, I got to appreciate how he's changed since The Lost Hero, and how he's been since his memories have been restored. I was actually astonished to see that he wanted to go completely Greek, but it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside at the same time. Finding out that he chafed under the rules of the Romans excited me, because it actually revealed some of his personality. I may be perceiving this incorrectly, but Jason seems really guarded and unreadable sometimes. I just wanna know him better, know him better, know him better now. (Hehe. Anyone get the reference?)
However, Jason's combat skills were underwhelming, to say the least. Dear Jason, why must you always become incapacitated so quickly? Dwarves: Upside-down. Khione: Oops, frozen. In the Necromanteion: Can't control the legion, gives up praetorship. Et cetera. He just makes it really hard for me defend him when people point out these things. I love him so much for no apparent reason, and I want to show people that he's not what they think he is, except... Usually, what they think of him is right. Which is sort of depressing for me.
Nico: Nico seemed to act really strange in this book. I know that he's always been reserved and quiet around people after he figured out his lineage, but he seemed to be sulking around the Argo II for the majority of the book. It made a bit more sense after the scene with Cupid, but his behavior still creeped me out. Nico has mildly scared me since the end of The Titan's Curse. I'm not sure why. Maybe it has something to do with the whole making skeletons pop out of the ground at his will thing. But you know, probably not.
As I said, Nico was very quiet. Half of the time, I forgot he was there. Until we met Cupid.
I have to say, the Cupid scene gave me chills. Most of the minor gods in this book were pretty lame, and I didn't really take them seriously: Triptolemus, Sciron (who's technically a demigod but whatever), Favonius.
Not all that impressive. However, Cupid I could take seriously. He was very mysterious and somewhat frustrating. He was making me very anxious. Cupid could be a dangerous enemy...
So Cupid forced Nico to reveal his secret: he has a crush on Percy. Um... What?
I have to say, I was not expecting this. Either Rick Riordan just came up with this recently, or Nico has done a really good job of hiding it, because I've never even thought of that being possible. Sure, I've seen fanart, but people draw the weirdest things sometimes (Example #1: Percy/Jason. o_O). It just seems completely out of the blue...
And to add to that, the only person who knows is Jason! (Did a Nico/Jason ship cross anyone's mind at that point...?) I have the strangest feeling that he's going to spill the beans to someone, and I feel like that person would most likely be Hazel (because she's Nico's sister) or Piper (because she's Jason's girlfriend). This "secret" also builds a golden opportunity for a friendship between Nico and Jason. Secret sharing brings people closer! It seems that Nico pushes away friendship. All the things that Jason said to him are true. He needs to stop running and find a home, and some friends. There are people willing to befriend him.
Leo: Leo was wondrous, as always. His humor is always in the right place, and that's one of the things I love him for. I had to admire how he handled those dwarfs (aka epicly) and how he sent them after the Romans. xD
Now, I know the thing that I'm sure all of you want to talk about is the Calypso thing. I have to say, when Khione said that he was going somewhere that he could never leave, I instantly thought of Ogygia. When he crash-landed on Calypso's table, I was first of all relieved that he survived, and secondly very angry at Calypso. I just don't like her after this. She was basically screaming her head off at him for something that wasn't even his fault. (I hate people like that.) In addition to that, she was very quick to judge him on appearance. "A SCRAWNY, GREASY KID JUST LANDED ON MY TABLE! CURSE YOU, ZEUS!"
One could argue that she has the right to be angry, because the gods didn't set her free (by the way, what's up with that?), but could she at least have a shred of humanity (yes, I know she's a Titan, not a human, but still...) and help the dude up? If someone fell from the sky onto my table, I'd be more concerned about the health and safety of whoever fell than I would about my table, regardless of how he or she LOOKED. My best friend described Calypso as "acting like a spoiled brat that got cut off from her daddy's money".
Oh, blah blah blah, they fell in love. I have to admit that Calypso wearing jeans and a t-shirt to help Leo out was somewhat cute, but I still don't like their "relationship", but that's just me. :P
I was kind of annoyed at that point that I was reading the book on my Kindle, because it will break if I throw it at the wall, and I really wanted to throw it against the wall when Leo swore on the River Styx to come back for Calypso. LEO. WHY? DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH? D: My poor Leo. :( If he doesn't find Ogygia again... I don't even want to think about that. He has to find it! He will find it. He will always find it. (OUAT, anyone?)
Assorted Thoughts: Hazel's and Pasiphae's Mist manipulation confuzzled me. I wasn't sure what was real and what was a product of their minds, but I suppose that's the point of the Mist. I also wasn't quite sure how the whole "hey-Piper-brought-Festus-back-to-life-with-charmspeak-alone" thing. I suppose that I'm like Leo in that respect. That kind of magic just doesn't make sense... There's no reasoning behind it. But hey, if it works... it works!
I also thought there was a huge buildup to a death of one of the Seven or Nico at the end when they had to close the Doors, and it never happened. That was rather anti-climactic in my opinion, but I'm still relieved that none of them died. However, this probably means that someone is almost definitely going to die in the next book. When you have seven to eight main characters, at least one, if not two of them, is most likely going to die. It really wouldn't be realistic at all if all of them made it out of The Blood of Olympus unscathed.
CAN WE JUST TAKE A MOMENT TO TALK ABOUT COACH HEDGE?!? He married Mellie?! When did this happen?!? AND THEY'RE HAVING A KID??? haotaowipetiai;otwhawtji!!! This is one of the cutest couples ever. I just love them. <3
I was a little bit baffled at a few things, which were probably just mistakes that Rick made and the editor didn't catch. (Patrick probably would have caught them. :P) It said something about Tristan McLean's secretary "Jessica"... I think that was supposed to be Jane. Also, Rachel called Octavian the son of Apollo (which he isn't), and Octavian didn't correct her. Maybe he didn't want to humiliate himself, or maybe it was just a mistake. He strikes me as the "correct-someone-to-avoid-needing-an-actual-good-comeback" type.
Finally, I think it's important to address the lack of a real cliffhanger, or even a tiny one. With The Mark of Athena, everyone was dying to know what happened to Percy and Annabeth after the fall, and I was right there with them. However, with The House of Hades, we don't have anything nearly as bad as that. Perhaps Mr. Trolldan wishes to make up for the last ending, or maybe he figures that a cliffhanger isn't necessary to keep people reading, since the next book is the last book and we may as well finish out the series. There are plenty of unanswered questions, which will hopefully be answered for us in The Blood of Olympus. Let the waiting begin once again...
P.S. Feel free to leave a comment, send an email (PJOForever@gmail.com), or tweet us (@HotSauceValdez)! I love to hear your opinions on this. :)
Twitter!
Hello! I just made a twitter for this blog. The username is @HotSauceValdez. :) Please give us a follow! (If you are a Percy Jackson fan account I will follow you back.)
P.S. I have finished House of Hades. There will be a discussion post up soon!
P.S. I have finished House of Hades. There will be a discussion post up soon!
Oct 9, 2013
New Character Art & My Policy on Spoilers
Hey there, half-bloods! :)
HOUSE OF HADES CAME OUT YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ARE YOU EXCITED?
I'M EXCITED!
Before I jump into the topic of the character art we've been shown, I'd like to address the matter of spoilers. I may make some posts that spoil some things, but I will definitely post a warning at the beginning of the post in that case. If I make a post with spoilers in it, you may comment spoilers as well, as long as they're nothing past the chapters I am speaking of. For example, if I say a post has House of Hades spoilers up to Chapter 32 (XXXII), you can comment about anything UP TO, but not BEYOND, that point. You could comment about Chapter 20, or Chapter 18, or Chapter 32, just not anything 33 or above. Does that make sense? It is just a courtesy to both me and other readers of this blog, because I don't want to be spoiled either. And PLEASE, do not let me spoil you! Enjoy the book, and be surprised! :D
Now, to the main topic. I never got a chance to post the new official character art before the book came out, so I'll post it now. :)
HOUSE OF HADES CAME OUT YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ARE YOU EXCITED?
I'M EXCITED!
Before I jump into the topic of the character art we've been shown, I'd like to address the matter of spoilers. I may make some posts that spoil some things, but I will definitely post a warning at the beginning of the post in that case. If I make a post with spoilers in it, you may comment spoilers as well, as long as they're nothing past the chapters I am speaking of. For example, if I say a post has House of Hades spoilers up to Chapter 32 (XXXII), you can comment about anything UP TO, but not BEYOND, that point. You could comment about Chapter 20, or Chapter 18, or Chapter 32, just not anything 33 or above. Does that make sense? It is just a courtesy to both me and other readers of this blog, because I don't want to be spoiled either. And PLEASE, do not let me spoil you! Enjoy the book, and be surprised! :D
Now, to the main topic. I never got a chance to post the new official character art before the book came out, so I'll post it now. :)
I'd have to say Nyx is my favorite. Gotta go read now. ;D bye! :)
Oct 6, 2013
Mystery Locations
Warning! May contain Mark of Athena and kind-of-ish-but-not-really House of Hades spoilers!
Since I didn't get around to writing a post yesterday, here is a second post for today!
Recently, Rick Riordan has been posting pictures of "mystery locations" for The House of Hades on his Instagram account, which are basically real places that the characters are going to visit in the book. Let's find out what they are!
Google Search says... nothing. -_-
Since I didn't get around to writing a post yesterday, here is a second post for today!
Recently, Rick Riordan has been posting pictures of "mystery locations" for The House of Hades on his Instagram account, which are basically real places that the characters are going to visit in the book. Let's find out what they are!
Mystery Location #1
Google Search says... nothing. -_-
Google search says... The Fountain of Neptune in Bologna, Italy!
Mystery Location #2
Google search says... St. Mark's Clock Tower in Venice, Italy!
Mystery Location #3
Google Search says... the Ruins of Salona in Solin, Croatia! We will also see demigods encounter a god here.
Mystery Location #4
Google search says... Valletta, Malta! The Argo II will dock here.
It definitely sounds like we're going to have a lot of Europe in store this book!
2 DAYS!
Where to buy House of Hades?
Warning: the information in this post is for US readers only. I have no idea about any other country. International demigods, your best bet is to do a Google search or ask your local bookstore for information as to where you can buy House of Hades and when you can get it.
As October 8th draws near, we all have that grueling choice of where to buy our precious copy of House of Hades. Luckily for us, there are many options of where we can get this lovely book. Unfortunately, that means that we must make choices.
In a recent blog post, Rick Riordan pointed out what exclusive items are available in specific stores. You can get bumper stickers from the Walmart edition, a map of Tartarus from the Barnes & Noble edition, or a door hanger from the Target edition.
If any of those sound interesting to you, I would recommend that you go to the bookstore and buy the physical book if you want it on Tuesday. All of those stores have websites where you can order it, and the price of the actual book is less, but to get it shipped to you by the actual release date can become very expensive.
If you do want to order online, you can order it from Amazon. If you are an Amazon Prime member, you can get free 2-day shipping, which means that you should get it on Tuesday or Wednesday if you order it today. If you don't have Prime, there is a fee. Again, this fee is pretty high, so you may be better off either waiting (getting standard shipping) or going to a store to pay cover price.
An option that is very popular in this day and age is getting the e-book version. The Kindle, Nook, and iBook versions cost much less money than a hard cover, and guess what? The book will pop up on your device when midnight arrives! (I'm not sure about iBooks and Nook, but the Kindle version actually only comes at 1AM EST. :/)
Lastly, and my most likely option, is going to a library. Some libraries receive the book and add it to their collection on the release date, and you can be added to a waiting list if you check online or with a librarian.
I really hope this post put some thoughts into your head about where you are going to get the book, and wherever that may be, ENJOY IT WHEN YOU GET IT! :D
2 more days! :)
As October 8th draws near, we all have that grueling choice of where to buy our precious copy of House of Hades. Luckily for us, there are many options of where we can get this lovely book. Unfortunately, that means that we must make choices.
In a recent blog post, Rick Riordan pointed out what exclusive items are available in specific stores. You can get bumper stickers from the Walmart edition, a map of Tartarus from the Barnes & Noble edition, or a door hanger from the Target edition.
If any of those sound interesting to you, I would recommend that you go to the bookstore and buy the physical book if you want it on Tuesday. All of those stores have websites where you can order it, and the price of the actual book is less, but to get it shipped to you by the actual release date can become very expensive.
If you do want to order online, you can order it from Amazon. If you are an Amazon Prime member, you can get free 2-day shipping, which means that you should get it on Tuesday or Wednesday if you order it today. If you don't have Prime, there is a fee. Again, this fee is pretty high, so you may be better off either waiting (getting standard shipping) or going to a store to pay cover price.
An option that is very popular in this day and age is getting the e-book version. The Kindle, Nook, and iBook versions cost much less money than a hard cover, and guess what? The book will pop up on your device when midnight arrives! (I'm not sure about iBooks and Nook, but the Kindle version actually only comes at 1AM EST. :/)
Lastly, and my most likely option, is going to a library. Some libraries receive the book and add it to their collection on the release date, and you can be added to a waiting list if you check online or with a librarian.
I really hope this post put some thoughts into your head about where you are going to get the book, and wherever that may be, ENJOY IT WHEN YOU GET IT! :D
2 more days! :)
Oct 4, 2013
House of Hades POV Update
Warning! May contain Mark of Athena spoilers! (Also contains the POVs for House of Hades, so if you don't want to know that, LEAVE. Hehe. I have other posts. Seeeee ya!)
Hello! Awhile ago, I did a post theorizing on the possible HoH perspectives. I was under the impression that there would be four, because Mark of Athena had four (Annabeth, Percy, Leo, and Piper).
However, I have learned otherwise. This interview with Rick Riordan by Publisher's Weekly was published online on Tuesday. In the first minute or so, he stated:
4 DAYS!
Hello! Awhile ago, I did a post theorizing on the possible HoH perspectives. I was under the impression that there would be four, because Mark of Athena had four (Annabeth, Percy, Leo, and Piper).
However, I have learned otherwise. This interview with Rick Riordan by Publisher's Weekly was published online on Tuesday. In the first minute or so, he stated:
"The House of Hades is the fourth book in the Heroes of Olympus series, um, and I think that the main difference with this one is that we have seven main characters that have been, sort of, being drawn through the other books in the series, and now, for the first time, they're all together, they all have their own points of view, and they're sort of all reacting in their own way to this quest that they're on."So, in other words, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE MEMBERS OF THE SEVEN IS GOING TO HAVE A POINT OF VIEW! :D This makes me very excited. :) (And by the way, I have confirmed this with someone who got the book early due to a bookstore's 'mistake'. ;))
4 DAYS!
Oct 3, 2013
...I'm on Yahoo Answers?!
I was just casually looking through my blog's statistics when I noticed a few links that people discovered my blog through. Usually, I don't click the links because a lot of them lead to malicious websites for whatever reason. (I'm not sure why. I also get a lot of strange spam comments.)
One of them was a Yahoo Answers link. I'm familiar with Yahoo Answers, and I know that it's not a dangerous website, so I decided to click the link. Then I found this.
Umm... Whoa? I had no idea that people actually, like... referred to my website like that. Umm. Yeah. I was kind of taken aback. THIS IS SO COOL! (I mean, sure, the asker thought I wasn't reliable, but I guess I'm sort of not too reliable from an objective standpoint...)
So yeah, that's my exciting story. I will keep giving you daily updates and posts leading up to the House of Hades release day. :)
As far as the wait goes...
Last Olympian Deleted Scene
Warning! May contain Last Olympian spoilers!
Recently, Rick Riordan revealed a scene that he spoke of quite a while ago and mentioned again just recently. (I thought it was kind of tantalizing for him to mention it in the first place, but isn't that the point of his job? Trolling, that is.) Ever since he first brought it up, I've wanted to read it. Now, I've gotten my wish!
The scene happens during the Last Olympian, after Morpheus puts all of the mortals to sleep. I won't spoil anymore of it for you, so here it is! :)
Recently, Rick Riordan revealed a scene that he spoke of quite a while ago and mentioned again just recently. (I thought it was kind of tantalizing for him to mention it in the first place, but isn't that the point of his job? Trolling, that is.) Ever since he first brought it up, I've wanted to read it. Now, I've gotten my wish!
The scene happens during the Last Olympian, after Morpheus puts all of the mortals to sleep. I won't spoil anymore of it for you, so here it is! :)
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