Review: The Lost Hero

The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus Book 1)
Rick Riordan
Pages: 553

Jason has problems. He doesn’t remember anything before waking up in a bus full of kids on a field trip. Apparently he has a girlfriend named Piper, and his best friend is a guy named Leo. They’re all students at the Wilderness School, a boarding school for “bad kids,” as Leo puts it. What did Jason do to end up here? And where is here, exactly? Jason doesn’t know anything- except that everything seems very wrong.

Piper has a secret. Her father, a famous actor, has been missing for three days, ever since she had that terrifying nightmare about his being in trouble. Piper doesn’t understand her dream, or why her boyfriend suddenly doesn’t recognize her. When a freak storm hits during the school trip, unleashing strange creatures and whisking her, Jason, and Leo away to someplace called Camp-Half-Blood, she has a feeling she’s going to find out, whether she wants to or not.

Leo has a way with tools. When he sees his cabin at Camp Half-Blood, filled with power tools and machine parts, he feels right at home. But there’s weird stuff, too- like the curse everyone keeps talking about, and some camper who’s gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist that each of them- including Leo- is related to a god. Does this have anything to do with Jason’s amnesia, or the fact that Leo keeps seeing ghosts?

~description taken from book jacket

I’m a long time fan of Rick Riordan. I started his Percy Jackson series when it was first released, as proven by my copy of The Lightning Thief which has the hideous first edition cover before the publishing company decided to redesign it. I’m happy to say that the first installment of The Heroes of Olympus is just as good as the Percy Jackson books, if not better.

Before I start, I should give a caveat to readers- it’s probably not a good idea to start this series unless you’ve read the Percy Jackson books first. A ton of names and plot points from the Percy Jackson series are mentioned in quick succession at the start of The Lost Hero. Even as someone’s who’s read them but hasn’t picked them up in a couple of years, it was confusing. It’s definitely still possible to thoroughly enjoy The Lost Hero without this background, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

The Lost Hero alternates between the three new characters Jason, Piper and Leo. Each one is given two chapters and then the point of view switches to the next in line. Riordan doesn’t deviate from this pattern, which causes some problems in the first half of the book. For example, events from Jason’s sections will be recapped in Piper’s. Then Piper’s experience will be told again in Leo’s chapters. For a large chunk of the book I felt like I was just rereading the same thing over and over again, and it could have been fixed with some editing. Considering this book is exceedingly lengthy these passages would not have been missed. However, Riordan picks up his stride later on and this problem dissolves by the second half.

One thing I love about Riordan’s books is that he fills them with memorable, quirky characters. Normally when I read books that rotate narrators I find that I attach to one more easily than the others and often want to skip to that character’s next chapter. In this case, I loved all of them. I’m especially happy that the author included a female narrator in a series marketed predominantly towards boys. Riordan has always creating strong, smart female characters in his books, but writing about one in the first person takes it one step further. I’m sure a lot of middle school girls will be happy to read the story from Piper’s own perspective rather than just experiencing her through a boy’s eyes.

The Lost Hero is a fantastic start into a new series, and I’ll be first in line when the sequel comes out in October!

4/5 Stars

Review: Forest Born

Forest Born (Books of Bayern #4)
Shannon Hale
Pages: 389

“Growing up in the Forest, Rin always turned to the trees when she needed peace or reassurance, even direction, until the day they seem to reject her. Rin is sure something is wrong with her, something that is keeping her from feeling at home in the Forest, keeping her from trusting herself with anyone at all.

When her brother Razo returns to the city after a visit home, Rin accompanies him to the palace in hopes of finding a new sense of herself. But a mysterious threat haunts Bayern, and Rin joins the magical girls she thinks of as the Fire Sisters –Isi, Enna, and Dasha- as they venture into the woods toward the kingdom of Kel... where someone wants them all dead.”

Description taken from book jacket

First off, I want to say that I adore Shannon Hale. She’s a fantastic writer, and follows what I think is the perfect philosophy with YA books- write what you think is a good story, not what’s easily marketable. As a result, she’s produced numerous solid novels that I’d recommend, which includes her previous Books of Bayern. However, all good things must end in order to remain good things and, unfortunately, the Books of Bayern have hit that point.

Forest Born, the fourth in the series, includes enough background information that you could come into the series a stranger and not be terribly confused. Although, it would be easiest to read them in order since the events happen sequentially. This installment follows Rin, who makes a delightfully insecure heroine. She is ‘forest born’, as the title points out, and you (re)discover the world of Bayern along with her as she heads out to work at the castle. There’s intrigue right from the start when Rin suspects a lady in waiting of wanting to kill Prince Tusken and suspicious fires start up at Bayern’s boundary with the neighboring country Kel.

While the characters and humor are great, like in all of Hale’s other books, Forest Born remains plagued by mediocre plot twists. One character pulls a Gandalf, but it isn’t done properly. Instead of having the shocked reaction you’re supposed to, you realize that Hale’s hit the bottom of the idea barrel for the series. As a result, the entire second half of the book has a very forced feel to it. Even though I got attached to Rin and wanted to hear more about her, the plot just wasn’t interesting anymore.

I still love Shannon Hale, but I hope Forest Born is the last in her Bayern series. While it’s a solid read, and much better than the work of other authors, I’m disappointed because it doesn’t measure up to her other books. Hale’s writing itself is absolutely magical- she just needs better storylines to work with.

4/5 Stars