Friday, June 3, 2016

The Hidden Oracle Review: Apollo

Book: The Hidden Oracle
Author: Rick Riordan
Series: The Trials of Apollo #1
Genre: middle grade fantasy, mythology
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Pages: 376
Release: May 3rd, 2016



How do you punish an immortal?

By making him human.

After angering his father Zeus, the god Apollo is cast down from Olympus. Weak and disorientated, he lands in New York City as a regular teenage boy. Now, without his godly powers, the four-thousand-year-old deity must learn to survive in the modern world until he can somehow find a way to regain Zeus's favour.

But Apollo has many enemies - gods, monsters and mortals who would love to see the former Olympian permanently destroyed. Apollo needs help, and he can think of only one place to go . . . an enclave of modern demigods known as Camp Half-Blood.





A very fresh beginning!


This book gets a hat tip for being able to pull me out of my A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas book hangover. Thank the gods for this book!


After the conclusion of the war with Gaea, everything has finally--finally--settled down for the demigods. That is, until Apollo crashes to earth as a mortal, punished by Zeus. Obviously there must be a mistake, since the idea of the god Apollo turning mortal is ridiculous. So Apollo embarks on a journey to find some demigods, hoping they'll be able to help him out until his sentence as a mortal is over. Expect that Apollo has numerous enemies, and now that he's human, it's the perfect time to get some payback... And to make matters worse, he finds himself bound to serve a demigod by the name of Meg McCaffrey...

Apollo was the funniest narrator I've ever read, and that's saying a lot since all of Riordan's narrators are hilarious. Apollo was a constant delight, mixing together ancient history (like Julius Caesar ancient), recent history (anywhere in the 1900s), and modern day facts together to confuse everyone. Given that Apollo was a god, he's slightly a--dare I say it-- narcissist. But his narcissism was what made him so hilarious, because he would constantly place himself on a high pedestal, only to be knocked down due to his mortality. He constantly underestimated demigods and mortals, and it was quite satisfying to see him make some absurd claim, only to have it backfire on him and prove him wrong. Definitely a good pick-me-up at how ridiculous he was, how he thought the world worked, and how wrong he was on practically everything!

The character arc of Apollo was very humbling. It really drove home the difference between gods and mortals, and how sometimes, being a mortal with flaws and only one life to live is actually a privilege, better than being a god. Apollo's opinions of mortals change so much from the beginning to the end of the book, seeing humans not as insignificant worshippers, but actual people, with personalities and their own uniqueness. Reading it, I feel a lot better being a mortal, and I'm glad I'm not a god!

You'd think that with such a vague synopsis, the story would be completely distant from the original books. You would be both right and wrong. What I liked in particular was that this series follows its own story, but still draws on aspects of previous books. The plot has little to do with the events of the previous series, yet is related just enough to make you smile at the references. 
It didn't feel repetitive, but it didn't feel like a complete break from the prior series either. Riordan balanced the new and old perfectly, giving way for the plot to go in a completely different direction, while bringing in familiar faces to remind us that everything, in some aspect, is connected! It's overall a very fresh, which is a relief!


My favourite pair in this book had to be Will and Nico. They had so much page time together, and if you didn't ship them before, you have absolutely no reason not to ship them. They were adorable in every and all ways!

All in all, a great book! The funniest Riordan book I've read, which will have you laughing at Apollo's ridiculous expectations of mortals, yet also feeling touched by how grounded he becomes. We get to see old faces and meet new ones, and I'm definitely curious to know where the story will take these heroes. Plus, we get a few references to Magnus Chase, which was nice for the fans who have been reading all of Riordan's book (guilty). The length was appropriate, the plot simple yet detailed and excellent pacing as always. I'm eagerly awaiting the next book!





18 comments:

  1. I know! Apollo is such a funny narrator - in some ways he mirrors Percy in sarcasm, but not in arrogance. There was so much character development for Apollo, he started off scorning humans but over time he really understood what it was like. Same!! I so ship Nico and Will and I wish they had more page time together (but I'm completely satisfied already) Anyways, it was such a good book and I really want to read the next one! Great review :)

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    1. YES, Nico and Will!!! They are my OTP. I absolutely adore them!
      I found this book to be such a refreshing revival of the Percy Jackson world. Apollo definitely shares similarities to Percy, but is hilarious in his own way! I can't wait for the next book too!

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  2. I am so glad you enjoyed this book. I absolutely loved it as well! Apollo was just hilarious, and I was highlighting almost everything he said (I read the ebook.) I love how Apollo's character evolved throughout the story and how he changed. Solangelo was my favourite part of the book! They were just so cute and I'm happy they found each other after going through so much. I cannot wait to read the sequel, but I can't imagine it being better than this one!

    My Review, in case you're interested.

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    1. Apollo's character development was fantastic! He started out so far from being the person he ended up being at the end. I can't wait to see how his character continues to grow!
      SOLANGELO <3 I love them so, so, so much. I'm really hoping we'll see even more of them in the next book! :D

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  3. This sounds like a great read. I haven't anything by Rick but this sounds really fun!

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    1. I really hope you'll read something by him one day! It's definitely worth it :)

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  4. Hahah finding new books to read after ACOMAF has been awful for me.
    This sounds like a lot of fun! Especially since Apollo has to stop thinking he's so much better than everyone else now that he's mortal :P I'm glad you liked this so much!

    Lipstick and Mocha

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    1. Oh my god, yes. I tried to read Happily Ever After by Kiera Cass after ACOMAF, and though I enjoyed it, I felt like I was forcing myself through it because I was still wrapped up in ACOMAF. My heart just wasn't into reading anything except ACOMAF! Absolutely horrible! One of the worst book slumps I've ever been in!

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  5. Apollo sounds like a hilarious person! I mean, yes he's extremely narcissistic, but he seems more in this book. One question though, do we get awful haikus? XD AND SOLANGELO. It's happening! *hyperventilates* Really great review Erika!

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    1. YES, WE GET HAIKUS. They are at the beginning of each chapter, and act as chapter titles, so to speak. They are fantastic and hilarious!
      I KNOW, SOLANGELO IS OFFICIALLY A THING!!!! I couldn't be more excited!!!!

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  6. I can't wait until I'm able to read this book. I have to reread the Heroes of Olympus series because I don't remember a ton and I stopped at the second book. I read the first two in sixth grade, and now I'm a rising senior so a lot has changed. :D I'm so glad to hear that Apollo was such a funny narrator!

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    1. I'd argue that you technically don't need to know the details of what happened in Heroes of Olympus to read this book! But having the background information doesn't hurt, especially when they make some references to the other characters. I hope you'll enjoy this as much as I did! :)

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  7. Great review! I love RIordan and I definitely need to read this one. :D

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    1. Thanks! Riordan honestly can do no wrong. He's absolutely amazing!

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  8. Oh my gosh I'm literally so jealous of you right now Erika. I haven't even got to read this yet, even though I'm such a big fan! This book looks and sounds so good. I even read a preview of it and omg Percy!!! ♥ and I saw a spoiler too about Nico and a certain blonde descendant of Apollo :O So anyways thanks for posting this review because lol it makes me want to read this so much more!!

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    1. This book is definitely one of Riordan's finest. It's simple and fun, and I liked it much better than the Magnus Chase series! Apollo is absolutely hilarious to read. Hope you'll get to it soon! :)

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  9. Ah, yes, this book was so very much enjoyable and so very much fun :D
    After reading Magnus Chase - that really disppointed me - I was weary of picking up trials of apollo. I shouldn't have been! Because it brought me right back to everything I love about Rick Riordan's books. I'm so looking forward to the next book in the series (:
    Great review - I couldn't agree more!
    I can't believe I wasn't following your blog... we're friends on goodreads but now I'm oficially following you on bloglovin. So I can see when you post next ^^

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  10. I felt the same! Magnus Chase didn't quite live up to my expectations. I found it a little disorienting. But I was so glad with this book! We went back to the basics: Greek mythology, and everything I love about Riordan! His humour, his stories, his chapter titles, everything. I can't wait to read the rest of this series! :D

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