The Hidden Oracle

★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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Only 361 pages? Riordan is taking it easy on his readers. And maybe himself.

Anyway, following the events of The Heroes of Olympus, Zeus is a little displeased with Apollo and demonstrates this by turning him into a human teen (read: YA/MG novel star) and casting him to earth. He appears to be fully human – not even a demigod like Percy and the rest. Speaking of Percy, as soon as Apollo figures out what happened to him and where he is, he makes a beeline for Percy's apartment to get help. Smart move. Percy gets him to Camp Halfblood and disappears back to NYC to do homework.

Once there, Apollo begins trying to figure out what quest he'll have to do to return his status to quo. Along the way, he'll make some friends, get a better perspective on himself and his offspring (yeah, that's not weird), and maybe go through some of that personal growth. Note that I said, “some” personal growth and “better” perspective – that's not saying much, basically Apollo comes across as a a teenaged-Gilderoy Lockheart with a conscience. Instead of the large number of missions that we've become accustomed to in these books, there's really just one (plus the series-arc mission) – such a nice change.

A lot of people from the Percy Jackson and The Heroes series are name-dropped and discussed, not to mention the few that we see – there's even a nod to the Magnus Chase series – thankfully, my favorite is one of those who shows up in the flesh. There's also a good amount of in-jokes to please the long-time fans. But readers new to this universe shouldn't be put off by any of this – it's absolutely approachable, maybe even moreso than anything since The Lightning Thief.

This is told in the typical breezy style that characterized non-adult mystery Riordan novels, but given the different protagonist, feels a little fresher. A little briefer, a little change of pace – still full of that Riordan magic. The Hidden Oracle is a sold first-entry in yet another adventure in this world. Give it a shot.

5/5 stars

Rick Riordan never fails to impress.

I had high expectations for The Hidden Oracle, and not only were those expectations exceeded, but they practically got squashed by a giant s-oops sorry spoiler alert.

Years ago, when I read PJO for the first time, Apollo was my favorite god. He was just so full of himself, and so obsessed with haikus, that every scene he was in made me laugh so hard. I'm glad to see that he hadn't changed. I've seen countless reviews contain this comparison, but I have to agree. He's Gilderoy Lockhart, but severely less annoying.

I only have to complaints about this book: not enough Percy, and absolutely no Annabeth. But the fact that there was Percy, and the moments of Nico and Will's relationship made this book even more perfect.

Update 2022: As an update for my journey through every Percy Jackson Universe book, I decided to re-read this book before I take on the rest of the series. After looking over my original review, I must admit that little has changed. I still think that Apollo becoming mortal is the best aspect of this book, and the worst is this book having to justify its own existence in the Percy Jackson Universe.

The one thing that was new that I liked is how, with this book at least, the journey was fairly small in scale. This means that the opening book is a journey that does not go beyond the boundaries of Camp Half-Blood, a nice change of pace from the other first books in Riordan's series.

Sadly, that is about it for me. The rest of my review still stands. I am not really looking forward to this series, as much as I hope, but hey, maybe the next book can change my mind. I give this book a two out of five.



Original Review 2017: Let me start off this review by saying that I was somewhat apprehensive by this book. I had been with Percy since the very beginning, and I loved both the first series and the Heroes of Olympus series. I did and still do sing their praises. I still think those novels are great! Still, when I heard that Riordan was releasing The Sword of Summer or a series about the Norse gods, I was a little excited to see what he would do with it. And sure, it was a regurgitation of the standard Riordan formula, but I still really enjoyed it. It was a fun, guilty pleasure for me. Then I found out that Riordan was releasing another book set in the Percy Jackson universe, and I was upset, because I felt that he needed to just stop. Percy Jackson needed to end and be left to be enjoyed by fans while Riordan moves on to something else. And that was the attitude that I went in with when I started to read this book. And now, after finishing it, this novel did nothing to change my mind.

This novel is a short 377 pages (a guesstimation, since I listened to it on audio) but it felt so much shorter. This is because Rick Riordan has taken a complaint that I had with The Sword of Summer and made a book that doesn't sound like a Percy Jackson rip off. Instead, he has made up a main character with an entirely new point of view who manages to be refreshing, and interesting all at the same time. The greek god Apollo is cast down as a mortal by Zeus and he must find a way to get back into god-like form, but there are many enemies that want to see him dead, and now he will have to battle many enemies and find a way to become a god again. He is a narcissistic, sarcastic, and very funny asshole. I genuinely believed, due to the strength of Riordan's writing, that this was what a greek god would be like when he falls down to earth.

That sounds interesting, right? Well, sadly, that is about the only good thing in this novel. The rest just feels rushed and slapped together. This book constantly tries to justify it's own existence by making me care about these characters, but for a majority of the novel, I could not help but question why this thing even exists. Unlike The Heroes of Olympus series where any problems with this being a sequel is offset by the interesting main characters and alternative points of view, here, it is clear that Riordan is running out of ideas. Meg is a character who I did not like at all and who got on my nerves constantly. She seemed to be a more annoying version of the female character that joins the male lead, like Annabeth or Sam from The Sword of Summer. One annoying aspect of her, besides her personality was how her godly parent seemed to have little influence on her. Riordan has many examples of female characters whose godly parent not only gives them strengths but also weaknesses. Take for example Annabeth, her mother, Athena, gives her wisdom but Annabeth also overestimates her abilities. Or Clariese whose father, Ares, gives her the ability to fight well, but also can make her antagonistic, and hard-headed. What does Meg get as a daughter of Demeter? The ability to swing fancy swords, control rotten fruit and...that's it. Other than a few instances towards the end, her being a daughter of Demeter affects her or the plot only when it is convenient.Then there is the main plot of the novel, which I will detail in a spoiler section below.

The main plot goes as follows: The main plot is that the Oracle at Delphi is not working, nor is any of the other means of communication that the demigods use from Iris messages to snail mail. The main villain in this whole thing is the Roman Emperor Nero. Apparently he was worshiped so much that he became god-like and somehow achieved immortality. He and several other former Roman Emperors that were apparently behind many of the things in the previous series (such as funding the ship Luke sailed on in the first Percy Jackson series) now choose to strike and take over the world. This, to me, sounds rushed and unnecessary. There are only so many times that the campers of Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter can be put into danger before I don't care anymore. After Kronos and Gea, I just can't see anyone else as being much of a threat. Also, how the magic system works with the multiple oracles confused me. I think it was just a plot device so that there was some achievable goal for Apollo to get to. And, assuming that Kronos or Gea had succeeded in their plan to take over the world, I am still not clear as to how the Roman Emperors would rule the world assuming Kronos or Gea had won.

Then there are just some other things that really annoyed me. One is how certain established characters act in this series. One example would be Chiron. In the other series, he was wise and patient, willing to hear everyone's suggestions before deciding anything. In a certain scene here, when Apollo tries to tell him that he believes to have found out what is causing all the problems at Camp, and that they are walking into a trap, Chiron just brushes him off in favor of setting up a three-legged race to the death, Then there were the references to pop culture. I'm not saying that some things like online videos and smartphones should not be referenced, because this is a modern book, but there were so many pop culture references that they felt like they were going for cheap laughs. There were many times where I considered how much of these jokes would become dated in five years, let alone ten.

In the end, one good character in the form of Apollo, does not an awesome novel make. I was willing to give this book a three out of five until the very ending of this book. It not only annoyed me but it angered me. Here it is At the very end Percy Jackson just has to come in and help save the day. Despite the fact that Percy stated that he was not going to help Apollo on this quest, he just has to come in on the final battle and help to save everyone. I can't help but think that Riordan just couldn't leave his boy alone, and just had to force him in. It was so forced, it angered me. This shows that Riordan was unable to move on at all, and let the strength of the writing and characters stand on its own. That, along with the fact that the writing seems to have regressed, and I cannot think of any reason to read this book again. I MIGHT read the next one, but I do not know how much I will be looking forward to it. As much as it pains me, I have to give this book a two out of five. You may enjoy it, but I did not.