The House of Hades

This is the last book that I'm rereading in the Heroes of Olympus series. Because of this, I never considered that I would have so many feels about this book. I realize now, that there were some growth elements that I missed reading before, and I also have some new thoughts on characters that I didn't get along with the first time around.

Firstly, there is a lot of character development. SO MUCH CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!! If I were to list it all out, I'd be here writing for a week, so let me just get those I liked out of the way: EVERYONE! Everyone has excellent character development and grows in some way. I liked how Leo manages to find himself someone to care about. I like how Frank grew into the Mars side of his family, as well as his Poseidon heritage. I also liked how Percy showed more of a darker side to his character. This book showed both him and Annabeth at their limits, both mentally, physically, and emotionally. I also liked how Percy was made to think of how one treats others and how an identity is tied to what we do or don't do, not intentions of those actions. Everyone gets their moment to grow and change, and that is just awesome. I suspect that this is so the last book isn't weighed down with other character development, but I don't care. I think that is the right choice.

I even liked Neco more this time around. Granted, I didn't like how his homosexuality was handled, but whatever. Okay, I'll offer more of an explanation. Firstly, let me say that I have no problem with Neco being gay, nor with gay characters, or gay people in real life for that matter. I like that he revealed himself to Jason, but I don't like how this was supposed to explain away all of his teen angst. I mean, really, his being a son of Hades, and a child from the 1940's wasn't enough to make him an outsider? He had to be gay as well? Also, I don't like how he was so angry at people, and that was written off as him being uncomfortable with his sexuality. I just don't think that it made sense with his character. I would even dare to say that it wasn't organic, and that either Riordan or the publishing company put it in at the last minute. That is how mishandled it feels to me.

There are some things that I didn't like with regards to the writing, like some modern pop culture references. Then, there is Bob the Titan. While I like the lesson he teaches Percy, and the reader as well, I don't like how I would have had to read a companion novel to get his full story. I think that his character arc isn't complete unless the reader has read the short story about him battling percy and losing his memory. This, I think, is a fault because a good story should have the strength to stand on it's own (within the context of this being a series).

Still, those are minor gripes that I happily ignore and say that this book deserves a five out of five! It is an excellent book, and I am super excited for the next and final book in the series.