Title: The Lost Hero
Author: Rick Riordan
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Publication Date: October 2010
Jason wakes with a start. He’s on a bus holding hands with Piper, a girl he doesn’t know, and a boy called Leo is cracking jokes with him like they’ve been friends forever. Jason has apparently been a student at a reform-type school called the Wilderness School for several months, but he has no memory of it, or of any aspect of his life.
Then his teacher is attacked by a jock gone crazy, a flying chariot carrying two teenagers arrives to save the day, and Jason finds himself neck-deep in a story straight out of Greek mythology: the old gods are real, and somehow it’s up to Jason to discover the whereabouts of Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon.
Quick thoughts
I love me some Rick Riordan. I fell in love with his first series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and couldn’t wait to get my hands on the first book in his spin-off series, The Heroes of Olympus.
Jason’s memories are gone, and the one god who can answer his questions has suddenly disappeared. Which is inconvenient, considering the fact that Annabeth, a daughter of Athena, seems to think that Jason holds the key to solving the Great Prophecy and saving the world.
The closer the trio comes to solving the mystery of Jason’s missing memory, the more danger in which they find themselves. Everyone has secrets, and they must learn to trust each other and work together.
I’ve always liked the characters and stories contained within Greek mythology, and I love that Riordan is updating and re-telling those stories through modern lenses. And now there’s another level of nerdiness, because Jason seems to know an awful lot about the Greek gods’ Roman counterparts.
As I mentioned in my recent Book Blogger Hop: Character post, my favorite character by far is Leo. While many of the characters are dealing with problems, Leo is the first actually damaged character that Riordan has written, and I’m really going to like seeing more of his journey.
I can’t give away much more, mainly because I learn things about Jason at the same time as he learns about them. Only the first book in the series has been released, and I’m eager to see how the characters and the plot develops.
Kick-ass Quotes:
“ ‘And, hey, maybe you can fly, too. Like jump of a building and yell, “Flame on!” ’
‘Leo snorted. “If I did that, you would see a flaming kid falling to his death, and I would be yelling something a little stronger than “Flame on!” ’ ” (p. 287)
What do you think about Riordan’s novels? Who’s your favorite Greek (or Roman) god or goddess?
