book review: the lost hero (heroes of olympus, book I) by rick riordan.

I've been meaning to start this series for ages, and I finally did it!

The Lost Hero

(The Heroes of Olympus series)

by Rick Riordan

Disney-Hyperion, 2012

4.5/5 stars

From the publisher:

Jason has a problem. He doesn't remember anything before waking up on a school bus holding hands with a girl. Apparently she's his girlfriend Piper, his best friend is a kid named Leo, and they're all students in the Wilderness School, a boarding school for "bad kids." What he did to end up here, Jason has no idea-except that everything seems very wrong.

Piper has a secret. Her father has been missing for three days, and her vivid nightmares reveal that he's in terrible danger. Now her boyfriend doesn't recognize her, and when a freak storm and strange creatures attack during a school field trip, she, Jason, and Leo are whisked away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood. What is going on?

Leo has a way with tools. His new cabin at Camp Half-Blood is filled with them. Seriously, the place beats Wilderness School hands down, with its weapons training, monsters, and fine-looking girls. What's troubling is the curse everyone keeps talking about, and that a camper's gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist they are all-including Leo-related to a god.

Rick Riordan, the best-selling author of the Percy Jackson series, pumps up the action and suspense in The Lost Hero, the first book in The Heroes of Olympus series. Fans of demi-gods, prophesies, and quests will be left breathless--and panting for Book Two.

As I mentioned, I've been meaning to read The Heroes of Olympus series for a long time. I really enjoyed the Percy Jackson series--not without some criticisms, and not without favoring some books in the series over others. But as a whole, I thoroughly enjoyed the series as the fun, funny, adventurous romp that it is, populated by colorful characters against the backdrop of Greek mythology painted with a light, humorous, modern touch. So, of course I've intended to dive into the follow-up series at some point. It's been a few years, but here I am, back to the world of the demigods!

The Good:

• I think if I had read this right after finishing the Percy Jackson series, I would've been disappointed in the switch to shifting points of view, because it's not Percy and because it's a big difference from the previous series. But having waited quite awhile, I actually really enjoyed the switch up.
• Just a great, solid story from Riordan! Tightly woven, wonderfully plotted, exciting and engaging. It pulled me in immediately. This guy does epic adventures well.
• I love the subtle way this story takes a step toward being more grown up than the original Percy series. Longer, more epic, more complicated, older characters...but young, avid Percy fans could jump in and not be out of their depth by any stretch. The writing style is basically the same, even if just a bit more mature with the distance from Percy. Because, let’s face it, he's not the most mature demigod!
• The characters were great. Jason maybe fell the most flat, but with no memories, that's kind of forgivable. Piper and Leo were nicely fleshed out and quite relatable and likable.

The Bad:

• I don't have any serious criticisms. This solid series opener was better written than some of the Percy installments, in my opinion. If anything, you could argue that it was almost too much of the same, but...if you finish the Percy books and are ready to dive into the Heroes series, you're probably not looking for something wildly divergent from the demigod adventures you know and love.

The Unexpected:

• Not much to report here, either. The story pretty much played out and read how I expected it to based on my Percy experience, if not a little more maturely (see the good above).
• As far as finer points go, there were some pretty juicy twists and reveals that surprised me! But I can't spoil them for you, sorry! ;)

The Takeaway:

Loved it! I was not disappointed. I'm ready to dive into the rest of the series, which I hope continues strong with the momentum of The Lost Hero. If you enjoyed the Percy Jackson series, I think you'll love this one, and if you haven't read Percy yet and you enjoy fast-paced, funny fantasy-adventure, you've got a lot of catching up to do!

book review: star wars: jedi academy by jeffrey brown.

Graphic novel time! I just finished reading Star Wars: Jedi Academy, which is book one in a graphic novel series by Jeffrey Brown. You may know his other books, like Goodnight, Darth Vader, Darth Vader and Son, or Vader's Little Princess. We own all of the above at my house!

Not only did I have a reader's advisory goal for work to read some children's graphic novels, but I also wanted to read this one in particular because it seemed like a great option for lovers of the Origami Yoda series (myself included) and I wanted to check it out to see if it's suggest-worthy to my library kiddos who love those books. Newsflash: it is! And to boot, I'd recommend it to any adults who are into Star Wars and love reading children's books for the humor and light touch.

A brief rundown: this quick read is part one of the story of Roan Novachez, a young boy from Tatooine who wants to go to Pilot Academy Middle School (ha) but ends up at the Jedi Academy instead. Adventures, mishaps, laughs, and triumphs ensue.

I would totally recommend this one to kids of any age--this would be the perfect read for a young reader who is advanced in reading ability but needs the content to be younger-kid appropriate. I'd also recommend it, as I said, to big "kids" like me who love Star Wars and enjoy reading humorous kid lit.

On that same note, I'd also recommend the Origami Yoda series by Tom Angleberger to both of those crowds, too! Hilarious, adorable, nerdy, fun, light, quick reads.

I'll definitely read the follow-ups in the Jedi Academy series at some point. And now I'm excited to try another children's graphic novel. Any suggestions? (No Pokemon, please! Ack!)

book review: armada by ernest cline.

I know I'm a little late to the game, but I've finally gotten around to reading Armada by Ernest Cline!

I loved-loved-LOVED his first book, Ready, Player One, which grabbed me with the tone, sense of humor, and plot, and intrigued me with its pop culture references. I mean, big nerd here, lover of video games, watcher of '80s movies, and sometimes-player of DnD, all of which were vital parts to the plot of RPO. Some of the references in RPO were probably 5-10 years before my time, but though the book was heavy with them, it still worked for me. So, maybe it's not fair to judge Cline's second book on the merits of his first one, but...I did anyway. I went into Armada expecting something at least somewhat in the same vein--great plot and dense with nerd culture references but not enough to bog it down too much. For the most part, I was not disappointed.

To give you a brief run-down without spoiling it for you...basically, this is the story of Zack Lightman, a high school senior whose love of sci-fi alien butt-kicking video games turns out to be useful in a real-deal alien invasion that is suspiciously just like those in his favorite movies and video games. It turns out there is way more going on than meets the eye, and different things at stake than anyone realizes.

Awesome:

--Cline's narrative was more focused and tighter in Armada than in Ready, Player One. I guess that's a positive and a negative for me, though; I felt like the story flowed better, but I actually missed some of the layers and texture RPO seemed to possess through the heavy plot.

--The nerd references were present, as in RPO, but they were better-executed. Less unnecessary description and more in line with the narrative instead of extraneous to it. And, bonus for me, the video games and sci-fi movies referenced were ones I was much more familiar with.

--Decent characters, fun plot, overall a pretty great and enjoyable story. It was an approachable sci-fi story that fans of the genre and those not as hardcore about it could appreciate and enjoy.

Less awesome:

--I felt like most of the supporting characters were underdeveloped. They were great, but I was left wanting more of them! The focused narrative meant that the details kind of suffered. I felt like Cline sort of overcorrected a little bit after many complained he overdid the descriptive tangents in RPO.

--I guess the same could be said for some of the plot and action throughout the book, as well--I was left wishing it had dug deeper into everything. It just felt a little rushed.

--Things tied up a little too quickly and too neatly in the end. There was a crucial, emotional scene that hit me in the appropriate feels, but it almost took me by surprise and then ended almost too abruptly. Again, a little rushed.


All that said, I really enjoyed this second outing from Ernest Cline! I can't wait to read whatever he writes next. Tone and sense of humor are probably the biggest things I read for and judge on, and he hits those RIGHT on the head for me.

For more on Armada and Ernest Cline, check out these links:

• More Info
• Author Bio

**Disclaimer: I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review. However, all opinions are my own!

crickets on the book front.

I know, it has been a good while since I posted a book review! That was supposed to be my new direction here, right? So, where are all the book reviews?

Well, life has been a little hectic, and I've been a little bit all over the place with my reading. here's a quick update to prove I'm still reading--


///I just finished reading the Origami Yoda series by Tom Angleberger for my library book club for kids! The whole series was hilarious, light, silly, nerdy, and I would totally recommend it to adults as well as kids--especially nerdy, Star Wars-loving adults. It was written for kids, but it was written by one of US, and that makes it a super fun read.

Oh, also? I posted about my most recent installment of my Origami Yoda book club on Instagram, and guess what? The author, Tom Angleberger, commented on my post!! Squeeeee!!!

How cool is that?!?


///I'm currently reading: Armada by Ernest Cline. I *loved* his book Ready, Player One, and I'm looking forward to making some progress with this one (I just started it) and getting into the story. I'll post a review as soon as I can manage to finish it!

///I must admit that a portion of my time lately has also been spent watching a tv show: the SyFy adaptation of one of my favorite book series ever, The Magicians (by Lev Grossman). It's all kinds of good and all kinds of not at the same time. Adaptations are always a mixed bag for something you love this hard. I plan to post some more detailed thoughts on this one soon.

On that note, there's also the new season of Game of Thrones to monopolize more of my time. But, sorry-not-sorry, I'm diving head-first into this season. I can't wait to see where this story goes now that the book readers and tv-only folks are on the same page, so to speak.


Well, I guess that's it for now. I'm off to hopefully squeeze in more reading time!