The Lost Hero - Rick Riordan

It has been so long since I last dove into the world of Percy Jackson and the Greek Gods. I read the Heroes of Olympus series in Middle School which was too long ago. Therefore I wanted to do a reread before I read the Trials of Apollo series.

The Lost Hero is about Jason, who in the beginning wakes up in a bus, with no memory of who and where he is. Next to him, he finds Piper and Leo, who are apparently his friends. The three youngsters find their way into the Camp Half-Blood and discover that they are demigods. Together they go on a quest, on which they have to find the missing god of marriage Hera, who has the key of giving Jason his memory back.

There is something about Rick Riordan's books that make them feel like going back home. His books are full of humour and are generally a good time. His characters are really relatable: they go through the problems every teenager goes through when it comes to finding yourself and becoming confident. He has also really made an effort to make is a book as diverse as possible, which is absolutely amazing.

After reading the Lost Hero I absolutely loved it. I was kind of scared that I wouldn't love it as much as I did before but boy was I wrong. I think that I liked it more than in middle school. All in all, this reread was not a bad idea.

One thing I really love about Riordan's books is the writing style. I normally don't really like when the writing style is trying to be funny, but Riordan really succeeds in that department. His sarcastic style actually makes me laugh. Also, I really appreciate, that his style is really accessible and easy to get through. It feels like someone is telling me a story around the campfire.

I really enjoyed the plot in the Lost Hero. The plot is really fast-paced, even though the book is about 500 pages (it didn't feel like a 500-page book when I was reading it) It was really lovely to see that every character of the trio got to shine in their own way and bring out their strengths. 

The characters in the Lost Hero are relatable and really enjoyable. They also go through a lot of development, since they are struggling with their identity and confidence. I also really appreciated that there was a good amount of diversity in this book since Piper's dad is Native American and Leo's mom is Hispanic. However, I'm really looking forward to reading the following books in the series since I know that Riordan really starts to put an effort into diversity in the later books.

The major themes in this book were finding and accepting yourself, and also the power of teamwork. Even though these themes have been done to death, especially in children's and YA literature, I felt like Rick Riordan handled them well and didn't talk down at all or push the themes to your face. I think everyone can relate to the struggles these teens are going through and therefore it is important to handle them.

Overall, I can say that this reread was successful. I really enjoyed the Lost Hero and would still recommend it to everyone!