Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle (Book One)

I absolutely loved Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series but had never got round to reading the follow up, Heroes of Olympus series. So when I saw there was a new series set in the same world, I was excited to give it a go without feeling the need to catch up, so to speak. Unfortunately, I felt The Hidden Oracle was very much a follow on from the other books and it seemed like I was missing information in places. It also contains spoilers for those Heroes of Olympus books if you haven’t read them.

The idea of Apollo falling to earth in a mortal teenage boy’s body was a good one and the story is narrated by Apollo which gives a bit of a different point of view. But I didn’t feel all that attached or sympathetic towards him. He’s a bit of a self-entitled whiner, and his self-discovery that he’s not all that likeable was a bit clichéd.

Maybe the thing that really didn’t work for me was the fact that Apollo is thousands of years old and quite wise to the world but he’s narrating a book for children. So he’s not quite got the voice of the teenage boy he has become, but he’s not convincing as a god either. This is probably less of a problem for the book’s target audience.

I mean, there’s loads of fun, because this is a Rick Riordan book. Yet it was lacking all those wonderful mythology in jokes from the Percy Jackson days. I would have liked a bit more inkling to what Apollo had done and some development towards him becoming a god again. I guess Rick must be planning on keeping him mortal for the whole “Trials of Apollo” series though.

If you like haiku, each chapter starts with one. Although they are of varying quality and humour as Apollo has also lost his godly poetry skills too.

Review copy provided by publisher.

What happens when you are a god one moment and end up becoming a mortal named Lester Papadopoulos?

This is what happened to Apollo but the only problem is Apollo does not remember what he has done to have caused Zeus to punish him in such a form. His memories are clouded but he knows he has to find Percy to help figure it out. The only problem is the fact he now has a tagalong who saved his life and thus owes a life-debt to.

This book was hilarious. Apollo reminded me so much of Gilderoy Lockhart in every sense. A drama queen (or king if you want to correct it), narcissistic, and selfish little bastard who bemoaned his fate whenever he had a moment to do so. He was hilarious in his narrative and even the haikus he tried so hard to make at each chapter. Some of them were, of course, a bit of a foreshadow but others were simply failed attempts of humor.

There are some that believe the author was a bit of a sell-out due to his continuous need to milk the cow but I don't think so. There is still much in the mythology world that could be used as material to continue to bring forth the Percy Jackson universe. There are still villians that may be hiding in the shadows still and remember the Gods themselves were never angels.

Rick Riordan remains my favorite author. I don't think that is ever going to change regardless of how he twists the Greek, Roman, and Norse universes to continue to roll out books for kids to read.