The Audio File: Residents of Proserpina Park: Season 3

By now it should be clear how much I utterly adore Residents of Proserpina Park. An urban fantasy audio drama where you get to learn about mythical creatures from around the world? Hey, this is my happy place. We’ve already had two amazing seasons, and now it is onto the third. Oh, but three really is the magic number. This is a very special season indeed. Without further ado, let’s get into it. We’re taking a look at season three of Residents of Proserpina Park.

When we last left our heroes, they had just come to a shocking revelation: the park is named Proserpina Park! Oh, and Sam is back. That’s also pretty important. Ah, but Sam isn’t alone. He’s joined by an old friend named Jessica. She has a freewheeling devil-may-care personality, and a very cavalier when it comes to the creatures of the park. Jessica is back to settle some old business. Business that Dog, the gang’s loyal alien in canine disguise, has some connection to. It has something to do with a particularly mysterious creature. 

Alina and her friends are going to have to venture into the depths of the park to find answers. They must be sure to keep their wits sharp. For, in this season, we shall meet the tricksters who call the park home. Meanwhile, Mirai is having her own adventures in Japan. She has found her way to a village populated by yoaki. She’s certainly out of place as a mere human, but she’ll make some unlikely allies during her time in the village. Everyone buckle up, because this season of Residents of Proserpina Park is sure to be a wild ride.

This season of Residents of Proserpina Park was a bit of a new experience for me. I was one of the backers for the season three Indiegogo campaign. So, I got to listen to all the episodes before they were released to the general public. It was an interesting experience to binge the episodes, but still very much enjoyable. Though, I did kind of miss getting to hear the theme music at the beginning and end of each episode. Not that this was a dealbreaker or anything like that, mind you. There was one other way that this season was different for me personally, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

Season one was intro to World Mythology and Folklore. Season two was all about creatures of the night and other monsters. Season three is all about the tricksters, but it also stands out from its predecessors in another way. Most of the creatures featured in season three tend to be of the chattier variety. This is very much by design. Angela Yih has said that there’s only so many times you can recycle the roar and snarl sound-effects before they get old. I certainly agree with that, and it isn’t like chatty creatures are unprecedented. The first two seasons gave us the kappa, the aswang, and of course JD, among others. Personally, I think it is great that Residents of Proserpina Park is keeping things fresh. Each episode of season three also includes an after credits bonus scene. So, you want to make sure to stick around until the very end of each episode. This season is also slightly longer. We got twelve episodes this season, rather than the usual ten.

Okay, so, who is this Jessica person? I speculated, in my review of season two, that Jessica might be something not quite human. But no, it would seem that I was wrong. Jessica is merely a garden variety human. She did manage to capture a genie, and I don’t mean the kind that are blue and sound like Robin Williams. The original jinn from Arabian Folklore were really more like gods in terms of power. There is one minor discrepancy, however. Dog mentions that some people blame mental health problems on jinn. Except, jinn verifiably exist in the Residents of Proserpina Park universe. So, how does that work out? I suppose you could justify it by saying that they can cause mental health issues, but natural causes are far more likely to be the case. This was kind of on my mind, as it does tie-in with something we’ll discuss in the spoilers section. Oh, and you know how Sam can see the creatures, but can’t hear them? Jessica is the exact opposite. She can hear the creatures, but can’t see them. We’ll get more into that later.

Anyway, getting back on track, Jessica provides a foil to Alina. In doing so, Jessica highlights a major theme of this season. In the immortal words of John Lennon, you get by with a little help from your friends. That is very much true with Alina. Drew and Jun frequently act as the voices of reason, and help reign Alina in, and dial back her impulses. I would imagine that it isn't a coincidence that we learn more about Drew and Jun’s backstories this season. Jessica is, essentially, how Alina would have turned out if she didn’t have her friends, or if she had alienated them. Jessica tends to rush in first, and ask questions later, if at all. She tends to focus on whether she can do something, rather than if she should do it. Jessica is determined to become the most powerful being in the park. It doesn’t matter how many creatures she has to hurt to achieve this.

Alina and Jessica also contrast with how they treat Sam. They both wronged Sam and abused his trust. Alina brought her friends to the park, when Sam explicitly told her not to, and Jessica…well get into that in the spoilers section. However, they tried to make amends in very different ways. Alina does her best to sincerely apologize and make amends. It definitely helps that Drew and Jun are there to keep her calm and focused. Jessica, by contrast, has a single-minded focus on correcting her mistake. She’s been avoiding Sam and Dog, and in the process, further alienated them. I suppose another theme of this season is about the importance of communicating, and talking things out when you have a problem. One gets the impression that Jessica, Dog, and Sam could have saved themselves a lot of grief if they had just been more open about their problems, instead of avoiding each other.

As previously noted, we get to learn a bit more about Drew and Jun’s backstories. We learn that Drew tried college, decided it wasn’t for them, dropped out, and doesn’t have any concrete plans in life. They’re just going wherever the winds of fate take them. They’re content to take things one day at a time. They’re aware this puts them in contrast to Alina and Jun, who are both very ambitious. Drew is well aware that they will probably part ways with Alina and Jun one day. However, they don’t despair. It isn’t how much time they have with Alina and Jun, but how they spend it that matters. Even if they must part ways eventually, Drew will always have Alina and Jun’s backs.

This is quite a thoughtful and introspective moment from what tends to be a fairly lighthearted audio drama. It rings very true to my own experiences. I’ve had many friends come and go over the years. It is always sad when that happens, but each person we meet changes us, and leaves a bit of themselves with you. So, it’s like they’re still with you even when they’re gone. For however long it lasted, they were your friend, and nothing will change that.

On a lighter note, we learn more about Jun’s interest in space. He wants to be an astronaut, but he also likes to theorize about alien lifeforms. He likes to theorize about how the aliens might evolve and adapt to different environments. Well, that was certainly unexpected. It appears that Jun is a speculative evolution enthusiast. I’m also involved in that community. We theorize about all that paths evolution might take. We imagine worlds where evolution went different in the past, we imagine how it might go in the future, and we do indeed imagine how it might play out on alien worlds. If you’d like an introduction to speculative evolution, may I recommend the r/SpeculativeEvolution subreddit and the Curious Archive channel on YouTube?

I was pleasantly surprised that we got an entire episode devoted to Mirai’s adventures in Japan. I had been hoping we might get something like this at some point. She has found herself in a village inhabited entirely by yokai. She has Fox Ears the kitsune to help her out, but she also gains another ally named Daichi. He is a character that Angela Yih designed a while ago, but only implemented into the story this season. I knew, from the audition forms, Daichi felt ashamed of his body. That could only mean one thing: a tanuki. I did wonder if perhaps he’d be one of the more obscure yoaki, but he was represented by the raccoon emoji. The auditions didn’t outright say what creature the role were. Angela wanted it to be a surprise for the listeners. So, a raccoon emoji clearly mean tanuki, which are also known as raccoon dogs.

Tanuki are usually depicted as jolly mischievous tricksters in Japanese Folklore. They’re shapeshifters, much like kitsune, and the two are often depicted as rivals. I should also note that tanuki are a real animal. They’re also called raccoon dogs; though, they are neither a raccoon or a dog. Also, as far as we know, they do not shapeshift or talk. Now, why would Daichi be ashamed of his appearance? Hmm, how do I put this delicately? Guess I better just say it. Tanuki are famous for having massive testicles, and being able to make them bigger. There’s even a popular children’s song in Japan all about tanuki testicles. There’s a scene where Daichi uses his ball sack to form a massive wall to temporarily hide Mirai from the other yokai. I guess you could say that scene got real balls-to-walls insane. Hey, don’t give me that look, the joke practically writes itself.

In all seriousness, I did enjoy Daichi as a character. I liked the way he contrasted with Fox Ears. Daichi tends to be friendlier and speaks to Mirai as an equal, whereas Fox Ears tends to be more aloof, haughty, and cryptic. That isn’t to say Fox Ears doesn’t throw Mirai a rope now and again, but she certainly likes to toy with Mirai.

Naturally, we get to meet all sorts of amazing new creatures from across World Mythology and Folklore. I had been hoping we might meet Anansi, the trickster spider god of the Akan people, at some point. Lo and behold, this season more than delivered on that. Vincent C. Davis gave such an absolutely wonderful performance. He sounded almost exactly how I always envisioned Anansi sounding. It was pitch-perfect casting. And let’s not forget the writing in that episode. It carried as great sense of suspense and mystery.

In other creatures, I loved getting to meet the wemategunis. It is a creature from the folklore of the Lenape people. I always appreciate getting to learn more about Native American cultures. One of the most famous stories about the wemategunis is how it helped a young gambler. The gambler had lost his eyes to the Chief of Gambling, who is a spirit that lives on the Moon. The wemategunis agreed to help after the young gambler promised to give up gambling for good. Given some things we’ll touch on in the spoilers section, I get the feeling that including the wemategunis in this season wasn’t coincidence. I also liked that part of that episode where Alina had to stay behind, and gave her recorder to Sam and Terry. So, we get to experience that part of the episode from Alina’s perspective, or lack thereof.

Okay, let’s see, what am I forgetting? Oh, right, I’m in this season too! I got to voice Slenderman. Yes, the monster from all of those creepypastas. He was included as an example of modern-day folklore. This was the first major voice acting role that wasn’t a bit part. I’m very excited that I actually got to be part of Residents of Proserpina Park. I had a lot of fun voicing Slenderman. Angela said she envisioned Slenderman sounding like God from Puppet History of the Universe. So, I tried to mimic that style. By all accounts, I did pretty well. I love the distorted sound-effects that Angela included for the parts where Slenderman really shows his true colors. And hey, who knows, maybe you’ll get to hear me again when season four rolls around.

Thankfully, we didn’t have any “who’s on first” issues because of my name. I briefly got confused when the recording schedule said Sam, but then I remembered we were doing it by character name, not real name. Though, amusingly, my day job is working as an edutainer at the Shreveport Aquarium. I educate the public about all sorts of marine creatures, but I also make sure the guests behave, and the touch tank animals stay safe. Even more funnily, one of my managers is named Jessica. Don’t worry, she and I are on good terms with each other. Most of my co-workers have listened to the episode I was in, and all give it high marks. Now I just need to get them to listen to all the other episodes of the show.

A big thank you to Angela Yih for giving me this opportunity. Also, thank you to Ben Pollizi and Ashley Dawson. You were both really nice during recording. Sorry I sounded like I was five seconds away from having a panic attack. I was worried I’d screw up, and my baseline tends to be anxious. But I did have a lot of fun, and I’d happily do it again.

Okay, now for the part where we get into the spoilers. Get off the ride now if you don’t want any of that.

Last chance, you sure you want to keep going?

Well, if everyone who wants out is gone, let’s get into it.

In my previous reviews, I came up with several theories about why Sam can’t hear the creatures of the park. Many of my ideas were very exotic and imaginative. However, the actual answer turned out to be a tad simpler. In fact, it was practically staring me in the face. Turns out, Sam and Jessica were cursed after the ran afoul of the Aos Si, also known as the fae, or the Fair Folk. I guess I let my imagination get carried away, and imagined things that were fun to think about, rather than what was likely. I can be a bit slow on the uptake at times. For example, I knew that Angela Yih cited Scooby-Doo as one of the inspirations for Residents of Proserpina Park. It took til now for me to connect the dots that the podcast follows a group of meddling young adults, and a talking dog, solving mysteries. Also, the lion dogs are named Dio and Gi. I though maybe it was a JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure reference, but upon further inspection, it was a pun on D-O-G.

Anyway, the Aos Si aren’t the kind of fairies who have tea parties in the garden. These are the original, darker and wilder, fairies from Celtic Mythology. In Ireland, the Tuatha Dé Danann were the pre-Christian gods, but got reimagined as mere spirits following Christianization. Albeit, very powerful ones. Think, the forces of nature given physical form. It isn’t that Aos Si don’t have any morality, but their morality is utterly incomprehensible to humans. So, they’re kind of like creatures H.P. Lovecraft might have dreamed up.

So, Sam was cursed to not hear the creatures, and Jessica can’t see them. See no evil, hear no evil, where’s speak no evil? To explain that, we have to delve into another revelation: Sam is gay. He was worried that Alina had a crush on him, but turns out she’s asexual and/or aromatic. Well, Drew says that Alina is the type to look, but not touch. We also have to assume that Alina probably has ADHD, given how impulsive and easily distracted she tends to be. Ah, but there was a special someone in Sam’s life. Jun’s name is short for Junpei. I bring this up because he has a twin brother named Junichi, who used to be Sam’s boyfriend. Unfortunately, Junichi was cursed to not speak of the creatures. This manifested as him losing his memories, and turning sickly. This is why Sam has such a strong air of melancholy about him.

But what did Jessica, Sam, and Junichi do that brought this curse upon them? It involved a new creature. A creature even newer than Slenderman, but who could it be? I was spinning my wheels trying to figure it out, but it was a fool’s errand. I would have never guessed the answer, because the creature is one that Jessica, Sam, and Junichi created themselves. From what little we see, it appears to be some sort of shapeshifter, and very powerful. This seems to confirm the theory I had that the creatures pop into existence ex-nihilo because people believe in them hard enough. It reminds me a bit of the concept of the tulpa from Tibetan Buddhism.

I really liked the scene where Alina pleads with Sam that he doesn’t have to go it alone anymore. It tied in nicely with this season’s theme about the importance of friendship. It also demonstrated their development as characters. Alina doesn’t just view Sam as another mystery to solve, or a ticket to an adventure. She now genuinely values him as a friend. Similarly, Sam takes steps towards moving beyond his past. He isn’t completely healed, and there’s still trials ahead, but being about to trust Alina and her friends is a major step forward for him.

Yeah, the whole power of friendship trope might be a bit cliché, and some would say overdone. But you know what? This season of Residents of Proserpina Park pulled it off really well. Ultimately, tropes are tools, and can be done well if handled by a skilled writer. Fortunately, Angela Yih was more than up to the task.

No theorizing from me this time around. I have absolutely no clue where plot is heading, but I can’t wait to find out. This season of Residents of Proserpina Park was something really special. And, you know, not just because I was in it. Several members of the cast received character development, we got to meet the tricksters of the park, we got some serious revelations. We also learned about the importance of friendship, but in a way that felt organic, and was never heavy-handed. There are bright days ahead for Residents of Proserpina Park, and I can’t wait to visit again.

Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time. 

AlloAmericana, Sea Lion Press Interview, and Kill FM 2

It has been a while since I’ve done one of these life update posts. However, I’ve had many major developments happen. Several of these are well overdue. So, let’s get straight into it.

The first item on the agenda. I have had a short story published in an alternate history anthology. So, I’m in the Alternate History Online group on Facebook. I saw a post by my pal Alexander Wallace. He was calling for submission for an anthology he was putting together for Sea Lion Press. They are an independent publishing house specializing in alternate history. The collection is called AlloAmericana, and it focuses on folklore and legends from alternate versions of America. You better believe I jumped at the opportunity to be part of something like that.

My story is called “Coyote and the Great Sturgeon.” It takes place in a world where Japan colonized California in the 17th Century. My inspiration was a Japanese folktale about why Japan has earthquakes. According to legend, there is a giant catfish that lives beneath Japan. It is being held in place by a water god. However, occasionally the god will lose his grip, and that catfish is able to wiggle. And that is why earthquakes happen in Japan, so the legend goes. California is also prone to earthquakes. So, I thought about the myths and legends the Japanese settlers would bring with them. Specifically, how they would change and evolve to fit their new homeland. Shinto and Buddhism are highly syncretic religions that happily adopt deities from across cultures. So, I figured it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume they might appropriate figures from Native American spirituality; such as the trickster Coyote.

Coyote is an interesting figure. He is a trickers, but he often winds up being the one who gets outwitted in his stories. The way I approach the story was to think of what I did with the stories I wrote for The Moonlit Road. “Irwin Tarheel and the Fair Folk” was an adaption of the Japanese folktale of Urashima Taro, and “Golem of the Gullah” was an adaption the Jewish folktale The Golem of Prague. So, I basically tried to imagine the story of stories I’d be retelling in this alternate world.

By all accounts, “Coyote and the Great Sturgeon” has been a great success. Reviews of AlloAmericana frequently signal it out as one of the best stories in the anthology. You can buy AlloAmericana for $7.81 on Amazon. If it is any consolation, I didn’t get a complimentary copy. I had to pay for my own copy just like the rest of you. I must also shout-out a few of the other stories in the collection. “Hear That Cold Steel Cling” by Josiah Depaoli is a really great take on the story of John Henry, but set in a world where the South won the American Civil War. Josiah had some very nice things to say about my story. “Bunyan’s Progress” by Jared Kavanagh is a fun take on Paul Bunyan. “Honest and Loyal” by Alexander Wallace retells the story of George Washington and the cherry tree, but in a world where Washington fought for the British during the Revolutionary War. Really, I could keep going, but suffice it to say, the who collection is absolutely fantastic.

Alex also booked us all some interviews on a couple of podcasts he’s been on in the past. This was to help promote the collection, and let us all explain our process for crafting the stories. We were on episode 9 of The Alternate History Show with Ben Kearns. Our segment begins at 1:09:44. We were also on Living a Life Through Books with Dr. Shaznaz Ahmed. The episode was devoted entirely to all of us talking about our stories, and alternate history in general. Dr. Ahmed was really nice. I had a lot of fun. My only regret is that I couldn’t find the mute button when my dog Wolfie decided to sound the alarm because the scary UPS man rang the doorbell. Thankfully, nobody seemed to mind.

Speaking of interviews, I got interviewed by Sea Lion Press. Alex Wallace put in a good word for me. Sea Lion Press loved interviewing prominent figures within the online alternate history community. This blog of mine is moving on up in the world. Gary Oswald and I chatted about my experience as an audio drama critic, some of my favorite alternate history audio dramas, what I’ve got going on in the future, and, of course, AlloAmerica. It was a really great interview. I’m very proud of it.

I’ve also starting expanding into the world of voice acting. I got to play a small role in 19 Nocturne Boulevard’s segment on Kill FM 2: Fortune’s Favors [Side A]. For those who don’t know, Kill FM is an annual event where several audio drama creators unite to make a weird fiction variety show. The 19 Nocturne Boulevard segment begins at 38:25 and I’m the announcer guy who says “The North Star!” I also provided some crowd chants. A big thank you to Julie Hoverson for letting me be part of the 19 Nocturne Boulevard segment. I loved the concept of a dystopian future with genetically engineered mutant gladiators duking it out. And also, shout-out to Project Gnosis for their awesome segment at 27:45.

19 Nocturne Boulevard is an anthology show created by Julie Hoverson. She also hosts a voice acting cold reads group. The cold read group is very laid-back and non-serious. It’s a great way to practice your voice acting skills in a fun and relaxing environment. Usually, we read scripts from 19 Nocturne Boulevard, but sometimes we read scripts from other audio dramas. For example, we read from Life With Althaar. I’ve had the pleasure of playing the title character, and Althaar has been my absolute favorite role in the group. Not to brag, but everyone always seems to find my take on Althaar to be pretty hilarious. 

The group meets on Wednesday at 6 PM Pacific time, and Sunday at 1 PM Pacific time. I’m usually too busy to join the Wednesday meeting, and my day job at the Shreveport Aquarium often means I can’t make Sundays lately. Still, I try to come whenever I can manage. There’s no commitments, so feel free to join us for whenever, and for however long, you want. You can join the group with this link.

There is one other major voice acting role I’ve had. I’m particularly proud of this one. However, I’m not going to tell you what it is just yet. If you want to find out, you’ll have to wait for my next blog post. My next post is going to be an audio drama review. That’s the only clue you get.

And with that, I’ll see you all next time.

The Audio File: Live From Mount Olympus: Atalanta

Well, I can’t really think of a clever introduction for this one. We’re talking about another fantastic adaptation of Greek Mythology, in audio drama form, today. And one I’ve been eagerly anticipating. We’re taking a look at season three of Live From Mount Olympus.

Atalanta is a conflicted young woman. She was abandoned in the forest as a baby and raised by a family of bears. She loves her home in the forest, but she finds herself increasingly drawn towards human civilization. She is determined to learn about her origins and find her birth parents. She soon becomes renowned for both her fierce prowess in battle, and her incredible beauty. Atalanta must learn to balance her wild nature with the ways of civilization if she is ever going to find her place in the world.

I had previously speculated that we might see the story Atalanta get adapted as a season of Live From Mount Olympus. Atalanta is one of the few Greek heroes who, it could be argued, got a happy ending. Put a pin in that bit for now. However, as we can see, my prediction turned out to be fairly on the money.

The most famous aspect of Atalanta’s story, of course, is how she challenged her suitors to defeat her in the foot race. This happens, of course, but not until the end of the season. To be fair, the race does occur later into the story of Atalanta. Still, I’m remind of how, back in season one, Perseus slaying Medusa took less time than you might expect. However, in another parallel to season one, this just serves to emphasize the aspects that many people tend to forget in retelling of Atalanta’s story. One such aspects is the role that Meleager plays in Atalanta’s story.

Who is this Meleager person? He was the prince of Calydon, and a member of the Argonauts. The Fates connected his life with a piece of firewood. It was prophesied that Meleager would die if the firewood ever burned. Meleager’s mother kept the firewood locked in a special box. The truly cultured among you will notice this is an early example of Chekhov‘s Gun. It is a literary device name for the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It comes from advice he gave to aspiring playwrights. He said, paraphrased, don’t introduce a gun in the first act of a play unless you intend for it to be fired in the last act of a play.

Each season of Live From Mount Olympus has always been a two-person story. Season one was Perseus and Andromeda, season two was Persephone and Demeter, and now we have Atalanta and Meleager. It is Atalanta’s slaying of the Calydonian Boar, and her relationship with Meleager, that gets the lion’s share of the attention in season three. Of course, season three does break the pattern slightly. Meleager dies slightly over halfway through the season. Even then, a big driver for Atalanta’s growth as a character is learning to come to terms with Meleager’s death.

Live From Mount Olympus thrives by filling in the gaps and spaces of the original myths. That remains very true in season three. We spend a lot of time getting to know Atalanta’s adoptive family of bears. In fact, we spend more time with the bears than we do with her human family. At times, I was a bit reminded of Tarzan. Then again…well, actually, I guess Enkidu from The Epic of Gilgamesh would be the original Tarzan. Atalanta is a respectable second, however. We also see that Atalanta feels remorse over all the suitors who are killed as a result of losing the foot race to her. In the original myth, this is kind of glossed over. Here, however, she reflects on how they all have family and friends who will mourn their deaths.

We also get a closer look at Hermes’ godscast. It was just a framing device in pervious seasons. Season three, by contrast, makes it feel more like Hermes is actually producing a podcast. There’s a few scenes where he interviews Artemis and Athena about their role in Atalanta’s story. They both banter a bit with Hermes, and those scenes are written quite well. It never comes across as forced or annoying, unlike certain other podcasts. That means you, Parcast. Getting back on track, I thought this was a nice addition to season three of Live From Mount Olympus.

The voice acting is as fantastic as ever. We see several of our leading voices returning to the spotlight. Joanne Hernandez, who played Persephone in season two, takes center stage as Atalanta. It was fun getting to hear her play a character who headstrong, aggressive, and just a tad cocky. However, she also wonderfully captures Atalanta’s more vulnerable side as well. Divine Garland, who played Perseus in season one, also makes a triumphant return as Meleager. He is tasked with going in the opposite direction of Joanne’s performance. But it should come has no surprise that he captures Meleager’s thoughtful and sensitive nature. He managed to capture that side of Perseus fairly well. I must also give praise to Libby King’s performance as Athena, and Christina Liberus’ performance as Artemis. And, of course, Andre De Shields was just as wonderful as ever as Hermes.

There’s a running theme throughout this season about nature vs. civilization, or put another way, chaos vs. order. Artemis is the representative for team nature, while Athena represents team civilization. I like that neither is portrayed as being better than the other. Artemis and Athena do have friendly competition over who will influence Atalanta more, but it never turns malicious. Artemis and Athena both gives valuable gifts and advice to Atalanta. So, I guess the message is that we’ve all got a little wild and a little civilized inside of us. The trick is to find a way to balance them.

Okay, now I know you’re all wondering this for a while. Just how does Live From Mount Olympus handle the ending of Atalanta’s myth? Well, first we should talk about how the foot race goes. True to the myth, Hippomenes wins the race using golden apples given to him by the goddess Aphrodite. He dedicates each apple to an aspect of Atalanta that he loves. So, she isn’t just intrigued by the apples being shiny. We also get to know Hippomenes before the race, and learn why he loves Atalanta so much. This was, I suspect, done to makes the whole marriage race thing more palatable to modern listeners. I also loved how the announcer guy made the race sound like a modern-day sporting event. It was a fun little touch.

The original myth ends with Atalanta and Hippomenes getting turned into lions after having sex in a temple dedicated to Rhea. This might not seem bad, given how much Atalanta loves the wilderness. However, the Ancient Greeks certainly wouldn’t have viewed it in a positive light. The Ancient Greeks had many strange ideas about sex. One of these was that lions could only have sex with leopards. Therefore, Atalanta and Hippomenes had been cursed to never be able to have sex again.

Obviously, you can’t do any of that in an audio drama aimed at kids. Still, there could be some potential workarounds. Perhaps have them simply kissing and laughing, though that could still come across as unintentionally suggestive, given the audio only medium. Perhaps, Live From Mount Olympus could put a positive spin on the curse. That is, Atalanta could finally be free of civilization, and can return to the wilderness she loves for good. That would, of course, go against the theme of balancing nature and civilization.

However, Live From Mount Olympus took another approach. Season three ends right after the foot race. They do pay some lip service to the original myth. Hippomenes remarks that Atalanta is fierce like a lioness. Also, this is all presented in present tense. So, from the perspective of the gods, Atalanta’s story has come to an end yet. This is certainly a shake-up compared to previous seasons.

I also wonder how this will impact future seasons going forwards. Jason and the Argonauts were all depicted as jerks to Atalanta. So, that rules them out. Theseus was also a jerk to Atalanta, so that rules him out. Atalanta is sometimes a member of the Argonauts, but Greek Mythology is often contradictory. That, and that bit about dumping Ariadne on an island. Hmm, maybe they could tell the story of Theseus, but from the perspective of Ariadne. She married Dionysus after Theseus dumped her, so, she got a happy ending. Maybe they could combine several of the myths about Athena to make a season about her. Dionysus has too much alcohol and sex in most of his myths to get his own season.

I want to make it clear, I’m not faulting Live From Mount Olympus for ending season three the way it did. Greek Mythology has all sorts of things in it that aren’t exactly kid-friendly. Inevitably, this was going to happen at some point. As with many things, it is the journey, not the destination, that truly matters. Season three of Live From Mount Olympus certainly gave me a wonderful journey.

It is with season three that Live From Mount Olympus has officially bowled a turkey. This season retold the story of Atalanta, and highlighted the bits that tend to get downplayed in most adaptations. I certainly hope that there is a fourth season on the way. I certainly can’t wait to see which Ancient Greek myth gets adapted next.

Well, that should do it from me for now. I will see your guys next time.

The Audio File: The Dial-Up: Season 1

The world of audio drama is filled with shows that come in all shapes and sizes. I got my start listening to anthologies. I’ve listened to plenty of serialized shows, as is evidenced by my reviews. Still, I do have a tendency to gravitate towards shorter shows. It gives me lots of fun in a small package, and then I cast off for my next port of call. The audio drama we’re looking at today is definitely on the shorter side. In fact, it is less than an hour long. However, it still manages to tell a great story in that time. Without further ado, we’re taking a look at The Dial-Up.

The Dial-Up begins with a Scottish tech support worker named Lewis. It isn’t the most glamorous job, and the customers can be rather annoying, but it pays the bills. Recently, however, he’s gotten a call that has seriously spiced things up. He’s been contacted by another Scottish dude named Callum. It seems that Callum has never used the Internet before. In fact, he seems to big ignorant about quite a few things. It soon becomes clear that Callum is in the year 1999, while Lewis is in 2022. Lewis and Callum compare and contrast their respective lives. However, they also feel that fate has brought them together for a reason. But what could that reason be?

Like I said, The Dial-Up is very short. It is only four episodes long, and they clock in at a grand total of thirty-seven minutes long. That’s like time, plus change, for an episode of a typical anthology show. As such, this review is probably going to be a bit shorter than my typical output. Be that as it may, I shall try my best to do justice to The Dial-Up.

The Dial-Up is very much a two-man show. Well, technically a three man show. Let’s not forget series creator Philip Catherwood. In terms of voice acting, however, The Dial-Up is carried entirely by David Hepburn and Craig McDonald Kelly. I just loved how David performed Callum as a laidback devil-pay-care kind of guy. Craig did a fantastic job performing Lewis as a sensible straight man to all of Callum’s wisecracks.

This audio drama is a bit light on the sound-effects. We, of course, get to hear the iconic sound of a dial-up modem connecting to the Internet. We do get some cool sci-fi sound effects later on. Though, getting more specific would be spoilers. So, overall, a bit light on sound effects, but no shame in that. I’m working on the first episode of my own audio drama anthology, and it is also a bit light on the sound effects. I just felt that’s what would work best for that episode, and I’m sure Philip felt the same about The Dial-Up. Honestly, David and Craig gave such wonderful and lively performances, I didn’t even notice the lack of sound effects most of the time.

The major theme of The Dial-Up is about the power of the Internet to bring people together. I’m reminded of something Roger Ebert wrote in his review of the movie Pleasantville. He said, paraphrased, that perhaps it is true that we have more problems than people did in the past, but we also have more solutions and opportunities. Lewis bemoans 2022, and longs for the supposed simplicity of life in the 1990s. Callum is quick to point out that the 1990s had its share of problems as well. For example, yes, people did go out more to places like pubs and restaurants. However, that was because they didn’t have any choice but to do so. Callum also points out that many people from the 1990s would kill to have access to all of the apps and Internet stuff that Lewis has at his fingertips.

People having been complaining about how society is going to the dogs, and things were better back in the day, pretty much since human history began. To give on example, I’m reminded of a letter where a Roman rants about how the kids don’t want to wear togas, like good Romans, they want to wear pants like the barbarians. Aristotle was also fond of complaining about how the youths didn’t know what real hardship was.

You would not be reading this review if it weren’t for the Internet. In fact, The Dial-Up, and pretty much every other audio drama I’ve reviewed, would not exist without the Internet. I’ve meet so many amazing people, and kindled so many friendships, thanks to the Internet. As an autistic person, who struggles with social anxiety, I’m forever grateful for all the ways that the Internet has helped make my life easier. The Internet helped me find seamless socks, and for that I am eternally grateful. I’ve also started branching out into voice acting. Yeah, I technically could do that without the Internet, but it would be a lot harder.

Why don’t you take a minute to think about all the ways the Internet has made your life better? I’ll be here when you get back.

Okay, you back now? Good, let’s continue.

Now, all of this isn’t to say we should all cloister ourselves away. On the contrary, sometimes it is nice to get out and about in the real world. It can be quite good to do so every now and again. Indeed, Lewis does encourage Callum to try some of the fun classes and activities that his community center offers. Any virtue taken to excess becomes a vice, as Aristotle famously noted. Hey, he might have been wrong about the youths, but he was right about that. You don’t want to spend all your time in the digital world, but that doesn’t make the Internet a bad thing. On the whole, The Dial-Up takes an optimistic view about our ability to balance cyberspace and fleshspace.

This next bit is just a random observation I made. The plot of The Dial-Up kind of reminded me of the movie Frequency. It also features two dudes commutations across time. Albeit, using ham radio, rather than the Internet. I’ve never actually watched frequency, but I know the basic plot, and that it was later adapted into a television series on The CW. Now, to be clear, I’m not saying The Dial-Up ripped-off Frequency. From what I’ve seen of Frequency, The Dial-Up has enough difference to stand on its own merits. As I often say, it isn’t the plot you have, but how you use it, that truly matters. Still, it was an interesting parallel, and I do wonder if Frequency was a source of inspiration for The Dial-Up.

The Dial-Up tells a complete story, but I do wish it had been just a tad longer. I would have liked to have spent just a bit more time getting to know Lewis and Callum. But it seems this is all we will be seeing of The Dial-Up…or is it? Philip Catherwood has confirmed that we are getting a season two of The Dial-Up. I know that I can’t wait to listen to it. 

But whatever the future holds, I do know that The Dial-Up is a fantastic audio drama. It is about two guys communicating across time, and the power of the Internet to being people closer together for the better. It is short, but sweet. Here’s hoping we see more from Philip Catherwood in the future.

Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time. 

The Audio File: Hannahpocalypse: Season 1

As many of you know, I try to work on my own projects when time allows for it. I find myself with a bit less time for that now that I’m gainfully employed at the Shreveport Aquarium. However, I always make time for those who ask me to review their audio dramas. Frankly, I feel a bit guilty when I’m not writing new reviews. I’m aware it isn’t my job to keep the reviews coming, but still. So, without further ado, let’s get right into it. We’re taking a look at Hannahpocalypse. 

Hannahpocalypse is set in the year 2182. It has been 150 years since the zombie apocalypse destroyed civilization as we knew it. Humanity tried to counter the zombies by building an army of robots. Unfortunately, the robots went rogue, caused a robot apocalypse, and just made things worse. But hey, at least they killed all the zombies. Well, most of them anyway. A few zombies have managed to survive. Hannah is one of these zombies. She basically has dissociative identity disorder. Her human personality is basically a prisoner in her own body. Her animalistic zombie personality is the one in the driver’s seat. Hannah has led a dull and lonely existence. The highlights of her day include chasing red balloons and eating live crows. However, Hannah’s finally found some new companions: us, the listeners! Somehow, Hannah is hosting a podcast about her unlife, and we’re along for the ride.

Hannah’s world is turned upside down when she meets Cali. Cali is a scout from Golden Gate, a city-state in what was once San Francisco. Cali recognizes the spark of sentience buried deep within Hannah. Could this be the key to better relations between zombies and humans? This unlikely duo is about to make their way across the wastelands of what was once the United States. It is a story of love, death, and robots. But, you know, not the Netflix kind.

I was approached to review Hannahpocalypse by series creator Damian Szydlo. He is also the creator of the audio drama Cybernautica. Damian had some very nice things to say about my audio drama reviews. He felt very tacky about asking me to review Hannahpocalypse, but I see no issue. People have all sorts of ways of asking me to review their audio dramas. It is also always great to hear that people enjoy the work that I do with these reviews.

Hannahpocalypse is a member of the Fable & Folly network. If you’ve been following my reviews, then you know what that means. Audio drama roll call! The other fine members of the Fable & Folly family include, but are not limited to, Human B-Gon, Alba Salix, We Fix Space Junk, Harlem Queen, The Carlötta Beautox Chronicles, Spaceships, and Who is Cam Candor?

Hmm, wait a minute. So, the backstory of Hannahpocalypse involves a robot apocalypse. It is mostly set in the United States, but we do see that Canada, along with the rest of the world, was impacted as well. We also have a supposedly non-sentient that turns out to be smarter than she appears to outsiders. Does this mean that Hannahpocalypse is secretly a prequel to Human B-Gon? Well, actually, no. The answer is no. However, Damian Szydlo and Drew Frohmann are both friends, and have respect for each other's work. Both of them are also Canadian. This was all just some random observations I made that weren’t meant to be taken seriously.

Anyway, let’s get into my actual for real observations and thoughts on Hannahpocalypse. The series is billed as being hopepunk. Hopepunk, from what I understand, is fiction that strives to depict a better tomorrow, and a more hopeful future. It isn’t averse to conflict, or even bad things like climate change. However, rather than a future ravaged by climate change, hopepunk chooses to show humans works together to fight against things like climate change. The general philosophy of hopepunk is that sometimes things go bad, but we can work together to fix them.

Now, all of that being said, terms like zombie apocalypse and robot apocalypse are not typically included in the same sentence as the word hopepunk. And yet, despite these seemingly disparate elements, Hannahpocalypse does indeed live up to its descriptor of hopepunk. To explain why, let’s first meet our leading ladies.

Hannah has been a prisoner in her own zombified body for the last 150 years. Despite this, she’s in surprisingly good spirits. Well, at first glance anyway. As the series goes on it becomes increasingly clear that Hannah has gone a tad nutty over the years. To be fair, it would be weird if she wasn’t at least a little insane after all she’s gone through. Though, this does raise an obvious question, how exactly is it that Hannah is hosting a podcast if she can’t control her own body. For that matter, what’s she broadcasting on? The audio drama itself tells us not to think too hard about it. We have several characters, besides Hannah and Cali, who break the fourth wall. This includes those who logically shouldn’t know about Hannah’s podcast or Cali’s status reports. Of course, if we go back to Hannah being slightly crazy, then maybe all those instances are figments of Hannah’s imagination. Of course, in the immortal words of Albus Dumbledore, maybe it is all in her head, but why should that make it any less real?

Hannah is also a lesbian. She had bad luck finding a stable relationship, and turning into a flesh-eating zombie certainly didn’t help. Plus she did eat that pride parade when she first turned. But hey, she’s LGBTQ, and wasn’t in control of her body. So, uh, pretty sure it technically wasn’t homophobic to eat all those people. Anyway, it may have taken 150 years, during which time she kind of went bonkers, but at least Hannah found Cali eventually. And perhaps she’ll even find one of her old friends. Hannah’s friend Mel also got bit, but she turned into a mutant. That means she partially zombified, but retained her human mind. Unlike Hannah, mutants like Mel retain control of their bodies.

One of the things that makes Hannah such an endearing character is the phenomenal performance by her voice…actor? Amanda Hufford uses they/them pronouns, so I’m not sure if voice actor is the correct term. Whatever the case might be, Amanda just did such an amazing job making Hannah sound like a total sweetheart. Their performance reminds me of Amy Adams during the early days of her career in movies such as Catch Me If You Can, Enchanted, and Junebug. Amanda also adds several other layers to Hannah. We get to see Hannah’s endearingly dorky side, such as when Hannah worries about swearing in the podcast, even though nobody can hear her. However, we also get those hints of desperation within Hannah’s voice. You can hear this even when Hannah is clearly trying to put a metaphorical smile on. She’s obviously been screaming her head off mentally for quite some time. She still has a mouth, yet she cannot scream, no matter how hard she tries.

We, of course, have to talk about the other half of our two leading ladies. Cali has grown up in Golden Gate. The city-state prides itself on restoring the best of Old America. In reality, however, Golden Gate has a very warped view of what pre-apocalypse America was like. It is clearly based around rose-tinted nostalgia for a past that never truly existed in the first place. Golden Gate is clearly the right-wing view of America. Hmm, so we’ve got a post-apocalyptic setting, killer robots, mutants, and a moral about the dangers of being blinded by nostalgia. I’m definitely getting some Fallout vibes from Hannahpocalypse.

I bring all of this up because Cali does not fit the mold of Golden Gate. Cali is a lesbian, and Golden Gate is not a particularly LGBTQ friendly place, to put it lightly. So, being a scout was one of the few times she got to truly get herself. Cali is jaded, cynical, and rough around the edges. Despite this, she can be just as much of a dork as Hannah is. Cali gets very excited when she finds a stash of Tank Girl comics from the 1980s. It is a little odd that Cali would be a fan of pop culture from nearly 200 years in the past. On the other hand, it has been firmly established that Cali is definitely a nonconformist.

Abigail Turner gives a multifaceted performance for Cali. It perfectly compliments Amanda Hufford’s performance as Hannah. Cali starts off gruff, tough-as-nails, and gives the impression that she’ll do anything to survive. Then the cracks begin to form, and we start to see a softer side to Cali. The first, besides the comics, is when she sees the faint glimmer of humanity still within Hannah. Cali was taught to fear and hate zombies, and it would have been easy to snuff Hannah out. However, Cali chose to take a gamble on Hannah, and choose kindness over cruelty. Yet this wasn’t a choice born purely out of altruism. Further cracks form, and we get to see just how lonely Cali has become over the years. A good chunk of that bravado and prickliness is just a mask she wears to hide the sadness she carries. Perhaps on some level, Cali chose to spare Hannah because she wanted to believe she’d found someone she could truly be herself with. Granted, her faith was certainly not misplaced. The scene where Cali finally breaks down and admits how lonely she feels is particularly well performed.

One of the main themes of Hannahpocalypse is about how we deal with trauma. Hannah experienced one of the worst things that can happen to someone. However, she only regains control of her life when she stops try to fight against the zombie half of herself. One way of dealing with trauma is to accept what has happened to you and learn to live with it. Like it or not, what happened has happened, and will always be part of you to some degree. However, that acceptance doesn’t mean you have to be a victim for the rest of your life. Hannah is able to regain her agency, both physically and metaphorically, once she truly accepts that she is a zombie. She isn’t just a victim, she’s a survivor, and there is power in being a survivor.

The other major theme, as we’ve already touched upon, is the importance of choosing compassion over cruelty. There’s also a message about the dangers of confusing pessimism with realism or pragmatism. It is never outright stated, but it is implied that Golden Gate suppresses homosexuals in the name of repopulating humanity. There’s a kind of logic to this, but it also requires sacrificing individual liberties and happiness in the name of the “Greater Good.” But that begs an obvious question: who gets to define what the Greater Good is? The leaders of Golden Gate talk big game about the lofty ideals of Old America. However, it is pretty clear that their true vested interest is keeping themselves in positions of power.

To build a world on compassion requires taking risk and gambles. Cali gambled on Hannah still having humanity within her. She also gambled that this might lead to better relations between humans and zombies. I won’t give away the ending. However, I will say that sometimes risks are worth it. There can still be hope for a better tomorrow even when you live in a post-apocalypse world full of zombies and robots. Hannahpocalypse, despite its oddball premise, managed to live up to its hopepunk descriptor.

Now, that being said, I do have a few minor points of critique. As we have noted, Hannahpocalypse deals with several philosophical themes. For most of the series, these are woven into the story organically, and it never feels like I’m being beaten over the head. Episode fifteen, however, was an unfortunate exception to this. It had the characters spend several minutes lecturing the listener about what a terrible place Old America was. They go on and on about the rampant inequality and prejudice that filled America in those days. However, we already cover all of those point, so it came across as incredibly redundant. It also came across as heavy-handed and needlessly preachy. I felt like I was listening to a sermon rather than an audio drama. Thankfully, episode sixteen was a welcome return to form. It was also an incredible finale overall, but getting more specific would be spoilers.

This next one isn’t a complaint, but more an observation. Hannahpocalypse is set in the United States, and deals with American culture, but series creator Damian Szydlo is Canadian. Now, that isn’t to say that Canadians aren’t allowed to comment on America. However, I found it a little odd that Damian decided not to set the story in his home country. Maybe the theme he wanted to deal with worked better in an American context. I admit I’m not too familiar with Canadian post-apocalypse fiction. Here in the United States, we tend to assume that Canada gets eaten whenever the apocalypse happens. 

Damian had said that, in his view, America won the Culture War a long time ago. To give on example, in many countries, people will watch both local television shows and movies, but also American movies and television series. Canada, for instance, requires its television stations to air a certain amount of Canadian content in an effort to combat the torrential flood of American media. As such, if America falls, the rest of the world falls with it. So, he had the zombie outbreak begin in America. He also claims he didn’t think of Golden Gate as being particularly right-wing. I guess that’s where our cultural differences come into play. In America, it tends to be the political right that invokes nostalgia for the past, and the need to return to this so-called golden age. The political left, by contrast, tends to emphasize the negative qualities of the past, such as the rampant inequality and bigotry, and how we need to let go of the past. 

Hmm, here’s another random thought I had. Hannahpocalypse sounds like the phrase “an apocalypse.” And the word apocalypse contains the suffix -caly, which is like the name Cali. Could it be that Hannah and Cali’s names were puns all along? Accord to Damian, this was just coincidence. However, he did find my observation amusing. 

Season one has wrapped up most of the loose-ends fairly neatly. However, Hannah and Cali’s story isn’t over yet. Season two is already being planned. There are certainly several directions for the story to go. For example, we discovered that not all zombies are mindless killing machines. Does the same hold true for robots? It does appear we will get answers to that particular question in season two. I know that I can’t wait to find out which path the story takes.

Well, there you have it. Hannahpocalypse managed to genuinely surprise me. It billed itself as a post-apocalypse zombie hopepunk audio drama. Despite these seemingly disparate elements, it managed to find hope for a better tomorrow within the wastelands of what was once North America. And it did so quite well at that. Give it a listen, and perhaps it will surprise you as well.

Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.

Riordan Retrospective: The Sun and The Star

Welcome once again to my Riordan Retrospective. For those of you just joining the fun, this is my look back at the works of Rick Riordan. That means Percy Jackson, its sequels, and spin-offs. This is less of a formal review and more of a relaxed look back.

Last time, we took a look back at Daughter of the Deep. Rick Riordan’s first science fiction novel, and one based on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. This time, we’re returning to the Riordanverse for a standalone adventure with Nico and Will. We’re taking a look at The Sun and The Star. 

Nico di Angelo is the brooding son of Hades. Will Solace is a son of Apollo with a generally sunny disposition. Together, they are a gay couple at Camp Half-Blood. Through the power of plot convenience, literally every other camper has left camp at the end of summer. What about all those campers who don’t have families to go home to? There must be quite a few of them, right? Uh…hey, now Nico and Will don’t have to worry about people walking in on their cuddle time! Well, except for Chiron and Dionysus, because plot convenience can’t fix everything. And you know what else plot convenience can’t fix? The fact that Bob the Titan, aka Iapetus, is stuck in Tartarus. Quest time! Percy and Annabeth really should be involved, or at least Hazel and Reyna. But hey, can’t be having any icky straight people raining on our yaoi parade, am I right? Nico and Will are going to talk about their feels, retread old ground, lose their previous character development, and, uh…oh, right, they need to get Bob out of Tartarus. Well, anyway, prepare for the beloved world of Rick Riordan to almost literally go to hell in a handbasket. Mark Oshiro’s narcissism and ego are about to take us for a wild ride with two boyfriend, boyfriend, boyfriend, boyfriend, boyfriend, and furthermore, boyfriend.

Usually, I try to objectively summarize the novels we’re looking back at. Unless, of course, Rick Riordan really shit the bed. Though, even then, the only time I felt the need to do so was with The Hammer of Thor. That was a unique blend of bad. Not that The Ship of the Dead was much better. But I guess we’ll have to reset the clock. The Sun and The Star is the worst Riordanverse book since Magnus Chase, and that’s really saying something!

Now, I tried to keep an open-mind going into this book. I was hoping that it would subvert my expectations. And indeed it did…by being infinitely worse than I could possibly imagine. I mean, when the opening scene has the characters playing a G-Rated version of Fuck, Marry, Kill: Star Wars Edition, well, it’s only going to go downhill from there. Everything about that opening scene, from the dialogue, the characterization, and the general set-up, feel like something you’d find in a poorly written fanfiction. Then again, that’s basically what this book is.

So, just who is the co-author of this book? Mark Oshiro is a gay, non-binary, Hispanic who uses they/them pronouns. They used to run a blog where they would review various works of media, usually of the nerd/geek persuasion. Almost invariably, Mark would find some way to talk about either being gay, having had a traumatic childhood, or being a gay person with trauma. If your sexuality is the most interesting thing about you, then you need to seriously broaden your horizons.

Anyway, Mark got popular with a certain clique of speculative fiction writers. The type whose idea of political activism is going on angry Twitter rants, and then blocking anyone who disagrees with them. Very few of said writers actually have the talent to back-up their delusions of eloquence. They loved how Mark parroted their views back at them, and stroked their egos. So, through the power of nepotism, Mark became the It Boy. This was back when Mark still identified as male. Naturally, Rick Riordan was among this throng of clapping seals. We must assume that Rick looked at Mark and said, “My darling! Where have you been all my life?” 

It is painfully obvious that Rick let Mark have almost complete free-reign of The Sun and The Star, and only did the bare minimum of editing. This probably explains the scene where Nico claims that Bianca is his mother, when she’s actually his sister. Really confirms my suspicion that Rick has gotten so big that he’s basically immune to editors at this point. I wonder if that’s part of why Percy Jackson and the Olympians turned out as well as it did. Maybe the editors reigned-in Rick’s excess. Well, that and he had his sons to call him out, and was actually taking his time with crafting the books. Honestly, it was probably a lot of things.

Even at his worst, Rick Riordan books have a certain feel to them. You can always tell that you’re reading a Rick Riordan novel. I don’t get that feeling with The Sun and The Star. I’ve never read any of Mark Oshiro’s other novels, nor do I have any plans to. However, I get the impression that the general feeling and tone would be akin to The Sun and The Star. At times, I had to remind myself I was reading an actual, officially published novel, and not just a poorly written fanfiction.

Now, I want to take a moment and address something. People often use the term fanfiction as shorthand for poor writing. And to be fair, about ninety percent of fanfiction isn’t all that good. I’ve certainly written my fair share of less than stellar fanfics. However, the other ten percent is genuinely quite good. That’s why I’m trying to specify bad fanfiction in this review. Being fanfiction doesn’t make something automatically bad in and of itself. A lot of fanfiction writers just don’t have the same intimate knowledge of the characters that the author does. And you have to factor in all the fanfic writers who are just kids trying to seriously write for the first time. And, of course, there are the zealous shippers, the High School AU writers, the fetish writers, and all the other seedier groups who give fanfiction a bad reputation. But even with all of that, there’s still that ten percent, and it is so worth it to find the diamonds in the rough of the fanfiction world.

Mark Oshiro, however, is most decidedly not part of that glorious ten percent. Many people have noted that Nico felt incredibly off in The Sun and The Star, and I think I know why. Put simply, Nico isn’t being written as Nico di Angelo. He’s being written as Mark Oshiro’s self-insert. Think about it. Mark has pretty much no personality beyond being gay and having experienced trauma. Nico is gay, and he has experienced quite a bit of trauma. So, it isn’t unreasonable to assume Mark felt a kindred spirit in Nico. Unfortunately, Mark grafted their experience onto Nico, and basically turned him into a self-insert of Mark. I’d argue that the same thing happened to Will as well, just in a slightly different way. Will got the chipper manchild side of Mark’s personality, whereas Nico got all the depressed parts. Mark’s depiction of Will can also potentially be read as Mark’s idea of an idealized boyfriend.

Oh yeah, did I mention that Mark just loves the word boyfriend? It appears, at absolute minimum, at least 120 times through The Sun and The Star, according to my rough guesstimation. It gets very grating very quickly. We get it Mark, they’re gay, and they’re in love! You don’t have to remind us every gods damn paragraph! If I was a teacher, I would have docked Mark several points for repetition, and told them to use a damn thesaurus already. I’d also dock Rick several points for buming all the work off to Mark, and for not pulling his own weight in this group project.

I stand by the fact that, prior to The Sun and The Star, Nico was one of the best LGBTQ characters in the Riordanverse. He’s gay, but that isn’t the be all and end all of him. There is way more to his personality than just his sexuality. Unfortunately, Mark Oshiro and Rick Riordan don’t seem to care for silly things like nuance and character development. If anything, Nico has seriously regressed in this book. Back in The Trials of Apollo, Nico was finally taking steps to leave his past behind him, and he was actually starting to become happy. Apparently, Mark and Rick subscribe to the Joss Whedon School of Character Writing. Basically, when in doubt, just make your characters as miserable as possible, and claim it makes them more interesting that way. Needless to say, this thinking is a load of Minotaur dung. Conflict is the driver of stories, yes. However, conflict is not the same as misery. There are ways to create conflict without putting your characters through the wringer. It is the mark of a poor writer who confuses misery with conflict.

I know a lot of people felt Will Solace wasn’t the best choice to be Nico’s love interest. I concede it was a bit random, but I was willing to overlook that for several reasons. First, it was nice to see Nico actually catch a break for once. I also adored how Will called Nico out on his bullshit. The part in The Blood of Olympus where Will tells Nico to stop wallowing in self-pity was the stuff of legends. Oh, but don’t expect to see any of that here. In fact, a big part of Will’s character arc, and I use the term loosely, is learning that it is okay for Nico to be dark. What does that mean? The heck if I know! Mark Oshiro is big on using flowery words and sentences that don’t actually mean anything if you stop to think about them. Best I can figure is that Nico should be allowed to be a perpetually mopey Gloomy Gus because he’s been twisted into Mark Oshiro’s self-insert. Actual self-improvement is like kryptonite to people like Mark.

Speaking of Nico being Mark’s self-insert, let’s talk about Nico’s coming out party. Oh yes, Nico tried to go on a picnic with Will, but the satyrs and dryads misunderstood, and threw a picnic themed coming out party. He even got to wear a flower crown, just like Mark Orshio loves to wear. And then Nico decided to come out to the whole camp in a truly Stunning and Brave way. But wait, there’s more! Nico became a true gay icon. Nay, he became the Homosexual Jesus of Camp Half-Blood. He was so Stunning and Brave that it inspired Jake Mason, Malcom Pace, and Paolo Montes to come out of the closet. That seems like a pretty important detail about all of them to neglect until just now. But hey, did I mention just how Stunning and Brave that Nico was?

Ugh, why? Just why did it have to have such a stupid and cliche scene as that? Oh, wait, I know why. Many people complained that Cupid forcing Nico to admit he was gay was a violation of consent. So, Rick needed to cover his ass, and Mark wanted to feel Stunning and Brave. It was a match made in Tartarus. Also, Cupid violated Nico’s consent, but the satyrs and dryads somehow didn’t, and they all got off scot-free? Uh, do what now? Like I said, Nico is a great character because he’s more than just a gay kid. Apparently, Mark Oshiro and Rick Riordan no longer agree. That, or Rick can’t write minorities unless they’re at least somewhat stereotypical.

We also get flashbacks to how Nico and Will’s relationship developed. This is theoretically good, but given how poorly written these scenes are, they only serve to make the relationship look even more flimsy and contrived. Sometimes less really is more. On the subject of flashbacks, the flashback dreams Nico had were stupid. The first one was convoluted, and was basically Mark Oshiro going “look at all these cool writing tricks I can do!” The second flashback saw Nico get even more out of character than usual for this trainwreck of a book. It goes back to his first time in Tartarus, and how he first met Nyx, the goddess of night. Nico’s dialogue would have made sense…if it had been written for Percy! It reminds me of how people complained that everyone in Captain America: Civil War sounded like they were trying to imitate Ironman. There was one flashback I enjoyed. I actually liked the bits where Will talks about his adventures with his mom in New York City. Those were some best written parts of the book. Though, I wonder if those were the bits Rick Riordan actually wrote.

Now we need to talk about how Percy and Annabeth got absolutely butchered. Nico and Will decide to visit Mrs. Jackson so they can send an Iris Message to Percy and Annabeth. Why didn’t they just do that at camp before they left? At this point, half this book’s issues can be chalked up to “Mark and Rick didn’t give a damn.” Annabeth especially acts completely out of character. She and Percy make a joke by referring to Tartarus as tartar sauce, and pretend they didn’t hear what Nico and Will said. Annabeth certainly wouldn’t do that, and neither would Percy! He knows when it is time to get serious. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again, Percy might not be book smart, but he’s smart in other way. And I refuse to believe Percy and Annabeth wouldn’t demand to go with Nico and Will. You seriously expect me to believe that the guy, whose fatal flaw is loyalty to friends, would just sit this one out?!

Oh, and apparently, Percy and Annabeth totally forgot about Bob. Even though they were quite guilty about that in previous books. But wait, turns out they’ve been thinking about Bob nonstop. Pick one, preferably the latter! Their advice is decidedly of the no duh variety. Guess we can’t be having the heterosexuals do anything useful. That wouldn’t be very Stunning or Brave. And why didn’t Nico go to Hazel, possibly recruiting her? Seems like she’d be pretty useful on an underworld quest. Oh, right, same reason with Percy and Annabeth. I’d also ask why Nico didn’t ask Reyna, but Rick neglected their brother-sister relationship long ago. More on that in a bit.

It is also incredibly bizarre to actually hear the word Percabeth in a Rick Riordan novel. It is a popular portmanteau of Percy and Annabeth used by shippers. Just like Solangelo is used for Nico and Will. However, it has never, until now, appeared in an actual Rick Riordan novel. It is just plain bizarre to see such a term used in an actual Riordanverse book.  I don’t know if it was Rick or Mark who decided to throw that red meat to the shippers. 

However, I do feel it was a bad idea. You have to be careful about feeding the shippers, or else you’ll empower the rabid ones. Trust me, you don’t want the rabid shippers to feel like they have power over you. It never ends well. Huh, you know, a lot of this book’s problems can be explained if we assume it was meant to pander to the shippers. I will say that shipping isn’t bad in and of itself. It becomes bad when you let it get out of hand, or develop unreasonable exceptions. As Aristotle noted, any virtue taken to an extreme becomes a vice.

And the pop culture references. I mean, yikes, this book can give Magnus Chase a run for its money in bad pop culture references. My biggest problem is that Nico has way more pop culture knowledge than he realistically ought to. The biggest offender was the scene where Nico references Lil Nas X, but Will has no idea who that is. Uh, do what now? Nico is from the 1940s, whereas Will is from the present day. He should not know who Lil Nas X is. For those who don’t know, Lil Nas X is an openly gay rapper who raps about being gay. Presumably, he is Mark Oshiro’s favorite rapper. Then there’s all the times Nico refers to Will as a Care Bear. Once again, how does Nico know what those are? The apathy is strong with this one. At least they had him know about Star Wars due to Will being a huge Star Wars fan. On the other hand, we did get the Fuck, Marry, Kill scene as a result of that.

On the subject of other demigods, we learn at the start of the book that literally every other demigod, other than Nico and Will, has left camp. No, no, gods no! Nooooooo! What about all of the campers who don’t have families to go back home to?! Yeah, I know the book tries to explain this by saying they all went to see the world. However, I’m of the opinion that this is a stupid-ass explanation. I refuse to believe that Chiron would allow a bunch of kids, several of whom are pre-teens, to just galavant around the country. Yes, he often sends campers on quests, but that’s a necessary evil. Of course, he’d also refuse to let Nico and Will go to Tartarus unless they had a third person to go with them. So, really, Mark and Rick just magiced everyone away so they wouldn’t have to deal with that. Well, that, and so nobody could cockblock Nico and Will during cuddle time. Chiron still managed to do an admirable job of that, despite everything else.

Chiron’s characterization wasn’t as off as everyone else. However, he should have provided more pushback to Nico’s plan. There were also times, especially towards the end, where he came across as a bit too much like a bumbling sitcom dad. Chiron is supposed to be the wise, grounded fatherly figure of Camp Half-Blood.

Mr. D is once again back at camp. Yay! But his characterization is kind of off. Boo! He never once screws-up Nico’s name. That’s, like, Mr. D’s main schtick. He provides therapy sessions for Nico, except he already did that in The Tower of Nero, but this is treated like he’s doing it for the first time. Mr. D will come across as weirdly nice one minute, and then cartoonishly sadistic the next. The way Mr. D is written comes across like a fanfiction author’s caricature of him. Then again, I guess that’s what it actually was.

I felt that Nyx was not a very good villain. Kronos, Gaea, and Nero all had very clear motivation for their villainy. Nyx, by contrast, just came across as a bland, generic, and overall uninteresting antagonist. It felt like Rick and Mark were really scraping the bottom of the barrel to come up with villains for this book. Also, based on actual mythology, I just can’t buy Nyx as a villain. There really isn’t anything to suggest that she’d be villainous. Tartarus should also not have been the main destination for the quest. As a general rule of thumb, you never revisit major villains after you’ve already defeated them. Case in point, Emperor Palpetine just happening to come back in The Rise of Skywalker. Though, in fairness, Rise of Skywalker was certainly flawed, but J.J. Abrams was trying to course correct after Rian Johnson shit the bed in The Last Jedi.

Getting back on track, Tartarus felt completely underwhelming this time around. We already experienced its horrors, far more effectively, with Percy and Annabeth. So, everything had a “been there, done that” feeling to it. The parts where Iapetus regains his memories were a noticeable step-up in terms of writing. Clearly, this was the part where Rick Riordan actually got off his ass. But once again, it would make way more sense of Percy and Annabeth to be the ones to rescue Iapetus. Also, I just gotta ask, how were Will and Nico planning on escaping Tartarus? They just jumped right in with no escape plan. At least Percy and Annabeth knew they needed to get to the doors of death.

I’ll admit the part where Nico gets a family reunion was kind of sweet. Well, if you ignore the fact that Bianca should not be there, since she already reincarnated. I also liked the scene where Nico talks about how he got made fun of for saying the Ares card in Myth-O-Magic looked pretty. I actually related to that. Once, in high school, a classmate asked what music I liked. I mentioned Elton John, because I like his music, and I still do. I got funny looks, and was made fun of, for liking an openly gay musician. I didn’t really see why that was an issue, but this was the same era when “That’s so gay!” was the insult of choice among teenagers. Well, personally, it always struck me as dumb, and needlessly mean, but I’ve always been a nonconformist.

But then we get the scene where Nico calls Piper on Iris Message. Uh, when have they ever interacted, because I sure can’t think of any times. And yet, they act like they’re old friends, and even joke around. Ugh, Mark Oshiro was clearly in the drivers seat once again. Oh, wait, I know why, and so do you. All together now: it’s because they’re both gay. Well, Piper kissed a girl, and she liked it, but she doesn’t know if she’s gay or bisexual, or maybe pansexual. There’s a message her about not getting hung-up on labels. Except we already did that with Reyna! Oh, and Reyna and Nico have brother-sister relationship going on, so why didn’t Nico called Reyna?!

Mark, if I haven’t made it painfully clear by now, being gay is not the same as having a personality. Making a character LGBTQ does not make them well-rounded. There has to be more to them than just “I’m gay!” Having trauma also doesn’t automatically make a character interesting and well-rounded. You intended this book to be for LGBTQ kids, but those kids deserve way better than this tripe! They are not stupid, they deserve good writing, and actually well-developed characters. Empty representation alone does not a plot make.

There is, of course, and audiobook version. I often debate who the best of the Riordanverse narrators is. I’m still not sure how I’d make that tier list. However, I do know that A.J. Beckles is one of the worst, if not the worst, I’ve encountered. He did a horrible job differentiating the characters, and frequently sounded like he was phoning it in.

Well, I guess we should analyze the cover. Yikes, Nico and Will look hideous! Nico looks like a girl, and it looks like he’s wearing lipstick. It almost looks more like Thalia cosplaying as Nico. Not that Will is much better. This has got to be one of the worst Riordanverse book covers. It doesn’t even look like a Riordanverse cover. It looks more like the cover of one of those cheap fantasy paperbacks from the early 2000s. Save my sanity, Viria! 

Ah, now that’s much better. Excellent work as always, Viria. You know what? Let’s also have Nico’s character art from Read Riordan. The Read Riordan character art doesn’t get enough love. 

Now that is one fine looking son of Hades.

Well, we have at long last reached the end of the dissertation on why Mark Oshiro should be put on trial at The Hague for crimes against the Riordanverse. There is nothing of value in this abomination that is laughably referred to as a book. Referring to The Sun and The Star as glorified fanfiction is being incredibly generous. I urge you to skip this one for your own sanity. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Trust me, you aren’t missing much. Regrettably, Nico has pet demons literally made out of his trauma. They’re named Coco-Puffs, because of course they are. So, this book will still impact the wider Riordanverse. I’m not holding my breath in hopes of a retcon.

If this is what the future holds for the Riordanverse, we should all be very afraid. Boy, I sure can’t wait to see which hack author Rick Riordan prostitutes his characters out to next. Not! A thousand times not! Well, later this year we’ve got Chalice of the Gods, a new novel starring Percy, Grover, and Annaberth coming out. Premise could be good, and Mark Oshiro’s slimy tentacles won’t be anywhere near it, so that’s a plus. We’ve also got the live-action Disney+ series coming out. To be honest, I’m kind of worried about how it will turn out, but I’ll reserve judgement til it officially premieres. 

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got to say. Join me next time when we take a look back at Chalice of the Gods.

Riordan Retrospective: Daughter of the Deep

Welcome once again to my Riordan Retrospective. For those of you just joining the fun, this is my look back at the works of Rick Riordan. That means Percy Jackson, its sequels, and spin-offs. This is less of a formal review and more of a relaxed look back.

Last time, we finished our look back at The Trials of Apollo with a look back at The Tower of Nero. We thought that we’d said goodbye to the worlds of Rick Riordan. Little did we know that a new book was about to surface. As such, we’re taking a look back at Daughter of the Deep.

Ana Dakkar is about to finish her freshman year at Harding-Pencroft Academy. It is a five-year academy specializing in marine science. She, and her nineteen classmates, are about to begin their freshmen trials. Harding-Pencroft holds its students very high standards. However, before they can take off, the school is destroyed by a series of sonic torpedoes. The remaining students and professors of Harding-Pencroft regroup aboard their yacht the Varuna. Ana discovers several major revelations. Jules Verne’s novels 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island were based on actual events. Captain Nemo was indeed a real person, and Ana is his direct descendant. In fact, the whole point of Harding-Pencroft Academy is to safeguard Nemo’s legacy and technology. Their next stop is Lincoln Island, the final resting place of Nemo and the Nautilus. But danger lurks around every corner as the survivors of Harding-Pencroft are hunted by their old rivals: Land Academy.

Well, it looks like we’re back sooner than I expected. I thought we’d be back for that Irish Mythology book Rick said he was planning. However, that seems to have been put on the back-burner. Daughter of the Deep apparently has been a long time coming. Way back in 2009, Disney executives asked Rick what Disney property he would want to write a book based on. It could be anything he wanted. He chose 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, as the 1954 film adaptation is one of his favorite movies. Technically, Disney only owns the rights to the movie, not the original book. The original Verne novel has long since slipped into the public domain. I’m tempted to think that Rick was, at least somewhat, trolling the executives.

I actually went back and watched the 1954 movie adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I agree with Rick here. The movie is, I must say, a truly underrated gem among live-action Disney films. In fact, I might even give it its own review at some point. Now, the movie does take some liberties with the source material. Though, personally, I’d say that was to its benefit, as it made for a more engaging story that worked better in film. Verne was known for doing a lot of research with his novels, and often devoted entire paragraphs to explaining the science in detail. Unfortunately, this does make for a rather dry reading experience. I’ve heard Verne works better in the original French, but that is a language I do not speak. Amusingly, students at Harding-Pencroft are required to read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island. Ana found them both to be a bit dry for her taste. I myself enjoyed The Mysterious Island slightly more than 20,000 Leagues, but it still suffered from many of the same issues.

I’ve heard a few people wonder what it might be like if Rick Riordan were to write a science fiction novel. Well, we now have our answer. We know more about the surface of the Moon than we do our own deep oceans. Twelve people have walked on the surface of the Moon, but only two have ever been to the bottom of the Marianas Trench. Ocean-based science fiction is still comparatively rare compared to space-based or terrestrial-based science fiction. So, I’m glad to see that Daughter of the Deep tapped into some of the vast potential of ocean-based science fiction.

Now, I should probably clarify that Daughter of the Deep is set outside of the Riordanverse. Rick has confirmed that it takes place in its own self-contained world. So, don’t expect to see any cameos from Percy, Annabeth, or any other Riordanverse characters. Still, it is similar enough in terms of style to a typical Riordanverse novel, and thus, I’ve chosen to include it as part of the retrospective.

Speaking of style, let’s begin there. Rick has said he took a film writing course before he wrote Daughter of the Deep. That is very apparent in how the prose itself is written. It reads very much like a movie script. The narration is presented in first-person present tense. This helps add to the sense of action and urgency as the plot movies along. The pacing also feels very much like what you might find in a movie. We got a lot of action scenes in quick succession. We get the usual info dumps, but we don’t really take as much time for introspection. As we’ll discuss a bit later, this lack of introspection was very much to the book’s detriment. I’m willing to bet that all this is very much by design. Daughter of the Deep is being adapted into a movie on Disney+. In fact, the movie was announced even before the book came out. So, it certainly feels like Rick wrote Daughter of the Deep with an eye towards the movie adaption.

I would have liked if we had gotten to explore Harding-Pencroft Academy a bit more before it got destroyed. What brief glimpses we do see are utterly fascinating. The students are all decided into four different houses based on their area of study. Yeah, they’ve heard all the Harry Potter jokes plenty of times. Though, personally, when I saw the initials HP in an ocean-themed book, I briefly wondered if Rick Riordan was going to tackle the Lovecraft Mythos. Back on topic, the houses are Dolphin, Shark, Cephalopod, and Orca. Dolphin focuses on communications, exploration, cryptography, and counterintelligence. Shark handles command, combat, weapons systems, logistics. Cephalopod deals with engineering, applied mechanics, innovation, and defensive systems. Orca is all about medicine, psychology, education, marine biology, and communal memory. If you’re wondering about that last one, it basically means the history of Harding-Pencroft and Captain Nemo.

One of the things I appreciated was that each of the four main characters is from a different house. One of my gripes about Harry Potter is that pretty much all the important characters come from Gryffindor. Well, unless they’re a villain, and come from Slytherin. Ravenclaw had Luna and Cho, I guess, but Hufflepuff got the short end of the stick for sure. Getting back on track, having the four main protagonists of Daughter of the Deep be from different houses provided a theme that everyone has something unique to bring to the table. You can also see it as advocating for multiculturalism, but without being preachy about it. 

 However, I do have on criticism. House Orca needed a better name. Orcas are a type of dolphin, the largest, in fact. We’ve got representatives for mammals, fish, and mollusks. How’s about giving some love to the reptiles? Personally, I would have named them House Sea Turtle instead. Or failing that, show some love to the echinoderms, and name them House Seastar. House Sea Cucumber would also work. Don’t give me that look! Sea cucumbers are noble animals and wonders of nature.

I do wish that we’d gotten to see more of Harding-Pencroft before it was destroyed. What brief glimpses we do get are utterly fascinating. As you might expect, they have quite an expansive aquarium full marine creatures. Upperclassmen train in submarine simulations using full-size mock-up submarines submerged in deep pools. However, the most fascinating class is one where students get to consider, and theorize, about the ways technology and science might have developed had history gone differently. As a major fan of alternate history I have but one thing to say: sign me up now! Well, its actually there as a way to slowly ease the students into learning the truth about Captain Nemo and his inventions. Still, sounds like a very fun class to take. I also liked how the various sections of the school are named after famous ocean explorers. There’s one part named after the Chinese navigator Zheng He, and one named after the polar explorer Ernest Shackleton.

I thought all of the diving scenes were particularly well-written. Rick Riordan has a true passion for scuba diving. This really shines through during the diving scenes. I also really like how the diving suits all use jet-propulsion that mimics the siphons of cephalopods. That was a really creative touch. 

Also, for those wondering, Land Academy was named after Ned Land. He founded it, along with Professor Aronnax, in hopes to keeping the world safe from Nemo. Aronnax and Land viewed Nemo as a madman. I assume Aronnax was the brains behind that one. Ned Land was good natured, but not terribly bright. 

Okay, let’s talk about the characters. Ana is the protagonist, but I want to save her for last. We’ll start with her roommates, and best friends, Nelinha and Ester. Nelinha da Silva grew up in an orphanage in Rio de Janeiro, but got to attend Harding-Pencroft on a scholarship. She’s also the closest the series gets to referencing Percy Jackson and the Olympians. I can best describe Nelinha as what would happen if Charles Beckendorf and Silena Beauregard were to have a kid. And, you know, if they were still alive. She’s a complete mechanical genius, and geeks out over machines and engine parts. She’s a member of House Cephalopod, naturally. However, she is also obsessed with fashion, and always makes sure to look her best at all times. Nelinha doesn’t just pack outfits, she packs entire wardrobes.

One of my prior complaints about Rick Riordan is that he only seems to know how to write one type of female character. Namely, he seems to believe that being a strong female character means being a tomboy who hates all things girly. So, it was nice to see Nelinha as a course correction on that front. Nelinha being from Brazil is likely a nod to how popular Rick Riordan’s books are in Brazil. So, I’m sure Brazilian fans were excited to finally get a Brazilian main character.

On the flipside, we also get Ester Harding. She’s a member of House Orca. She is a blood relative of one of the founders of Harding-Pencroft. She is also the first autistic character in a Rick Riordan book. I’m still bitter about how he wrote a Muslims character before he wrote an autistic character. In the Riordanverse, anyone can be a demigod, unless you’re autistic, it would seem. I had high hopes for Ester. You don’t see autistic girls too often in the media. Riordan has said that he got sensitivity readers to help him with writing characters from different cultural backgrounds. However, it would seem none of them offered insight into autistic people. It almost feels like Riordan watched a couple episodes of The Good Doctor and was like “I got this!” You know those TikTok clips of that guy having a temper tantrum while shouting “I am a surgeon!” Yeah, that’s The Good Doctor. It was another show I had high hopes for, but fell back on stereotyping autistic people. Don’t get me started on my problems with The Good Doctor, we’ll be here all day.

Anyway, Ester displays a number of stereotypical traits. She yo-yos between being basically non-verbal, and shouting at the top of her lungs. She does this all in a robotic monotone voice. In contrast to Nelinha, Ester has basically no fashion sense, and seems to be going for the long-lost daughter of Albert Einstein look. Ester also doesn’t have much in the way of common sense, and though it never comes up, she’s probably Jewish. Not too many gentiles name Ester. She’s got an excellent memory, to the point of being almost eidetic, but that’s somewhat accurate. Well, maybe not eidetic, but most autistic people do often have amazing memories. How do you think I’m about to write these retrospectives?

Ana briefly remarks about how some people claim that autistic people can’t feel love or other emotions, and that Ester proves this isn’t true, due to how empathetic she is. Again, this is true, as autistic people can be quite empathetic. Though, I can’t help but wonder if Disney specially made Rick insert that line to cover their asses. See, this isn’t the first time Disney has tackled autism. There was an episode of Girl Meets World about how we should all be nice to autistic people. All well and good, but they also claim that autistic people are incapable of experiencing emotions, including love.

Gemini Twain has been assigned as Ana’s bodyguard. He’s a no-nonsense member of House Shark. He’s also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints. This is certainly an interesting choice, as Gemini is also Black. Historically, Mormons haven’t exactly gotten along well with Black people. Or Native Americans, or Polynesians, or…well, pretty much anybody who isn’t White. The most infamous instance was when Mormon schools refused to desegregate. The American government threatened to revoke their tax exemption status, but wouldn’t you know it, Mormon God rather conveniently changed his mind about Black people. Though, Gemini’s faith doesn’t really come up that much. He doesn’t like swearing or taking the lord’s name in vein, and he mentions his grandma raised him and his brother in the LDS church, but that’s about it. Well, he did get into a minor scuffle with Nelinha. Gemini’s brother went on his mission trip to Brazil, and Gemini assumed Nelinha would know his brother, because she’s from Brazil.

Well, nice touch having one of the non-White characters be flawed enough to be accidentally racist. I remember back in The Hammer of Thor retrospective when I said, paraphrased, “A Muslim demigod? What’s next, a Mormon demigod?” I have on occasion wondered if Rick Riordan reads these retrospectives. Probably a long shot, but you never know.

Technically, there is a fifth main character: the Nautilus itself. It took until about halfway through the book before the Nautilus showed up. Yeah, this book has some pacing issues. The Nautilus has what can best be described as an artificial intelligence system. Also, apparently it also includes some organic components. As you might imagine, it is extremely untrustworthy of anyone who isn’t a blood relative of Prince Dakkar, aka Captain Nemo. So, Ana’s biometrics are key to unlocking the Nautilus.

Unfortunately, the Nautilus also highlights one of the issues I had with the book. Apparently, every major invention of the 20th Century was a result of Harding-Pencroft discreetly releasing them to the public. That, or Land Institute stealing them. This caused Daughter of the Deep to evoke the Great Man Theory of History. The theory goes that society gets stuck in ruts until a great man, and it’s always a man, shakes up the status quo and moves the world forward. This view has largely fallen out of favor with mainstream historians. Most historians emphasis how the changes were put into motion, often by complex chains of influences, long before the supposedly great men came about. 

You do kind of get this with the main Riordanverse, where pretty much anyone who did anything was either a demigod or a magician. However, that was softened by just how many demigods and magicians there were throughout history. So, it felt more like a team-effort. By contrast, Daughter of the Deep gave us a single scientific übermensch who, apparently, leapfrogged from steam-power to cold fusion reactors. Now, granted, this is also true of Nemo in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Still, maybe Rick shouldn’t have depicted Nemo in such a lock, stock, and barrel sort of way.

And that segues into my next point. Harding-Pencroft is deathly afraid of letting the general public get access to Nemo’s technology. They only release technology sparingly, and only when they feel humanity has earned it. Uh, and what metric do they use to determine how worthy humanity is? Beats me, the book offers no details. The adults all make a big deal about how corporations would try to monopolize Nemo’s technology, but nobody ever suggests releasing it as open-source tech. Well, I know the real reason for that. There’s no way that Disney, the poster boy for copyright abuse, is going to be advocating for open-source. A particularly facepalm worthy moment is that fact that Harding-Pencroft refuses to release cold fusion technology…despite climate change being a serious issue! The book would have you believe Harding-Pencroft are the good guys. However, I’m tempted to think Land Institute had a point about Harding-Pencroft being corrupt and selfish.

Hey, wait a minute. Harding-Pencroft is a secretive organization that is very selective of its membership. It trains its students so that, effectively, they’re cut-off from the outside world. They indoctrinate their students from a young age into their views. They have charismatic leaders and founders. Yikes, I hope the cafeteria never served Kool-Aid! Harding-Pencroft is a cult!

It would seem that Harding-Pencroft has something akin to the Prime Detective from Star Trek. There has been a lot of debate about the morality of the Prime Detective. The main thinking seems to be don’t give advanced weaponry to civilizations that aren’t morally mature. The Original Series also says that it is okay to break the Prime Directive if a planet is in imminent danger. Contrast this with Next Generation, where one episode has Captain Picard dithering about if he should save a planet, even if it break the Prime Directive. Of course, the worst offender was Voyager. It had an episode where the moral was, basically, don’t save a baby trapped in a burning car, or else the baby will grow-up to be Hitler. Yeah, the Prime Directive kind of devolved into an immoral religious dogma as Star Trek went on.

Point is, Harding-Pencroft’s Prime Directive seems to lean towards that of the later Star Trek entries. Apparently, screw the planet, we need to keep the tech away from corporations! The irony of Disney railing against corporations is so thick you can practically cut it with a machete. Also, if the concern is that the corporations would hoard stuff like the cure for cancer, well, how’s that any different than what Harding-Pencroft is doing?

Much is made about how Ana must choose to reconcile both the good and the bad of Nemo’s legacy. However, nothing really comes of this. We don’t see her seriously debate or challenge Harding-Pencroft and Land Institute’s views of Nemo. In fact, she gets indoctrinated into Harding-Pencroft’s views pretty quickly. It would have been a great opportunity to show Nemo’s complexity, not just tell us about it. How many innocent lives did he take in his quest for vengeance? Should he have shared his technology with the oppressed peoples chafing under the yoke of colonialism? Is it possible that Land Institute has some valid points, and that Harding-Pencroft has lost its way? All excellent questions that sadly go unanswered.

As for why that is, it ties into the biggest problem I have with Daughter of the Deep. Overall, it feels like merely the novelization of the yet to be produced movie. I was hoping that the novel would be able to stand on its own merits. However, Riordan clearly wrote it so that the adoption process would be streamlined. Debating ethics might not translate to film. Though, it could work in the hands of a competent scriptwriter.

I feel this streamlining was ultimately to the novel’s determent. I certainly didn’t hate Daughter of the Deep. It had plenty of the action and adventure you’d expect from a Rick Riordan novel. However, for every thing I liked, there was almost always something else I didn’t like. It is ironic that Rick claims he spent years working on Daughter of the Deep. It overall feels like it was yanked out of the oven before it had a chance to bake properly. Then again, he also claims to have gotten the idea for Magnus Chase before he wrote Percy Jackson, and look how that turned out.

The audiobook is narrated by Soneela Nankani. She’s the narrator for the Aru Shah audiobooks. Personally, I wasn’t too thrilled when I saw that Soneela would be narrating. However, she gave a fairly decent performance. She voiced Ester in a rather stereotypical way, like she was imitating Sean from The Good Doctor, but that was the only true sour note. Speaking of music, the audiobook is filled with music. There’s lots of musical cues throughout the audiobook. Scenes of wonder and whimsy have inspirational music, action scenes have exciting music. There’s a scene where Ana plays a pipe organ aboard the Nautilus, and we actually get to hear it. I thought that was a really nice touch.

Now, let’s analyze the cover. This is a nice looking cover. The undersea landscape is bright and vibrant. We see Ana and Gemini in their divining suits. Their faces are clear and unobscured. The Rick Riordan Presents books goes with this approach as well. Something about it being important for minority kids to see themselves clearly represented on book covers. We also see the Nautilus in the background, along with a giant octopus.

So, Daughter of the Deep has a lot of potential, and I certainly wouldn’t mind a sequel. However, there’s a lot of room for improvement. It needed to stand on its own merits, not just be the dry run for the movie script. Still, it's lightyears better than our next port of call. Next time, we’re tackling The Sun and The Star. The claws are coming out, and I’m prepared to fully eviscerate Mark Oshiro’s glorified self-insert fanfic.

Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.