Book Review: Inceptio by Alison Morton

 I hang out on a lot of alternate history groups on Facebook. This means I often cross paths with several independent alternate history authors. Many of them produce some very promising sounding novels. Sometimes, when the planets align just right, these books even get released as audiobooks. And as I've said before, I'm more than happy to help those who ask for reviews. Where am I going with this? It relates to the book we're going to be reviewing today. We're taking a look at Inceptio, Roma Nova book 1, by Alison Morton.

The Roma Nova series is set in a world where a group of several patrician families fled the city of Rome after Emperor Theodosius outlawed paganism. The leader of this group, named Apulius, had a Celtic father-in-law who owned lands to the north of Italy. In time, these lands would become a new nation: Roma Nova. Eventually, Old Rome fell, but Roma Nova endured as the final remnant of the old pagan Roman Empire. The story of Inceptio begin in the modern day in New York City. Karen Brown has her life turned upside down when she is nearly assassinated. It turns out that Karen is the granddaughter of one of the most powerful women in Roma Nova. It is decided that the best course of action is to bring Karen to Roma Nova for her own safety. Karen has known about Roma Nova from stories her mother told her, but now she's about to experience it for herself.

I have known about the Roma Nova series for a while due to various post and interactions Alison has made in the Alternate History Online group on Facebook. Of course, the series wasn't initially in audio, and I've covered before how that is an issue. Thankfully, the first four books in the series have been adapted into audiobooks, and now here we are. Usually, I like to read most or all of a series before I review it. However, as I somewhat know Alison, I thought it would be polite to go ahead and review the first book in the aeries as a gesture of kindness and appreciation.

Okay, let's delve into the history of Roma Nova itself. That is, the nation not the series, but I'm sure we'll probably talk a bit about that as well. I've already told you the basics, pagan patricians fleeing persecution founded their own nation. The Roma Novans made alliances over the years and expanded their territory. By the present day, they're about the size of Luxembourg, and are located about where Slovenia is in our world. However, it is also mentioned that Slovenia still exists. Traditionally, silver mining served as the backbone of the Roma Novan economy, and proved a major boon in the early days of Roma Nova. These days, Roma Nova is home to many tech companies and start-ups. Roma Nova has traditionally been leaders in technology and innovation.

So, Roma Nova caught some lucky breaks early into its history. It's high enough in the mountains to be easily defensible, but not so high that they can't grow all of the delicious foods Romans like to eat. It has the basis for a good economy, and has managed to avoid most major conflicts. This isn't to say that Roma Nova never got involved world affairs. For example, they contributed troops to the Battle of Vienna in 1683. They also helped push back the forced of Napoleon IV. From this, we can gather that the Napoleonic Wars went differently than in our world. Still, Roma Nova stayed out of the World Wars. Certain lines of dialogue imply that the German Empire won World War I, only to break-up later. More recently, Roma Nova has, begrudgingly, joined their world's equivalent of the European Union and NATO. Apparently, the Soviet Union is still around, and the Eastern Bloc equivalent isn't too far from Roma Nova.

Maybe Roma Nova did catch some lucky breaks, but I'd say they're at least somewhat plausible. Nations like Luxembourg and San Marino survived by playing major powers-off of each other, and other such tricks, but just as often, they survived due to pure chance and dumb luck. Sometimes reality really is stranger, and more unbelievable, than fiction. The only real issue I can think of is that Christian nations might not have been very willing to do business with a staunchly pagan nation like Roma Nova. Still, the Norse established quite the trading network before they converted to Christianity, so you never know.

We'll came back to Roma Nova in just a minute. For now, let's go across the Atlantic and see what things are like in North America. It's is mentioned that Louisiana and Quebec are, basically, dominions of the French Empire. This, along with how the United States never expanded beyond the Mississippi River, suggest that the Seven Years War went differently than in our world, assuming it even happened at all. America is called the Eastern United States, because there was supposed to be a Western United States to go along with it, but never materialized. The leaders of the American Revolution were more fragmented than in our world, so the British were able to quash the rebellion. However, America was granted independence in 1865. Also, the Dutch held onto the New Netherlands until 1813. Despite this, New Amsterdam is still called New York, as it is in our world. So, it would appear the Second Anglo-Dutch War happened differently, if it happened at all.

I spot a few issues here. First off, it's kind of odd that the British left America full stop in 1865. Wouldn't it make more sense for America to become a self-governing dominion, and then transition to full independence like Canada did in our world? Or perhaps the Revolutionary War could have been averted all together. It is speculated that, had the French won the Seven Years Wars, and either gained the Ohio River Valley or kept their North American colonies, it might have resulted in Britain's North American colonies having a closer relationship with their mother nation, and thus being considerably less likely to rebel.

On that note, the fact that the Dutch kept the New Netherlands until 1813 also makes an alternate American Revolution questionable. The New Netherlands would cut British North America in half. This would cause New England and the Southern Colonies to drift further apart in terms of culture and their relationship to each other. This means a united revolt is unlikely, especially since the South was traditionally largely Loyalist, and perhaps more so in such a scenario. In fact, even if they did get independence, the colonies might choose to become separate nations. This is sort of like how Australia and New Zealand as separate nations, despite being former British colonies locate relatively close to each other.

Okay, but even assuming the disunited British colonies would choose to be a single nation, why would New Netherlands be part of them? They were ruled by a separate nation, got their independence sooner, and presumably have a very different culture compared to British North America. I should have noted this before, but it is mentioned that Alaska is a colony of the Eastern United States. This is despite the EUS lacking any land bordering the Pacific Ocean. Uh, how does that work? Does the EUS own the Panama Canal? For that matter, is the canal even in Panama, or is it in Nicaragua?    

We're also given hints that the Native Americans survived in the western portions of the Eastern United States due to the British sticking around. I highly doubt this, given that Canada and Australia screwed over their native populations just as much as America did. It is also mentioned that the capital of the Eastern United States is Washington. First off, Washington wasn't a preexisting city. It was created after America got its independence as a city that was neither Northern nor Southern. Even if it somehow still gets founded, I seriously doubt it would be named after an anti-British rebel...unless Washington fought for the British in the world of Roma Nova.

Now, one touch I did like is that there is still resentment amongst some people, especially in rural areas, over Britain suppressing the rebellion. In our world, a disturbingly high number of people bemoan the fact that the Confederacy lost the American Civil War. This resulted in the Lost Cause narrative, which deified the Confederates as noble defenders of the South, and totally ignored the brutality and inhumanity of slavery. So, it is possible that something similar happened with the American Revolution in the world of Roma Nova. 

Okay, so the worldbuilding outside of Roma Nova has some issues. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Roma Nova is the focus of the novels, as it rightly should be, and the rest of the world is primarily there to add flavor to the setting. Obviously, this means that rest of the world wouldn't have the same amount of attention and detail put into it. I've done this a lot of times in my own writing, and so have plenty of other alternate history writers. The depiction stood out to me as an American. I'm sure that there are certain things about British History I've missed in my own writings.

Okay, now that we've got that out of that way, let's talk about characters, and a but more about Roma Nova itself. Karen is actually the Anglicization of our protagonist's real name, Carina. Her mother was Roma Novan, her father was British, and she was raised in the Eastern United States. She speaks Latin due to taking Saturday Morning Latin Class. She serves, in this novel at least, as the audience surrogate. We learn about Roma Nova through her eyes, and she the one who asks questions that explain how Roma Nova works.

She has a love interest in the form of Conrad Tellus. He's half-Austrian and half-Roma Nova. I kind of had a hard time envisioning him. The church my family attended had three ministers, one of whom was named Conrad. As such, I always associated Conrad as being an old man name. Though, I concede, this is more of a just me issue.

So, a bit about Roma Nova I should have mentioned before. Roma Nova has an extremely high degree of gender equality, and they always have. In fact, in certain regards, women have the upper hand in Roma Novan society. Early in the history of Roma Nova, men had to commit to the defense of the fledging nation, while women were left to run the settlements by themselves. Women quickly rose through the ranks of the new government, and some even joined in the fledgling army of the new nation.

This isn't as crazy as it might sound. Imperium, the right of rule, was very important to Roman society. How much imperium you had depended on your social standing. The male head of household would have the most in a villa, but it wasn't uncommon for his wife to have the second most imperium within the family. Furthermore, highly martial societies such as the Spartans, the Mongols, and the Aztec often had great gender equality because women had to keep things running while the men were off to war. I should also probably mention the inspiration for the series. Alison first got the idea for Roma Nova when she visited some Roman ruins as a child. She began to ponder what it might have been like if woman had been allowed to rule the Roman Empire.

Despite Roma Nova being a republic, Carina's grandmother, Aurelia Mitela, is one of the most respected people within the Roma Novan government. In fact, Carina's family is practically royalty by Roma Novan standards. She even remarks on how it is like The Princess Diaries...which was somehow still written, meaning Meg Cabot must somehow still exist. This raises an even bigger question: does Rick Riordan exist in this world? If so, did he still write Percy Jackson and the Olympians? And what would the Roma Novans think of it? Hmm, I guess that's really only a question I would care about.

Modern Roma Nova pays homage to its ancient roots in numerous ways. Gladiator games are still a popular, but they're no longer to the death. You also can't maim or seriously injure your opponents, and everyone where's safety gear. Police departments enjoy bread and honey rather than doughnuts or...whatever it is British police officers stereotypically eat. Roma Nova, as mentioned, worships the traditional Roman gods, but secularism is on the rise in more recent times. And they all still speak Latin...somehow. Roma Nova might have taken step to preserve the language, but look at how many languages Latin splintered into in our world. Surely, Latin in Roma Nova would have gone through at least a few changes?

Roma Nova certainly sounds like a fairly nice place. I'm not sure if I'd want to live there, but I certainly would want to visit it if I could. I did like that it isn't shown to be completely perfect and does have its own problems. For example, Roma Nova currently has a bit of an illegal drug problem, and they had a civil war back in the 1960s. The flaws made Roma Nova feel more like a real place.

Inceptio is really about setting up the action for the rest of the series. In that regard, it does an excellent job. My only complaint would be that the ending felt a tad rushed. Other than that, Inceptio is an excellent book. I really will have to get back to checking out the other books in the series. Thankfully, this will be easy, because the first four Roma Nova books are available as audiobooks. Inceptio is narrated by Cailin Thorburn, who does an excellent job.

So there you have it. Inceptio is a great start to what looks to be a very promising alternate history series. It has my attention, and I’m eager to see where the story goes from here. Check it out if you haven't already. 

Well, I think that's enough from me for now. I will see you guys next time.

The Audio File: Bad Gladiator

I tend to have fairly high standards when it comes to comedy podcasts. I don't like ones that are overly self-referential, or self-indulgent. I don't like ones that drag jokes out for too long. Comedy podcast are under an additional layer of scrutiny when they're themed around history. So why am I tell all of this to you? Because I've found a podcast that both meets and exceeds my standards. We're taking a look at the podcast Bad Gladiator. 

For the glory of Rome! Bad Gladiator follows a young aspiring gladiator named Atticus. He's got high hopes, but pretty much no talent. Thankfully, he's just started at the Roman Empire's worst gladiatorial arena. It is owned by a patrician woman named Domitia, who hopes that the arena will go bankrupt and she can move back to Rome. Unfortunately, Atticus soon become a massive hit because of how hopeless he is. The story follows Atticus, and the colorful cast of characters who run the arena, as they have wacky adventures at the worst gladiator arena in the Roman Empire. 

Like I said, the standards were met and exceeded by Bad Gladiator. The episodes of the first season typically clock in at between twelve to fifteen minutes. By season two, the episodes are closer to twenty minutes, but that last few minutes are usually reserved for a brief word from the cast and crew. This keep the episodes fresh and snappy, and ensures that the jokes never overstay their welcome. Of course, this is also due very much to the genuinely intelligent and witty writing. It's not a "wacky thing every thirty seconds" sort of comedy. Bad Gladiator has the feeling of a sitcom in an unusual setting. Sort of like The Flintstones, but with occasional swearing and sex jokes. Fun fact, Hanna-Barbera did create a show called The Roman Holidays that pretty much was The Flintstones in Ancient Rome, but it only lasted for thirteen episodes. 

There's plenty of fun little deliberate anachronisms throughout the show. For example, the Ancient Roman equivalent of Twitter is literally sending messages on birds, and you send dick picks by panting and/or carving frescoes. That one has a kernel of truth to it, given how shameless Roman art could get. You'd even seen penises in places you wouldn't expect, such as on the signs of bakeries. Though, that was because penises were associated with fertility, as in fertile crops of grains used to make bread. So, I wouldn't call this alternate history, at least not deliberately, but it should appeal to alternate history fans. It is never clear when the show is set, other than vaguely Ancient Rome. Of course, as stated, that's not really of much importance, given the comical nature of the podcast. 

One thing I love about that writing is that, though historical accuracy obviously wasn't a priority, occasionally it does slip in real facts about Ancient Rome. For example, the characters often mention drinking wine flavored with lead, and that the water pipes are made of lead. Both of these are indeed real things the Romans were known to do. Admittedly, not as crazy as it might sound. Lead does have natural anti-bacterial properties. The Ancient Egyptians used lead in their eyeliner, and that contributed to them having good eyesight. Unfortunately, lead is also toxic to humans, so you know, win some loss some. 

Now let's talk about the characters. Many members of the cast are professional actors who have appeared in shows such as Sleepy Hollow, The Resident, The Detour, and Rectify. You may remember the writers of Bad Gladiator from podcasts such as Bad Gladiator and Bad Gladiator. Yes, that's a joke, but good on the writers for assembling such a talented cast. 

Atticus is our leading man. He's got high hopes, but low talent. I mean, the dude fought a stingray that had no water, and the stingray won. To be fair, some stingrays do have long and sharp barbs, and some are venomous. He earns the title of Jaculator because he fights with a javelin. It's a joke based on the Latin word for someone who fights with a javelin. Atticus is played by Jim Hodgson, who delivers an earnest and endearing performance. Jim is also one of the writers for the podcast. It might be fun to watch...listen...you know what I mean. Let's try that again. It might be fun to watch Atticus get beat up by animals, but he's endearing and sympathetic enough that we want to see him succeed every now and again. 

Domitia is the reluctant owner of the arena. She's cynical, sarcastic, and almost comes across as a movie star past her prime. She is voiced by Leanna Adams, who really nails the jaded wash-out sort of voice and demeanor. Domitia constantly switches between hoping the arena will go out of business, and trying to take advantage of various situations to make a quick denarius. Denarius is the name for Roman coins, if you were wondering. 

Domitia's daughter Claudia serves as Atticus' primary love interest. She's generally nice and sweet, but she can certainly snark with the best of them. She's voiced by Lauren Schmuck, who goes for the girl next door feel. She dreams of one day becoming a gladiator herself, but Domitia forces her to peruse more traditionally feminine activities, such as pottery class. She's not much for clay pots, but makes lovely ceramic swords. She's not immune to the slapstick, and is just as likely to have misfortune befall her as the male characters are. Claudia does get her wish to be a gladiator in one episode by switching clothes with Atticus, who finds he rather enjoys pottery. Interestingly, there were at least some female gladiators in real life. However, they were, for lack of a better term, publicity stunts. For example, Emperor Commodus like to have women fight against midgets and dwarfs. Were the midgets stacked on top of each other, or spread out individually? Well, you got me there, the historical record is vague on that point. 

Atticus also has something of a mentor in the form of Magnus. Well, mentor is a strong word. Magnus is lazy, slovenly, lecherous, and is one of the oldest gladiators at the arena. He's Domitia's on-again-off-again boyfriend, and he likes to sleep in the sewers. Magnus is voiced by Rob Lawhon, who really goes for a past-his- prime dirty old man sort of performance. Still, a broken clock is right twice a day, and occasionally Magnus does pull through and do something useful. 

Starting with season two, we get an antagonist in the form of the Piss Witch. Well, she prefers to be called the Pee-Pee Witch, but everyone calls her the Piss Witch. She's one of Magnus' many ex-girlfriends, and as her name suggest, she has power over all forms of urine. She is played by Jaymi Curley, who is clearly having a blast portraying the Piss Witch as hammily over-the-top evil.  

I also love the arena's delightfully campy promoter, and how he finds ways to charge the arena audience for pretty much everything, including using the bathroom. In fact, he's more concern with that than actually promoting the fights. His constantly hawking of merchandise might seem like an anachronism, but that's more accurate than you might think. Real gladiator arenas did indeed sell figurines of the gladiators, as well as commemorative glass cups and other souvenirs. Also, the arena sells flamingo tongues, which were indeed considered a delicacy in Ancient Rome.  

Bad Gladiator has, as of this writing, two seasons with a third on the way. It certainly sounds like they've got even more great things in store for the future. I'm particularly intrigued by the hints that we might get a musical episode. That sounds awesome, I'm totally down for that. 

Well, there you have it. Bad Gladiator is a smartly written historical comedy about the Roman Empire's worst gladiator arena. It is funny, entertaining, and I can't recommend it enough. Tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight! Do yourself a favor and check it out now, you'll be glad that you did. 

Well, I think that's enough from me for now. I will see you guys next time. 

Riordan Retrospective: The Tyrant's Tomb

Welcome back 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.  Late time, we finished our look back at The Kane Chronicles (again) with a Brooklyn House Magician's Manual.  This time, we're heading back to The Trials of Apollo.  We're taking a look back at The Tyrant's Tomb, The Trials of Apollo book 4.  As usual, we're starting off with a brief summary.

Apollo and Meg have made it to San Francisco with the corpse of Jason Grace.  They're soon on their way to Camp Jupiter, and not a moment too soon.  New Rome is under attack by an army of the undead.  Tarquin the Proud, the last king of Rome, has risen from the dead.  Worse still, Caligula and Commodus also have their sights set on New Rome.  Apollo and his friends are in a race against the clock to stop the invasions before New Rome is completely obliterated.

This is the most recent book in the series.  As such, there will be major spoilers.  Turn back now if you don't want any of that.

Overall, I did enjoy this book.  On the whole, The Trials of Apollo just keeps getting better.  Though, that having been said, there were some pretty significant issues towards the end.  For now, let's focus on the stuff that I did enjoy.  We have a new character joining the cast with this book.  Lavinia Asimov is the first time we've seen a child of the muses.  Specifically, she's a daughter of Terpsichore, the muse of dance.  Great to see the children of the minor gods getting some love.  Interesting that it was a Roman demigod who was our first child of the muses.  The muses are quintessentially Greek, and lack Roman counterparts.  She's also the first Jewish demigod we've encountered.  Well, unless you count Julia Feingold, but we only know that because Rick said so on Twitter.  Judaism is just as much a culture as a religion, and you can be a Jew without believing in God, so this works out pretty well.

I liked how Lavinia's Jewishness is depicted.  She wears a Star of David necklace, and mentions having a Bat Mitzvah, but that's about it.  She doesn't mention it every twelve seconds, and it isn't the defining characteristic of her personality, unlike a certain poorly written daughter of Loki.  She's also a lesbian, but again, it doesn't define her personality, and she doesn't constantly bring it up.  It was nice that she went through a learning-curve, and wasn't instantly amazing at everything.  It made her earning everyone's praise feel more genuine.  All in all, Lavinia is a welcome addition to the Camp Jupiter family.  I do wonder if she's related to Isaac Asimov, the famous science fiction writer.   Lavinia mentions having a friend who is a daughter of Euterpe, the muse of music.  Wish we could have met that camper.  You'd think that, both being children of the muses, she and Lavinia would have a closer relationship.

I must admit, I wasn't expect Tarquin to be one of the villains.  Wasn't expecting, but he was certainly effective.  I thought it was cool that he came back as an undead lich king.  Apparently, just as Camp Jupiter moves from country to country, so too does the Tomb of Tarquin.  I also wasn't expecting that we'd see Caligula and Commodus defeated in this book.  Unexpected, but it was still awesome, especially with what happened with Frank.  More on that in just a minute.

I was great getting to see Frank and Hazel again.  My only issue would be that it felt like they, especially Hazel, kind of got shortchanged.  Hazel, Frank, Reyna, and Lavinia all have to share the same book.  By contrast, Leo and Calypso got a book all to themselves, and Jason and Piper got a book all to themselves.  Percy wasn't really in The Hidden Oracle, and that meant the Camp Half-Blood gang got more time to shine.  It just seems unfair, as I've long felt the Roman demigods got outshines by their Greek counterparts.  This is especially bad given that Roman emperors are the villains.  You'd think that would mean the Romans would get more love, but not, sidelined by the Greeks once again.

Well, at least Frank got a chance to shine.  Remember that piece of firewood that controls his life?  He burned it in order to destroy Caligula and Commodus.  However, because he willingly sacrificed himself, he broke free of his destiny and didn't die.  Even Apollo admits he isn't sure how that works. I think it was Riordan going "I know it's contrived, just roll with it."  Hey, I'll take it without complaint.  I love Frank.  I'm just saying, after Riordan killed Jason, all bets are off.

So, why have all communications been down.  Turns out, the Triumvirate took a trip to Alexandria, Egypt and literally dug up a Greco-Egyptian god.  Specifically, Harpocrates, the Greco-Egyptian god of silence.  This was because, once the Greeks conquered Egypt, they found statues of the god Horus, in the form of a human child, holding a finger to his lips.  This is the Egyptian symbol for child, but the Greek thought it meant silence.  Thus, a god who never should have been was born.  This marks the first time an Egyptian god has appeared outside of The Kane Chronicles.  Well, not counting the crossover stories.  Also, Harpocrates is only half-Egyptian, but close enough.

Apparently, Apollo bullied Harpocrates back in the day.  There's no mythological evidence of this, it was made-up for Trails of Apollo.  Interestingly, Harpocrates was said to be a child of fellow Greco-Egyptian god Serapis, who appeared in the crossover stories.  Harpocrates is fully aware that he shouldn't exist, and he longs for the release of fading.  Some gods, like Pan and Helios, fight against fading for as long as they can.  Harpocrates, by contrast, embraces it with arms outstretched.  Same goes for the Oracle of Cumae, who has struck-up something of a romance with Harpocrates.  A god who can't speak, and an oracle who is only a voice.  Quite a pair they are.

Speaking of romance, Tyson and Ella are back, and just as adorable as ever.  Ella has been busily tattooing the Sibylline Books on Tyson's skin.  Cyclopes have very tough skin, so he doesn't mind.  Also they have a pet cat named Aristophanes, named after the Ancient Greek comedy playwright, and they're running a book shop.  I enjoyed getting to visit New Rome again, even if it had seen better days.  It's not just humans and demigods who call New Rome home.  Apparently, they got people with two heads, dog-headed Cynocephaly, and more.  Oh, and they do have fauns and nature spirits.  I felt really bad when Don the faun died.  I called him lazy, but he was a hero when it counted, and I enjoyed his friendship with Lavinia.  I was intrigued that one of the senators was a legacy of Luna, the Roman form of Selene.  I had been wondering if there were any legacies of Sol and Luna.

Terminus has adopted an orphan girl named Julia, which I thought was nice.  He's certainly one of the kinder gods.  Still, this does reinforce my theory about New Rome lacking an equivalent of Child Services.  Not that Old Rome was much better in that regard.  One of the reasons Christianity managed to gain a foothold was that it filled in the gaps the Roman welfare state left behind.  Julia is probably the closest to a child of Terminus that we'll get.  I'm just saying, from what we've seen, he doesn't appear to have any naughty bits.

Well, we covered what I liked, now let's talk about what didn't work for me.  Well, first of all, we had to endure the characters weeping and wailing about St. Jason of the Blessed Grace.  I knew this was coming, but it still annoyed me.  How can they be sad when worthless Jason is gone for good?  Although it was cool to see the Romans building all of those new temples in record time.  Why do I get the feeling this won't be the last time Jason Grace spites me from beyond the grave?

Now let's talk about Reyna.  At first, everything seemed to be alright.  She appeared much as she did in The Heroes of Olympus.  Then she joined Apollo on his quest.  She was incredibly snippy and prone to emotional outbursts.  This is in sharp contrast to The Heroes of Olympus, where Reyna was stoic and a consummate professional at all times.  Even her internal thoughts maintained that level of stoicism and professionalism.  She had doubts and deep sadness, but never had emotional outbursts like we see here.  As such, you can't blame it on stress or anything like that.  It feels incredibly out of character in the same way I felt about Annabeth in The Mark of Athena.

Also, Reyna and Meg are outraged that Apollo turned ravens black.  Apparently, they think this makes them ugly.  Meg is excusable, because she wears glasses, but Reyna might want to schedule and optometrist appointment.  Ravens are beautiful just the way they are with their dark plumage.  Also, why does Reyna drive a pickup truck?  If Camp Jupiter can afford SUVs for traveling across the country, then surely a praetor could afford a better ride than a pickup truck.  Unless she just really likes pickup trucks for some reason.  Puerto Rico would be one of the southern most states, if it ever gets statehood, but not that kind of southern.  I never really pinned Reyna as someone who'd like reggaton music.  She always struck me as more of the classical music type.

Reyna's characterization in this book really feels like a recycling of what Riordan did with Piper's characterization in The Burning Maze.  It worked for Piper, but it not only doesn't work here, but just feels lazy.  Oh, but we aren't done yet.  Towards the end of the book, Apollo must call upon Diana, Artemis' Roman counterpart, for help.  Admittedly, I had been wondering if there was a Hunters of Diana out there.  Turns out, they are exactly the same as the Hunters of Artemis.  They're all one big happy family.

Anyway, Reyna has been having issues because everyone keeps trying to find her a boyfriend, but she isn't sure if she wants one.  She talks about how even she considered pairing up with everyone from Frank, to Percy, to even Octavian.  Although, the way she phrases it, she makes it sound like ending up with Percy would have been worse than winding up with Octavian!  Either that's another out-of-character moment, or Rick needs to get a better proofreader and editor.  Reyna is also feeling the stress from how she's been subordinate to other people throughout her life.

So, how does she resolve this?  Why, by joining the Hunters of Artemis.  Um, what?!  So she's tired of being a cog in the machine of Camp Jupiter, so she becomes a cog in the Hunters of Artemis?  That makes no sense.  It's not like the Hunters encourage people to explore their sexuality.  In fact, they actively discourage it.  Moreover, she's still having to follow orders and have expectations.  Seriously, this is the best Rick could do to resolve Reyna's character arc?

Look, having the message that there's no need to rush into romance could have worked.  However, the message her seems to be that this is only possible if you join the Hunters of Artemis.  It's a complete cop-out.  Although I think I know why Rick did it.  For a while, many Riordanverse fans shipped Reyna and Apollo together.  I don't know why, but I don't pretend to understand shipping.  Well, that and shipping Reyna with basically everyone became popular.  Of course, who am I to judge?  I've been known to ship Reyna with Ahsoka Tano from Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Yes, it was kind of like how Nico got shipped with everyone before he came out as gay...huh, I wonder if that might have factored into Riordan making him gay.  Anyway, the whole thing feels like Riordan thumbing his nose at the Reyna shippers.  Unfortunately, it feels like he prioritized this over giving Reyna a satisfying conclusion.  Look, I get that shippers can be crazy and annoying at time, and you gotta be true to yourself, but it feels like Rick prioritized pissing them off over plot.  That accounts for why Reyna though her and Apollo getting together was side-splittingly hilarious.  Also, apparently Reyna and Thalia are pen pals.  I think they did briefly talk at the end of The Blood of Olympus, but it still seems a bit odd.

Speaking of Nico, Reyna joining the Hunters means we won't get to see her relationship with Nico get developed.  I loved there surrogate brother/sister dynamic, but I guess we won't get to see that expanded on.  This is the second time Nico has lost a sister to the Hunters.  At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if the next book has him going on a rampage and slaughtering the Hunters.  

As I've mentioned before, Rick mentioned he originally considered making Reyna lesbian, but decided against it for fear it would play into harmful stereotypes.  Hmm, I wonder if Lavinia was born out of those original plans.  Part of me also wonders if he did it to score social justice point s for having an asexual character.  Strange, given he already had the Hunters of Artemis, and I'd say Reyna is confused and trying to sort things out more than anything.  Maybe we ought to stop trying to label every little thing.  My mom tells me that, back in her day, you'd her things like "that boy/girl is a bit confused, and a little funny, but he/she is a good person."  Maybe we ought to bring that sort of thing back.

Look, I don't want this to sound like I hated this book.  Overall, I loved it, and Trials of Apollo does, in most regards, feel like it keeps getting better.  Still, what Riordan did to Reyna is going to be major black mark against this series.  Let's move on to the cover analysis.

Oh, sweet Reyna, what has the cover artist done to you?  I mean everything else about the cover looks perfectly fine.  But as for Reyna...yikes.  Even Lester doesn't look as bad as she does.  Help me, Viria.  You're my only hope. 

Ah, that's better.  Thank you, Viria.  Once again, I'll give a shout-out to the audiobook.  Though a must say that Robbie Daymond certainly has an odd way of producing certain words, such as praetor.

So that was The Tyrant's Tomb.  It had some pretty serious flaws, but overall, still a solid and enjoyable book.  Well, at this point we're pretty much caught up.  Camp Jupiter Confidential and The Tower of Nero haven't been released yet.  Haven't had a chance to listen to the audio version of "Percy Jackson and the Singer of Apollo" yet.  If I do, I might make a mini-retrospective out it.  The point is, it might be a while before the next retrospective comes out.

It has been fun, and it has great to have all of you along for the ride.  I look forward to getting to do this once again.  Until that day, I will see you guys next time.

Comic Review: The Eagles of Rome by Enrico Marini

As I've said before, I tend to have very high standards when it comes to historical fiction.  I'm especially excited whenever I find a comic book that lives up to my standards.  That brings us to the comic we'll be reviewing today.  We're taking a look at The Eagles of Rome by Enrico Marini.

The Eagles of Rome takes places during the reign of Emperor Augustus.  The Roman Empire is seeking to expand its boarders into Germania.  Towards this end, a young Germanian prince has been sent to Rome to be fostered as part of a peace agreement with the Cherusci tribe.  To his people he is Ermanamer, but the Romans have given him a new name: Arminius.  Arminius has been sent to live with Titus Valerius Falco and his son Marcus.  The comic follows Arminius and Marcus as the grow into men and join the legion.  As they grow, Arminius finds himself increasingly drawn to the land of his birth.  Marcus and Arminius are going to find themselves on opposite sides of a great conflict.  In time it will be known as the Battle of Teutoburg Forest. 

Before we begin, I should note that The Eagles of Rome is not a finished series.  As of this writing, only five volumes have been published.  It's also pretty obvious that the story is not over yet as of volume five.  With that having been said, let's begin our review.

Like I've said, this book is very well researched.  Granted, there are a few minor liberties taken here and there.  The biggest being that Marcus and his family are completely fictional.  I'm fairly certain that Marini did this to give a Roman perspective on the happenings.  It is also through Marcus that we get to see Arminius grow and change.  This is very much the story of Arminius as witnessed by Marcus.  Fun fact, Enrico Marini wrote a Batman comic for DC Comics.  It was part of a program they did to hire famous European comics writers to write for some of their most famous characters.  Anyway, the design Marini used for Bruce Wayne is almost identical to the one he uses for Marcus.  Naturally, some have joked that Marcus is Bruce's several times great-grandfather.  I'll leave it for you to decide.

Now, I should mention that this comic does have a fair bit of nudity and sex to it.  I'd argue that this is fairly accurate to the time period.  Ancient Rome was pretty shameless, by modern standards, when it came to sex.  Granted, medieval Christian writers did tend to exaggerate this to an extent, but we do have archaeological and historical accounts to backup these views.  We also see several older men who are clearly in carnal relationship with younger eliminate men.  Pederasty war par for course in Ancient Rome.  At one point we hear the Romans taunting the Germanians with insults like "Woden sucks cock!"  To which the Germanians reply in kind.  This might sound anachronistic, but Roman graffiti is cover with such insluts, so points for accuracy.      

I did like how the parts set in the red-light district showed the seedier side of Roman life.  In a lot of ways, living in Rome was like living in a third-world country is you were a plebeian.  We see a lot of buildings made out of bricks and wood, and this is historically accurate.  Marble was reserved for the rich and elite.  Commoners had to make do with other materials.  Furthermore, the marble buildings we do see often contain quite a bit of paint and color to them.  Again, this is indeed how the Romans decorated their buildings.

Another mark towards historical accuracy is the way relationships are portrayed.  Marriages are done almost exclusively for diplomatic purposes, with marrying for loving being almost unheard of.  In the grand scheme of things, marrying for love is a fairly recent development.  This creates issues when Marcus falls in love with Pricilla, who has been betrothed to Quintus Aemilius Lepidus.  He is the grandson of Lepidus of the Triumvirate.  He's got a massive chip on his shoulder as he struggles to regain his family's good name.  He also isn't too fond of Emperor Augustus.  He's aware that Pricilla and Marcus are in love, and frequently takes his anger out on both of them.  As such, when the Battle of Teutoburg Forest happens...well, I won't spoil that.  Let's just say that Lepidus gets what's coming to him. 

Things only get trickier when Marcus and Pricilla have a son together, whom they name Titus.  It might seem odd that they named him after Marcus' abusive father, but there were only about seventeen common names in Ancient Rome.  Also, it was common practice to name children after other family members.  Lepidus thinks that Titus is his child, though he does connect that dots after a few volumes.  Strange that it took him that long, given that he is a redhead, Pricilla has light brown hair, and Titus has black hair like Marcus.  Also, little Titus does look quite a bit like Marcus.  As an aside, I always thought that Lepidus looked kind of like a younger version of Emperor Nero.  Perhaps this was intentional, to further underscore that Lepidus is not a nice fellow.

Arminius also finds love.  He gets married to a chieftain's daughter named Thusnelda.  Her father, Segestes, is seeking to marry is daughters to powerful Romans to forge alliances.  Fortunately, Thusnelda and Arminius are very much in love with each other.  Marcus' mother Albinia was also a chieftain's daughter who was married to a powerful Roman.  Arminius even considers tempting Marcus to join the rebellion by appealing this his Germanic heritage. However, he decides against it, reasoning that Marcus is too loyal to Rome.  As another aside, you'll notice that there are a few Romans wearing pants in Germania.  The Romans despised pants a barbarian clothes.  However, the legions stationed in Germania eventually had to admit that the barbarians were onto something; especially during the winter.

I should probably also talk about Marcus' father.  Titus Valerius Falco would probably be considered abusive by modern standards.  He constantly berates Marcus for his unmanly hobbies such as poetry and carving wooden figurines.  There's even a point in the first volume here he rounds up all of Marcus' figurines and burns them in-front of Marcus.  He also puts Marcus and Arminius through some very harsh training by hiring a former gladiator named Volcanus to train them.  Despite all of this, he would be considered a good father by Roman standards.  In fact, Augustus even applauds him for instilling fortitude in his son and foster-son. 

There's several times throughout the comics that Marcus has seemingly prophetic dreams.  For example, right before the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, he had a dream where an eagle and a wolf getting into a fight, and the wolf kills the eagle.  Obviously, the eagle is Rome, the wolf is Germania, and this symbolizes the Roman's coming defeat.  Of course, there is debate about whether if the dreams were really prophecies, or if it was all coincidence.  I'm inclined to think that there is something supernatural is at work.  Still, it is a minor potentially supernatural happening in an otherwise straight-up historical fiction comic.

I can't forget to talk about the art.  It is very well done.  It is made using watercolor, and looks absolutely gorgeous because of that.  It is very well drawn, and easily rivals anything that you'd find at Marvel or DC Comics.  In fact, it is better than a lot of the art on the current stuff they're putting out, but I digress. 

The big battle has already happened by the time volume five ends.  However, it is pretty obvious that the story isn't over just yet.  The battle is pro tray in all its glory and horror.  What made Arminius such a powerful advisory was that he'd been trained in Roman fighting style.  He could combine the best aspects of Rome and Germania, and he knew all of the Romans' weaknesses.  As I've said, fostering foreign princes was a common practice during the time.  The Romans figured that, if they introduced foreigners to their culture, the foreigners would grow to love Rome.  This would make conquering new territories much easier.  They never dreamed that one of these princes might stab them in the back. 

It goes without saying that Arminius is going to survive until the end of the story, and I'm fairly certain Marcus will as well.  I'm not really sure what's going to happen next, but I can't wait to find out.  There's usually a wait of a couple of years between volumes while Marini works on other projects.  Still, hopefully the wait won't be too bad. 

So there you have it.  The Eagles of Rome is one of the best historical fiction comics out there.  I cannot recommend it enough.  Well, I think that's everything I need to say for now.  I will see you guys next time. 

Riordan Retrospective: The Burning Maze

Welcome back to my Riordan Retrospective.  For those just joining the fun, this is my look back at Percy Jackson, its sequels and spin-offs.  This is less of a formal review and more of laid-back retrospective.  Last time we returned to Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard for a look back The Ship of the Dead.  This time we're returning to The Trials of Apollo.  We're taking a look back at The Burning Maze, The Trials of Apollo book 3.  As per usual, let's have a brief summary. 

Things are heating up as Apollo and Meg make their way to Southern California with their new companion Grover Underwood.  California has been hit by a drought of mythological proportions.  Apollo suspects that the third member of the Triumvirate is behind it.  Apollo and his new friends will have to brave the fires of the labyrinth to end the drought and taken down the third emperor.  Apollo is going to need all the help he can get if the third emperor is who he fears it is.  

As per usual, there will be spoilers beyond this point, so turn back now if you don't want that.  If everyone who wants out is gone, let's being.

It isn't even a spoiler that Caligula is emperor number three.  I mean, he was the poster boy for Roman emperors behaving badly.  This book doesn't even cover a fraction of the batshit insane things Caligula did during his reign.  For example, he liked to have sex with his sisters...in public.  He also collected hermaphrodites.  After his first year as emperor he completely blew through the imperial treasury.  So, to raise funds, he murdered wealthy senators and confiscated their money and property.  He constantly threw orgies, both the Roman party kind and the sexual kind, for the poor.  He feared that the poor would revolt if he ever stopped.  He believed his horse to be the reincarnation of Alexander the Great's horse, had it elected to the senate, and forced the priests to declare it a god.  He also had his sisters declared goddesses after he murdered them.  

Eventually, he slapped one of the pretorian guards and called him a naughty word.  The praetorians decided that they'd officially had all they could stand, chased after him, and turned Caligula into a human pincushion.  Caligula's uncle Claudius, who served as a court jester, was hiding behind a tapestry and nearly got killed himself.  However, the praetorians decided he'd be a much better emperor, and Claudius was known as the emperor elected by the praetorian guards.  They turned out to be right, and Claudius widely regarded as the smartest emperor that Rome ever had.  For example, he wrote a multivolume work on the Etruscan people, which was sadly destroyed by Christians.  Claudius was also the emperor who conquered England.  Everyone called him cabbage head, because his face was partially paralyzed after he had a stroke, but his mind remained sharp.  

It really is saying something that Caligula struck fear into Apollo even before he rose to godhood.  Instead of running around, clearly crazy out his head, Caligula comes across as cool and calculating.  This serves to make him even more intimidating.  We'll talk more about Caligula in a minute, but for now let's talk about the other characters. 

First of all, yay, Grover is back at last!  He's only been away for maybe a year or two in-universe, but it sure has felt like forever since we last saw him.  We also get to meet the various dryads and nature spirits that he's been living with.  They're all named after the various types of plants that they are.  Also, Joshua Tree is notable because he's the first male dryad we've ever met.  I also like to think that maybe Aloe Vera was a nod to Vera, the artist Rick hired to make official character portraits for his website.  I loved getting to meet all the new plant characters.  Also, apparently, they love cheese enchiladas just as much as Grover does.  Must be a nature spirit thing.  I wonder if some of them are reverse vegetarians, avoiding plants, but eating all the animal products they like.  Hey, there are carnivorous plants, such as venus fly traps and pitcher plants.  

In other developments, Piper is back, and has gotten knocked on her ass.  She and Jason broke-up, because they didn't have any chemistry when the world isn't in danger.  The Triumvirate has been messing with her dad's finances, saddling him with massive debt, and Mr. McLean his slowly losing his mind.  Piper's not holding up too well herself.  Oh, how the mighty have fallen.  Hey, Piper, remember when you said you wished your dad wasn't rich, and that you could be normal and not live in Malibu?  How's that working out for ya?  As I've said, it feels like Rick is course-correcting with this series, and actually having Piper and Leo fail and get knocked on their asses a few times.  I'm all for it. 

There's even a scene where I almost sympathized with Piper.  Almost, but not quite.  She says that, because Cherokees trace lineage through the mother, she technically isn't a Cherokee.  Doesn't matter that her father is full-blood, or that she's also, for all intents and purposes, full-blood as well.  As Elizabeth Warren infamously discovered, Cherokees don't do the blood percentage thing.  They only care about tracing your lineage.  Obviously, she can't tell the tribal council that her mother is a Greek goddess, at least without getting thrown in a looney bin.  She and her dad are moving to Tahlequah, Oklahoma.  It is the heart of Cherokee culture.  It is the only place where you'll find signs in both English and the Cherokee language. 

Now let's talk about Jason.  Unfortunately, he's still just as perfect as ever.  At times he seemed way too much like Jesus, and I don't mean because he's the son of a god.  He feels like the weight of the world is on his shoulder because of his promise to build shrines and temples to all the gods.  He even keeps a miniature model of where they'll all be placed.  He also weeps because it's just so hard that he can't help everyone at once.  Ugh, I still contend that Percy could have been handled better, but his reaction to Apollo seems way more realistic than Mr. Perfect.  Riordan seemed like he was trying to make Jason's death more impactful, but he overshot the mark, and made Jason seem inhumanly perfect.  We'll get back to his death in a minute. 

So what's Jason been up to lately?  He's attending an elite all-boys private boarding school.  Yeah, if his goal was to be a normal kid, he failed miserably. Most kids don't go to fancy expensive single gender boarding school!  What, did he base his idea of a normal life off of Harry Potter or something?  The fact that he's at an all-boys school really adds fuel to my theory that Jason was originally going to be gay, but Riordan got cold feet.  Hey, he's admitted that he considered making Reyna a lesbian, but was afraid that would play into negative stereotypes.  As in, she was only a lesbian because Percy and Jason rejected her, was the fear.  Make of that what you will.  Also, some have wondered how Jason could have been in the legion since he was a toddler.  Well, a lot of Roman legions used kids are their mascots.  That's what Caligula did when he was a kid.  My guess is he started there and moved up to practical things when he got older.  

As I've said before, Riordan's characters have a bizarre fixation on high school.  Jason used to be the leader of the twelfth legion, a praetor of New Rome, and his goal is to go to high school?  Again, he's forgetting that high school is still school.  It isn't the idealized wonderland he seems to think it is.  There's tests, projects, bullies, and suffering of plenty.  You could say that high school is murder. 

Speaking of which, let's address the elephant in the room: Jason's death.  Well, the madman surprised us yet again.  Riordan killed off one of the seven, and unlike Leo, this time he's playing for keeps.  I never thought I'd see this day.  Jason is gone!  Yes!  Yes!  Yes!  He's toast, he's history!  Caligula did nothing wrong...hmm, there's a sentence I thought I'd never write.  In a way, Caligula is kind of a badass.  He did something that Kronos and Gaea could only dream of: offing one of the seven.  I haven't been this elated in a long, long time.  Overrated Jason is gone for good, and Piper and Leo are reduced to tears.  

One down, two to go.  Come on Ricky boy, off the other two.  You know you want to.  Oh, and while you're at it, let's get rid of Alex and Samirah.  Hey, I can dream can't I.  Of course, we do have to hear the characters moaning and wailing about what a great guy Jason was.  I suspect that we'll be getting a lot of that in The Tyrant's Tomb.  Curse you, Jason Grace!  Even in death you continue to spite me!  

Speaking of deaths, one of the biggest surprises is that Helios appears...sort of.  He's been brought back by Medea and Caligula, but only partially manifested.  Given that it had been previously established that Helios and Selene had faded long ago, I was certainly surprised by this.  Though I've always been a bit baffled by this, given how popular Sol Invictus, Helios' Roman form, was.  It was necessary for Apollo to convince Helios to fade again, but also a bit sad.  It is too bad that he couldn't find a way for Helios to properly manifest, and break free of Medea and Caligula.  

Moving along, we also get some revelations about Meg's past.  Her father was a botanist who was try to revive a group of powerful dryads called the Meliae. He also grew a house, including all the furniture, completely out of living plants.  Naturally, he caught Demeter's eye, and thus Meg was born.  He and Meg were happy with all their plants, but then Nero came along.  It was sad that Hercules, Meg's beloved saguaro cactus, died before he could be reunited with his girl.  Well, at least he never lost faith that she would return.  So, when nature spirits are reincarnated, do they retain memories of their past lives, or are they completely different individuals?  Are they okay with this, or do they feel any injustice that they are denied a proper afterlife?  

On the topic of nature spirits, Coach Hedge and Mellie are back.  They've both mellowed out considerably, probably because they have a son to look after now.  As I've previously stated, Coach Hedge seems to work better when he's only around a few characters, rather than chaperoning a whole group.  We also finally find out why demigods don't use guns.  Turns out that celestial bronze bullets evaporate after they hit their targets.  Since celestial bronze is so rare on Earth, this isn't a good set up.  Plus there's also concern over the monster not being killed by the time the bullets run out.  Some demigods accept these risks, and use guns, but most prefer swords and spears.  

I also enjoyed getting to meet the pandai.  Believe it or not, the Greeks and Romans really did believe the pandai were lurking out there in India.  You should read some of the crazy stuff Herodotus wrote in The Histories.  By the end of the book, Grover feels he's no longer needed thanks to the Meliae, and decides to head by to Camp Half-Blood.  You earned it buddy, and we've all missed you very much.  As per usual, you know I'm going to plug the audiobook version.  Though, from some reason, Robbie Daymond gave Grover a southern accent, despite there being no evidence that he has one.  

Now let's look the cover.  We see Apollo, Meg and Grover traversing the labyrinth.  They're on the run from the fires of Helios, and from a flock of strix.  

Well, I think that covers everything.  Jason is dead, Piper and Leo are miserable, and I can safely say this is one of the happiest endings we've seen in a long time.  Pity that we have to switch gears are review a less than stellar book next time.  Join me again next time when we finish our look back at Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard with a look back at Nine From the Nine Worlds.  I will see you all next time. 

Riordan Retrospective: The Dark Prophecy

Welcome once again to the Riordan Retrospective.  For those of you just joining the fun, this is my look back at the works of Rick Riordan.  That means we're taking a look at Percy Jackson, its sequel series and its spin-off series.  This is less of a formal review, and more of a look back, along with my thoughts and observations.  Last time we took a look back at The Hammer of Thor, the absolute rock bottom of both the Magnus Chase series and Rick Riordan's writing career.  This time, we're returning to The Trials of Apollo for a much, much better written book.  We're taking a look back at The Dark Prophecy, The Trials of Apollo book 2.  Let's kick things off with a brief summary.

Apollo is on a quest to restore his godhood by restoring the sources of prophecy.  He and his companions Leo Valdez and Calypso have arrived in Indianapolis, Indiana.  Apollo needs to restore the Oracle of Trophonius, but that's easier said than done.  Our trio of heroes will find danger around every corner as they try to outsmart the second member of the Triumvirate.  However, they'll also find new friends and allies in unexpected places.  Being a depowered god isn't easy, but Apollo will get by with a little help from his friends.

As per usual, there will be spoilers beyond this point, so turn back now if you don't want any of that.  

As I've mentioned before, it really feels like The Trials of Apollo was written to address the criticisms of The Heroes of Olympus.  For starters, Leo is far less annoying and overall it feels like he's been considerably toned down.  It almost redeemed him to me.  Almost, but not quite.  I also like how Leo and Calypso's relationship felt a bit more realistic.  They get into more fights and disagreements, and it was always a joy to reading about Calypso hitting Leo.  One of the big causes of friction with Calypso and Leo is that Calypso has lost her magic after leaving Ogygia.  Yeah, I'd probably be pissed too in that situation.  Though, I will say I have to take issue with Calypso's dream of going to high school.  

Seriously?  After thousands of years Calypso is finally free, the world is her oyster, and her big dream is to go to high school?  She seems to forget high school is...well, school.  There's test, grades, projects and shit.  You don't spend all day goofing around with your friends.  Also, high schools have bullies, just saying.  Something tells me that she's going to be thinking "you know, comparatively speaking, this shithole is more of a prison that Ogygia ever was." 

Yeah, Calypso clearly has an overly romanticized view of high school.  Let's put a pin in that concept, it will be important when we get to The Burning Maze.  Anyway, continuing on with the theme of minimalism, this book is set entirely in the city of Indianapolis.  Once again, Riordan tells a compelling story without it ever feeling claustrophobic.  I also really loved that we finally get some older demigods playing a role in the story.  Well, technically speaking, Hemithea is a legacy of Dionysus and a former minor goddess, but the point still stands.  Hey, Josephine is a daughter of Hecate, which is nice in itself.  Good to see the children of the minor gods getting more representation.   Emmie and Jo live in a magical building called the Waystation, a refuge for demigods and other magical beings.  The Waystation is bigger on the inside than outside, and thus we must conclude that Emmie and Jo are Time Lords, and Waystation is their TARDIS...nah, I'm just being silly. 

On a more serious note, Emmie and Jo also teach us quite a bit about how the Hunters of Artemis work.  Apparently, when Artemis said no romance, she meant it.  Gay romance is just as off-limits as straight romance in the Hunters. Well, that's the opposite of what I figured.  I always pegged the Hunters as the type to have nightly lesbian orgies, but I guess I was wrong.  It also appears that, upon leaving the Hunters, the former Hunters resuming aging at a normal rate.  Their clocks become unpaused, as it were.  I'll add that one thing I liked about Jo is that she shows the potential creativity and flexibility demigods have with their powers.  She's a daughter of Hecate, but her specialty is magical technology.  As such, she makes all kinds of lovely magical machines to rival anything a child of Hephaestus might craft. 

Also, Emmie and Jo are well written LGBT characters, unlike a certain green-haired sociopath hailing from the Magnus Chase series.  I'm just saying, it's pretty clear that Rick knows how to write gay and bisexual characters, but he's pretty clueless about transgender characters.  Also, just a thought, but Rick says that the reason his leads tend to be dudes are because he's a dude, and that's his experience.  Now consider that Apollo is a bisexual...hey, Uncle Rick?  Is there something you'd like to share with the class?  On the other hand, Rick isn't black like Carter, or a girl like Sadie, so I suppose that pokes a hole in that theory.  

Among notable monsters, this book sees the blemmyae make an appearance.  They're those creatures that look like people with faces in the center of their chests.  I found the way they were described amusing, as Apollo make them sound like monsters off of an episode of Power Rangers.  Marco Polo claimed to have encountered blemmyae on his famous journey to China.  Hmm, I wonder if Marco Polo was a demigod in the Riordanverse?  

Among the new gods to appear, Britimartis was interesting.  She used to be the Minoan goddess of the hunt, but now is the Greek goddess of nets and traps.  There are scholars who believe that Britimartis was a pre-existing goddess who got incorporated into the Greek Pantheon.  Of course, we know basically nothing about the Minoans, since we have no Minoan version of the Rosetta Stone, so who knows?  Headless Agamethus and his magic eight ball were fun too. 

Now let's talk about the second member of the Triumvirate.  We know that Nero is emperor one, and pretty much everyone called Caligula as emperor number three, but there was a lot of speculation about emperor two.  I'd floated around the idea that it might be Commodus, and it appears I was right.  I'd actually been a bit hesitant about pinning Commodus as number two.  Few would argue that Commodus wasn't an incompetent emperor, but it might be a bit of stretch to say he was as evil as Nero and Caligula.  Commodus was, basically, a spoiled trust-fund kid.  He was more interested in living it up and partying than he was in governing Rome.  He also loved to dress us as Hercules, hence his nickname The New Hercules.  To put it into perspective how ridiculous that is, imagine if the president of the Untied States insisted on giving speeches while dressed as Superman or Captain America. 

I will say that I give props to Riordan for including how Commodus died.  He was indeed drowned in a bath.  Though, in the Riordanverse, it was his lover Apollo that did him in.  That's one of the things the film Gladiator gets wrong, though to be fair, it would be hard to make that an emotionally dramatic scene.  Also, Commodus did not kill his father Marcus Aurelius, and there was no movement to make Rome a republic again.  Gladiator plays fast and loss with history, but it's still an enjoyable and well-made film.  While not completely historically accurate, it captures the feeling of what it was like to live in the Roman Empire well.  Perhaps I'll give it a proper review at some point.  Well, that aside over, back to the retrospective.

You know, it gets me thinking, what if there's a good counterpart to Triumvirate Holdings?  If the bad emperors are running around, it stands to reason that there are the good ones somewhere out there.  Maybe they could be emperors with connections to the Triumvirate?  Obvious, Marcus Aurelius for Commodus, and Claudius for Caligula.  He was Caligula's uncle, and is widely considered the smartest of the emperors.  For Nero, perhaps Augustus?  Julius Caesar wasn't emperor, but maybe he could appear too?  Titus and Tiberius might also make good candidates.  

We also get some excellent worldbuilding in this book.  We know that Chinese Mythology is real, as Apollo mentions nearly hitting a Chinese dragon with his sun chariot one time.  Then we meet Olujime from Nigeria.  He's clearly got a connection to the Yoruba orishas, meaning Yoruba Mythology is true.  Specifically, he's got some kind of connection to Shango, orisha of thunder.  Orisha's are basically the same things as gods, just a matter of semantics.  Shango is associated with black and red, as is Jaime.  Shango's symbol is the double headed axe, which Jamie fights with.  Jaime also has lighting powers, and as mentioned, Shango is god of thunder.  Shango is also believed to possibly be an inspiration for the American folk hero John Henry.  Oh course, John Henry was real in the Riordanverse, but he was a son of Thor.  Yet another mark against Magnus Chase, but I digress.   

It's a damn shame that Rick isn't going to be tackling non-Western mythologies.  He's clearly got a passion and knowledge in them, much as he'd like to deny that.  Of course, just look at how many books he's written as it is.  My theory on why the Rick Riordan Presents imprint came about is that Rick is getting worn out from all the writing, and knows it was this or hiring ghost writers to keep up with demand.  The fact that it gave him an opportunity to virtue signal about promoting minority writers just happened to be a nice bonus.  Like I said, just speculation on my part. 

The scene where Apollo loses his memories when going to the Oracle of Trophonius was fun.  Rick should have his characters get high more often. Also, note that he destroys Trophonius, rather than restoring him.  I can't help but wonder if that's going to have significance in the future books of the trilogy.    Also, yay, Thalia is back.  I was a bit disappointed that she didn't play a bigger role, but I'll take what I can get.  It would have been nice if Artemis had appeared to, but maybe in the future books.  In other small, but by no means insignificant appearances, Grover is back!  He's back at last!  Of course, we'll talk more about him when we get to The Burning Maze.  

Now then, let's analyze the cover.  The see Apollo riding on a griffin along with...well, I'm not entirely sure.  My impulse is to say Calypso, but the Hunters of Artemis jacket is throwing me for a loop.  We also see war ostriches wearing Imperial German pickelhaube.  I just knew I was in for a good time when I saw this book cover.  Robbie Daymond continues doing excellent work as narrator of the audiobook version.  

Well, that should do it for this retrospective.  I know I've said it before, but I'm glad to have all of you along for the ride with me.  It was nice to do one of a book I enjoyed.  I bring this up because next time we're heading back to Magnus Chase for another bad book beat down.  Join me again next time when we take a look back at The Ship of the Dead.  I will see you all next time.