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: The Tower of Nero

Welcome back to my Riordan Retrospective. This is my look back at the works of Rick Riordan.  That means Percy Jackson, its sequels, and its spin-off.  This is less of a formal review and more of a casual look back.  I'd normally have introduced that with "For those of you just joining the fun..." but this is our final installment.  So, you really should probably start at the beginning with The Lightning Thief.  

Last time, we took a look back at Camp Jupiter Classified and "The Singer of Apollo." This time, we reach the big finally, at least for now. We're taking a look back at The Tower of Nero, The Trials of Apollo book 5.  As usual, we'll start things off with a little summary. 

This is it; the journey has come to its end.  Apollo and Meg have returned to New York City to face off against Nero.  Additionally, Apollo must slay the serpent Python to free the final source of prophecy and reclaim his godhood.  Apollo is in for a battle of Olympian proportions. 
 
Well, this is it.  It feels kind of surreal that we're here.  I mean, I some level we all knew that the Camp Half-Blood side of the Riordanverse was going to come to an end eventually.  We knew it, but it still feels kind of unreal that it has finally arrived.  We'll ponder that a bit more than towards the end.  For now, let's discuss the plot itself.  Also, as usual, there will be spoilers ahead.  So, consider yourself warned. 
 
Apollo and Meg get a new ally in the form of Lu, short for Luguselwa.  She is a Gaul who served Nero, and taught Meg how to sword fight.  In many ways, Lu was something of a surrogate aunt to Meg during his time in Nero's household.  Lu never liked Nero, and was given immortality against her will.  Unsurprisingly, she helped Meg escape from Nero, which eventually led to Meg finding Apollo.  I thought she was a welcome addition to the cast.  
 
Apollo, Meg, and Lu make a stop at the Jackson apartment to visit Sally and Paul.  By this point baby Estelle has been born.  She has salt and pepper hair like Paul...and sea-green eyes like Poseidon.  How can this be?  Was Rick having a brain fart again?  Actually, I have a theory.  The Ancient Greeks believed that, if a woman had sex with multiple men in the same night, their sperm would mix within her, and the child would inherit traits from both men.  That's how Theseus could be a son of both King Aegeas and Poseidon.  That wasn't the writers being inconsistent; Theseus was literally the son of both Aegeas and Poseidon.  Now, as for what this has to do with little Estelle, I guess what I'm saying is, make of her appearance what you will.  
 
Then we move on to Camp Half-Blood where...can it be?  It is!  Mr. D is finally back at camp!  I never thought I'd miss Dionysus so much, but it is great to have him back.  It's mentioned that he's forced to work at camp for 100 year, even though his sentence was reduced to fifty years at the end of The Last Olympian.  Could be another goof, but on the other hand, it is perfect in-character for Zeus to chance the sentence back to 100 years for no reason at all.  Mr. D even give Meg some respect when she turns out to be really good at pinochle.  On the flip side, he really rubs it in Apollo's face about the whole reduced to a mortal thing.  Dionysus even tells everyone that Apollo is named Mr. A, and is his assistant.  
 
Apollo also takes time to visits his kids.  Turns out Japan wasn't the only country his visited.  He has a son from London named Jerry and another son from Hong Kong named Yan.  He also has a daughter from Idaho named Gracie, but that isn't as exciting.  I sure hope the Chinese gods don't give little Yan any trouble.  Well, unless Hong Kong counts as separate from China.  Wait, is Rick subtly signaling his support for the Hong Kong protesters?  Is so, good on you, Rick.  Getting back on track, it was nice that Apollo took time to bond with his kids. 
 
Nico and Will are also back.  Nico hasn't been doing so well lately.  Jason's death hit him pretty hard.  Jason was the first person he came out to, and they did seem to have a bit of chemistry together.  I still stand by my theory that Jason was originally going to be gay, and was going to be Nico's boyfriend rather than Will.  All the same, you'd think the bigger issue would be that he lost Reyna, his surrogate sister, to the Hunters of Artemis.  This marks the second times the Hunters took a sister from him, but this gets absolutely no mention, not even in passing.  Of course, Reyna herself joined the Hunters with nary a though to how Nico would take it; as I covered in The Tyrant's Tomb.  We'll come back to this later, but let's move on to other things for now. 
 
Nico has been taking trips deep underground, even deeper than the Labyrinth, to meet with the troglodytes.  They're a race of frogmen who borough deep into the earth and can run really fast.  They also like to wear funny hats, and they consider lizards a delicacy.  They also known secret passages that lead to Nero's headquarters, and a few that lead to certain parts of the underworld.  Naturally, with Nico's help, Apollo and Meg want to enlist the help of the troglodytes to defeat Nero.  Also, just as an aside, if someone ever calls you a troglodyte, they are not paying you a compliment.  
 
Rachel is also back at long last, and she joins Nico, Will, Apollo, and Meg on their journey to meet the troglodytes.  I thought that Rachel had really great chemistry with Will and Nico.  Also, when the gang visit Rachel's house in Brooklyn, she mentions that there is some weird stuff going on at the house next door.  Some people say they've seen penguins on the balcony, and others claims that there is a house floating above it.  Obviously, this is Brooklyn House from The Kane Chronicles.  It was a nice little cameo, especially since The Kane Chronicles is typically kept separate from the Greco-Roman side of the Riordanverse. 
 
I also really liked that Nero utilizes modern technology this time round in his schemes.  He doesn't have to worry about attracting monsters like the heroes do. That gives him a pretty big advantage.  He's got a network of surveillance cameras scattered across Manhattan.  Presumably, he read a copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four at some point and thought "Oh, yes.  That sounds lovely.  I wonder if I can make something like that?"  This yet another reason why Camp Half-Blood needs to collaborate more with Brooklyn House; surveillance cameras are incredibly easy for magicians to short out.  
 
At one point, when Apollo confronts Nero, the emperor says something to the effect of "The Christians claimed they were a religion of peace, but I knew what they were really up to."  Okay, credit where it is due, that was a genuinely clever line.  We also find out what Nero's long-term plan is.  Meg isn't the only demigod orphan he kidnapped.  Nero wants to create a new pantheon, with himself as the surrogate father to the new gods.  Hey, that's kind of like the plan Luke had in the movie of...the movi...the mov...no, no, no, no, no!  We're not going to go there!  Not here, not now.  There are no Percy Jackson movies in Ba Sing Se!  The Earth King has invited me Lake Laogi.  I...I...ice cream.  
 
I'm sorry gang, I blanked out there for a minute.  What were we talk about again?  Oh, right, Nero's evil plans.  He wants to burn down New York and rebuild it in his image as the capital of his new empire.  It used to be a popular theory that Nero started the Great Fire of Rome so that he could build a new palace.  He pinned the crime on the Christians, as they were considered shifty, unpatriotic, and untrustworthy weirdos by all the well-to-do Romans.  However, most modern historians no longer believe this to be the case.  Most likely, the fire was just a freak accident, and Christians made a convenient target to lash out at.  
 
Nero's also been seeking help from other pantheons.  He's hired a leontocephaline to guard his fasces.  Leontocephaline was a creature from Persian Mythology.  It looked like a man with a lion's head.  It guarded the scepter of immortality of the god Mithras, and oversaw the movements of the stars.  Well, at least, that's what some people thing.  Just a refresher, Mithras was a Persian god who was popular with Roman soldiers.  Well, he was basically the Roman version of the Persian god Mithra.  Mithras had a religion based around his worship, but we know next to nothing about it.  To date, no surviving Mithraic texts have ever been found.  Most of what we do know comes from archeology, second-hand accounts, and educated guess work.  The leontocephaline is one of the least understood parts of Mithraic iconography, but the information Rick gives is one of the competing theories about what it was. 
 
Similarly, nobody knows why Mithraism died out.  Some think it was competition with Christians.  Some churches were built on top of Mithraic temples, which leads some credence to the theory.  However, it really started to decline around the time tension between Rome and Persia flared up, again.  Thus, worshiping a Persian deity would have been viewed as unpatriotic.  Of course, it didn't help that only men could join, and that initiates had to cut off their penises once they really committed to it, so converts were the only way for the religion to grow.  It might be a combination of all three, but my money is on the last one, and the religion being doomed from the start.  
 
I bring all this up because it adds another layer to Nero's deviousness.  He was so desperate for power that he'd even forge alliances with the gods of one of Rome's ancient enemies.  He's also got a new weapon called Sassanid gas; named after the Persian dynasty that ruled from the third century AD until the Islamic conquest of Iran in the seventh century.  It's a deadly gas that highly effective in enclosed spaces.  Nero is planning on using it on the demigods of Camp Half-Blood who have come to help Apollo.  In other words, Nero...wants to gas the half-bloods.  Uh, Nero, just purely out of curiosity, what are your opinions on black people and Jews?  
 
Though, in all seriousness, I liked that Chiron accompanied the campers, and treated the whole experience like a field trip.  I also absolutely loved the scene where Apollo revokes Nero's divinity.  He says, basically, "I'm the one who gave this to you in the first place, and I can take it away.  Without me, you're nothing."  It was very cathartic after everything Nero has put Apollo and Meg through.  Of course, first Lu needed to get the fasces from the leontocephaline.  It would only except immortality, and Lu trades the immortality Nero granted her.  I'm not sure how that works, but the leontocephaline accepted it, and that's the important part.  Though, personally, I would actually have like to have seen all that go down, rather than have Lu tell us after the fact.  
 
Of course, with Nero out the way, Apollo has to face off against Python for the big finish.  Python was more in the background compared to Kronos and Gaea.  They both lurked in the background, but always exerted enough influence to remind everyone of what a threat they were.  By contrast, The Trials of Apollo put the emphasis firmly on the Triumvirate, with Python being a bit of an afterthought most of the time.  Still, Python absolutely makes the most of what screen time he gets.  He comes across as an incredible intimating and formidable opponent for Apollo.  I think we all call the Arrow of Dodona being used to deliver the killing blow.  All the same, it was sad to see our Shakespearian comrade have to sacrifice himself.  I hope that his spirit somehow made it back to the Grove of Dodona.  
 
Up on Olympus, the gods have been watching closely, and have been cheering him on.  And even Hera, of all people, cries because she worries that Apollo might not make it.  The gods briefly wonder what they'll do if Apollo fails.  Aphrodite and Ares suggest they start searching for a replacement, but nobody considers maybe giving Hestia her spot back.  I mean, that would have been awful if Apollo got killed, but at least Hestia would have experience as an Olympian.  It's okay, Hestia, at least I remembered you.  
 
I really liked that, after Apollo get his godhood back, we get several chapters where Apollo visits all of his friends, and reflects on how he has grown and changed.  I'm reminded of a quote by the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, "And once the storm is over, you won't remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive.  You won't even be sure whether the storm is really over.  But one thing is certain.  When you come out of the storm, you won't be the same person who walked in.  That's what the storm is all about." 
 
Apollo is welcomed back by all of the other Olympians with open arms.  Even Artemis is glad to have her twin brother back, though she does tease him a bit.  It was nice to get to see Olympus from the perspective of one of the gods.  Though, by this point, Apollo feels like a stranger in his own home.  He doesn't feel comfortable among the gods, and longs for the comfort of Camp Half-Blood.  Naturally, that's where he decides to go first.  He even arrives in his Lester Papadopoulos form, because he's grown fond of it, almost more so than his perfect godly body.  Quite the change from The Hidden Oracle, when he couldn't wait to bid his mortal body ado.  Apollo also pledges to keep his distance from Zeus in order to limit his father's toxic influence.  Though it was nice that Zeus, in his own way, told Apollo that he was proud of him.  It was also nice that Dionysus subtly congratulates Apollo on regaining his godhood.  
 
Apparently, Chiron has been meeting with a cat and a severed head to discuss a mutual problem.  Obviously, this is Bast from The Kane Chronicles and Mimir from Magnus Chase.  Don't get too excited, the big three-way crossover many people were hoping for isn't happening.  This was just Rick throwing a bone to those people hoping for it.  Rachel recites a third great prophecy, but we don't get to hear it.  I guess that it was Rick was of showing that the adventure is still continuing even if the books are ending.  Hey, as long as the world has the demigods of Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter to defend it, then the world is in good hands.  Bring on the monsters.  
 
Apollo doesn't take over for Dionysus at Camp Half-Blood, as many assumed he would.  Still, he will be visiting his kids more often from now on.  He also stops by Camp Jupiter to check-in with Hazel, Frank, and Lavinia.  They're all doing well, and that's good.  Then he goes to the Waystation.  Emmie and Jo are doing their best to keep Leo and Calypso out of trouble.  Speaking of which, Leo and Calypso still haven't really gotten together, Calypso is still mad at Leo, and their relationship, such that it is, is still on the rocks.  Awesome!  Who says happy endings aren't possible?  Also, apparently Calypso is working at a music camp these days.  Hmm, maybe one of these days she'll wind-up leading campfire sing-a-longs at Camp Half-Blood.  
 
Of course, then Rick completely bungled it all.  The Hunters of Artemis are there too.  Reyna seems to be loosening up a bit, which I suppose makes sense.  I'd imagine Thalia is starting to rub off on her.  Oh, and she treats Leo as her surrogate little brother now, despite that they've barely interacted at all before this point.  No!  Gods, please, no!  No!  Noooooooooo! 
 
Seriously, Rick, is that you trying to piss the readers off on purpose again?  Because that's sure what it feels like.  Reyna already has a surrogate little brother, and his name is Nico.  Perhaps you've heard of him?  That was one plotline I, and many other fans, we're looking forward to, and Riordan completely dropped the ball.  And why Leo, of all people?  Well, apart from being a creator's pet, I assume it was because they're both Latino.  Man, that's like the end of David Tennant's run on Doctor Who when Micky and Martha got married because they were both black.  Hey, if you have a better explanation of why Micky and Martha got married, despite them never interacting before, I'm all ears. 
 
If Rick made Reyna and Leo surrogate siblings because they're both Latino, then wow, that was awfully lazy.  Mexico and Puerto Rico have different cultures.  There are areas of overlap, to be sure, but they are separate and distinct cultures.  Having the Mexican boy and the Puerto Rican girl as surrogate siblings is, basically, implying that all Latino cultures are interchangeable.  It also ignores that Reyna already had a surrogate sibling relationship with Nico.  Seriously, am I the only one who cared about that? 
 
Moving along, Apollo visits Percy and Annabeth at the University of New Rome.  At long last, Percy has turned eighteen and finally graduated from high school.  Congratulations my guy, you certainly earned it.  Percy even manages to bury the hatchet with Apollo.  It helped that Apollo teleported some of Mrs. Jackson's famous blue chocolate chip cookies to Percy.  Percy, Annabeth, and Grover drove all the way across America to get to New Rome, just like old times.  Well, I mean, they had to because Zeus won't let Percy fly. Still, I'm sensing potential for a short story or two there.  Sadly, Grover isn't in this particular scene, because he's off doing satyr stuff.  
 
Even more regrettably, they spend a large amount of time moaning about how Jason was the greatest hero of all, and what a great guy he was, blah, blah, blah.  Oh, give me a break!  A freeze-dried octopus in a mason jar would have made a better hero than Jason Grace.  You wanna know why I think everyone loves him so much?  He's a self-insert character.  Just hear me out.  A trick some authors do is to make their main characters as vague as possible so that the readers can imagine themselves in the role.  You often see this in romance novels.  Stephanie Meyer has admitted she did this with Bella Swan in Twilight.  So, think Rick made Jason a blank canvas so that readers could project their own expectations and headcanons onto him.  Thus, Jason isn't popular because of what is on the page, but rather, because of what readers came up with while trying to fill-in the blanks. 
 
I've said, and I'll say it again.  Jason was a worthless good for nothing cardboard cutout of a character.  A pale imitation of Percy, who is twenty-times the hero Jason could ever hope to be.  The Chad Percy and The Virgin Jason.  So, goodbye and good riddance.  And may Jason Grace rot forever in the Fields of Asphodel as he deserves. 
 
Moving right along, Piper is enjoying a quiet life in Oklahoma.  Oh, and she's dating a girl named Shel.  So yeah, Piper is a lesbian...or bisexual...it was kind of ambiguous.  I didn't mind that, but I would have liked it to have had more set-up.  Piper also makes it sound like she's taking a stand against Aphrodite's expectations.  Except there was no real evidence that Aphrodite disapproved of Piper dating girls.  Like I said, there was also no evidence that Piper liked girls until just now, so it feels kind of out of left field.  
 
Last, but certainly not least, Apollo takes time to visit Meg.  She's enjoying a peaceful new life at Adithales with her foster siblings, and under the watchful eyes of Lu.  They spend the day together, but though Apollo must leave, he promises to return soon.  I liked that so many chapters were devoted to checking in on the other characters.  This underscores that this is the last time we'll be seeing these character for a while.  It also emphasis how far many of them have come over the years. 
 
Finally, Apollo takes a moment to personally thank the reader/listener for sticking with him throughout the retelling of his trials.  He says that he considers the reader a personal friend, and grants his patronage to the reader.  Whenever you write a poem, perform a song, or fire an arrow, Apollo will be watching over you and cheering you on.  Aw, that was really nice of him. 
 
You can also read this on a metafictional level.  It is very easy to interpret that as Rick Riordan himself thanking the readers, especially those who were with him since all the way back when The Lightning Thief first came out.  Here's to you, Uncle Rick.  Sometimes you made me crabby, other times you drive me nuts, but my life is better because of you, no ifs, ands, or buts.  
 
We're going to do one final cover analysis.  Not too much to unpack here.  It's the big moment where Apollo faces off against Python, and it is glorious. 
 
And for one final time, I will plug the audiobook version.  Robbie Daymond is a professional voice actor involved in numerous cartoons, video games, and anime dubs.  So, it is unsurprising that he always gives a great performance.  Jesse Bernstein is always going to have the nostalgia factor, but Robbie can more than give him a run for his money as a narrator. 
 
And so, at last, that was The Tower of Nero, and the end of The Trials of Apollo.  It is a really surreal feeling.  I can believe that it's over already.  What else can I say?  It's been an amazing journey, and I'm glad I've had all of you join me along the way. 
 
Wait, actually, I do have more to say.  This isn't the end of the Riordanverse.  Rick is currently writing a series based on Irish Mythology.  No word on when it is coming out, but it is happening.  He's also toying with the idea of doing standalone books set within the Riordanverse.  He's mentioned he's thinking of writing a Nico standalone story.  Think along the lines of Camp Jupiter Classified, but perhaps longer.  It would be like those A Star Wars Story movies.  It's a shame they stopped making them, because I thought Rouge One and Solo were absolutely fantastic, but I digress.  Maybe we'll get standalones focused on minor characters, or original characters.  Still, that's a ways away, and still hypothetical at this point. 
 
More importantly, we're getting a live action Percy Jackson series on Disney+ and live action Kane Chronicles movies on Netflix.  Oh, and Rick and his wife Becky are going to be involved every step of the way.  They're going to ensure that they will be faithful to the books, and are quality products.  Rick is writing the pilot episode of the Disney+ series.  Very exciting stuff indeed.  And hey, there's plenty of great books to discover from the Rick Riordan Presents imprint. 
 
I guess all of this is to say, don't think of The Tower of Nero as goodbye forever, but rather, goodbye for now.  This isn't the last we've seen of the Riordanverse.  It might be a few years, but there are still more adventures to come.  
 
And what of The Riordan Retrospective?  Well, it's much the same.  Obviously, I can't do any more retrospectives until new books come out.  However, the spirit of the Riordan Retroactive will live on.  I've been reading and enjoying several of the Rick Riordan Presents books.  I think I will review them, but separate from the Riordan Retrospective, as they are not written by Rick Riordan.  I also think I'll start another retrospective series, but this time focused on the works of DJ MacHale.  That means Pendragon, The Morpheus Road, and The SYLO Chronicles.  I do hope you'll join me for both of those. 
 
And now, I would like to take a moment to thank all of you, especially those who were with me from the start.  This retrospective series would have been half as fun without all of you.  I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.  You all have my eternal gratitude.  If I could, I'd give blue chocolate chip cookies to all of you.  
 
Well, I think that does it from me for now.  I will see you guys next time.