The Heroes of Olympus: Book One The lost hero by Rick Riordan.

When Jason wakes up, he is on a school bus traveling to the Grand Canyon for a field trip. He can’t remember anything about himself. Not even Leo, the best friend sitting in front of him, or Piper, the girlfriend sitting beside him.

Then monsters attack.

Barely surviving the attack Jason, Leo and Piper, are whisked away to Camp Halfblood, where they learn they are demigods.

Camp Halfblood, having been rebuilt after the recent war against the Titans, is in a bit of turmoil. A few days ago their hero, Percy Jackson disappeared. Now Annabelle is combing the earth for her missing boyfriend, while the newly revealed demigods journey on a quest to save Hera – and figure out who exactly is Jason.

Likes
This is the first book in Riordan’s new series, The Heroes of Olympus. As a fan of the Percy Jackson series, I had high hopes for this one. I was not disappointed! I enjoyed the action of the story, and that it was told from the view of the three main characters.

Dislikes
That I have to wait for the next book. Bah!

bah. humbug.

le sigh

I'm hearing more and more of the same thing about the Percy Jackson movie. Why must Hollywood mess up movie adaptations of such excellent books?

The End

One more book review for you:

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan.

The time has come. Percy, just days from being sixteen, and his fellow demigods must battle to save the world from Kronos and his army. As the gods and goddesses fight Typhon, it is up to the demigods to save Olympus. Can they do it?

Wow. Just wow. The fifth and final installment of this series was artfully packed full of action. Riordan has achieved what few other series authors seem to be able to do. He has written a series where each book is on par with the rest in their excellence. I am only sad that there aren’t more, though he did hint that their might be a companion series in the future. One can only hope.

This series is firmly on my list of All Time Favorite Book Series. That is a short list.

The Lightning Thief hits the theaters later this month. I'm anxiously waiting. I really hope that Hollywood doesn't screw up the film adaptation of the books.

Books as far as the eye can see

I have four books that I've finished reading recently that I still need to post about. Two of them I swear I already typed up the reviews. Hrm. Must check the laptop. I might have saved the reviews to the laptop instead of my thumb drive.

These are the four books:

• In a Heartbeat by Loretta Ellsworth (ARC copy, but was published as of today)
• The London Eye mystery by Siobhan Dowd
• Charles and Emma: the Darwins' leap of faith by Deborah Heiligman.
• The last Olympian (book 5 of the Percy Jackson series) by Rick Riordan

I'm still listening to An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon. No surprise there, as it is only 40 discs! I'm reading Marcello in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork and Troll's eye view : a book of villainous tales edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.

More excitedly, I received an ARC of Karen Cushman's newest book: Alchemy and Meggy Swann. I must read a few of the books I have checked out first, though, since that pile is getting very high.

So many books...so little time. Le sigh.

reading while traveling

I only brought two books with me this trip, knowing that I will be picking up several ARC (advance reader copies) at the conference. Unfortunately, I finished reading both books before acquiring new ones to read! Thankfully that has since been rectified.

The first book I finished was The Battle of the Labyrinth: Percy Jackson and the Olympians #4 by Rick Riordan. Yet again, Riordan has written a masterful tale about the Greek Gods and Goddesses and their children in modern times. It has been a few months since we left Percy and his friends at the end of book three. Percy breaks a new personal record and manages to be expelled from his new school after a fire breaks out during freshman orientation. After returning to Camp Halfblood for the summer (and to get out of NYC for a while…again), Percy finds that things there are worse than they were in December. Grover is close to losing his Searcher’s license (and he has a girlfriend), Annabeth and Clarisse have been working on a secret project. And Mr. D (Dionysius), the reluctant (and perpetually annoyed) camp director is off dealing with problems with minor gods and goddess.

Annabeth finally gains her quest. She, Percy, Tyson and Grover head into the fabled Labyrinth in hopes to save Camp Halfblood – and the world – from the rise of the ancient Titan ruler, Kronos.

This book offers so much for the reader.

Adventure? Check.
Romance? Check. At least on the upper elementary level. lol
Magic? Check.
A happy ending? Guess you will just have to read it to find out!



The other book I finished was The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd. My nearly 13 year old niece gave this to me to read. It is a current pick for the Youngstown English Festival.

Ted and Kat’s Aunt Gloria and cousin Salim come to visit them before heading off to NYC from England. Salim wants to ride the London Eye – something he has never done before. When he disappears from the ride, the whole family is frantic. Ted and Kat decide to try and solve the mystery. It will take both of them to figure it out just what happened to Salim.

The book is told from Ted’s point of view, which makes it all the more interesting. While it isn’t actually said in the book, Ted appears to have a high functioning form of autism or Aspergser’s syndrome. He is extremely interested in all thing weather related, and hopes to be a meteorologist when he becomes an adult.

While I found it slow going, once I got hooked on the story (basically when Salim actually disappears), I didn’t want to put the book down. This is a great mystery!


I’m now reading the unpublished teen book In a Heartbeat by Loretta Ellsworth.

The copy I have is an uncorrected advance proof/ARC. That is one of the perks of attending library conferences. Lots of free books to obtain!

The curse of series fiction...

The books that I've recently finished are all part of series. It seems like most books are like that anymore. This can be a blessing when the series is well written from start to finish. Unfortunately, that doesn't always happen.

The Titan's curse : #3 by Rick Riordan
Book three in Riordan’s compelling Percy Jackson series was as action packed and full of adventure as the previous two stories. Percy sneaks his way on a quest to rescue his friend Annabeth and the goddess Artemis. Along the way they will battle more mythical creatures, talk to a few gods and goddesses, and even experience help from the long lost god Pan.

After finishing this book, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the next in the series – to the point that I almost purchased it while shopping at Sam’s Club, even though I knew it would be waiting for me at work the next day (I ended up waiting and saving a few dollars). This series is definitely one of my favorite. I love how Riordan intermixes modern times with the lives and myths of the Greek gods and goddesses.





Fragile Eternity by Melissa Marr
This is also the third book in its series, which began with Wicked Lovely. As with the first book, this one focuses on Aislinn and her boyfriend, Seth. Aislinn is now the Summer Queen – an immortal faerie. Seth is still a mortal. Tired of not being able to help his girlfriend when she is in trouble, of being babysat by the faeries from both the Summer and Dark Courts, and the growing closeness between Aislinn and Keenen (the Summer King), Seth seeks out a way to become immortal and spend eternity with Aislinn.

As I noted before, I liked the second book in this series (Ink Exchange) better than I did the first. This holds true with the third. I did finish the book, but there was a time or two that I contemplated not reading until the end. I was not as interested in the characters as I was with those in Ink Exchange. My overall feeling of the book was “ho hum”.

My sister G read the books, but I forget which she said was her favorite and why. I do recall that she read them out of order, so that may have influenced her feelings of the series. Guess I need to give her a call to talk about the books!

The fourth book, Radiant Shadows is due out on April 20. I’m not sure yet if I will place it on hold. Once I read a review or few I’ll decide.


Fallen by Lauren Kate

I started reading this book, a first novel of a new teen series, and made it about 1/3 of the way through before deciding to return it. Firstly, I couldn’t renew it as there was a hold on the title. Secondly, I just wasn’t getting in to the story.I do love the cover, though. The first few pages were fairly interesting, but after that I was bored. The writing wasn’t thrilling. I’ve too many books to read to waste time on something that bores me.


So…on to the next novel…

Sea of Monsters

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

Percy has managed to survive to the last day of the school year without being expelled. This is a first! Unfortunately, during the final exam for Dodgeball, events take place that changes Percy’s life – and ensures that this school year will end just like the previous ones.

After escaping to Camp Halfblood, Percy is stunned to find out that his friend Tyson is not only a Cyclops, but also his half brother. Also shocking is the condition of the camp due to the poisoning of Thalia’s tree. Then there are the disturbing dreams about Grover being in trouble.

Can Percy, Annabeth and Tyson save both Grover and the camp before it’s too late?

Another action packed tale in the series, this story continues about nine months after the end of the first one. Riordan weaves a wonderful continuation of Greek mythologies in the modern world. If only there was a different narrator…



Something else I wanted to mention is about audiobooks in general. This one brought it to mind. I really wish that every CD of an audiobook would start and end with an announcement of what disc you are listening to. I think having that information actually helps with the flow of the story. Especially if, like me, you have a CD player that automatically starts track 1 after the final tract ends. Talk about confusing!

Adventures, Ahoy!

Rapture of the deep: being an account of the further adventures of Jacky Faber, soldier, sailor, mermaid, spy by L.A. Meyer

Jacky is back, and another amazing adventure awaits. On what is to be the day she finally marries her one true love, Jacky is kidnapped by British Intelligence and force to serve another mission. This time she is off to the Caribbean to search for missing Spanish treasure. As usual, Jacky finds all sorts of trouble in those waters.

The latest installment in the Bloody Jack series is as wonderful as the previous tales.





The lightning thief by Rick Riordan ; read by Jesse Bernstein

Percy Jackson is not your regular twelve-year-old boy. For one thing, he has been expelled from every school he has attended. He’s not a bad kid. It’s just that odd things seem to happen when he is around. Percy is also has dyslexia and ADHD – two disorders that do not make a stellar student.

There is a reason that Percy’s life is so strange, and he is about to find it out. Percy is not an ordinary human; he is the son of a Greek god and, therefore, half human and half mortal.

Shortly after barely making it alive to Camp Halfblood, Percy is sent on a quest to keep World War III from starting. Percy, along with his friend Annabeth (another halfblood) and Grover (a satyr), travel from New York to Los Angeles, fighting mythical monsters along the way.

As I mentioned previously, I started listening to this book after trying three other audiobooks. I don’t like the narrator of this tale, but his style (or lack there of) didn’t keep me from being sucked in to the wonderful story. I’m already listening to the next book – Sea of Monsters.

This fantastic story is being made into a full feature film.