Review: #404
Title: The House of Hades
Series: Heroes of Olympus - 4th book
Author: Rick Riordan
Read Before: no
My Comments: A minor spoiler, but if you expected the book to end in a cliffhanger like the previous three, you’re in for a surprise. There is no cliffhanger! I was like, “is that it? Where is the trademark (sometimes superficial) Riordan cliffhanger?” Although this makes the book feel a little bit more complete and standalone. Anyway, kudos if you like it but it feels like the series is going downhill. The story is rotates between seven different narrators (i.e. each of the main characters), and splits between two parties (mortal world and Tartarus). Unfortunately, this doesn’t work very well. This is due to the high probability that a reader would not like all characters and this means that author can’t focus on making each character unique. As it is, they all seem to focus upon their romantic relationships, which is very tiring. Sure, they all have partners (even Leo gets one now), but it lacks the uniqueness and sweetness in each one, it feels like they are paired just because the author felt like it, there’s no memorable chemistry between them. That, and every single chapter (or close enough) has a character spouting some nonsense about how they don’t want their partner to be hurt or that they can’t live without them. Even Annabeth and Percy’s relationship is starting to feel stale. An interesting element in The House of Hades is that appearance of past characters, even very minor ones. We go from one or two minor instances in previous books to a full overblown story arc and multiple subplots involving one-shot characters in the past. It feels odd that their roles are much more substantial than just a cameo, in some cases, they personality has changed a lot. There are a few quirks; Leo starts to get unbearable (easily the worse character, followed by the shallowness of Frank and Hazel). Not on that, Leo gets to meet a certain special immortal that Percy had encountered before. She has the “character we’ve seen before but now her personality has changed dramatically” syndrome, and while the explanation given is plausible, it’s still a huge shock. The way the romance sparks between them, it makes Percy’s initial encounter lose its entire specialness. That’s the problem with The House of Hades and Heroes of Olympus in general; the events that happen have started to make previous events redundant and pointless. The giants defeated back in the last few books? Sorry, but it turns out that it was useless. Nico’s relationship with Percy felt like a retcon, sure, it was hinted in The Mark of Athena, but everything before that… nothing he did really showed what the author said was happening all along. It also feels a lot of the mythological characters had nothing to do for 2000 years, since they spout the famous stuff from Greek legends and then a blank, what? They had no other demigods that happened upon them in that many years? Another clue that the series is getting stale is that in all of the encounters, you know what is going to happen. The characters will stall for time and somehow talk their way out, it’s lacking the wit, clever and innovative happenings that made the original Percy Jackson series such a joy to read. That said, there was a sad scene near the end of the book. As it is, there is a LOT of neat ideas in The House of Hades, but it feels somewhat… lacking.
Rating: 6/10