Series Recap: Lost Heroes of Olympus

Have you ever started a long series when the first book came out but then over the course of multiple years lost track of it? This has happened to me a few times, but most significantly with the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan.
When I first read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series when I was in college, I fell in love. I own all 5 books and I have read them multiple times. However, they were all already out when I read them so I was able to read them sequentially in a short time span.

When I find an author I love, I immediately check their backlist and proceed to read whatever else I can find by them. For Riordan, that was the Kane Chronicles. Now, if you aren’t aware, the Percy Jackson series follows Greek mythology while the Kane Chronicles follows Egyptian mythology. I have never really had an interest in Egyptian mythology, so while I enjoyed Riordan’s writing, I didn’t love the story as much. Then, he came out with The Lost Hero (the first book in the Heroes of Olympus series) which went back to the Greek mythology with an overlap of characters I had loved from the first series.

The first book came out in 2010 while I was still in college. Because of that, I had to wait for each book to come out. During this time, I went to graduate school, moved to Florida, moved back home, started a new job, and then moved into my own apartment with my (now) husband. While I kept up pretty decently with the first three books, I completely missed books four and five.

I’ve always regretted not finishing this series, but knew that if I was going to finish it I would have to re-read the first three books. Luckily, it seems like I finally have time to do that! I am really excited because for years it has bugged me that I didn’t finish a series I had been enjoying so much.

So, what that means for the blog is that for the first three books I will do a little series re-cap/refresher, and then I will do two reviews of the two final books. Possibly mini-reviews combined into one blog post, but I’m not really sure. Anyway, I thought it could be a fun way to learn about the series without (hopefully) giving away too many spoilers.

The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus #1)
The Lost Hero starts with Jason, waking up at Wilderness Camp with no idea who he is or how he got there. The only thing he knows is his name. Throughout the story, pieces of his memory come back to him in small spurts. This is pretty much how I felt while reading the story. I was grasping for memories of plot points, but couldn’t quite reach them. All I could remember was that Jason and his friends Piper and Leo were on a mission to stop Gaea from awakening and that Percy Jackson was missing. I also remembered (SPOILER) that Jason was a Roman Demigod and not Greek. Other than that, I had vague memories of what was going to happen but nothing concrete.

It was fun to re-read because I got to meet the characters all over again and experience their quest with them. I didn’t know everything that was going to happen so it wasn’t boring. I love Riordan’s writing and I love how he created this world of Greek mythology. I also love that each of the main characters is flawed and they always have to find their own personal strengths with the help of their friends.

This first book sets up a lot of storyline and I am very excited to continue with the second book and see where this series goes. I enjoy the balance of old and new characters and look forward to being back with Percy in the next book!