Falling Into The Riordanverse

With my Family Book Club's completion of Rick Riordan's latest book, I decided to take a dive, worthy of Apollo, into the Riordanverse with you. Make sure you point your fingers and bend your knees, we're going to the deep end.

I mentioned at the beginning that I have a book club. We just call ourselves Family Book Club. Because that is what we are. It started as a way to introduce my little sister, Chase, to fiction/fantasy novels. It was like pulling teeth to get her out of her nonfiction/realistic fiction bubble. She didn't believe that there was any good fantasy out there. She simply couldn't picture it being done well and therefore didn't want to waste her time or energy. So, what did I do? I had her read Harry Potter. My sister, my husband, my mother, and myself all read, or re-read, through the series together.

She fell in love with fantasy and I fell in love with book club discussions. The logical next step for us was to continue. We wanted to pick another series. So, I picked one of my favorites: the Riordanverse. And I am so glad that is what we did because it has become a household favorite now. So much so, we made Family Book Club sweaters, bought tickets to see Rick Riordan in person, took off work and school, and made a day of loving a fictional world. Now, today, I want to share that world with you.

Alright, let's sort you guys out into three categories right off the bat. Group #1) You have no idea what I am talking about. Group #2) You haven't heard of Rick Riordan since you were in middle school when those Peter Johnson- or whatever they're called- books came out. And group #3) You are basically a demigod just trying to survive this mortal world. Good, now that we have established our crowd, lets explain some things.

Rick Riordan is an American author who is most known for is work with the YA [Young Adult] genre for Fantasy and Mythology. This is where he has created and maintained what fans call the Riordanverse. Group #2 brought up his starting series for the Riordanverse, and maybe you've heard of it: Percy Jackson & the Olympians [PJO]. You or your kids might have even read those books. What you might not have known though, was Riordan wasn't done after Percy's adventure "ended" in book five. He went on to write four more major series within the same universe as PJO, as well as bonus books in between each series that contributed to the story. Uncle Rick has given us a whopping total of 35 books, all contributing to this fantastical universe. That 35, of course, does not count the new graphic novel adaptations of PJO and the other main series'.

The latest of those 35, though, came to us this year as the 4th installment in the latest series of the Riordanverse: The Trials of Apollo. This is mainly what I intended to talk about today. But first, for sake of continuity, let's review the Riordanverse up to now.

#1) Percy Jackson & the Olympians [PJO]

The OG, the one that started it all. This series follows the main character, Percy Jackson, as he navigates the world of Greek gods, after finding out he is the son of one. Rule of thumb: there are always a lot of monsters. Enemies are abundant in this world. But each series does have its own "Big Baddie," so to speak. And the big baddies of this series are the titans.

#2) The Heroes of Olympus [HOO]

This series picks up several months after the events of PJO. You get new characters as well as old ones. This series brings more than just new demigods though, it brings new gods too. And they aren't Greek...they're Roman. If you know your mythology than you know after you face titans, you face giants, which are our big baddies of this series.

#3) The Kane Chronicles [KC]

Okay, okay. The titan war is over and so is the war with Gaia and her giants. And so what, there are Greek and Roman gods in our world. They're basically the same so that doesn't count. The point is, we have all our gods now and everything is safe! ...Wait, what!? There are Egyptian gods too?! This series follows the Kane siblings as they try and wrangle their own godly problems. Big baddie? Chaos itself.

#4) Magnus Chase & the Gods of Asgard [MCGA]

Yes, I see the title. Norse gods, FINE! WHY NOT?! BRING IT ON! If you read PJO, you might recognize the last name of our main character. A certain cousin is now involved and with him, he brings more gods and, also, some more realms. As if our heroes didn't have enough on their plates. The prevention in this series isn't really a big baddie but is the prevention of Ragnarok, aka dooms day.

#5) The Trials of Apollo [TOA]

The series in which we currently reside. We return to places and people we all know and love from PJO and HOO. The main character? The Greek god, Apollo. Or should I say, former god? You can only imagine the mess. And the big baddie? You'll have to read to see.

More or less, you get an idea of whats going on. There are a bunch of gods, they are a mess, and young heroes hold the world together. All five of these series cover the span of about 5 years total, majority of that time going to PJO, and all contribute to each other. All of the other books, in between, as I said before also contribute giving us a wonderfully full universe.

All of this bringing us to the latest book by Riordan, The Trials of Apollo Book Four: The Tyrant's Tomb. I wanted to review my thoughts on the book, if you are intending to read the series and you are not there yet I advise you skip this section of my article, as there will be spoilers. I will put in big bold letters when it is safe to read again and spoiler free, further down.

-SPOILER ZONE-

I have really enjoyed TOA so far. Having Apollo as the main character has been so unique and, what I believe to be, a realistic portrayal of what a Greek god suddenly becoming mortal would be like. I will say though, despite my love for this universe and this series, this book fell just a little flat for me in some places.

But this is a comparison game, right? Because I didn't dislike the book by any means. It's just compared to the other books in the series, of course it's going to fall flat. You killed Jason Grace in a tragic display in the last book- how are we supposed to bounce back from that? But that's the problem, when you have such a monumental moment in a franchise, how do you follow it up? For once, Uncle Rick decided to give us a break. Yes, there were still deaths in this book, but none that could overshadow Jason.

Speaking of the comparison game, I found myself unable to NOT compare Lavinia Asimov to other supporting characters we have gotten in the past. At the end of the day, she is meant to be a side character with a large personality. But I found myself underwhelmed by this bubblegum legionnaire. Maybe because I have so loved other characters? Or maybe because she just felt a bit out of her weight class. This has been a successful universe, not just series, but all the series before it. Riordan does an amazing job about making you feel big things for every character you come across, even the smallest ones. But the only big thing I felt about Lavinia is annoyed. Maybe that was intentional, she is portrayed as a selfish character and we have not seen that quality in any of our heroes before. The more I think about it, I think that makes the most sense, showing a selfish hero. Ending note on this experiment, Uncle Rick: I didn't like it.

The defeat of the emperors and the king: it felt rushed. Much like this answer. But when I ask myself what else I wanted, I find I have no answer. I think the prospect of Frank's sacrifice, and Apollo's anguish and rage at that sacrifice, just took more of a place than the act of defeat itself. And, once again, as I type this, much like with Lavinia, I realize: this was on purpose. Touché, Riordan, touché.

-END OF SPOILER ZONE-

What this book did abundantly well at was make me thirst for the next one. I am at a loss to see how this entire series can be wrapped up in just one more book. And that makes me ten times more excited to see how he does it. I hope you will join me on that journey, come 2020. There is always more room in Family Book Club- I'll even make you a sweater.

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That is it for tonight! Thank you so much for joining me here in Nerdom on My Mess. I will be posting in Nerdom every Wednesday and I hope to see you here next week, for more nerdy things. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow, eat lots of food and think about some of the things you are thankful for. Like books, I am so thankful for books. Stay messy my friends.