The House of Hades

The House of Hades by Rick Riordan

Rating: 5/5 stars.

Finished reading: October 15, 2013.

Just a heads up, I’m not going to do a description of the book and IT WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!

       The House of Hades is the fourth book in The Heroes of Olympus series. The third book, The Mark of Athena, leaves off with Percy and Annabeth falling into the Tartarus so the year long wait for this book was absolute torture. On the first page of the book, there is a little message from the author Rick “To my wonderful readers: Sorry about that last cliff-hanger. Well, no, not really. HAHAHAHA. But seriously, I love you guys.” I knew right then I was going to love this book. There is no slow start to this book; you are thrown right into action. Of course everyone wanted the first chapter to be in Annabeth’s or Percy’s POV but it wasn’t. That frustrated me so much, the readers waited a year to see what happened to Annabeth and Percy but nope, we get Hazel’s POV first but nonetheless it was great.

       I don’t think I ever rated a Rick Riordan book lower than 5 stars and if I did, it was no lower than 4. They are all brilliant and once you start reading, you won’t be able to put it down. Sometimes changing POV’s can be very confusing and annoying in a book but I like that Rick made the characters POV for a few chapters and not just one, it made it flow better. I also LOVE how he brought in old characters and flashbacks from the Percy Jackson series. I literally forgot all about Bob, Calypso and the empousa. They even mentioned Clarisse and a scene from The Demigod Diaries! With all those flashbacks and old characters coming back, it made me miss the Percy Jackson series so much more. I feel like since the final Heroes of Olympus book is coming out in a year, Rick is going down memory lane so we can officially start saying goodbye to Percy and Annabeth. The thought of this makes my heart hurt. And that little glimpse of Grover and Rachel was great and such a tease, I hope we see more of them in the final book.

       There is SO much character development! You get to see a whole new side of each character. Rick somehow made me love the characters even more. If there was a character you were not fond of in the other books, you most likely start liking them in this book.  

Hazel: She is learning more about her powers, especially her newfound magic. She is becoming much more powerful and clever. 

Piper: Ahhh Piper is not her usual annoying self and obsessing over Jason. She didn’t have that many chapters but with the chapters she had, she was great. She proved her worth for the team and she is much braver and stronger.

Leo: He has matured the most and I love him even more. Yes, he is still his hilarious self but at the same time you can see how much he changed. His newfound love surprised me so much; it literally came out of nowhere! I can’t help but think that this is going to end badly for him, seriously who falls in love with someone who is immortal? But I trust Rick with this insane plot twist and I hope Leo gets a happy ending.

Frank: He is FINALLY accepting who he is and has probably the biggest character development out of all of them. He is no longer hiding the piece of wood that could kill him and that is such a bold move for him and it must have taken a lot of strength to do that. He is much more confident and sees himself as a leader and not as baggage for the group.

Jason: I don’t have much to say about Jason but I love how he supported Nico’s secret. He opens up more and now realizes where he truly belongs.

Percy and Annabeth: They get their own paragraph because their relationship in this book is heartwarming. Their romance never overshadowed the story and you see their dedication to each other and how they wouldn’t be able to survive Tartarus without each other. Everyone loves Percabeth but you see sides of them you never seen before. You get to see Percy’s darker side and how vulnerable he is and Annabeth is still clever, brave and a kick-ass heroine but you still see her guilt for Luke and how much it still hurts her.

Nico: He is not part of the seven, it’s hard to remember that he’s not since he is very important to the story, but he gets his own paragraph because he is that special. I have the biggest soft spot when it comes to Nico. One of the biggest plot twists that I thought was in the book was that (spoiler!!!) Nico had a crush on Percy while everyone thought he had a thing for Annabeth. I did NOT seeing that coming. Also, it was a bold move for Rick to make a character gay in a children’s book but I love him even more for it. Nico is one of my favorite characters and seeing him through all that pain kills me. All I want for when this series is over is for Nico to be happy.

       This book has a lot of action, once you pick it up you will not be able to put it down. It’s a roller-coaster ride of emotion and twists. It is much more darker than any other book Rick has written but at the same time there is a perfect amount of humor and romance and you will not be disappointed by it. I’m used to waiting for Rick Riordan books so maybe the year long wait for the next book won't be horrible, especially since there wasn’t a giant cliffhanger but either way, I can’t wait for the next book even though it is the final book in the series and I don't want to see it end.