The House of Hades Review!

Warning: Will Contain The House of Hades Spoilers!

 

“That moment when you finish The House of Hades, then realize…the countdown just restarted…”

 

Okay, where to begin, where to begin? We, as the Percy Jackson fandom, have waited a full year (actually, 371 days) for this book to come out. We were teased with alleged spoilers, rumors of deaths, a random crossover story, a thrillingly short first chapter, and finally a heart wrenching excerpt read by Mr. Riordan himself. So, bear with me, as this review will be factual, opinionated, and probably will contain some of my ranting.

 

First, let’s talk about the whole POV situation. The day before the book came out, I posted the rumor that all of the seven were going to have POV’s. To be honest, I hated this idea, at first. I thought to myself there would be too much going on, and it just wouldn’t work out. Thankfully, I was proved wrong. Rick didn’t stick to his normal pattern of POV’s. There wasn’t a specific order that they went in. Thanks to this, we were never held off too long, wondering what was happening in a different place. For this reason, I liked how he did the POV’s.

 

I can honestly say that The House of Hades was amazing. I could probably say that it is my favorite book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians/The Heroes of Olympus series. There wasn’t a single situation that was boring. It was action packed and had everything going on. Rick also did a very good job of bringing back the “olds” in this book. He took a lot of things that happened in past books, and brought them back. But, we’ll talk about more of that later.

 

Let’s just take a minute to discuss the Prophecy Scenario. I said it was going to happen way back, but I truthfully hoped I was wrong. I love the prophecies. 9 out of the 10 books have them. How can he just leave it out for The House of Hades. Yeah, I get it, they were following the Prophecy of Seven, but something (even small) would have made me happier. Nevertheless, the book was still amazing despite this disappointment.

 

There are a few parts I am going to go into detail on, but keep in mind, this is not going to be a thorough list of every detail in the story. We have the next year to talk about all of them.

 

The first thing I would like to discuss is the Arai – the curses. While in Tartarus, Percy and Annabeth stumble upon these demons more than once. There are certain monsters that I like, and certain ones I don’t. By that, I mean they are interesting to read about, versus not. The Arai are definitely monsters that I enjoyed reading about. When Percy battled them, and had to attack them, I found it “fun” to read about. Of course, I was worried for our young hero, but this was probably my favorite battle in the book.  One reason I really liked it was because it brought back old stuff (Geryon, Calypso, etc.)

 

Next, let’s discuss Calypso. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’d know that I was so excited when Rick tweeted Calypso would be in the book. Since The Last Olympian, I’ve been wondering what happened to our little Titan friend. Well, the news was a little startling. The gods did not keep their promise. To me, it was obvious that Khione was going to send Leo there (where else would he go?). Leo’s time on Ogygia is a remarkable read. It was obvious (to me at least) that the raft wasn’t appearing because Calypso didn’t love him. The curse didn’t say that all heroes would leave; it said that her loves would be forced to leave her. I wonder, though, if Leo hadn’t taken the magical raft, and continued to build his ship, would that have voided the rule saying no one can find Ogygia twice? There will be more on this later, as I talk about the Prophecy of Seven.

 

Next, I think we should discuss Nico. I’m not really sure why Rick chose to include the part of Nico’s “crush” on Percy. It didn’t really add to the story. But I have to say, once Nico and Jason were told that Leo would have to face Cupid, I figured it out. I knew that it wasn’t Annabeth that Nico cared about, it was Percy. That was one thing I didn’t love about this book. A lot of stuff was predictable. But, this also had to be done so the reader would understand more. Like, it was kind of obvious that Bob was going to appear because Percy and Annabeth were talking about him as they fell into Tartarus. But, if they didn’t talk about Bob, the non-superfans wouldn’t remember who Bob was right away. Anyways, back to Nico. I still think Nico should have had a POV in The House of Hades, even if just one four-chapter-cycle. I’ve always wanted to hear his point of view.

 

Now, let’s talk about the Doors of Death. Some of you are going to hate me for saying this, but I was disappointed. I was ready…prepared…excited for one for one of the characters to die. That sounds bad…but it’s true. Rick’s got to end this whole “the ending is always happy” thing he’s got going. Yes, I’m happy that Percy and Annabeth are both safe, but I spent a lot of time debating who would stay behind…who would sacrifice themselves. The description of the book basically told us someone was going to stay behind! But the way he did it, I don’t know, I feel like he cheated.

 

Now, time for the Prophecy of Seven. First let’s take a look at it:

 

Seven Half-Bloods Shall Answer the Call

To Storm or Fire, the World Must Fall

An Oath to Keep with a Final Breath

And Foes Bear Arms to the Doors of Death

Red = Facts

Green = Opinions

 

Seven Half-Bloods Shall Answer the Call

Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Leo Valdez, Piper McLean, Jason Grace, Hazel Levesque, and Frank Zhang will step up, and attempt to defeat the giants, along with their mother, the awakening Gaea.

To Storm or Fire, the World Must Fall

Many believe that storm is used to represent Jason, and fire represents Leo. According to Hazel, one will die, and the other will defeat Gaea. I have another opinion. Throughout the book, I kept thinking of this. I guess now, after it’s over, it makes less sense, but I just want to point it out. Storm could represent Jupiter, and in Camp Jupiter. Fire could easily be a representation of Camp Half-Blood; the campfire is a big symbol of the camp. Maybe the line means that either the Greeks or Romans will prevail, and the gods will cease tearing apart. I know this makes a lot less sense now, because as it seems now, Reyna will be able to stop the war. Even if she doesn’t, I doubt Rick would wipe out one of the sides. But, I just wanted to point it out. The chances are, none of this is right, and it will end up being something completely different.

An Oath to Keep with a Final Breath

I used to think it was Nico’s promise to find Percy, but that doesn’t seem to be it. Now, it seems that it is Leo’s swear that he would return to Ogygia and save Calypso. I will definitely do another post in the future, detailing the whole astrolabe thing, and talk more about Calypso, but that’s for another time. I also still think this could do with Hazel. This is a long shot, but it has a chance. Hazel was told that a descendent of Neptune would wipe her curse. Since this hasn’t been brought up, I would assume it will be discussed in The Blood of Olympus. I am assuming it is going to be a big deal, possibly part of the prophecy, but probably not.

And Foes Bear Arms to the Doors of Death

Giants, Titans, and Demigods would have to work together in order to close the Doors of Death.

 

Next, the title for Book 5. I’m not going to lie, the first thing I did, before I read the book, was check the title. The Blood of Olympus. Once reading it, I assumed it had to do with Gaea’s need to spill the blood of two demigods in order to awaken. This is still assumed to be true, but who knows? Maybe something else could happen. All I know is that these four words are going to scar us. We are going to analyze them, exaggerate them, repeat them, and cry about them a few million times in the next year. Just think about it: how many times have you said "The House of Hades" in the past year? Now, multiply that by the million people in the fandom! 

 

Lastly, I need to discuss another thing that a bunch of you aren’t going to approve on: the RickHanger situation. Every book so far has left us with a horrible cliffhanger, dooming us for the next year. This one didn’t. No, we don’t know what is going to happen with the heroes, but everyone is in a good place. The seven are back together. Coach is going to his pregnant wife. Reyna has the Athena Parthenos. The cliffhangers help us; they give us stuff to think about; and I have kind of grown used to them. Am I the only one who looked back after finishing the book and said, “Am I missing a chapter?”

 

Anyways, I am sure I forgot some things, but more will come in the future. For now, I’m going to give everyone some time to finish the book, and let it sink in. Please, comment with your opinions, predictions, etc. I will respond to all of them (assuming they need a response), as soon as I can.

 

Thanks for Reading, and…START THE COUNTDOWN because…

The Blood of Olympus Comes Out in 369 Days!
*Rumored to be released on October 14, 2014

...that sounds REALLY long...