The Son of Neptune (Heroes of Olympus, Book 2) Paperback – July 2, 2013

What do you get when you mix Greek Gods with Roman Gods? One big, fantabulous mess of mythological fun! When you pick up the Heroes of Olympus: Son of Neptune, by Rick Riordan, you will expect to hear about the characters from the first book in the series. But Riordan has a plan... a plan that will make you obsess about the next book a whole year! Riordan is a masterful, evil genius who keeps us engrossed and makes us love his characters like they are our own friends and relatives.Juno (Roman Hera) had an interesting plan- put a Roman demigod in the Greek camp (Jason) and a Greek demigod in the Roman camp (Percy). What she did next was mean, but it served its purpose- she wiped their memories. In The Lost Hero, we watched Jason find his purpose. In this book, we see Percy meet up with two Roman demigods, Frank and Hazel, to start their part of the quest to stop Gaia from rising. Gaia, the oldest mother goddess of the earth is one mean cookie who will send everything to stop the demigods from foiling her plan to return- mean cyclops, basilisks, even creepy little grain gods. (Imagine being stalked by the God of Wheat?!)While they know they have a greater purpose, both Hazel, a daughter of Pluto and the underworld, and Frank, a reluctant son of Mars (Ares) still have their own demons to deal with. They embark upon a quest to stop Gaia's first giant son from returning, but they know the Roman camp is still in danger. along their quest, they learn just how dangerous things have gotten out in the mythological and the modern worlds. With monsters and beast roaming around searching for them, they aren't sure they will get their quest finished, let alone get back in time to stop the raid on the camp. But what Gaia and the monsters failed to realize is that Percy and the demigods have friends, lots and lots of friends. Will they defeat the monsters this time? Will it stop Gaia's plot to destroy the Greek and Roman gods forever?I picked up this book expecting to see Jason, Piper, and Leo, and I was surprised (although not unpleasantly) that this book was not about them. With this new trio, I expect the six will come together with another demigod (Annabeth?) to create the seven from the prophecy that save the world from Gaia. The worst thing about these stories is that a year in between each installment is literally painful. They are so tied to one another that it is awful to wait that long to find out what happens next. I have a feeling I know where Riordan is going with this, but you never know! Ole Ricky is a tricky duck!Like the other Riordan books, these are phenomenal for all ages. Perfect for middle readers, funny enough for older readers, even my grandmother loves these books! Everything written by this man should be on the selves of every library and classroom in the country. They are so accessible, exciting, and hilarious, they make the perfect go-to book for any struggling or strong reader. Not to mention, it makes everyone wish they were a demigod. Who would you want to be related to? Neptune? Pluto? Hera? Aphrodite? I simply can't decide!

When I first read the plot I read it super fast because I was so excited that a new book was out and that it had Percy in it. I mean it's Percy. Anyways after I read it the first time I had to stop and go "wait....what is it about?" So I had to reread it again but very slowly. I also tired to think of what maybe Rick was thinking about with each of the three things for the three main characters for this book.For Percy's all I had to do was read the first line and I started to think "oh no! Rick Riordan what did the gods do to Percy know!" As I read further along in the little paragraph I just kept on thinking which god did this to Percy and Annabeth. Then I saw the last sentence and immediately I thought "What! Did Athena and Aphrodite team up on Percy and Annabeth?" I was so unhappy as I thought about that since Percy and Annabeth have been through so much together. For Hazel's I started to think after reading the first sentence "What is she a zombie that Ares brought back for the 'other' camp?" I then saw the next part about her mom being possessed by greed and I started to think didn't one of Hades's forms had a power to do something with jewels being brought up from the ground. But I also wasn't exactly sure if that was right at all. I started to wonder what is Hazel's gift and what did she do with it that could harm the future of the world. With the last sentence I just thought that she could have just liked horses and that she is meant to find the house that is in her dreams. For Frank's when I saw klutz I automatically thought of a medium height person that isn't to his full height and obviously clumsy. Then I saw the next line and I honestly hadn't heard of any myths about people being descended from heroes but then I guess that it could happen. With the next line of him hoping Apollo claims him but not being very good at archery during the war games I can't help but think that maybe he isn't a son of Apollo at all. Since Apollo's kids are always good at archery. The last sentence though is making me wonder what Frank's secret is that he feels like he can trust Hazel with and what did Hazel do to get Frank to trust her with this kind of secret.Now that was just my first thoughts just by reading the plot. I kept those thoughts in my head as I started to read the book. Which I immediately started to feel bad for Percy as he looked in my mind's eye as looking pretty bad after fighting a ton of never dying monsters while trying to find Camp Jupiter. He runs into an old hippie lady that all I can't help but think is either a monster or one of the other goddess's hiding out. Which turns out to be right even though Percy had lost his invulnerability when he crossed into Roman territory which sucks for Percy. But what's good is he makes some new friends, especially with Hazel and Frank, and goes on a quest with his two new friends.We also found out a lot about Hazel and Frank's pasts and with what Frank intrusts with Hazel. Which I'm not telling since that would ruin the book. Well not as much if I told you what the quest is about but I think you can tell what it is if you look at the cover and after you get kind of far into the book. Like once Percy is in camp. The ending is also very good as well.Just like with most of Rick Riordan's books this one is also a good book. I loved everything about it and I am glad though that Percy started to remember stuff from his past faster than Jason. Out of most of the people in this book there is one character I seriously dislike and I guess that is mostly just on him thinking he is this high and mighty sort of prophecy giver from teddy bear stuffing. His name is Octavian and I really don't like him especially with the way he treats Percy, and most of the other campers, since they first met in the book. Plus he doesn't even look that good. I mean Frank looks better than him. But yeah I think that is the only bad thing. Though we did see Nico and him acting like he didn't know Percy when he did is kind of cool. Even though Percy didn't like that when he got his memories back but knew that Nico did the right on acting like he didn't know Percy so that the Roman campers wouldn't gang up against him.If you like this review please go to my blog to read some more of my reviews: http://baronessbooktrove.blogspot.com/

PERFECT, my favorite book in the series. I needed it to finish my collection.