May Wrap Up || Trials of Apollo (The Hidden Oracle) by Rick Riordan Review

I’ve been on a reading slump for so long as I had so many obligations and commitments that I had to take care of. April was a happy month for me, as my BEST FRIEND tied the knot with the man of her dreams (there aren’t enough emoticons to describe how I feel!). It was a big affair and as one might call- A BIG FAT INDIAN WEDDING. I had the time of my life and literally it got so hard for me to get out of that *wedding zone*. But then I got a reality check as our Finals approached. I had been scared as I wasn’t in the zone to get back to studies just yet. So yes that happened and our Finals took the whole month of May, and it was dreadful, pulling all-nighters, living and breathing on caffeine. But eventually it ended (fortunately) and then I was free! All through my exams I had this urge to drop whatever I was doing, or whichever subject I was preparing for and just pick up a book and start reading it. I had kept so many books on hold that I couldn’t wait to dive back into them. As soon as my exams ended, I headed back home to my city.

Now that I have a lot of free time, I prefer to spend it reading. In the last few days of May, I completed a book. I know, I know, just one book? But I’m getting there. I’m just so happy that I’m back to reading and reviewing. And buying books too!

Okay so that was me ranting unnecessarily. Here’s my review of Trials of Apollo- The Hidden Chronicle by Rick Riordan.

Blurb: How do you punish an immortal?

By making him human.

After angering his father Zeus, the god Apollo is cast down from Olympus. Weak and disorientated, he lands in New York City as a regular teenage boy. Now, without his godly powers, the four-thousand-year-old deity must learn to survive in the modern world until he can somehow find a way to regain Zeus's favour.

But Apollo has many enemies—gods, monsters and mortals who would love to see the former Olympian permanently destroyed. Apollo needs help, and he can think of only one place to go... an enclave of modern demigods known as Camp Half-Blood.

Review: I wouldn’t go in the details of the storyline as this is a spoiler-free review but here’s what I think. RICK RIORDAN IS A GENIUS. Seriously, no kidding. To get to the Trials of Apollo I had to read through the Heroes of Olympus, which is a five book series and believe me, it was interesting but a little dragged. It got a bit monotonous sometimes but the ToA kept me going. I had already loved Apollo as a character even before reading this book. His cameos in other books were always fun to read as Apollo is the coolest God there is.

This book starts after the war between the Giants (who were working under GAIA) and the demi-gods. We see that Apollo is thrown out from the Olympus after a fight with Zeus. It had happen several times before but this time it was different as Apollo lost ALL his powers and was turned into a teenage boy with acne and flab! To get back to the Olympus Apollo has to fulfill several tasks and face trials with his Demi God owner (Meg- a 12 year old girl and daughter of Demeter).

‘Is anything sadder than the sound of a god hitting a pile of garbage bags?’

Apollo and Meg then head to Camp Half Blood to seek help for Apollo’s current situation from Chiron. There they come to know that a lot of disappearances have been happening in the camp.

We then come to know that ever since the war, all the sources of prophecies have gone quiet, even the Oracle of Delphi- Rachel. So now there is no source for any prophecies and hence no Quests for the demi gods. So there’s no way to help Apollo.

Of course, there's a whole lot of godly drama going on too. You don't get to be an old god like Apollo without making a LOT of enemies. Then Apollo heads out on a quest with Meg to find the Hidden Oracle and also his children which have disappeared from the camp.

Now, can you imagine how weird it is when a God has to meet his own children, let alone a god who has been turned into a 16 year old. Yeah, reading that was pure entertainment!

‘It warmed my heart that my children had the right priorities: their skills, their images, their views on YouTube.’

Apollo stands out because he is not a teenage boy. Well, technically, he is in this book. But he's actually an age-old immortal who has been cast out of Olympus by Zeus and turned into a regular human teenager. His voice, however, not to mention his snark and humour, are that of a selfish, narcissistic, hilarious asshole.

This mostly stood out to me as being the funniest book Riordan has written and that's really saying something, given that all his books are defined by his trademark snarky humor. Each and every chapter of this book started with a Haiku by Apollo which described the chapter perfectly, and those were the most hilarious parts to read.

‘I love me some plague

When it’s on the right arrow

Ka-bam! You dead, bro?’

On that note, many familiar characters come in and out of this book. Specially PERCY JACKSON. There’s something about him that I have loved since the very first book. The way he comes and saves the day, EVERY TIME. *Sighs*. And also reading about Nico and Will Solace, Nico finally getting a shot at happiness just warms my heart.

You don't have to have read the other books to understand and enjoy this one, but it does contain spoilers for the main series and the characters. This, for me, stood out amid a sea of similar stories and characters. I'm still not 100% sure I would want to read any more books that focus on teenage demigods (we've kind of been there and done that, in my opinion), but I will definitely see Apollo's story through to the end. 

Ratings: 4.5/5 Stars

Sadly, that's my May Wrap up too.