Reading Wednesday

What did you finish reading

The House of Hades, by Rick Riordan: Aaaaaaah, this book! It was AWESOME! We got to be in the heads of lots of people (still no Nico or Reyna though, I wanted to hear all about Reyna's trip to the Argo 2), so that was cool. Everyone got their moment to shine, some more than once (Frank! HAZEL! talking back to godesses and Titans alike).

You know, for a series that has literal prophecies and oracles, there's a lot of emphasis on free will, what with

'I am Bob,' said Bob.
tartarus hissed. What is that? What is Bob?
'I choose to be more than Iapetus,' said the Titan.

and

You cannot control your parentage, but you can choose your legacy.

and

'Annabeth Chase, I took your advice. I chose myself a new fate.'

which is more than fine with me, because fuck destiny and fuck yeah free will.

Also, OMG IT'S HECATE! I fucking love Hecate, she's one of my favourite deities from Greek myths! Magic! Crossroads! (Also apparently "'There is a secret pass here in the north, a place where [Hecate holds] sway, where Hannibal once crossed when he marched against Rome.'" and excuse you, can somebody write that fic so I don't have to? Thank you.)

Speaking of fic, given "That made [Leo] look like a low-budget Iron Man", there's got to be Avengers fusion fic, right?

And fic about Reyna's trip to Europe because HOLY SHIT how awesome was she? She did everything the crew of the Argo 2 did, except on her own and in even less time. REYNA♥! (I was pretty bummed that Scipio died, though.)

Not a big fan of what was done to/with Nyx, though. I love Nyx in the lyths, but here... Heh. I could have used more Eris too. (I like Eris.)

Annabeth continues to be the best.

Probably she'd had classes Percy never got, like How to Fight While Partially Made of Smoke.

and

Without [her], I doubt Percy could find his way out of a paper bag.'

Lol, same.

We also got confirmation that Kronos is never ever getting back together

'Bits and pieces of [Kronos'] essence remain, but nothing you could put together again. I suppose some injuries even Tartarus cannot heal.'

so YAY LUKE!

So! Nico! I've always liked Nico (so sue me I did the angsty loner I-only-wear-black-because-there-isn't-anything-darker thing when I was younger (I wear Vantablack now, because there is something darker) and also he was a younger brother and I have a younger brother so I get protective of younger brothers), but wow did this book make me like him even more.

He was SUCH A DORK

Nico hung his head almost as low as a katobleps. 'I, uh... used to play this stupid card game when I was younger. Mythomagic. The katobleps was one of the monster cards.'
Frank blinked. 'I played Mythomagic. I never saw that card.'
It was in the Africanus Extreme expansion deck.'

I look forward to further Nico/Frank bonding times over "stupid" card games. Also, apparently he ended in China by accident a few times? HAHAHA NICO what is your life

I may (may!) be shipping Nico and Jason

'Nico,' [Jason] said gently, 'I've seen a lot of brave things. But what you just did? That was maybe the bravest.'

Damn right it was!

I also ship Piper/Leo/Jason

'Hey,' Jason said, 'personally, I like us.'
'Agreed,'Leo said. 'Us is my favourite people.'
Piper managed a smile. She really did love these guys.

and Annabeth/Piper (they steal each other's food) and

Piper threw her arms around Annabeth and cried.

and Annabeth/Reyna

Reyna gave Annabeth a hug. 'We will succeed,' she promised.
'I know you will,' Annabeth said.

and... Okay, can I just say I ship all the things? Yeah, I ship all the things.

I continue to be enamoured of the sense of continuity in these books (Luke! Bob the Titan! Grover! Kelli! Luke's winged sandals from the very first book!Thalia! Connor Stoll! Rachel's hairbrush!). Which reminds me, RACHEL HOW I HAVE MISSED YOU

'Do you bring weapons?'
Rachel shrugged. 'I hit Kronos in the ye with this hairbrush once. Otherwise, no.'
The Romans didn't seem to know what to make of that. the mortal didn't sound like she was kidding.

Can I please have MORE RACHEL next book? Please and thank you.

One the bits that made me laugh the most was

[Percy] imagined the Fates up in Olympus, laughing at his wishful thinking: LOL, NOOB!

I had to put the book down, I was laughing so hard.

The saddest bit was

'Bob says hello,' he told the stars.

PLEASE DON'T LET THESE BOOKS END UP BEING TRAGEDIES


What are you reading now

No Plot? No Problem! A low-stress, high-velocity guide to writing a novel in 30 days: by Chris Baty: Heh. I don't know if it's because I'm burned out on non-fiction about writing or what, but I'm notliking it as much as I could be.


What are you reading next

The Elemental Logic series by Laurie Marks, I think.