The Son of Neptune

Gr 5—9—No one does cliff-hangers quite like Riordan. In this installment in this series, he jumps off the one he left at the end of The Lost Hero (Hyperion, 2010) and hits the ground running. Percy Jackson makes a long-awaited reappearance on page one, with almost no memory of his identity, except for hazy recollections of a girl named Annabeth. He's in San Francisco, home of Camp Jupiter. It's the other camp for demigods, only here, the gods appear in their Roman forms. Most of the campers are suspicious and scared of Percy, but misfits Hazel and Frank welcome him. The demigod world is in an uproar. Monsters keep reappearing after they're killed, and the campers discover that it's because Thanatos, better known as Death, has been chained by Gaea, goddess of the earth. They must go on a quest to free him, and the heart-pounding adventure amps up even more. Riordan's ability to create characters that readers care about is extraordinary. Hazel, daughter of Pluto who leaves precious gems jumping from the ground in her path, and Frank, son of Mars who just might be the key to everything, are two of the most endearing demigods introduced so far. The vernacular of today's teens is captured masterfully, making the writing fresh and funny. The ending will make readers smile, even though they'll need to wait for the rest of the story. It can't come soon enough.—Mandy Lawrence, Fowler Middle School, Frisco, TX