House of Hades

The latest book to be released in Rick Riordan's series Heroes of Olympus is titled The House of Hades, which begins perhaps a week after the end of The Mark of Athena.

In this book, the Seven from the latest Great Prophecy have been separated; Percy and Annabeth fell into Tartarus, and the others are being led by an addition (Nico) to the mortal side of the Doors of Death.

They are still working together, though, since the other side of the Doors of Death lie in Tartarus, and the Doors have to be closed from both sides.

This is probably my least favorite book of the series so far. It was enough of a disappointment that I'm for once actually not excited to find out the end of the story. I probably will read the final book at some point, just because that's all that's left for the series, but I likely won't buy it.

Anyways, the plot of this book was basically just explained above. If you want to know some of the finer points, Piper is learning how to control her voice powers to have better control over the people she uses her powers on. Leo got blasted out of the ship and ended up on a "certain island" for a short time. Hazel is learning magic. Frank has a growth spurt. Jason's character development/"regression" that I mentioned before comes to a boiling point here. And Nico... Well, you'll find out. Fair warning: If you have the same values I do, you won't like what you find; if you don't have the same values I do, you'll probably pity Nico or even appreciate his plot twist. I think I'm in denial.

As for Percy and Annabeth... Dark. Very dark. They're in Tartarus, so what can you expect? But still... Super dark. Super creepy. Horrible curses. And there came a point where Percy very nearly crossed the line: Annabeth was terrified of him for a few seconds.

Also, there were a few appearances from characters we haven't seen since Percy's original series and a short story that came with another book of Riordan's.

Anyways. There you have it. You may agree or disagree with my views here, but there they are.