Review: The Dark Prophecy

The Dark Prophecy
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

The god Apollo, cast down to earth and trapped in the form of a gawky teenage boy as punishment, must set off on the second of his harrowing (and hilarious) trials.

He and his companions seek the ancient oracles - restoring them is the only way for Apollo to reclaim his place on Mount Olympus - but this is easier said than done.

Somewhere in the American Midwest is a haunted cave that may hold answers for Apollo in his quest to become a god again . . . if it doesn't kill him or drive him insane first. Standing in Apollo's way is the second member of the evil Triumvirate - a Roman emperor whose love of bloodshed and spectacle makes even Nero look tame.

To survive the encounter, Apollo will need the help of a now-mortal goddess, a bronze dragon, and some familiar demigod faces from Camp Half-Blood. With them by his side, can Apollo face down the greatest challenge of his four thousand years of existence?

I was SO excited to get back to Apollo and what's going on with him, I've been really looking forward to this book and it didn't let me down! Genuinely, I am loving this series! I still haven't gotten around to reading Percy Jackson yet but I'm not having any problems reading this without having read them...in fact this series just makes me want to hurry up and get to them! I pretty much have every Rick Riordan book on my wishlist because after reading this and Magnus Chase I'm convinced I'm going to love each book and Riordan can do no wrong. I'm so here for all the mythology. 

I will say, I know that there are spoilers for the Percy Jackson series in this book, but I'm really not bothered by that, and if you're not bothered then go ahead! I genuinely think you can read this with no problems having not read PJ. I know enough about the series from various different things to recognise certain characters and I feel like there's enough in the narrative so  you won't be left scratching your head. 

As we start reading The Dark Prophecy we're straight in with the action and I for one, had everything from the first book come flooding back pretty quickly! Our little group, Apollo, Leo and Calypso are just arriving in Indianapolis and their arrival doesn't quite go to plan! We get some creepy new villains, and some fantastic new characters in the form of Emmie and Jo. I LOVE Emmie and Jo. I need a series that's just all of their adventures. Undecided on if I like Britomartis or not though! 

Speaking of Britomartis, I had never heard of her and she wasn't the only one in this book. I love mythology and Greek mythology is one of my big favourites, like that and Egyptian I've been obsessed with since I was quite young, along with Chinese, Norse is newish to me. SO I've read any book I can get my hands on that features Greek mythology, and I like to think I know a fair bit, I've even read a few non-fiction books about it. But I seriously didn't know who Britomartis and a couple of other ...beings where. So I loved being surprised with these little mythology tidbits that I had no idea about. I learned aaaalll kinds of cool things in this book and it really kept it fresh.

Right from the start there's plenty of action and intrigue and I love how easily this book carries on from the first book. It's like a rolling plot, it just keeps going..until you know...the last book but you know what I mean. I actually thought it was nicely paced, fast paced, and with enough going on to keep you hooked. And once again...this book is freaking hilarious. I love it. I was feeling really down and I actually purposely picked this up because I knew it was going to make me laugh. I just find myself sitting there chuckling as I'm reading. 

Apollo's narrative voice and his little haiku's make my life complete. So freaking funny. The book is always funny, with plenty of humour, but one of the main contributors towards that is Apollo's narrative. He speaks like a God. Of course he does, he was one. But because he's a Modern God, and he's totally with the times, Apollo has this mashup of God Speak, pop culture references and the odd modern phrase. It gives me life. I love it. I just love reading his voice. It's such a brilliant perspective. 

Apollo's character development in this book is brilliant. He's come so far since we first met him, and I've loved watching it. He's a God so of course he thinks the world revolves around him and he has a tendency to be narcissistic BUT in this book he really starts to think about others more and you can see he's starting to care about others, help others and generally not let them die, particularly those he's close to and interacts with a lot. You can see it multiple times in this book, particularly Meg. I haven't actually warmed up to Meg all that much so I haven't decided if his loyalty is misplaced or not yet. Like....she was a bit traitory and then she's so..mean? I don't know. Apollo is my little precious cinnamon roll. Anywaaaayyy it's so nice to see him growing and changing as the boos progress and I'm intrigued to see how he gets on with his sister as opposed to the rest of the Gods. I'm really excited to see where his character goes, I hope he still retains some of his narcissism though, he wouldn't be the same without it! 

The one thing bugging me is how mean everyone is to Apollo aka my precious bubba. Apollo's optimism and endless cheer is truly inspirational considering how much everyone gives him a rough time. He gets blamed for everything or at least most things, and seriously...Meg is so mean/rude to him. Leo and Calypso give him such a bad time too like some of it is just the friendship and is more jokey but there's so much that's like...okay guys. Let's stop picking on my cinnamon roll now. The thing is, I get why they would because of how he was..but he's getting to be such a better person now. He tries so hard with everything, and helps out, and I just REALLY love Apollo okay. He's such a refreshing main character.

I'm so excited for the next book, this is one of those series that I genuinely look forward to the next book with no chill whatsoever. I'm so impatient. The Dark Prophecy provides some great clues and insights and things to look forward to next book in general. I'm so ready to find out who the third emperor is and see Camp Jupiter for the first time! Unless of course I've made it to the PJ and Heroes of Olympus books by then, in which case switch out "for the first time" for "again". Things are promising to get even more interesting and even more awesome next book and you know...there's a PJ character that pops up right at the end and I knew immediately who it was and got so ridiculously excited. Like shrieked the name and jumped up and down excited. 

All in all The Dark Prophecy is another brilliant instalment in this series, more action, adventure, fun and humour. I'm loving Apollo's character development, and I loved watching him bond with Calypso and Leo more. I'm still a bit iffy about Meg, but we'll see what happens! Riordan is the King of mythology, I have to say! Especially in this one when he cracks out some lesser known mythology and educates us all! I'm 100% super stoked for the third book...if only it where out sooner waaaa! 

The Month in Books: June

Hey guys! 

It's wrap up time...not that there's much to wrap up! 

Nobody panic, everyone remain calm...but...I only read four books this month. FOUR. I do not know what is wrong with me, but it's taking me ages to read anything, although towards the end of the month I'm now getting back to normal! I haven't even read the month's classic or Harry Potter! 

For July I'm aiming to basically read everything I didn't manage to the past two months because SERIOUSLY. I'm actually so annoyed at myself! To be fair I have been pretty busy with photos, and then there was the "I've been rejected multiple times and I'm failing epically, let me lie in bed eating chocolate and watching Netflix" phase but still! Epic faaaaiiill! 

So what did I manage to read? Well....

All The Feels by Danika Stone

Okay so this book is freaking brilliant! It's hilarious, it's relatable, the characters are brilliant, it's perfect okay. Definitely one of those books you'll read again and again! It was so hard to put down, and if you're not careful you'll read it in one sitting and then regret it because it's over! 

The War Against The Assholes by Sam Munson

This wasn't really what I was expecting, and while I liked parts of it, I disliked other parts. Like it was concise but at some points there needed to be more detail because at some points I was confused and I finished the book not entirely clear on things! 

The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye 

This is totally one of my favourite books from the year and it was SO good! I loved the characters, I loved the world, it was so authentic and easy to get lost in. The romance was perfect, it didn't overshadow the story and the love triangle wasn't even a real thing basically! I loved the magic, the humour, the originality to it and I need the next book now okay because the ending was just...NOPE. 

The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan

So I did fine reading this without reading Riordan's other books, except for Magnus Chase that is! I'd meant to read them, but I ran out of time! Anyway, this book was so hilarious and Apollo...you should hate him because of how arrogant he is but he's kind of loveable at the same time, and his character development is a beautiful thing! 

What did you guys read this month? You did better than me right!? 

Review: The Hidden Oracle

The Hidden Oracle
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy 
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher, Puffin! 

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.

Okay, I'm going to be straight up with all of you first before I get started on the review! So, I have all the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus books chilling on my shelves and the plan was to read them all before I read this book...but I just didn't have the time. So I went in to this book having not read them and with only basic knowledge of what happens in PJ! Now some people may complain about being spoiled, but I looked at it a little bit differently. Sure there was a spoiler or two for the other books, but I didn't think it was actually that bad and rather than spoiling the books for me, it's actually made me want to read them even more to find out how the characters got to the places they're at in the book, what went on between all of them and so on! Like Nico for instance! I actually didn't think it was a problem at all. 

From what I could tell, The Hidden Oracle intersects with the other books perfectly, catching up with old characters, finding out what they're doing and so on. It wraps things up with events and characters and answers questions from the other series that may have been left, as well as showing us more of other characters and so on. There's mentions of Annabeth and what she's doing that allude to The Sword of Summer so I'm assuming this is set at the same time as Sword of Summer and now I'm really intrigued to see if the two books are going to cross over or overlap or something! 

As soon as I started to read the book, I fell in to the world and became completely engrossed in the book. There where hilarious Haikus at the top of each chapter..it's an Apollo thing okay!? Apollo himself was completely hilarious and there where so many lines I had to mark down because they cracked me up, and he was even quite insightful and deep at one point! There's definitely more going on behind his arrogant/narcissistic self, you just don't see it much. He's kind of a drama queen, which made for such an entertaining narrative, he was hilariously self involved and self obsessed, but it was rewarding to see him start to develop friendships with the other camp members and with Meg, and to develop relationships with his kids...weird as that was! Seeing him inflicted with 'mortal emotions' and his struggle with all that and the transition between God to mortal, was also interesting to watch. I just loved his narrative, you had to laugh at his ego at points! But then you'd see parts of him, like when he'd think about his two loves and he'd be perhaps the most serious of all and you end up feeling for him, and all the pain he's been through. At some points, I have to admit, I couldn't decide if he was being really, really sarcastic or really, really dumb or a bit of both! 

Meg was an interesting character. I loved her interactions with Apollo, she didn't take any of his crap, and they kind of grew on each other, they made the perfect team. She develops just as much as Apollo over the course of the book. She's plenty mysterious for most of the book, she's clearly had training and she's kinda badass and she's really powerful but at the same time she's kind of shady. I was like 'what are you hiding?' at some points and I didn't fully trust her. She surprised me towards the end of the book, and I felt for Apollo even more because Meg is kind of his first friend, and I'm not sure how I feel about her any more now. I feel for her, and I understand her motivations and actions but at the same time it's like...but still. 

There's plenty of other fantastic characters in the book, Percy pops up as do a couple of other characters from the books. I loved Apollo's son Will and his boyfriend Nico. Individually they're brilliant characters, and I was intrigued by Nico and the allusions to his past. Will I liked because he kind of takes care of everyone he cares about, and I loved watching his relationship with Apollo develop. Together, I loved Will and Nico to another level, they where hilarious and adorable and Nico is so snarky and I really want some more Will and Nico, not gonna lie! They made me laugh a hell of a lot. 

I also completely loved Kayla and Austin, Apollos other kids, they where brilliant and while it was weird with the whole 'Apollo being their dad but looking like a teenager' thing, it was nice to see them interact with him and get a feel for their characters, and see their relationship with Apollo grow and change as he did. I'd love to see more of them. Each of his kids has different strengths that they've gotten from him, and I loved Kayla trying to help Apollo when he was struggling and ugh it was just perfect. I also really loved Harley, Leo, the other campers and so on, and I'm hoping to see more of them and I'm curious about Leo who we definitely will see more of! I'm also super curious about Rachel! 
OH I have to mention Peaches. Peaches the Karpos. He's like a cupid, fruit baby thing, and he's Meg's new sidekick and he was just hilarious. I mean....he managed to be slightly menacing while only saying peaches and looking like a giant winged baby. 

I fell in love with all the characters, and Apollo's development was beautiful to watch, I can't wait to see more of him and his interactions and relationships with his kids and other campers. The book is brilliantly written, Riordan never once breaks character, and keeps up the entertaining narrative the entire way through the book. Riordan gives us an incredibly narcissistic and arrogant character who makes it clear he's out for himself and not at all inclined to be a do-gooder, who we should dislike and be unable to read about, but he's made his arrogance funny, and he's given Apollo a side that everyone can relate to...loss. He's given Apollo the odd moment when you see behind the arrogance and can feel sympathy for him. You end up wanting him to succeed and root for him, and as you watch him change you end up feeling kind of proud of him for adapting and changing and making friends. He has none of his powers so he kind of has to start over again, and when it comes to fighting he isn't what he was before and he struggles with that in a very relatable way, and he doesn't really believe in himself all that much at one point so it's really rewarding to see him save the day despite being limited from what he was before and thinking he can't do it and needs a camper to do it for him. It was incredibly interesting to read about this teenager who is actually a thousands of years old God, it made for an interesting voice. 

There where plot twists and surprises all over the place and a flawless set up for the next book. I'm excited to see what's going to happen next to Apollo. I'm intrigued to see if he'll change more, and to see how things will play out. I love Greek mythology and I love what Riordan does with it, and I love the twist about the bad guys, the Triumvirate, and the Romans, it's something I've not seen before and I'm intrigued by it. The Hidden Oracle is bursting with action and humour, honestly it's completely hilarious, and it's a generally fun read with plenty of originality to it, and enough surprises and plot twists to keep you on your toes! Apollo is a character you should dislike, but you end up loving him anyway, he really, really reminded me of Lockhart from what he was saying about Percy....repeatedly. Apollo was an asshole, but he was a loveable asshole and this book was hugely entertaining from beginning to end. 

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Wishing For Wednesday #85

Hey guys! 
Exciting Wednesday reads ahead! When I say exciting I mean like....screaming and jumping up and down exciting! 
First up is the first book in a new series by Rick Riordan, and I am SO EXCITED because APOLLO and yeah. Need it now! 
Second is the sequel to A Court of Thorns and Roses and I've been looking forward to this book for ages and it's so close now, so close! 

The Hidden Oracle

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.

The Hidden Oracle is out May 3rd, pre-order your copy....here! 
Add it to your TBR....here! 

A Court of Mist and Fury

Feyre survived Amarantha's clutches to return to the Spring Court--but at a steep cost. Though she now has the powers of the High Fae, her heart remains human, and it can't forget the terrible deeds she performed to save Tamlin's people.

Nor has Feyre forgotten her bargain with Rhysand, High Lord of the feared Night Court. As Feyre navigates its dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms--and she might be key to stopping it. But only if she can harness her harrowing gifts, heal her fractured soul, and decide how she wishes to shape her future--and the future of a world cleaved in two.

A Court of Mist and Fury is out May 3rd, pre-order your copy....here! 

Add it to your TBR....here!