The Song of Achilles

by Madeleine Miller
New York : Ecco, c2012.

Patroclus is the son of a king, but early on he knew he disappointed his father. He could never match up to Achilles, the son of a goddess and the one destined to be the greatest Greek fighter ever. When Patroclus accidentally kills a boy, he is exiled to Achilles' father's kingdom. As these boys become friends and companions, Patroclus narrates their story leading up to events that will be familiar to anyone who knows their Greek mythology.

Full confession: I still haven't read The Iliad and The Odyssey. I still could see where events were going, to some extent, but I couldn't tell you where the author diverges from or imagines additions to the original story. While I didn't always like what happened, I never could imagine things differently, one of the highest compliments I can give to a story. The writing was wonderfully evocative, and I think this is the sort of book that I might have rated in my mind lower directly after finishing it, but it will linger in my mind awhile longer and come out as a stronger read several months later when I've had time to fully digest it. At the very least, it made me eager to pick up some of the original Greek myths.

Son of Neptune

by Rick Riordan
New York : Disney*Hyperion Books, 2011.

**Spoiler alert for the first book in the series, The Lost Hero.**

As we found out in The Lost Hero, Percy Jackson has been missing for eight months, in an exchange for the Roman demigod, Jason Grace. Now, we follow Percy's adventures in the Roman camp as he tries to defeat Gaea's forces.

It's been a long time since I read The Lost Hero and the original Percy Jackson series, so I was sometimes a little slow to recognize references to past books and returning characters. But the narration and dialog is as hilarious and sarcastic as ever, and I really enjoyed following Percy and his new Roman friends, Hazel and Frank. There are a lot of references to both Greek and Roman mythology, and their differences, but the fun in the books is primarily the over-the-top adventure and humor.

I actually read this towards the end of the blackout after the October snowstorm - my house had power, but one of my libraries was still out, so I had two days off to read this quickly. Also due to the storm, my sister around to help me remember the references and looked up every so often to ask, "What are you laughing at now?" It was fun to share the read with her, since she had just finished the book recently, too.

The Lost Hero

by Rick Riordan
New York: Disney/Hyperion, 2010.

First in the new Camp Half-Blood series, "Heroes of Olympus."

Jason wakes up on a bus with a girl, Piper, and a boy, Leo. They say they're his friends, and have very clear memories of him being with them, but Jason can't remember anything about them, or about himself. While he's trying to make sense of it all, storm spirits disrupt a school trip to the Grand Canyon, and a team led by Annabeth take Jason, Piper, and Leo to Camp Half-Blood. Their quest may just be the key to Jason's lost memories.

Readers of Percy Jackson and the Olympians may be a little disappointed to discover early on that Percy is missing. Give it a chance, though, and you'll find three more compelling demigods to cheer for. Though told in third person, the narrative switches among the points of view of Jason, Piper, and Leo. I rather wish that the chapters had not been named for the character whose point of view we were following at a given moment - unlike first-person narration, it wasn't hard to remember who was interpreting events at any given moment. Plus, the chapter titles were one of my favorite parts of the Percy Jackson series. But though there are a few one liners, this story is a little more serious in tone than the earlier Camp Half-Blood books, which makes sense since the characters we're following are a little older, too. This fast-paced read is one I would recommend without hesitation, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.