Review: House of Hades by Rick Riordan

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Title: House of Hades

Author: Rick Riordan

Publication: October 8th 2013 by Disney Hyperion
Book Description:

At the conclusion of The Mark of Athena, Annabeth and Percy tumble into a pit leading straight to the Underworld. The other five demigods have to put aside their grief and follow Percy’s instructions to find the mortal side of the Doors of Death. If they can fight their way through the Gaea’s forces, and Percy and Annabeth can survive the House of Hades, then the Seven will be able to seal the Doors both sides and prevent the giants from raising Gaea. But, Leo wonders, if the Doors are sealed, how will Percy and Annabeth be able to escape?

They have no choice. If the demigods don’t succeed, Gaea’s armies will never die. They have no time. In about a month, the Romans will march on Camp Half-Blood. The stakes are higher than ever in this adventure that dives into the depths of Tartarus.

forever.

My Thoughts:

One of the most awaited books for me this year and I fucking love and hate it. I love it just because I am so familiar with the characters already and I always look forward to the next installment of their adventure. Hate it because this is the penultimate book already so I only have 1 more book to look forward too. I will have to say goodbye to the characters and the storyline next year. TT

So besides saying I love everything about the book because that will be a boring and lame review I will say some specifics.

The fact that we have Percy's and Annabeth's own POVs in the Tartarus part of the story is amazing. I like how strong they had become since Lightning Thief. I like how they trust each other completely and all the things they are doing to each other both subtly and obvious. I feel like they were mature already on Mark of Athena but seeing them grow even more on their trek on Tartarus, is a testament to how good Riordan is writing his characters and how he knows these two already perfectly.

The other characters also had their own character development on this book. Specially on Nico's part. It explains his attitude towards Percy and it is perfectly rationalized. 

Frank's side of the story is also handled well.

The only negative thing I have to say is that I feel like the formula of the book was just a tad similar to Mark of Athena with a "mysterious powerful enemy" waiting for them at their goal. So I personally have to say that the Tartaros part of the story is much more successful in terms of freshness for me?

I give this 5 whales.