The Bengali Nomad: Book Review: The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan

Title: The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan (The Trials of Apollo #1)

Author: Rick Riordan

Publication (of my edition) : May 2016, Puffin Books (Penguin Random House).

Purchase details:
Purchased at Book Gallery, New Market, Dhaka. If you're located in Dhaka, PLEASE do try and visit this store. It's always good to support local booksellers and this one in particular has a pretty good collection. The uncle also offers to order in books if they aren't available in store.

Blurb:

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 disoriented, 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 favor. 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 Bengali Nomad's Rant

I will be honest: I really thought that I was over the Rick Riordan phase. I stopped midway through Blood of Olympus and hadn't read any of his books for about a year and half. Until I spotted The Hidden Oracle at a local bookstore; ended up buying it on an impulse!

The purchase itself was definitely worthwhile. I was immediately sucked in, though I still have a hard time imagining Apollo with flab and acne. Apollo's character development here was much better in comparison to Jason Grace's in Heroes of Olympus. Riordan portrayed him as a more sympathetic character in his mortal form, while retaining the self-centered(ness) and vanity from his godlike form. Regardless of the situation, Apollo's humor never left him, and I kept conjuring up the image of a glamorous Apollo who first showed up in front of Thalia, Percy and Annabeth in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (Sorry guys forgot which book it was! Please remind me in comments! (It was the scene with the school bus)). His personality really is beyond that of the mediocre teenage form he is forced to take. And yet, at moments, I felt sorrow for this show-offy character's past struggles. I earnestly hope that somewhere towards the end of the series, he achieves the mortal happiness he had never been able to experience.

Moving on to rants about secondary characters.

Some minor character appearance spoilers ahead but I promise that it won't kill anyone!

Nico di Angelo and Will Solace are so adorable! Did this relationship bud in Blood of Olympus? Because I really am looking forward to reading more about them! They aren't the type to express their feelings openly but you can tell from their small conversations that they do care for each other. Once again, Riordan's storytelling magic throws me off guard. Meg is... replaceable. She seemed interesting in the first chapter but moving on from there I just wasn't interested. And I'm guessing that she will be Apollo's supporting character throughout the rest of the series so... we'll see how it goes. I am looking forward to seeing more of the Leo and Calypso couple as well (for anyone who has read the other series, an interesting combination don't you think?) . Harley, an eight year old son of Hephaestus, was another good addition to the story. Would love to see more of him in a short story in the near future (don't think his character is complex enough for an entire book/series though).

Overall, this was brilliant! Aside from the whole Meg thing, the plot, pacing of the story line... everything worked so well together. Now please excuse me as I go off to purchase the next installment online. 😏

The Bengali Nomad's Rating: 4/5 Palanquins