Quiz: Which Heroes of Olympus character are you?

1. What is your biggest fear?
  A. Letting people down.
  B. Having a bad hair day.
  C. Being wrong.
  D. Fire.
  E. Being the odd one out.
  F. Being myself, showing people who I really am.

2. What is one of your strengths?
  A. I'm very determined.
  B. Um . . . I'm attractive. Popular. Does that count?
  C. I'm intelligent.
  D. I'm a pretty caring person.
  E. I'm funny.
  F. I'm a pretty good liar, I suppose.

3. You're going out for a job interview. What do you wear and how do you introduce yourself?
  A. I buy some decent clothes and say "Hello, I'm ____."
  B. I wear my nicest clothes, shake my future boss's hand, and say "Hi, I'm your future employee, ____."
  C. I attempt to look presentable, but I don't have much time because I'm busy learning about the company and what I'm getting myself into. I wave to the person interviewing me and say "Hi, I'm ___."
  D. I wear some nice clothes, practice talking to the boss in the mirror, and I'd probably freeze up when I actually get there.
  E. I throw something on and charm the interviewer with my amazing wit.
  F. I put on some nice clothes and other things I would never wear, put on a fake smile and see how it goes.

4. Favorite color?
  A. Blue.
  B. Yellow, or gold.
  C. Green.
  D. Purple.
  E. Orange.
  F. Black.

If you got mostly A's, you are Percy Jackson.
Percy Jackson is the son of Poseidon. He can control the water and heal with the water. He's very determined, pretty funny, and a nice character. He can be very caring and clever. He's not particularly smart, but he is by no means stupid. He can be a little stubborn and a little prideful, and loyalty is his downfall (like Harry Potter), but he knows what's best for his friends.

If you got mostly B's, you are Jason Grace.
Jason Grace is the son of Jupiter. He can control the air and fly, but he never really uses it to do anything useful. Supposedly one of the most heroic ones, but that is up for debate. He is attractive and likable, serious at most times, prideful, stubborn, but he's also very kind to the people he loves. He's pretty popular, because he is the son of such a major god. His loyalties can be questionable, though.

If you got mostly C's, you are Annabeth Chase.
Annabeth Chase is the daughter of Athena. She's extremely intelligent and very clever. She's determined, headstrong, slightly introverted, but also amazing. She's a little prideful, and she hates to be wrong, but she usually isn't. She never gives up and is usually the calmest one in bad situations.





If you got mostly D's, you are Frank Zhang.
Frank is the son of Mars. He has great combat abilities, but he's also a little awkward. He's very caring, very kind, and very considerate. Just don't get on his bad side, because he is also a great leader and excels in battle (because his dad is Mars.)








If you got mostly E's, you are Leo Valdez.
Leo is the son of Hephaestus. He is great with tools, and he's very witty. He has a bit of a double impulse, because he is a very introverted person, but he also wants to fit in with his friends. He's a fantastic mechanic, and he knows how to make his friends laugh. However, he's not that great with intimate relationships, so he has trouble getting girlfriends. (We'll see in the BoO. We'll see.)






If you got mostly F's, you are Nico di Angelo.
Everyone's favorite minor character. He is the son of Hades. He can raise the dead and create armies with the dead, which is generally cool. He's a pretty emotional kid, even though he acts indifferent to a lot of things. (The House of Hades. You know what I'm talking about.) He's not fantastic in social situations, and he usually comes off as kind of creepy, but every fangirl just sees him as mysterious.





Well, I hope you guys enjoyed that. It's not very accurate, I know. But it's still pretty fun and this along with fanfiction is all we can do until The Blood of Olympus comes out.

A-Z Marathon! Author of the Day: Rick Riordan

**Mild Kane Chronicle and Percy Jackson spoilers below. The big spoilers will be covered up, and I hopefully shouldn't have to tell you how you can view them. If you don't know, just look up some of my other book talks to find out.

I have been waiting for so long to do this segment. Everything has lead up to this moment.

So, you might know Rick Riordan because he wrote the Kane Chronicles, The Maze of Bones (the 39 clues), and . . . PERCY JACKSON!!!
Also, he's basically the kind of character development and wittiness.
Before I begin on why he's a great author, here are some other things I've posted regarding his books: http://bookahooligans.blogspot.com/2014/05/a-z-marathon-book-talks-house-of-hades.html
http://bookahooligans.blogspot.com/2014/05/beautiful-covers.html
http://bookahooligans.blogspot.com/2014/05/book-talks-red-pyramid-by-rick-riordan.html
http://bookahooligans.blogspot.com/2014/05/books-to-read-lightning-thief-by-rick.html

Anyway, we're going to score Rick Riordan's writing on a point system. This isn't what I'm actually giving him. It's more like a rubric for authors:

1. 5 points for the ability to create female and male heroes that aren't dependent on the person they love.
2. 5 points for a good writing style.
3. 5 points for a plot that makes sense.
4. 5 points for character development in every book.
5. 5 points for good pacing.
6. 5 points for creating very diverse and realistic characters.

Let's begin.

1. Rick Riordan gets 5 points in this category. Take Annabeth and Percy, for example. They did just fine when they were apart. They were still really brave and strong without each other. However, when they're together, they are absolutely amazing. They even each other out and where one person isn't as strong (Ex: Percy and smarts) the other person makes up the difference. And they can function without each other. In Twilight: "Edward, I can't get the cereal box without you." "But Bella, you know how I am with cereal boxes! It's too dangerous!" That is not the case here.
2. 5 points. I like the writing style. There's a lot of humor in it, but it never feels like an overdose of it. I feel like this was slightly different in the Kane Chronicles, and I think that was just because I didn't care about the characters as much. And because Leo Valdez lives in the Percy Jackson universe, so . . .
3. 4.7 points. The overall plot makes perfect sense. Train young half god children, tell them to fight giants, have them fight giants, save the world. But there are some minor things in his writing that I just don't really believe could even happen in a magical universe. Also, the plot is usually pretty obvious. The characters have lots of interesting stories, but I don't feel like the books are very complicated.
4. Character development. 5 points. All of his characters developed. It's so good. So good.
5. 5 points. I'm never bored during his books. Ever.
6. THE CHARACTERS. 5 points. I'll post pictures of the characters below. Let's stay on topic for now, though.

Overall, Rick Riordan has a 29.7 out of 30. That's pretty good.
You might have seen me gushing about the characters above, so IF YOU HAVE NOT READ PERCY JACKSON, LEAVE

A-Z Marathon! Book Talks: The House of Hades by Rick Riordan

Leave if you have not read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and the Heroes of Olympus series.

I loved The House of Hades. It is probably one of my favorite Heroes of Olympus books. And I'll tell you why:

• The writing, as always, was perfect. There was always a nice balance between descriptions, dialogues, thoughts, witty comments, feelings, and imagery and all of that fun stuff.
• The plot. STUFF WAS HAPPENING. I have read a lot of slow and boring books. HoH was not one of them. There was constant action from multiple perspectives and it I was constantly entertained.
• Leo and Calypso. For one thing, Rick Riordan brought back a character that we only saw for about a chapter five books ago. Also, LEO FINALLY MIGHT GET A GIRL. And don't they just look perfect together? I'm sorry . . . I usually don't ship couples together or anything, but Cleo is my OTP. I have to have one, and this is it.
• Tartarus was awesome. It was super cool, and--I need to discuss something quickly. This book was amazing in particular for one reason: a lot of old characters, good and bad, were brought back. It's so cool to read these books and think "Oh yeah. That's a monster they defeated in The Titan's Curse." I just loved that. Back to my point--it constantly kept me on edge and enthralled in this book.
• One thing I don't understand about this book is why Tartarus chose to fight them in his human form. I mean, he said was trying it out, but he could have just swallowed the demigods whole if he wasn't in his human form. But I know, Rick Riordan was trying to protect his house from angry fangirls, so I get it.
• Nico. That just kind of came out of nowhere. The more the demigods said that Nico had a crush on Annabeth, the more I doubted it, but I wasn't expecting this.
• Jason. I know he's supposed to be the attractive and strong and heroic male lead, but none of that is coming through. He's just so serious and he does cool things that help nothing.
  
• Piper. Yay. She's learning to fight. Woohoo. Her charmspeak is much cooler. I still don't really buy that she was able to charmspeak Festus to life, but you know, whatever Riordan says.
• Hazel . . . I guess she was a pretty important character in this book. The first chapter was from her point of view. She learned how to use the mist! Yay!
• Percabeth: 5 stars.
• Bob. I feel so sad for Bob. I love Bob. He had to be a janitor for all of those years, and then I feel like Percy kind of used him, but he had to.
• Small Bob. Ten stars for Small Bob.
• However, the award to the most developed character goes to Frank. He developed physically, which never really happens in a book. And he also became a leader and he kind of came out of his shell and . . . I loved it.
• Lastly, this book is leading up to the perfect finale. We saw a glimpse of Graver and Rachel. We might have a Nico or a Reyna POV. Cleo might become a thing. Storm or fire. Everything has lead up to The Blood of Olympus.THIS CAN ONLY MEAN THAT WE WILL SEE THEM IN THE NEXT BOOK. WHO ELSE IS EXCITED???
  Yeah! BLOOD OF OLYMPUS!

Beautiful covers

I'm a perfectionist, so this took forever to put together. It's still imperfect.
It's still extremely imperfect.
However, the cover for the Blood of Olympus, the conclusion to this long series, is here! It may change, but this is what we have so far.
Just click on the picture to zoom it in.
*By the way, my abbreviations might really annoy you.
This series is probably one of the most beautiful series ever. TLF was okay. It's all kind of dull, minus the camp half blood t shirt. SoM was a little better. There are more details, like the gigantic eye in the background, and the ship that you might miss. TTC is kind of . . . meh. BotL just looks epically epic. TLO looks cool, too.
Then we get on to the Heroes of Olympus series, and everything has gotten better--the plot has gotten better, the characters have gotten better, even the writing itself has gotten better. TLH has an epic cover. I didn't even really notice the translucent building in the background to the left of Festus until now. I should probably stop myself, but let's just say that SoN is amazing, MoA looks like someone almost had too much fun with the cover, HoH looks ABSOFRICKINGLUTELY AWESOME, and now let's study The Blood of Olympus cover.
Spoilers below, if you haven't read the series.
So, we have two giants on the cover. That's what we're expecting. There's a sword on the giant's back, so we can assume that there will be tons of actions in this book, but the happy ending of the previous book already clued us in on that. Then we have what looks like Jason Grace front and center on the cover with lightning and stuff. To be honest, it'll be cool is he saves the day in this book, but I'll be really pissed if he does. For the past four books, he's basically been mooching off of everybody else's success and surviving on the fact that he's a son of Zeus. If he swoops in and saves the day, I'll feel so angry. "Yay Jason! You saved the world, but let's not forget the fact that you couldn't defeat two gnomes." But, I'm not sure if he is Jason. For one thing, he's wearing a camp half blood t shirt, but we have seen him becoming more Greek in the previous books. But, for another thing, he's wearing glasses. If you zoom in really close, you'll see them. Then we have Hazel, or what I'm pretty sure is supposed to be Hazel, on her horse, holding a sword. Mkay. Then we have what might be Frank. I'm not too sure, but he looks kind of muscular. I don't know what he's holding. The thing in the air near the top left of the cover looks like the hook of a crane. Wonder what that's for . . .
In the background, we have another face, possibly another giant, maybe the statue of Athena. Then we have some ancient looking white columns, so I'm pretty sure we all can assume where they are.
I want Nico on the cover.
I want Nico on the cover.
Nonetheless, I am so happy. The cover looks great. This entire series looks great, and while I'm sad that it's ending, I can still read the companion books and the Kane Chronicles and all of that fun stuff.

Book Talks: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

**To view spoilers, drag your mouse over the empty space between"<SPOILER>...<SPOILER>"

K. Rick Riordan wrote this book. Yes, the guy who wrote the freaking PERCY JACKSON series, one of my favorite series of all time.
I didn't like this book.
It was far too long, and I think that is due to the multiple points of view. It didn't make me laugh. It didn't make me cry. It didn't make me angry. It didn't make me happy. It made me bored. Well, it didn't even bore me. This book gave me no emotion. As much as Rick Riordan tried to get me attached to the characters, I felt nothing. Yeah, the characters had personality, sad stories, an interesting lives, but I would have read the sentence "Sadie and Carter tragically die" with the same emotion as "Janet tied her shoes."
However, the writing was funny and interesting, the premise was cool, so why did I not like this book?
My expectations were not met. Rick, it's a terrible thing, but unless you write perfect books with lovable, quirky, and imperfect characters that I feel the need to look at fan made pictures on the internet of them for hours, I will feel nothing about any of your writing.

For those of you who are reading the book, let me show you my personal thoughts on the book.

Page number              My personal thoughts

0-50                           Hey, this is a pretty cool idea. It's only the first page and this book has already hooked me in!

51-100                       Great. Now that I have an idea of what this book is going to be about and that all of the foreshadowing is out of the way and I know who the characters are now, we can kill stuff, right?

101-250                    Oh. There's more foreshadowing and more characters? That's okay, I guess. It'll speed up soon.     

251-400                    Okay . . . things are happening now. Okay. It's not that entertaining. Let's see . . . typical Rick Riordan sarcasm, gods being portrayed in a way much different than how history describes them, more Egyptian stuff, something that I think is supposed to be sad but isn't . . . I miss Leo. And I miss Annabeth and Percy, and even Jason.

400-the end              Um . . . what? Seriously? That's all? Really? Zia, you could have just told them earlier. Was that necessary? People could have not died, but you insisted on these children learning and finding their own path. Oh. Oh, I see how it is. I freaking see how it is, Zia. <SPOILER> For those of you who are confused and have read the book, I'm referring to when Zia was like "I cannot tell you Set's secret name now. The time is not right." Then when they're about to die, Zia just says, "By the way, his secret name is Evil Day. Umm . . . you can go stop him from taking over the world now." If Zia had said it sooner, Sadie could have just walked into the pyramid and have been like "Right, Evil Day. You answer to me now, so let my father go." But, for the sake of lengthening the plot, that didn't happen. That's my main problem with the book. Also, Zia was a shabti, but how did a shabti know the secret name, which is super confidential, of one of the most powerful and dangerous gods? <SPOILER>

I'm probably going to read the next book, but it's not top priority right now.
           

Books to Read: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

There are so many books to choose from, and it's really disappointing when you go out and buy a book that you don't like. So, I've created this segment where I recommend some of my absolute favorite books.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan is the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. The book after this is called the Sea of Monsters. There's another series after that called the Heroes of Olympus, so I'm really recommending all of the books in the series, but this is the starter.

Also, If you've seen the movies, I implore you to read the books, because the movies did not do the books justice.

The Lightning Thief is about a boy named Percy who is a little bit a trouble maker. He's not good in school (partially due to his dyslexia) and he has to constantly switch schools. However, he's a pretty special kid, because he's a demigod. A demigod is the child of a god and a mortal, and Percy finds out that his dad is Poseidon, which is one of the most powerful gods there is. So, he's sent to a camp with other demigods, and naturally he has to go on some sort of quest.

It's been a while since I've read this book, but it was one of the first books that I picked up myself and thoroughly enjoyed. For that, I recommend it.

I recommend this book for fantasy lovers 10 years old and up. I don't think that adults would appreciate the series as much, but I definitely don't think that should stop anyone from reading it.