The Lost Hero

The Lost Hero

Author	Rick Riordan
Illustrator	John Rocco
Country	United States United Kingdom Canada
Language	English
Series	The Heroes of Olympus (Book 1)
Genre	Fantasy, Greek and Roman mythology, Young adult
Publisher	Disney-Hyperion
Publication date	October 12, 2010 (hardcover, audiobook CD, Kindle/Nook eBook)
Media type	Print (hardback, audiobook CD, E-book)
Pages	557 (hardcover)
ISBN	9781423113393
OCLC	526057827
LC Class	PZ7.R4829 Los 2010
Preceded by	The Last Olympian
Followed by	The Son of Neptune

The Lost Hero is a 2010 fantasy-adventure novel written by Rick Riordan and based on Greek and Roman mythology. It is the first book in the series The Heroes of Olympus, the next series about Camp Half-Blood. It was preceded by the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, which focused solely on Greek mythology. The Lost Hero was released on October 12, 2010.

Origins and development

After realizing how many Greek and Roman myths he was able to explore and transform into tales for modern-day readers in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, Riordan began writing a second series. Riordan also used inspiration for his storyline from the experiences that he and his children had while playing video and role-playing games such as World of Warcraft and Scion. After creating the storyline, Riordan created three new main characters—Jason, Piper and Leo—but used the previous main characters—Percy, Annabeth and Grover—as secondary characters. Unlike the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, the second series is told from the third person alternating between the three main characters. Although initially uncertain of how fans would react, Riordan later found that they enjoyed the new format that allowed them to learn more of each character.

The novel occurs two to three months after the events of The Last Olympian so previous characters could be included and readers would not be confused. Riordan says that "it was my way of letting them revisit that world in a fresh twist, but also to catch up with Percy and Annabeth and the rest of the gang from the first series." He also decided to include the Roman gods after many readers requested that Riordan write a new series on Roman gods, who are the Greek gods with only a few differences. He pondered how the Roman aspect of the gods would be after moving from Greece to Rome to America. After a while, "playing with that idea gave me the idea for the new series."

Synopsis

The Lost Hero uses concepts from ancient Greek and Roman mythology in a modern setting. The story is narrated by Jason Grace, then Piper McLean, then Leo Valdez repeatedly, each character telling two chapters at a time. The book has 56 chapters and 557 pages.

Plot summary

Jason is a boy who suffers from amnesia. He wakes up on a school bus not remembering anything from his past, including anything about who he is. He is sitting next to Piper McLean, a girl who appears to be his girlfriend, and a boy, Leo Valdez, who says he is Jason's best friend. The bus is taking them, along with the rest of their grade at their school, the Wilderness School, on a field trip to the Grand Canyon. While they are there, storm spirits, or venti, attack the three. Their supervising teacher, Coach Gleeson Hedge, reveals himself to be a satyr, and helps fights the storm spirits. Jason surprises himself by using a sword disguised as a coin to fight off the spirits, and Coach Hedge is captured while defending them. At the height of the battle, two pegasi land next to them carrying strangers: Annabeth and a boy named Butch with a rainbow tattoo; he is a son of Iris. Annabeth is angry because she had a vision that she would find a clue to her missing boyfriend, Percy Jackson, at the Grand Canyon. She was told to look for the "boy with the missing shoe"; Jason lost a shoe in the battle, but has no memories of his own identity, let alone Percy Jackson's whereabouts. Jason, Piper and Leo are informed that they are demigods (children of a god and a mortal) and are taken back to Camp Half-Blood where they meet other demigod children like themselves. There, Leo is revealed as a son of Hephaestus, Piper as a daughter of Aphrodite, and Jason as a son of Zeus and the brother of Thalia. He remembers his sister while seeing a picture of her in Cabin One. After scarcely 24 hours of learning about their previously hidden identities, the three receive an urgent quest to rescue Hera, queen of the gods, who was captured by unnamed forces.

The three friends set off on the back of a giant robotic dragon, Festus (which in Latin means "happy") on a cross-country quest to save Hera and Piper's father from the clutches of Enceladus. Their enemies are under orders from Gaea to reawaken her and overthrow the Olympian gods by pulling up- destroying- their original roots in Greece. On their way, Jason, Piper and Leo meet Boreas the North Wind (who lives in the Château Frontenac), a trio of cyclopes, the evil Medea, King Midas, a pack of werewolves and Lycaon and the very unhelpful Lord of the Winds, Aeolus. In the end the heroes and their friends, the Hunters of Artemis, manage to save both Piper's father and Hera, whose godly life force was being used to raise the giant Porphyrion. They temporarily stall Gaea's plans, but they were unable to completely destroy the ancient beings, and will have to face them again. With part of his memory returned, Jason realizes that he is a hero from a Roman counterpart to Camp Half-Blood somewhere near San Francisco, CA, and that Hera has switched him with the Greek hero Percy Jackson, who is now at the Roman camp with no memory of his life at Camp Half-Blood. Both Jason and Percy had to let the Greek and Roman camps know of each others' existence, so the Roman and Greek demigods must unite to provide the prophesied group of seven heroes who will defeat the giants along with the gods. Jason, Piper, Leo, and Annabeth have to find the Roman camp and convince them to help.

Major characters

Main article: List of characters in the Camp Half-Blood series

• Jason Grace: One of the main protagonists. A demigod son of Zeus (the Greek name) or Jupiter (Roman name). Jason suffers amnesia at the beginning of the book and is inclined to call the gods by their Roman names. He owns a coin that turns into a lance or sword, however it is destroyed during their quest. It is revealed that he is Thalia Grace's younger brother, as they have the same mother and father, but they share no similarities in their appearances other than their blue eyes. When Jason was two years old, he was taken from his mother and sister by Hera, and Thalia ran away from home shortly after that. It is also made known that he came from a Roman version of Camp-Half Blood before he lost his memory. This counterpart to Camp Half-Blood is located near San Francisco, California. He harbors feelings for Piper, but hides them, thinking that he was romantically involved with someone before, but can't remember because of his stolen memory.
• Piper McLean: A demigod daughter of Aphrodite and Tristan McLean, a Cherokee movie star. At the beginning of the book, Piper claims to be Jason's girlfriend, but finds out that it was all the Mist's doing. She still shows feelings towards him throughout the book, though. She has a dagger named Katoptris, previously wielded by Helen of Troy, that can show more than the holder's reflection. She also has the gift of charmspeak, the ability to persuade anybody to do anything. Few children of Aphrodite have had this ability, and none are living in her time that can match her in power. She acts a little tomboyish, despite being a daughter of Aphrodite. She is 15 years old. Her eyes change color from green to brown to blue. She has brown hair.
• Leo Valdez: A demigod son of Hephaestus and Esperanza Valdez. Leo claims to be Jason's best friend at the beginning of the book, and although that was a trick of the Mist, he and Jason do become good friends as they get to know each other on their quest. He has a magical tool belt that will produce any tool he requests, though should be able to find in an average mechanical shop. Leo repaired the bronze dragon Festus. He can also create fire from nothingness, a rare ability sometimes given to Hephaestus's children. He has a crush on Khione, the goddess of snow, and on Thalia Grace, Jason's elder sister.
• Festus: A mechanical bronze dragon. He appeared previously in The Demigod Files. He helped Leo, Jason, and Piper until he fell in Omaha, Nebraska.
• Gleeson Hedge: A satyr or faun who was meant to watch over two demigods (Piper and Leo). He is taken captive after saving Leo's life twice. He was mentioned in The Last Olympian in a letter to Grover Underwood.
• Hera: The goddess of marriage and Zeus's wife. Also known as Juno in Roman mythology.
• Gaia: The goddess of the earth, and the mother of all living things. The mastermind behind Hera's imprisonment. She has also been dealing with Midas and Medea, whom they encounter in Omaha and Chicago, respectively.
• Percy Jackson: A demigod son of Poseidon, who was the main protagonist in the first Camp Half-Blood series. By the time Jason, Piper and Leo encounter storm spirits at the Grand Canyon, he has been missing for 3 days. It is then revealed that he and Jason have been swapped, causing their memories to be repressed and Percy to be sent to the Roman Camp Half-Blood, from which Jason originally came. He is mentioned throughout the story and is essential to the plot line, but he never actually appears throughout the novel.
• Annabeth Chase: A 16 year-old demigod daughter of Athena, who was a main character from the first series and Percy's girlfriend. She first appears in a chariot, looking for Percy Jackson, who is her boyfriend. Instead, she finds three demigods; Jason, Piper and Leo. She brings them to camp and helps Piper choose a weapon. She continues her search for Percy throughout the book. Later, she learns that Percy has been switched with Jason and has been brought to the Roman camp in California and has no memory of who he is. She vows to accompany Jason, Piper and Leo on their next quest to retrieve Percy and to ask the Roman demigods to help them defeat the giants.
• Thalia Grace: A demigod daughter of Zeus who became a Hunter of Artemis to avoid the First Great Prophecy. She is actually Jason's elder sister as he is the son of Jupiter, the Roman counterpart of Zeus, and her mother. He was the only reason that she stayed with her mother, whom she did not get along well with. She makes an appearance in the book where she and the other Hunters help Jason, Piper and Leo to save Hera. Strangely, being the daughter of Zeus, she is scared of heights.

Release

Upon release, The Lost Hero was a #1 bestseller on The New York Times bestseller list, USA Today bestseller list, The Wall Street Journal bestseller list, IndieBound bestseller list, the Publishers Weekly bestseller list, and on United Kingdom bestseller charts. As of January 30, 2011, The Lost Hero has been on The New York Times best seller list for 14 weeks, ranked at number 1.

Publication history

The novel was first released in the United States on October 12, 2010, as a hardcover. The audiobook and e-book were released simultaneously with the hardcover. Disney gave the book a 2.5 million first printing. Before release, the website was launched with an excerpt from the novel, information about the series and characters, a book trailer, and an event kit. Riordan has said that he intends to release a new book every year, completing the series in 2014.

Promotion

Before The Lost Hero was released in full, Riordan published the first two chapters and the book's cover on the series website.

To celebrate the release of the book, a release party took place at BookPeople in Austin, Texas. The party began at 4 pm with over 800 visitors including Riordan himself. The party featured food, races, and rock climbing. Afterward, over 10,000 joined Riordan on an online webchat where he read the first two chapters and answered questions from the fans. He then signed one copy of the book and announced "that seven 'lucky demigods' will be selected in a sweepstakes to attend an exclusive one-week session at Camp Half-Blood at Bookpeople in July 2011".

Aside from the official release party, Borders Books & Music in Dearborn also held a release party. A national event, it began at 2 pm. The party had arts and crafts, trivia, and a reading of the first two chapters.

Critical reception

Publishers Weekly gave The Lost Hero a favorable review, stating that "Riordan's storytelling is as polished as ever, brimming with wit, action, and heart." The novel received a mixed review from Kirkus Reviews, which stated that the "Greek-vs.-Roman tension tantalizes" and that "incidental details that bring the gods into the story often shine." However, the reviewer also noted that there are "far too many pages of stretched-out action, telling not showing and awkward dialogue". The reviewer found that only the die-hard fans would enjoy the book, and "unless Riordan tightens things up considerably by number five, they may find themselves hoping that it does not end with a third Great Prophecy." The Seattle Times found the Greek and Roman mix "fascinating" and that the "characters are interesting and well-developed, and the richly complex story has Riordan's trademark wry humor and nearly nonstop action".

Ian McGillis explained that Riordan’s “corny storytelling devices . . . keeps him from transcending his core readership and crossing over to teen and adult readers the way the Harry Potter books have.”

Postmedia News commented that for Riordan “attracting a readership isn’t a problem.” The problem, as Vicky Smith stressed, is that “Riordan has set himself an ambitious schedule of two books per year . . . the compressed timetable shows in an overall flabbiness of construction.” Vicky Smith also criticized the novel as having “awkward dialogue” and “far too many pages of stretched-out-action, telling not showing.”

Awards

• Barnes & Noble Best Book of 2010

Sequel

According to Riordan, the sequel, entitled The Son of Neptune, is due to be released in October 2011.

External links

• The Heroes of Olympus US website
• The Heroes of Olympus at Disney Books
• The Lost Hero on Google Books