The Son of Neptune

The Son of Neptune

Author	Rick Riordan
Illustrator	John Rocco
Language	English
Series	The Heroes of Olympus (Book 2)
Genre	Fantasy, Greek and Roman mythology, Young adult
Publisher	Disney-Hyperion
Publication date	October 4, 2011 (hardcover, audiobook CD, Kindle/Nook eBook)
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardback, audiobook CD, E-book)
Pages	513 (Hardcover)
ISBN	978-1-4231-4059-7
Preceded by	The Lost Hero
Followed by	The Mark of Athena

The Son of Neptune is the second book in the The Heroes of Olympus series written by Rick Riordan. The story follows the adventures of an amnesiac Percy Jackson, a demigod son of Poseidon, as he meets a camp of Roman demigods and goes to Alaska with his new friends Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang to free the Greek god of death, Thanatos, and help save the world from Gaea, the earth goddess.

The book received mostly critical acclaim, won the Goodreads Choice Award in 2011, and appeared on several bestseller lists. It had a first hardcover printing of three million copies. The book continues Riordan's use of third person narration, where chapters are from the point of view of one of the main characters, switching between Percy, Frank and Hazel.

Development and promotion

In an interview by Scholastic with Rick Riordan for The Lost Hero, Riordan was questioned about the whereabouts of Percy Jackson. The author hinted that the answer would be revealed as Jason's quest progressed. By the end of the book, he said that readers would have a good idea where the second book is going. On May 26, 2011, Riordan released both the cover art and the first chapter for The Son of Neptune confirming that Percy would play a role in the book.

On August 8, 2011, Rick Riordan released a video giving more information about the book and its characters. The video includes pictures of a black haired boy with a bow and arrow in his hands who is later revealed to be Frank Zhang, a blonde-haired boy holding a teddy bear later revealed as Octavian, a girl with black hair wearing gold armor and a purple cloak sitting on a throne flanked by a gold and a silver canine creature, both with red eyes, who was revealed on Rick Riordan's blog to be Reyna, and another girl riding a horse named Hazel Levesque. Along with this, two chapters were released prior to the book's launch: one was put on Riordan's website and another read out by Riordan on Percy's birthday, August 18.

Synopsis

Prophecy/Instruction

"Go to Alaska.

Find Thanatos and free him.

Come back by sundown on June twenty-fourth or die."

This prophecy was given by Mars, the Roman god of war in Camp Jupiter. Yet, during the course of the story, the harpy Ella recites what seems to be the first two lines of the true prophecy: "To the north, beyond the gods, lies the legion’s crown. Falling from ice, the son of Neptune shall drown –" After that, Ella said, "Hmm. Burnt. The rest is burnt." They think that she read the Sibylline Books and the rest of the page was burned.

Plot summary

The Son of Neptune opens with Percy Jackson being chased by two gorgons(sisters of Medusa), Stheno and Euryale, who hate him for killing their sister Medusa. They reveal that they're working for Gaea. While making his escape, he runs into an old woman named June. The old woman reveals herself to be Juno (Herà) and gives him a choice: provide her with a favor or live safely under the sea and everybody and everything destroyed. As a favor, Percy carries her across the Little Tiber, which is a powerful river. In doing so, he loses his invincibility(Achilles Curse) from the River Styx. When he reaches his destination he meets Hazel Levesque, a daughter of Pluto(Hades), and Frank Zhang, a son of Mars(Ares, Greek god of war). Percy saves Frank from the Gorgons by drowning them. Percy is then taken into the camp after Juno introduces him to Camp Jupiter(Training camp for Roman Demigods). Reyna seems to recognize him, but refuses to acknowledge him. She sends Percy and Hazel to Octavian, the camp augur, to see whether or not he's fit to join the legion. Along the way, Lares, the camp's ancestral spirits, call him Greggus, or Greek, which makes Hazel act worried. When they reach Jupiter's temple, Octavian is cutting teddy bears open and reading the stuffing. Octavian threatens Hazel by telling her that if she doesn't vote for him, he'll reveal her secret. He declares good omens, and Hazel and Percy go to the temples, where they meet Nico Di Angelo(Brother of Bianca De Angelo), a main character from the Percy Jackson series. He acts suspiciously and claims not to know Percy, even when he recognises him. Meanwhile, Frank is organizing weaponry when a Lare appears and tells him he knows about his stick and his birthday. Frank then runs off to find Hazel and Percy. He takes Percy to the baths while Hazel and Nico talk. Hazel reveals that she's from the 40's and has a blackout. She realizes that she's late for the war games, so she and Nico rush to line up.

During war games, a Camp Jupiter activity, Percy impresses everyone with his battle skills and instincts, even though they are not Roman tactics and are more Greek-style. After the games, Octavian hurts a girl on purpose and she gets severely injured and dies, only to come back to life a few moments later. Mars, the god of war, then appears and informs the campers that "Death has been chained."(Thanatos). He also claims Frank Zhang as his son and gifts him a spear with a dragons tooth. Mars insists that Percy and Frank must go on a quest to free Thanatos, the god of Death. He has been captured in Alaska and is no longer able to keep mortals dead. Frank requests that Hazel also come on the quest, and they set off towards Alaska. While traveling on their quest, Percy struggles to regain his memory. Time and time again, he recalls things but never where from. The only clear memory to him is a girl named Annabeth(his girlfriend). Hazel reveals that she had died long ago, but that Nico di Angelo, son of Hades and her half-brother, saved her from the Underworld. Frank informs the other two that he was given a piece of wood that is tied to his life; if the wood burns up completely, he will die. Percy regains most of his memory after he gambles with gorgons blood and Gaea lets him win saying she still needs him as a pawn to free herself. After many events and monsters, such as basilisks, giants, and an unexpected meeting with the Amazons(An all woman tribe), they finally get to Alaska, where they find Thanatos in chains. His chains can only be broken by the fire of life i.e. the piece of wood tied to Frank's life. Percy defends Frank while he melts Thanatos chains with his burning stick, losing more and more of his life. Hazel attacks Alcyoneus, the giant born to oppose Pluto. Thanatos is eventually freed and with the help of Hazel's horse, Arion, they drag the giant out of its land (Alaska) to Canada where it is able to be killed(Alcynoneus couldn't be killed in his birthland.

Percy regains his memory as they race back to Camp Jupiter. Knowing that the camp is under attack, Percy takes charge and leads the Romans into battle with the help of some of his old friends from Camp Half-Blood and the Amazons. The morale of the Romans is recharged after discovering that Percy recovered the camp's lost standard, which had been missing for years. Percy then challenges the giant, Polybotes the giant born to oppose Neptune, to a duel and calls to Terminus, the Roman border god, to help him defeat the giant. He has been told that only when gods and demigods work together can the giants be defeated. Percy eventually defeats Polybotes by using the head of Terminus' statue as a weapon. The camp then name him a praetor, a leader of the Roman camp. The Greek demigods from Camp Half-Blood appear in the flying ship Argo II sailing towards the camp. The Romans argue over attacking the ship. As praetor, Percy orders them to hold their fire. If the Greeks attacked, he would be to blame, but he is not worried. Holding hands with Frank and Hazel, he approaches his "other family".

Major characters

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

• Percy Jackson: A demigod son of Poseidon or Neptune (Roman form), who was the main protagonist in the first Camp Half-Blood series. He and Jason Grace have been swapped, because Hera or Juno (Roman form) had given them both amnesia causing their memories to be taken away and Percy is sent to Camp Jupiter, from which Jason came from. He goes on a quest with Frank Zhang, son of Mars and Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto to save Thanatos, Pluto's lieutenant and the deity of the doors of death. He succeeds and at the end of the book, leads the Roman camp into battle against Gaea's forces and is made Praetor by the campers. His memories are restored at around the middle of the book, as Percy drinks the gorgons' blood when he challenges Phineas.
• Frank Zhang, a son of Mars (Greek equivalent Ares). He is a Roman demigod - like Hazel - at Camp Jupiter the Roman equivalent camp of Camp Half-Blood, a camp for Greek demigods. Frank has a crush on Hazel while she initially does return the same feelings for him.
• Hazel Levesque, Nico's stepsister and daughter of Pluto (Greek equivalent Hades). She was resurrected by Nico, since her death in 1942 at the age of 13, and was resurrected recently. She has a minor crush on Frank.
• Nico Di Angelo, Hazel's half-brother and son of Hades. Initially he is aware of what Hera has done to Percy, and pretends he does not know who Percy is at the beginning. He is a Greek demigod while his sister is a Roman demigod. Nico takes Hazel from the underworld.
• Reyna, daughter of Bellona, the Roman goddess of war, and Praetor of Camp Jupiter. it is found out that Reyna and her sister Hylla were servants of the witch Circe. Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson had washed ashore Circe's Island in The Sea of Monsters. They released the pirates that Circe had turned into guinea pigs, and they destroyed Circe's palace. Reyna and Hylla were taken captive and fought their way out. Reyna went on to Camp Jupiter, and Hylla went to the Amazons, where she became queen later.

Release

The Son of Neptune was given a first printing of three million copies, the largest for Disney-Hyperion to that point. Upon release, the book ranked No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list, USA Today bestseller list, and The Wall Street Journal bestseller list. It was the Amazon Best Book of the Month in October 2011.

Critical reception

Reception to the novel has been generally positive. Dana Henderson of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer called the addition of new characters "refreshing and captivating" and claimed that it would "make the reader to want to keep reading". Kimberly Bennion in Deseret News cited it as an "emotional roller coaster" and would please both old and new fans. However, she thought the characters had flaws. The Hutchinson Leader's Kay Johnson wrote that the plot was confusing and the first half was not engaging, but thought Riordan should be given credit for introducing Greek and Roman mythology to a new generation. Kirkus Reviews was positive about the book, thinking that Riordan had "regained his traction" after "spinning his wheels" in The Lost Hero.

Sequel

The Mark of Athena was released on October 2, 2012.