The Trials of Apollo, Book One: The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan

The Trials of Apollo picks up six months after the conclusion of the war against Gaea and her giants in Rick Riordan’s previous series, The Heroes of Olympus. Zeus, angry over the part that one of Apollo’s demigod sons played in the recent war, punishes Apollo by turning him into a dorky, mortal teenage boy. Apollo wakes up in an alley in New York City with fuzzy memories from his previous four thousand years and only a fraction of his usual godly powers. Tethered to the servitude of a surly daughter of Demeter named Meg, Apollo must find a way back into Zeus’ favor and Olympus. Rick Riordan is one of my favorite authors because his writing captivates my attention from start to finish. I mean, each chapter in The Hidden Oracle starts with a haiku (Apollo being the god of poetry), how can you NOT like that? I also love, love Rick Riordan’s sense of humor and the way he weaves ancient Greek mythology through the modern world. While I don’t believe it is strictly necessary to start at the beginning of Riordan’s Greek mythology series (going all the way back to The Lightning Thief) in order to enjoy this new one, some minor things will be lost if you don’t and I think all the rich history of this world is worth the extra effort.