First of all, some may ask why this book has two authors for a book from the world of Percy Jackson, instead of just Rick Riordan. Honestly, for some reason, at first I didn't even notice. That's probably just my lack of perception. I didn't twig that there were two authors listed equally on the cover, despite them being side by side and both names the same size. Given the description said it was about Nico and Will, a popular pairing from the world of Percy Jackson, I only registered Riordans name at first.
At some point, my one brain cell realised that there were two authors and looked into it. Quite simply, Riordan felt, as a straight man, he couldn't accurately portray the relationship of Nico and Will. So he co-authored with Mark Oshiro.
This is a standalone work. It is a little bit of a continuance from the three previous series as it ties up at least one loose end. During the Heroes of Olympus series Nico Di Angelo and then Percy and Annabeth survived Tartarus. But Nico never really revealed what happened to him while he was there and Percy and Annabeth only survived with the help of a reformed Titan and a Giant. The Titan, called Bob, was a good friend of Nico but the other books never covered what happened to him after the demigods escaped, although the final Apollo book noted that Nico was sure he was essentially getting messages from or about Bob.
Now Nico is getting dreams urging him to save the trapped Titan. There is a new prophecy also urging him to go and Will won't let Nico go alone. At this point we have seen a bit of Nico and Will together and they seem to fit well, even if one is a son of the Sun God and the other is a son of the Death God. Will seems to have given Nico the kind of love and affection he has been craving for a long time, but also closing himself off from. They've previously appeared to get on together so easily, but this book reveals the difficulties that exist beneath the surface.
Nico is intensely complex. He's not only the son of Hades, whose children have unhappy fates, he's initially from the 1930's and has been shown to sometimes struggle to adapt to the perceptions of the 21st century and his own sexuality. He's also lost people close to him. First his mother, then his sister, and then Jason Grace. Will Solace is far less complex, but, like Nico he's lived through three demigod wars, seeing plenty of death and destruction. He accepts his own sexuality as bi-sexual quite easily.
The plot itself, I wasn't sure on. It felt like Nico and Will spent a long time just trying to get to Tartarus and spent about a day there. It was, by no means, easy to complete their quest, but it did seem to be over quite quickly. Their final escape felt like it was brushed over a bit. Mostly, it is about Nico, tackling his past, accepting himself and it is about his relationship with Will. The biggest challenge throughout is that Will, as a son of Apollo, needs the sun. He suffers in the Underworld. It shows up the biggest difficulty between Nico and Will. Nico is linked to the Underworld so strongly, but Will cannot understand it.
This novel shows the main differences between Nico and Will, the real challenges that exist for them to be a couple. Will sees something about Nico that he had never really understood before. It almost a question of whether they can really together or not.
The book is ultimately about Nico facing his demons, accepting who he is, making peace with the past and for Will to accept, fully, who and what Nico is. There are some things which are a bit daft. Will is made out not to be very good on quests. To be fair, I think Will was built for healing, not fighting.
I think that the main plot is probably Riordan's work. But there are parts where I can see where Mark Oshiro would have had input. Sexuality is not a strange theme to Riordan's novels, with characters like Nico having revealed their sexuality before now and the second Trials of Apollo book featuring two women in a relationship. However, leading characters tend to be heterosexual. Percy and Annabeth, Frank and Hazel, Leo and Calypso. Even Piper and Jason, with Piper's sexuality only being briefly noted on in the final book from Trials of Apollo. Apollo himself was different. I seem to remember him remarking on the nature of relationships with both men and women, but Apollo was a God. This all comes back to the very reason for this book being co-authored. Riordan didn't write about a same sex relationship feeling he couldn't accurately portray it as a straight man. The book notes that maybe we shouldn't put labels on each other or ourselves and that's probably a message that can be applied to Riordan's other lead characters in different series, such as Magnus Chase and Alex.
The title slightly confused me. The Sun and The Star. The Sun is a star. But I was being too literal. The phrase is used in the book but not really elaborated on. I think it might be reference to how suns are stars that give guidance in daytime, and stars are light in the dark. Nico is essentially a bright star in darkness, Will is sunlight. It's simply a metaphor.
Overall, the book is maybe not as brilliant as other books by Riordan. It's something that happens with standalones sometimes, they can try to do too much and then not quite do enough.
If anyone is wondering, Percy and Annabeth do get an appearance, but only remotely as they're generally left alone now. Quite rightly, I think they earned a bit of a break from completing prophecy and taking part in battles. Most of the other big prophecy participants are now left to lead a quiet life, with Hazel, Frank and Leo not appearing at all and Piper only being another remote character. We do, however, get a bit more about Mr D, who's presence at various moments I found rather excellent.
No comments:
Post a Comment