Audiobook Review – The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus, Book 1) by Rick Riordan (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Middle Grade
Genre: Fantasy
Size: 576 pages
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
Release Date: April 3, 2012
ISBN: 978-1423113461
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Heroes of Olympus series
Source: Audiobook through Audible.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the first book in the Heroes of Olympus series by Riordan. There are five books planned for this series, the series is a spin-off from the Percy Jackson series and takes place after the last Percy Jackson book. I enjoyed the book, it was well done. If you enjoyed the Percy Jackson series I think you would enjoy this book as well. You don’t have to read the Percy Jackson series to understand what is going on in this book, however that series does provide a lot of excellent background for this new series.

I listened to this on audiobook and really enjoyed it. The narrator did an excellent job with the different character voices and with conveying the characters’ emotions. This book uses a different narrator than the Percy Jackson series which was a good idea for starting a new series like this. I would definitely recommend listening to this on audiobook if you enjoy audiobooks.

The book is told from three points of view. Jason, Piper, and Leo all go to the Wilderness School for troubled children. Jason, however, has no memory of how he got there or who he is. Piper is the daughter of a famous actor and has a secret of her own. Leo can build things, pretty much out of nothing. All three of them end up at Camp Half-Blood and are sent on quest to help the Gods face a new and dangerous enemy.

This book was a solid addition to the extended Percy Jackson world. This book features a different set of characters. It’s a bit formulaic, but I liked the Percy Jackson books so I am okay with more of the samish type of story done in a different sort of way.

All of the characters are very engaging, easy to relate to and interesting. They all have a lot of depth to them and have secrets and mysteries they need to unravel. As in the Percy Jackson books, all three of them need to figure out who their godly parent is.

They go on a quest to free Hera from capture and along the way find out they are facing an enemy even more dangerous than the Titans. I won’t say a lot more than that about the plot. As with previous books by Riordan there are lots of excellent action scenes and encounters with crazy and creepy mythological creatures. There is a lot of humor throughout as well which makes these books a fun read.

I pretty much liked all of the characters equally. It was nice to have part of the story from a girl’s (Piper’s) perspective. This should make the book a bit easier for young girls to relate to as well. I enjoyed the characters’ interesting powers too.

As I said above the layout of the book is very similar to other books Riordan has written; the characters get a quest, fight an evil monster, travel, fight another evil monster, travel to beat a tight timeline and then confront a very big bad monster. I enjoy the action and the mythological creatures, so I happen to enjoy the story even if it is similar in structure to previous ones.

I love how this books builds on the Percy Jackson series some. We do hear about the characters from the Percy Jackson series and they are in the story some. They don’t play a major part in the story, but they are there in the background and occasionally the foreground influencing events and helping out our new characters.

Overall this was a very enjoyable and entertaining read. I loved the expansion on the world we were introduced to in the Percy Jackson series. I enjoyed the new characters a lot and found them interesting and easy to engage with. I love the new plot and the new big bad enemy that these heroes have to face. I also enjoyed the mythological fights and creatures that we run into throughout the story. I definitely recommend this to fans of middle grade fantasy. I also recommend to anyone who enjoyed the Percy Jackson series. I can’t wait to read The Son of Neptune now!

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Audio Book Challenge
– 150+ Reading Challenge
– TBR Pile Reading Challenge
– Young Adult Reading Challenge