Once again, I am terribly sorry for writing a review about the fourth book in the series before reviewing the first three books, however, like last time, I have just recently read this one and if I didn’t write a review on it now, I would probably forget everything. This book got FOUR POINT SIX ONE (4.61) points on goodreads! And here comes the summary:
At the conclusion of The Mark of Athena, Annabeth and Percy tumble into a pit leading straight to the Underworld. The other five demigods have to put aside their grief and follow Percy’s instructions to find the mortal side of the Doors of Death. If they can fight their way through the Gaea’s forces, and Percy and Annabeth can survive the House of Hades, then the Seven will be able to seal the Doors both sides and prevent the giants from raising Gaea. But, Leo wonders, if the Doors are sealed, how will Percy and Annabeth be able to escape?
They have no choice. If the demigods don’t succeed, Gaea’s armies will never die. They have no time. In about a month, the Romans will march on Camp Half-Blood. The stakes are higher than ever in this adventure that dives into the depths of Tartarus.
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
So! I was figuratively hit with a boulder alongside the “gang” during the first scene. Fist of all, I hadn’t read mark of athena in a long time and the only thing i remembered about how it ended was that Percy and Annabeth were in Tartarus and everyone else had gotten the Athena Parthenos. So you can imagine my surprise when the first scene of the book was them (Piper, Leo, Jason, Hazel, and Frank), was a fight scene between them, and some irrelevant mountain gods. I was really confused, but I just didn’t have the will to stop reading, go back to the mark of athena, and reread the last 5 chapters. No. House of Hades was here, in my hands, and it was going to stay that way! So I continued reading. They came out of that attack fairly unharmed and at that moment, and for the whole book actually, their primary goal is to get Annabeth and Percy back. When Arion arrived and took Hazel away, I was thinking he might take her somewhere to get answers and help. I would hardly call Hecate help. But Arion takes Hazel to Hecate and abandons her there *Shakes head disapprovingly*. Hecate starts teasing Hazel and telling her someone has to die. It’s just Hazels choice who will. When Hazel chooses the only option where Annabeth and Percy stay alive. Hecate warns her it’s the most dangerous one. But this is a Percy Jackson book. I only expect the most dangerous, adventurous, and daring. Hecate also tells Hazel that she will clear a path for them, to make it mor e safe. When Hazel gets back to the group, she tells them what they need to do.
Then the point of view suddenly changes to Annabeth. According to her, she and Percy have been falling for a day. Thats a rather long time to fall don’t you think? Wouldn’t the laws of physics come in during that day. Their speed would be to great and I think their skin would peel off. I doubt they would still be alive. BUT! this is Percy Jackson. But after that day of falling Annabeth hears water. I was totally ready for there to be a miraculous landing. BUT! it is the river of misery, and Percy becomes depressed. But then he starts talking about Camp Jupiter because Annabeth told him to talk about their future together, so he wouldn’t die of depression. I find it funny how Jason wants to stay at Camp Half-Blood, and Percy wants to go to Camp Jupiter. Anyway. Annabeth and Percy find their way to Phlegethon. The river of fire in Tartarus. And Annabeth gets the insane idea to drink from it. And while she is dying on the inside from its heat. Percy thinks its just a little spicy. So the Phlegethon cures their boils, which i thought was gross. Cause boils are gross. And then Annabeth and Percy, DESPITE BEING IN TARTARUS!!! decide that they are going to be productive and close the doors of death, since they are already in Tartarus.
Then Back on the Argo II, Leo’s tool belt is being stolen by… monkeys??? dwarves??? So yeah, the Argo II is being robbed by monkey dwarves. And they run off with the archimedes sphere and Leo’s tool belt. And since Jason can fly and move faster, he and Leo go and find the monkeys so that they can give them the stuff back. When they find the… monkey dwarves… they get back all their things. But they also find a book! The dwarves are all like! NO PLEASE DONT RETURN IT!! cause apparently the person they stole it from will kill them, or something similar. But Leo and Jason make a deal that they wont tell who stole it if the monkey-dwarves can stall the Romans so that they don’t invade Camp Half-Blood. The deal is made and the monkey-dwarves are off.
Annabeth and Percy are following vampires back in Tartarus. And when the vampires spot them and start attacking. BUT BOB SHOWS UP!!! I think apart from Nico, Bob (and Small Bob) was my favorite character. He was so sweet and easy to like. But back to the intense fighting scene. Bob, and Percy and Annabeth have defeated the vampires. And then Percy’s point of view abruptly changes and we go and see Frank (who I always want to call Hank).
Frank is having troubles of his own. Mars and Ares are fighting in his head. And not only that, but when they are in the streets of venice, they seem to manage to get into this one alley that is covered with deadly cows and roots. And it turns out that the god of Agriculture takes them (Frank, Hazel, and Nico) in to save them (from the demon, poisonous cows). The god, Trip, says that he will help Frank cure Hazel, who has been infected with the cow-poison, if Frank can fix his chariot. Frank starts asking his Greek and Roman dads if they can help him find a python, since that is what is needed for Trip’s chariot to be fixed. Mars and Ares say that he must prove himself worthy. So Frank does the only thing Frank can do. He kills all the demon-poisonous cows in Venice. Smart Frank. Then his dads give him the python and he gives it to Trip who heals Hazel and lets Nico go and the three of them are left to go.
Percy and Annabeth are STILL in Tartarus. And Bob has been a great help. He has shown them to a temple in Tartarus where some poeple have made burnt offerings. So that means food. I don’t think they have every been that grateful for food. Then Annabeth gets an idea. She could send the burnt offerings backwards with a note. She could burn a note at the temple, and maybe it could be sent back to the place where the offerings came from. Smart thinking Annabeth. Smart. Then the three stumble across Hyperions little personal “bubble” in Tartarus. And Bob is confused for a while because Hyperion reminds him of himself, but he doesn’t remember him. Then Percy gets worried and tells Bob that Hyperion is bad and then Bob bursts Hyperions bubble. Literally. And in a little bit they get attacked by little cursed demons. That are basically the revenge police in Tartarus. If you kill one of them, the person who sent them will have their curse set on you. And when Annabeth kills one of them she goes blind. Bob and Percy help her out of that situation and at this point i think that if they didn’t have Bob, they would’ve been dead. Bob also says he will lead them to a cure for Annabeths Blindness.
Argo II is under attack. AGAIN! This time by a bandit, who wants all their valuables. So unwillingly, Hazel and Jason go with the intention to have Hazel use her magic to bring up some precious metals and give them to Sciron. And then they realize that they would die no matter what they do because he is the bandit known to kick people off the cliff he stays on. So they throw him over the cliff instead. There is a lot of death in this book. And then Hazel is visited by her dad who says that he is proud of her. Honestly Pluto sounds much nicer than Hades. Even though they are the same person… Then when they arrive in Split, Croatia, they go to visit Diocletians Palace. Where they meet Eros/Cupid and find out that Nico is…. GAY!! I still love you Nico! I still love you! That must have been awkward. Also, that scene made me think of Jason as a brat. And after that I just didn’t like him anymore.
Percy, Annabeth, and Bob (and Small Bob), go to find one of Bob’s friends, who would be able to cure Annabeths blindness, and because I didn’t have any particular special emotions attached to this scene I’m just gonna say that she was cured. Also I don’t want to bore you with a whole dissertation about The House of Hades.
The creepy people with the crush on Piper are back. Plus the lady… Isn’t Piper the most irrelevant person ever? I mean Rick Riordan tries to make her relevant… but its not working. Anyway, again, they freeze her friends and when Piper outsmarts them by telling them she knows a secret she goes (according to the Coach) all kung fu on them. But there is a bomb that is going to explode and when it does, Leo goes flying into an alternate dimension. HE MEETS CALYPSO! At first i was really skeptical. I didn’t like Calypso. She was too bratty and arrogant and… Leo’s so sweet and funny. But they go a few days not talking, and Leo burns his clothes at lest 5 times. Then one day they start talking and they mention opening a business together and he could spontaneously combust into flames an- awwwwwwwww! That part really got to me. And when he promised to come back for her! Now i NEED them to be together! When Leo gets back to the ship, they all head to Tartarus and try and find the doors of death!
As do Percy and Annabeth. They are concealed by the death mist and getting closer and closer to the doors. And at the end when Bob helps them and sacrifices himself so that they could get out! Even though he now knew that Percy had wiped his memories. AWWWW! my heart melted. The other group wasn’t as significant at this point so I’ll just keep on Percy and Annabeth till the end of the review (which is really close). So with the help of Bob and another Titan, they close the doors and meet the other people in the gang. The saddest part of the whole book was at the VERY end when Percy looks up at the stars and says “Bob says hello.” Because Bob asked him too *Crying indefinitely*.
Sorry guys that this review was really long, but It was a really good book! It had really rapid changing scenes, so I had to talk about all of them. But i liked it because my attention didn’t have to be on one thing for too long. Anyway, if i missed something you liked about the book, or you agree with me, make sure to like and comment and I’ll reply as soon as possible!
Karin
The Ultimate Bookshelf 