the hidden oracle review – Becca & Books

Title: The Hidden Oracle (Trials of Apollo #1)

Author: Rick Riordan

Genre: Middle Grade, Contemporary Fantasy, Greek Retelling

Published: May 3, 2016 by Disney Hyperion

How do you punish an immortal?

By making him human.
After angering his father Zeus, the god Apollo is cast down from Olympus. Weak and disorientated, he lands in New York City as a regular teenage boy. Now, without his godly powers, the four-thousand-year-old deity must learn to survive in the modern world until he can somehow find a way to regain Zeus’s favour.
But Apollo has many enemies – gods, monsters and mortals who would love to see the former Olympian permanently destroyed. Apollo needs help, and he can think of only one place to go . . . an enclave of modern demigods

APOLLO IS THE BEST THING EVER. I’m about to make a serious, quite possibly atrocious statement: I like Apollo even better than Percy Jackson. That’s correct. Because a) he’s a god b) he’s completely obsessed with himself and boy can I relate and c) he has an eight-pack (usually).
The plot was really cleverly done and it certainly screams RICK RIORDAN. Shall I elaborate? I shall: Rick Riordan has the marveled talent of unrivaled originality and creativity. He sets up Apollo in his own, original world in his own, original situation that can only lead to inevitable hilarity. GO RICK.
We get to see old friends! Whom, I will not say. But yay old friends!
We make new friends! Whom, I will not say. But yay new friends!
#popculturereferences #look #hashtags #iamhip
THERE ARE NEW GODS/TITANS/MONSTERS. Honestly, I don’t know how Rick Riordan finds all these, but he never seems to run out, and he never ceases to make them hilarious. (like me)
Apollo’s anecdotes complete the story. Apollo is to humanity as Scott is to the Kardashians. Oh my gosh. I am great at analogies. Go me.