The Heroes of Olympus Series Mini Reviews & 50 Favorite Moments, And My Numerous Complaints // Being Percabeth Trash (but i wanted more), Loving Nico And Leo, And sCREAMING over Tartarus

Well a few days ago I posted mini reviews for the entire Percy Jackson series. But reading those five books was obviously not enough for my bored escapism quarantine mind, so I went ahead and read the Heroes of Olympus series! (In other words I read 10 books, half the books I’ve read this year, in the past week because literally why not)

I read Percy Jackson when I was 10, and it holds a very special place in my heart and makes me very nostalgic ❤ Heroes of Olympus, on the other hand, I’d somehow never read before, so going into this was completely new and I was reading and judging it for the first time.

My overall consensus: it’s good, but nowhere near as good as PJO. It was enjoyable, but compared with PJO, which is probably one of my all time favorite book series, it was pretty average and forgettable, one of many good fantasy series I read.

I started comparing the two series but then I realized my comparison itself was longer than all my five reviews together and decided to squeeze another post out of this reread so that’s coming soon lmao.

***SPOILERS FOR PJO and HOO BELOW***

The Lost Hero

This was probably my least favorite of the series, although still really good. I liked being back at Camp Half Blood, and seeing the changes implemented since the end of The Last Olympian, including with the new cabins. It was interesting getting introduced to the Roman mythology in addition to Greek, seeing the world expand. I loved Leo, and his bond and enthusiasm with Festus is precious! Jason was kind of cool, but also kind of boring and bland. I liked Piper and her struggle between her dad and her friends, and I liked how she sort of subverted expectations beyond more than just a silly shallow child of Aphrodite. I thought the beginning before they really set out on the quest, and even parts of the quest, could be a bit boring though.

Favorite Moments

• Jason totally having his memory gone but still being a fighter I loved seeing him randomly fly and use his coin/weapon without knowing he could haha
• Annabeth showing up looking for her boyfriend, a guy called Percy Jackson. I’m living for Percy give me my baby Percy!!
• Leo taming Festus and giving him wings and showing up on a flying dragon like a boss!
• Leo saving the day in the fight with the cyclops!
• Jason realizing that Thalia is his sister, and then eventually meeting her! I love Thalia and the hunters so much and their family reunion was precious ❤
• Learning about the Romans at the end, and Percy Jackson is there!

The Son of Neptune

PERCYYYYY is back! But not really because at first he’s missing all his memory, and then he’s all in third person, and I gotta say, it’s just not the same. I did really enjoy getting the introduction to the Roman camp, Camp Jupiter, although after a while it started to feel boring since I honestly don’t care about the Romans as much as the Greeks and wanted them to just set out on their quest. Once they were, I started really enjoying it a lot more, as it felt like one of the PJO books, going on a quest fighting monsters with Percy. I loved seeing Hazel and Frank and their backstories and growth, especially Frank’s growth with his family expectations. And the ending battle was amazing!

Favorite Moments:

• Percy just knows Annabeth ahhhh aoisjfksdlajf
• Percy being invincible from the styx and continuously killing and re-killing gorgons haha
• Initially getting to see what Camp Jupiter was like, and New Rome!
• The battle in camp and Percy being a boss and taking over the water canons and fighting like a greek and bringing them victory
• NICO DI ANGELO what are you doing there you have some explaining to do!!!
• The encounter with Phineas and meeting Ella haha
• Hazel getting her awesome horse, and Percy being sassy about his language
• Frank talking with his grandmother and accepting his family and his honor
• Frank finally managing to turn into different animals!
• Percy casually destroying part of a glacier ahhh my baby has grown so strong and then he’s like oh yeah this fall was nothing of course I’m alive the St. Louis arch was twice this
• When they get back to camp and Tyson and Mrs. O’Leary are there my favorite cyclops and doggooo, and then the ending fight with them

The Mark of Athena

ANNABETH!! PERCABETH!! I love Annabeth so much so I was so happy to read from her perspective, and I loved getting more of Percy’s perspective and my heart was combusting with each Percabeth moment. And Annabeth was so awesome going on her solo quest and showing how great a daughter of wisdom was, even without flashy powers like the rest of them she’s still so powerful and amazing! I loved getting to see Percy and Jason work together, and see the heroes travel beyond just America to Rome! And THAT ENDING HOLY SHIT. This was probably my favorite of this series!!

Favorite Moments:

• PERCABETH!! Annabeth casually flipping Percy onto his back and he just smiles and they’re so happy to see each other I didn’t realize I needed this in my life but now I’m whole
• Percy and Jason literally starting a bromance gives me life
• THE DAM CALLBACK
• Leo’s entire encounter with Narcissus, Team Leo, haha it was so funny I loved it
• Percy and Jason battling each other in Kansas wow it was stressful and obviously I don’t want them fighting but it was COOL
• Annabeth throws her knife into the water and then WHOOSH a humongous wave shows up and sweeps the Romans into the sea and Percy is just like you dropped this hahahahaoisdjfkslakdjf
• Frank literally turning into a giant goldfish is a mood
• Percy and Jason fighting together on the Argo II, conjuring a storm of the sea and sky wowowowowowowo
• Percy and Annabeth spending the night together in the bottom of the ship and talking about their first trip in the animal smuggler truck from Lightning Thief and how long they’ve known each other awwww (but also Grover was there too…)
• Meeting Hercules and he’s totally a jerk lmao
• Oh no! Frank is turning into a crazy dolphin! Bacchus’s drink of choice: Diet Coke! HAHAHAHA
• Annabeth going in search of the Athena Parthenon and actually finding it, even with a broken ankle, even outsmarting Arachne and getting her to weave her own trap!
• Percy and Jason working together again to fight the giants!
• THE ENDING LITERALLY WHAT HOLY WOIEJKFOIELSJKFDOILKJEWFOISDLK PERCY REALLY FELL TO TARTARUS FOR HER I–
  • “you’re not getting away from me. never again” — “as long as we’re together”
  • I mean it’s a favorite moment obviously not because I want my babies in tartarus but it was so shocking and moving and impactful and stress it was definitely a moment to talk about

The House of Hades

This book was so dark wow but I loved it. I loved the amount of Percy and Annabeth, and seeing their trip through Tartarus, literally going through greek monster hell together. And Bob! It was so intense and shocking and I just couldn’t put this book down! I loved seeing the other characters too, particularly Nico di Angelo, and now I understand why everyone loves him I love him too protect this precious bean he doesn’t deserve all this pain. I loved Hazel too, with her development and learning to use the mist. And the ending, closing the doors of death, was wow.

Favorite Moments

• Annabeth whispers I love you to Percy because she wants that to be her last words
• Annabeth and Percy struggling to the river and drinking fire to sustain themselves so they can feel more pain
• Meeting Bob! He was so cute and funny how he talked haha. And also Small Bob!
• Percy and Annabeth fighting those curses it was so scary and intense realizing wow Percy really has killed a lot of monsters I just want him to stop suffering
• Percy and Annabeth literally telling Night that she’s not in the guidebook for the Tartarus tour and arguing over being photogenic hahaha
• Nico admitting that he had a crush on Percy Jackson aww I just want to give Nico a hug and stop his suffering
• Hazel using her ability to manipulate the mist to save her and Jason from giant turtle dude lmao
• Calypso initially hating Leo for disrupting her peaceful island so different from her reaction to Percy haha but the two of them gradually coming around to each other was so sweet!
• Percy and Annabeth getting out of Tartarus, but Bob had to stay behind nooo
  • “bob says hello” I’m SOBBING
• Jason making Frank praetor and realizing that he wants to be greek (which, right choice literally Camp Half Blood is far superior)
• The heroes managing to close the doors of death!

The Blood of Olympus

WHERE WAS PERCY?? This was a huge disappointment to me… it wasn’t bad, I still liked it, but I wanted a lot more closure (and Percy!), and the ending battle felt super anticlimactic and rushed. (Gaea literally rose and died in like 2 chapters?) I thought it was a good book, but a bad conclusion. I did still enjoy some moments, like seeing Nico’s perspective and Reyna’s backstory as they took the Athena Parthenon back, both through shadow travel, and at the end showing up with it riding Pegasus! And I loved the scene of the gods arriving and fighting alongside their children!

Favorite Moments

• YAYY Nico’s perspective!
• The whole scene with Nike and the heroes pretending to kill each other while really trying to trap her
• Leo talking to Apollo and randomly inventing a new instrument for him haha
• Jason convincing Kym to help them because, after all, merchandise!
• The whole scene with the physician and do you have insurance??
• The hunters are back yay!
• “No, I’m a Leo. You’re a Percy”
• Percy and Annabeth at the site of the feud between Poseidon and Athena like… the feud ends here ❤
• The heroes fighting alongside the gods!

So overall it was pretty good! But I definitely have some issues with the series, and ways I think PJO is much better than HOO, which I started writing here, then realized that was hecking long so I made a full another post on that, which will be coming in the next few days! Overall, I thought PJO was incredible, and HOO was nowhere near as good, but still very good and I’m glad I finally read the series ❤

Let’s Chat

Which is your favorite HOO book? Who is your favorite character? I’d love to chat in the comments below ❤

Also, let me know if you like this type of mini review/favorite moments posts I’ve done for HOO and PJO, maybe I’ll do it for other series like HP or TLC or TATBILB when I inevitably reread them lol