The Lost Hero is the first book in the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan, the sequel series to Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It opens with Jason, a young man on a school field trip to the Grand Canyon with his friends Piper and Leo. The problem is that Jason seems to have absolutely no memory of anything that happened prior to waking up on the school bus. After getting attacked by wind spirits and their protector, Coach Hedge, getting kidnapped the three end up being rescued by Annabeth and spirited away to camp half-blood. There they discover that Percy is apparently missing and things in camp are not going so good. Piper gets claimed by Aphrodite and Leo by Hephaestus but Jason ends up being just a little weird in that regard. Chiron seems to think he has already been claimed but does admit that he is a child of Zeus. After receiving some rather unusual messages indicating Hera is being held hostage the three friends receive a prophecy from Rachel and must then set out to free Hera while also figuring out what it means that Hera has been captured and held in the first place.
This book was a great start to a new series that also continues an already great series. I really enjoyed this series as it adds some awesome new elements to the Percy Jackson universe. One of the biggest things is the possibility of there being multiple types of demigods as the book continually hints with Jason. That on its own would add some rather interesting elements to the story line but then it also starts to add some other things as well. A big one that helped capture my attention was the added experimenting with demigod powers that shows up in this book. Jason, being a son of Zeus apparently, has similar powers over lightning to Thalia but he also seems to have the ability to fly or at the least control winds to allow him to levitate. On top of that we also see greater depth added to other sets of powers though with the inclusion of Piper and Leo and their respective power sets. Piper gets charmspeak which is apparently extreme persuasion skills while Leo can control fire, among other things. I rather like this extra dimension as the previous series really only explored Percy’s powers and to a lesser extent Annabeth’s. Another thing that added some extra depth and dimension to the story was the alternating narrators. Instead of only getting one person’s perspective we get to see the whole adventuring party as it rotates between Jason, Piper and Leo as the narrators so we end up with extra insight into each of their personalities and thought processes over the course of the story. Something I rather liked overall. The plot was also rather interesting as it plays off of the events of the previous series but also seems to be introducing new elements and enemies with a new big bad that will cover the new series. A great start to a new series and definitely deserving 4.5 out of 5 stars.
This book is an awesome example of young adult or teen fantasy and one that I rather enjoy recommending as I rather like reading it. If you are a young adult or teen reader who enjoys fantasy than I would suggest you try this series out. Especially if you enjoy stories about teenagers with awesome powers or anything to do with Greek mythology. I would recommend that you read the previous series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, before you read this series for the necessary background knowledge but you could probably read this without having done that. While this book is technically aimed at the young adult or teen age range I could easily see it being enjoyed by adult readers as well if it sounds like something you would enjoy. However, I would not recommend it for readers younger than their teens. It does contain some minor violence and references to teenagers being teenagers. Overall a pretty good story so if it sounds like something you might like consider trying it out. If you do feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.