The Lost Hero

The Lost Hero
Author(s)	Rick Riordan
Illustrator	John Rocco
Country	USA
Language	English
Series	The Heroes of Olympus (Book 1)
Genre(s)	Fantasy, Greek and Roman mythology, Young adult
Publisher	Disney-Hyperion
Publication date	October 12, 2010 (hardcover, audiobook CD, Kindle/Nook eBook)
Media type	Print (hardback, audiobook CD, E-book)
Pages	557 (hardcover)
ISBN	9781423113393
OCLC Number	526057827
LC Classification	PZ7.R4829 Los 2010
Preceded by	The Last Olympian
Followed by	The Son of Neptune[1]

The Lost Hero is a 2010 fantasy-adventure novel written by Rick Riordan and is based on Greek and Roman mythology. It is the first book in the series The Heroes of Olympus, the next series about Camp Half-Blood. It was preceded by the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series,^[1] which focused solely on Greek mythology. The Lost Hero was released on October 12, 2010.^[2][3][4]

Contents 1 Origins and development 2 Synopsis 2.1 Plot summary 2.2 Major characters 3 Release 3.1 Publication history 3.2 Promotion 4 Critical reception 5 Awards 6 Sequel 7 References 8 External links

Origins and development

After realizing how many Greek and Roman myths he was able to explore and transform into tales for modern-day readers in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, Riordan began writing a second series. Riordan also used inspiration for his storyline from the experiences that he and his children had while playing video and role-playing games such as World of Warcraft and Scion. After creating the storyline, Riordan created three new main characters—Jason, Piper and Leo—but used the previous main characters—Percy, Annabeth and Grover—as secondary characters.^[5] Unlike the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, the second series is told from the third person alternating between the three main characters. Although initially uncertain of how fans would react, Riordan later found that they enjoyed the new format that allowed them to learn more of each character.^[6]

The novel occurs two to three months after the events of The Last Olympian so previous characters could be included and readers would not be confused. Riordan says that "it was my way of letting them revisit that world in a fresh twist, but also to catch up with Percy and Annabeth and the rest of the gang from the first series."^[6] He also decided to include the Roman gods after many readers requested that Riordan write a new series on Roman gods, who are the Greek gods with only a few differences. He pondered how the Roman aspect of the gods would be after moving from Greece to Rome to America. After a while, "playing with that idea gave me the idea for the new series."^[6]

Synopsis

The Lost Hero uses concepts from ancient Greek and Roman mythology in a modern setting. The book has 56 chapters and 553 pages.^[1]

Plot summary

A teenage boy named Jason wakes up on a school bus not remembering anything from his past, including anything about who he is. He is sitting next to Piper McLean, a girl who appears to be his girlfriend, and a boy, Leo Valdez, who says he is Jason's best friend. The bus is taking them, along with the rest of their grade at their Wilderness School, on a field trip to the Grand Canyon. While they are there, storm spirits attack the three. Their supervising teacher, Coach Gleeson Hedge, reveals himself to be a satyr, and helps fight the storm spirits. Jason surprises himself by using a sword disguised as a coin to fight off the spirits. During the battle Coach Hedge is captured while defending them. At the end of the battle, two pegasi land next to them carrying two people Annabeth and a boy named Butch. Annabeth was disappointed because she had a vision of Hera telling her that she would find a clue to her missing boyfriend, Percy Jackson, at the Grand Canyon. She was told to look for the "boy with the missing shoe"; Jason lost a shoe in the battle, but has no memories of his own identity, let alone Percy Jackson's whereabouts.

Jason, Piper and Leo were told that they were demigods (children of a god and a mortal) and are taken back to Camp Half-Blood where they meet other demigod children like themselves. There, Leo is revealed as a son of Hephaestus, Piper as a daughter of Aphrodite, and Jason as a son of Zeus and the brother of Thalia Grace. He remembers his sister while seeing a picture of her in Cabin One. After scarcely 24 hours of learning about their previously hidden identities, the three receive an urgent quest to rescue Hera, queen of the gods, who was captured by unnamed forces. Before the start of their journey Piper had a dream where one of Gaea's sons, Enceladus, tells Piper that she should bring Jason to him in return for her father who is being held hostage.

The three friends set off on the back of a giant robotic dragon that Leo had found in the forest and repaired and named Festus (which in Latin means "happy" so they were riding on "Happy the Dragon") on a cross-country quest to save Hera and Piper's father from Enceladus. Their enemies are under orders from Gaea to reawaken her and overthrow the Olympian gods by pulling up their original roots in Greece. On their way, Jason, Piper and Leo meet Boreas the North Wind in Quebec City, a trio of cyclopes in Detroit, the evil Medea in Chicago, King Midas in a heavily secured white mansion, a pack of werewolves led by Lycaon in a cave, and the very unhelpful Lord of the Winds, Aeolus at his castle 60-feet off ground.

In the end the heroes and their friends, the Hunters of Artemis, manage to save both Piper's father and Hera, whose godly life force was being used to raise the giant Porphyrion. They temporarily stall Gaea's plans, but they were unable to completely destroy the ancient beings, and will have to face them again. With part of his memory returned, Jason realizes that he is a hero from a Roman counterpart to Camp Half-Blood somewhere near San Francisco, CA, and that Hera has switched him with the Greek hero Percy Jackson, who is now at the Roman camp called Camp Jupiter with no memory of his life at Camp Half-Blood. Jason and Percy had been sent as representatives to each other's camps, so that the camps could come together to fight the giants and defeat Gaea.

Major characters

• Jason Grace: One of the main protagonists. A demigod son of Zeus (Jupiter in Roman mythology). Jason suffers amnesia at the beginning of the book and is inclined to call the gods by their Roman names. He owns a coin that turns into a spear or a sword depending upon heads or tails, however it is destroyed during their quest. It is revealed that he is Thalia Grace's younger brother, as they have the same mother and though both also having the same father, Thalia was specifically born under the Greek aspect of Zeus while Jason was fathered by the Roman counterpart Jupiter. Thus, making Thalia a Greek demigod and Jason a Roman demigod. When Jason was two years old, he was taken from his mother and sister by Hera, and Thalia ran away from home shortly after that. It is also made known that he came from a Roman version of Camp-Half Blood before he lost his memory. This counterpart to Camp Half-Blood is located near San Francisco, California. He harbors feelings for Piper, but hides them, thinking that he was romantically involved with someone before, but can't remember because of his stolen memory.
• Piper McLean: A demigod daughter of Aphrodite and Tristan McLean, a Cherokee movie star. At the beginning of the book, Piper claims to be Jason's girlfriend, but finds out that it was all the Mist's doing. She still shows strong feelings for him but keeps worrying that he was in a relationship in his past life. She does not show her feelings towards him, however. She has a dagger named Katoptris, previously wielded by Helen of Troy, that can show more than the holder's reflection. She also has the gift of charmspeak, the ability to persuade anybody to do anything. Few children of Aphrodite have had this ability, and none are living in her time that can match her in power. She acts a little tomboyish, despite being a daughter of Aphrodite. She is 15 years old. Her eyes change color from green to brown to blue. She has choppy, uneven brown hair.
• Leo Valdez: A demigod son of Hephaestus and Esperanza Valdez. Leo claims to be Jason's best friend at the beginning of the book, and although that was a trick of the Mist, he and Jason do become good friends as they get to know each other on their quest. He has a magical tool belt that will produce any tool he requests, though should be able to find in an average mechanical shop. Leo repaired the bronze dragon Festus. He can also create fire from nothingness, a rare ability sometimes given to Hephaestus's children. He has a crush on Khione, the goddess of snow, and on Thalia Grace, Jason's elder sister. Khione ended up hating him and Thalia wasn't impressed.
• Festus "Happy the Dragon": A mechanical bronze dragon. He appeared previously in The Demigod Files. He helped Leo, Jason, and Piper until he fell in Omaha, Nebraska.
• Gleeson Hedge: A satyr or faun who was meant to watch over two demigods (Piper and Leo). But then has to watch over an additional demigod, Jason. He is taken captive after saving Leo's life twice. He watched over Pipers dad. He was mentioned in The Last Olympian in a letter to Grover Underwood.
• Hera: The goddess of marriage and Zeus's wife. Also known as Juno in Roman mythology.
• Gaea: The titan of the earth, and the mother of all living things. The mastermind behind Hera's imprisonment. She has also been dealing with Midas and Medea, whom they encounter in Omaha and Chicago, respectively.
• Percy Jackson: A demigod son of Poseidon, who was the main protagonist in the first Camp Half-Blood series. By the time Jason, Piper and Leo encounter storm spirits at the Grand Canyon, he has been missing for 3 days. It is then revealed that he and Jason have been swapped, causing their memories to be repressed and Percy to be sent to the Roman Camp Jupiter (Roman version of camp half blood), from which Jason originally came. He is mentioned throughout the story and is essential to the plot line, but he never actually appears throughout the novel. Percy, although he has no memory of his life at Camp Half-Blood, remembers Annabeth.
• Annabeth Chase: A 16 year-old demigod daughter of Athena, who was a main character from the first series and Percy's girlfriend. Extremely intelligent blondie who knows how to start a serious fight. She first appears in a chariot, looking for Percy Jackson, who is her boyfriend. Instead, she finds three demigods; Jason, Piper and Leo. She brings them to camp and helps Piper choose a weapon. She continues her search for Percy throughout the book. Later, she learns that Percy has been switched with Jason and has been brought to the Roman camp in California and has no memory of who he is. She vows to accompany Jason, Piper and Leo as one of the seven in the Great Prophecy on their next quest to retrieve Percy and to ask the Roman demigods to help them defeat the giants.
• Thalia Grace: A demigod daughter of Zeus who became a Hunter of Artemis to avoid the First Great Prophecy. She is actually Jason's elder sister as he is the son of Jupiter, the Roman counterpart of Zeus, and her mother. Jason was the only reason that she stayed with her mother, whom she did not get along well with because Thalia never trusted her mother and she certainly didn't trust a woman with issues raising her two-year old brother. She makes an appearance in the book where she and the other Hunters help Jason, Piper and Leo to save Hera. Strangely, being the daughter of Zeus, she is scared of heights. Unlike Jason, she doesn't have the ability to fly.

Release

Upon release, The Lost Hero was a #1 bestseller on The New York Times bestseller list,^[7] USA Today bestseller list,^[8] The Wall Street Journal bestseller list,^[9] IndieBound bestseller list,^[10] the Publishers Weekly bestseller list,^[11] and on United Kingdom bestseller charts.^[9] As of January 30, 2011, The Lost Hero has been on The New York Times best seller list for 14 weeks, ranked at number 1.^[12]

Publication history

The novel was first released in the United States on October 12, 2010, as a hardcover. The audiobook and e-book were released simultaneously with the hardcover. Disney gave the book a 2.5 million first printing. Before release, the website was launched with an excerpt from the novel, information about the series and characters, a book trailer, and an event kit. Riordan has said that he intends to release a new book every year, completing the series in 2014.^[13]

Promotion

Before The Lost Hero was released in full, Riordan published the first two chapters and the book's cover on the series website.

To celebrate the release of the book, a release party took place at BookPeople in Austin, Texas. The party began at 4 pm with over 800 visitors including Riordan himself. The party featured food, races, and rock climbing. Afterward, over 10,000 joined Riordan on an online webchat where he read the first two chapters and answered questions from the fans. He then signed one copy of the book and announced "that seven 'lucky demigods' will be selected in a sweepstakes to attend an exclusive one-week session at Camp Half-Blood at Bookpeople in July 2011".^[5]

Aside from the official release party, Borders Books & Music in Dearborn also held a release party. A national event, it began at 2 pm. The party had arts and crafts, trivia, and a reading of the first two chapters.^[14]

Critical reception

Publishers Weekly gave The Lost Hero a favorable review, stating that "Riordan's storytelling is as polished as ever, brimming with wit, action, and heart."^[15] The novel received a mixed review from Kirkus Reviews, which stated that the "Greek-vs.-Roman tension tantalizes" and that "incidental details that bring the gods into the story often shine." However, the reviewer also noted that there are "far too many pages of stretched-out action, telling not showing and awkward dialogue". The reviewer found that only the die-hard fans would enjoy the book, and "unless Riordan tightens things up considerably by number five, they may find themselves hoping that it does not end with a third Great Prophecy."^[16] The Seattle Times found the Greek and Roman mix "fascinating" and that the "characters are interesting and well-developed, and the richly complex story has Riordan's trademark wry humor and nearly nonstop action".^[17]

Ian McGillis explained that Riordan’s “corny storytelling devices . . . keeps him from transcending his core readership and crossing over to teen and adult readers the way the Harry Potter books have.”^[18]

Postmedia News commented that for Riordan “attracting a readership isn’t a problem.”^[19]

Awards

• Barnes & Noble Best Book of 2010^[20]

Sequel

The sequel to The Lost Hero, entitled The Son of Neptune, was released on October 4, 2011.^[1][21]

References

External links

• The Heroes of Olympus US website
• The Heroes of Olympus at Disney Books
• The Lost Hero on Google Books

The Camp Half-Blood series by Rick Riordan   First main series: Percy Jackson & the Olympians Characters Percy Jackson • Annabeth Chase • Grover Underwood • Tyson • Other characters Books The Lightning Thief • The Sea of Monsters • The Titan's Curse • The Battle of the Labyrinth • The Last Olympian Film Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief • List of film cast and characters Related List of terms • The Demigod Files • The Ultimate Guide • Demigods and Monsters Category:Percy Jackson & the Olympians   Second main series: The Heroes of Olympus Characters Percy Jackson • Annabeth Chase • Thalia Grace • Jason Grace • Piper McLean • Leo Valdez • Frank Zhang • Hazel Levesque • Other characters Books The Lost Hero • The Son of Neptune • The Mark of Athena Category:The Heroes of Olympus Book:Camp Half-Blood • Category:Camp Half-Blood series • Portal:Literature