The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

How does Mr. Riordan do it? I thought he would have exhausted the good story lines with the Percy Jackson series, but, luckily, he didn't.

In this first installment of the new series "The Heroes of Olympus", we are introduced to three new characters - Leo, Piper, and Jason. Jason is a demigod who suffers amnesia at the beginning of the book and calls everything by their Roman name. He owns a coin that turns into a lance or sword. It is revealed that he is Thalia Grace's younger brother, as they have the same mother, but they share no similarities in their appearances, other than their blue eyes. 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. He is the demigod son of Zeus, also known as Jupiter in Roman mythology. It is also made known that he came from a Roman version of Camp-Half Blood before he lost his memory. Piper is a demigod daughter of Aphrodite and a Cherokee movie star. At the beginning of the book, Piper claims to be Jason's girlfriend. 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.A demigod son of Hephaestus. Leo claims to be Jason's best friend at the beginning of the book. He has a magical toolbelt that will produce any tool he thinks of. Leo Valdez repaired the bronze dragon. He can also create fire from nothing, a rare ability given to Hephaestus's children.

As usual, Mr. Riordan does a magical job of teaching without preaching. I remember being very confused about the Greek versus Roman gods when I was in school. In the book, it is integrated so seamlessly that I would get a much better grade on a test now!

I look forward to the next installment!

Check out my Glogster poster on the book : http://mrsullrich.edu.glogster.com/the-lost-hero/