The Son of Neptune

The Son of Neptune

Author	Rick Riordan
Illustrator	John Rocco
Language	English
Series	The Heroes of Olympus (Book 2)
Genre	Fantasy, Greek and Roman mythology, Young adult
Publisher	Disney-Hyperion
Publication date	October 4th, 2011 (hardcover, audiobook CD, Kindle/Nook eBook)
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardback, audiobook CD, E-book)
Pages	513 (Hardcover)
ISBN	978-1-4231-4059-7
Preceded by	The Lost Hero
Followed by	The Mark of Athena

The Son of Neptune is the second book in the The Heroes of Olympus series written by Rick Riordan. It is the second book in the series and is preceded by The Lost Hero and succeeded by The Mark of Athena, which is to come out in the fall of 2012. The story follows the adventures of Percy Jackson, a demigod son of Poseidon, as he goes to Alaska to free the Greek god of death, Thanatos, and save the world from Gaia.

The book received mostly critical acclaim, winning the Goodreads Choice Award in 2011 and landing on three bestseller lists. The book also uses Riordan's new style of writing, third person narration, where the point of view switches between characters, in this case Percy, Frank and Hazel.

Development and promotion

In an interview by Scholastic with Rick Riordan for The Lost Hero, Riordan is questioned about the whereabouts of Percy Jackson. The author hints that the answer would be revealed as Jason's quest progressed. By the end of the book, he said that readers would have a good idea where the second book is going. . On May 26, 2011, Riordan released both the cover art and the first chapter of the book confirming that Percy would play a role in the book.

On August 8, 2011, Rick Riordan released a video giving more information about the book and its characters. The video includes pictures of a black haired boy with a bow and arrow in his hands who is later revealed to be Frank Zhang, a blonde-haired boy holding a teddy bear later revealed as Octavian, a girl with black hair wearing gold armor and a purple cloak sitting on a throne surrounded by a gold canine creature with red eyes on her left and a silver canine creature on her right also with red eyes, who was revealed on Rick Riordan's blog to be Reyna, and another girl riding a horse named Hazel Levesque. Along with this, two chapters were released prior to the book's launch- one was put on Riordan's website and another read out by Riordan on Percy's birthday, August 18.

Plot

The Son of Neptune begins with Percy Jackson being chased by the Gorgon sisters. They intend to kill Percy to avenge the killing of their sister Medusa by him. Percy manages to escape and stumbles upon Juno, who gives him two options: to carry her to the Caldecott Tunnel and across the little Tiber (although he is warned that after crossing through the river he'll lose the curse of Achilles) or to retreat to the safety of the sea and live a long, happy life.

Percy chooses to carry her, and when he gets to Caldecott Tunnel he meets two other demigods: Hazel Levesque and Frank Zhang. While they cross the river, Percy sees Frank get caught by the Gorgons and controls the river to kill the Monsters. Percy is taken to the head of the camp, a girl named Reyna. He is then made part of the fifth cohort, Frank and Hazel's, and prepares for the night's war games. During the war games Frank and his friends impress everyone with their skills and after the games Mars appears. He claims Frank as his son and sends Percy, Hazel, and Frank on a quest to free Thanatos, the god of Death, who is imprisoned in Alaska.

On the quest, they bump into an old man named Phineas, who is all-knowing and all-seeing. He tells them that he will reveal the location of Thanatos if they capture a harpy named Ella and bring her to him. Before capturing Ella, they learn that she can memorize anything she reads and decide to gamble with Phineas instead. Phineas and Percy will each drink a vial of Gorgon blood, one of which kills while the other heals. Phineas ends up dying and the trio discover the location in Phineas's pocket: Hubbard Glacier.

On the way to Alaska, Hazel reveals that she was actually supposed to be dead but was rescued from the Fields of Asphodel by Nico di Angelo and that seventy years prior to the story she was originally started to wake up Alcyoneus but stopped him from rising the day he was due to escape. Frank learns that he can turn into any animal and is descended from Poseidon as well as Mars. At that point he reveals to Percy and Hazel that his life depends on a piece of firewood that he always keeps. When it burns out, he would die.

When they finally reach the glacier, they find Thanatos in chains. His chains cannot be broken unless melted by the "fire of life", a.k.a Frank's firewood, so Frank started melting the chains as Hazel and Percy attacked Alcyoneus and his ghost legion, respectively. The trio eventually freed Thanatos and managed to drag Alcyoneus across the border into Canada, where Frank kills him.

The trio rushes back to Camp Jupiter, where, with the help of Tyson, Mrs. O'Leary, and the Roman Legion they fend off the Giant Polybotes's army. After seeing the eagle standard , the legion regains their hope and fights with renewed energy. Percy then challenges the giant Polybotes (born to oppose Poseidon) to a duel, as the rest of the camp fights the rest of the monsters. Percy calls to Terminus to help him defeat the giant, as giants can only be defeated by both a god and demigod. Percy eventually beats Polybotes after a battle using the head of Terminus' statue as a weapon. After the battle the legion names Percy as praetor, one of the two leaders of the Roman camp. Nearing the end, the groups of Greek camp demigods inform Percy of their arrival through a video Scroll and Tyson. Percy then tells Hazel and Frank that they can "now meet his other family"

Major characters

Main article: List of characters in the Camp Half-Blood series

• Percy Jackson: A demigod son of Poseidon, who was the main protagonist in the first Camp Half-Blood series. He and Jason Grace have been swapped, causing their memories to be taken away and Percy is sent to Camp Jupiter, from which Jason originally came. He goes on a quest with Frank Zhang and Hazel Levesque to save Thanatos, Pluto's lieutenant and the guardian of the doors of death. He succeeds and at the end of the book, leads the Roman camp into battle against Gaea's forces and is made Praetor by the campers. His memories are restored at around the middle of the book, as Percy drinks the gorgons' blood when he challenges Phineas.

• Frank Zhang: A demigod son of Mars, he is also related to Poseidon through his mother's family. He has the ability to shapeshift from his Greek ancestor, the Prince of Pylos, Periclymenus, and is an excellent marksman with a bow. His life is linked to a stick of wood, and, as his grandmother tells him, when it is burnt up, he will die. He is picked to lead a quest to free Thanatos. He has a crush on Hazel. Despite Frank's father (Mars) choosing him late, Mars says to forget about worrying how long he'll live and just do his duty as his mother would - Mars implies this is what Frank will contribute to fulfilling the Prophecy of Seven. Frank is the only known demigod of both Greek (Poseidon) and Roman (Mars) descent with different abilities from different gods.

• Hazel Levesque: A demigod daughter of Pluto, she was born in 1929 and lived in New Orleans. Her mother asked for the riches of the earth and so precious metals and gems rise to the surface near Hazel, but they cause misfortune in those who keep them. She was tricked into raising Alcyoneus in Alaska by Gaea and died in 1942. Nico di Angelo rescued her from the Fields of Asphodel, giving her a second chance. She is the third member of the trio that goes on a quest for Thanatos. She harbors feelings for Frank and they kiss near the end of the book. She tames Arion, a horse the Amazons kept for their greatest warrior.

Release

The Son of Neptune was given a first printing of three million copies, the largest for the company. Upon release, the book ranked #1 on The New York Times bestseller list, USA Today bestseller list, and The Wall Street Journal bestseller list. It was the Amazon Best Book of the Month in October 2011.

Critical reception

Reception to the novel has been generally positive. Dana Henderson of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer called the addition of new characters "refreshing and captivating" and claimed that it would "make the reader to want to keep reading". Kimberly Bennion in Deseret News cited it as an "emotional roller coaster" and would please both old and new fans. However, she thought the characters had flaws. The Hutchinson Leader's Kay Johnson wrote that the plot was confusing and the first half was not engaging, but thought Riordan should be given credit for introducing Greek and Roman mythology to a new generation. Kirkus Reviews was positive about the book, thinking that Riordan had "regained his traction" after "spinning his wheels" in The Lost Hero.

Sequel

According to Riordan, the sequel, entitled The Mark of Athena, is due to be released in the fall of 2012.