The House of Hades is the fourth instalment in the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan. The book centres around seven demigods: Percy, Annabeth, Frank, Hazel, Jason, Piper and Leo.
The House of Hades picks up right where the previous book, The Mark of Athena, left off: Percy and Annabeth have fallen into Tartarus and must travel through this deadly realm to reach the Doors of Death, their only escape route. Meanwhile, the remaining five demigods must follow Percy's wishes and find the mortal side of the Doors so that they can seal them- preventing the giants from escaping and raising Gaea, the Earth Mother and their ultimate enemy.
This book is no less action-packed and thrilling than the others. Riordan continues to deliver with cracking wit, astonishing depth and his own unique, modernised spin on the mythology we all know.
The story is told in third person, yet every few chapters the character telling it changes, alternating between Percy and Annabeth in Tartarus and the rest of the crew as they desperately try to reach their destination in time. You would think it would be difficult to keep up with seven characters telling the story but Riordan writes it fantastically, keeping the plot flowing with ease.
In The House of Hades, Riordan also decided to explore some more mature themes, such as sexuality, when a character confessed to having a 'crush' on one of the book's main male protagonists. When questioned about this decision, Riordan said that his books do not contain any content beyond what you might find in a PG-rated movie. He stated, referring to his experience as a teacher: "The idea that we should treat sexual orientation itself as an adults-only topic, however, is absurd. Non-heterosexual children exist. To pretend they do not, to fail to recognise that they have needs for support and validation like any child, would be bad teaching, bad writing and bad citizenship."
I agree that a good book should not ignore difficult questions or situations: it should embrace them and Riordan does this in a subtle, yet effective way. The House of Hades was the number one on the New York Times Children's Series Bestseller, USA Today bestseller, Publishers' Weekly bestseller, Globe & Mail juvenile bestseller and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. Phew!
The book was a fantastic read, just as the rest of the series was. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has been keeping up with the series so far, and to anyone who hasn't – start!
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