Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Puffin
ISBN: 9780141339184
Rating: A
The House of Hades is the fourth book in the bestselling Heroes of Olympus series, set in the action-packed world of Percy Jackson. The stakes have never been higher. If Percy Jackson and Annabeth fail in their quest, there'll be hell on Earth. Literally. Wandering the deadly realm of Tartarus, every step leads them further into danger. And, if by some miracle they do make it to the Doors of Death, there's a legion of bloodthirsty monsters waiting for them. Meanwhile, Hazel and the crew of the Argo II have a choice: to stop a war or save their friends. Whichever road they take one thing is certain - in the Underworld, evil is inescapable
This review is insanely late and I must apologise for that but stuff came up that I had to deal with, but as I said, uber sorry for the delay.
Where to start with this. I feel like I'm repeating myself in the reviews for this series but I honest to god adore every single book in it and House of Hades tops it off. As per usual Riordan has wowed me once again, providing a stunning addition to this magical and wonderful series. There are really no words to describe how fantastic this novel is.
So this book picks up where Book 3 left off, and actually is set in two places. We followed one set of the seven on above land as they traveled to the doors and we followed Percy down in Hades, which by far was one of my favourite settings. Hades, being a unreal place, was so open to interpretation and I was raring to see what Riordan would do with it and I absolutely loved it. He built this fantastic new world or dimension and It just felt so real and flawless.
The storyline essentially follows Percy's quest to save Annabeth and the rest of the Groups quest to open and then close the doors for him in the real world... with a fair few twists and turns, of course. The story in this was 100% Riordan and everything I wanted from this. Once again it was crammed with hilarity, actions and tons of magic. Whilst being a clever and complex plot I didn't find it complicated or hard to follow and most importantly it was one of the most enjoyable reads I have read in a long time!
The writing as usual consisted of Riordan's fast paced, action packed laugh out loud prose that had been sweating, smiling and laughing at all the right moments. It flowed so well and I loved the way his description built up and brought to life these wonderful myths that we all read and dream about. I don't think he's actually written anything bad because all he ever does is amaze.
The characters in this are pretty much the same. What really happened was Riordan built much more on the charters delving more into their roots and in particular their secrets (Hint Hint, Nico). The voices came across loud and clear and what I loved was that when writing in different POV's I didn't have to keep checking who's POV it was. Riordans style for each characters is so well crafted and identifiable It was such a pleasure to read.
Overall I'm not surprised at how amazing this book is for the pure reason I wouldn't expect anything less from Riordan. He's done it again and I'm uber excited for Blood of Olympus yet super sad to see Percy's journeys finally end, but I know it'll be a good one.
