A Review of 'The House of Hades'

While I'm itching to review one of the other books, I'm going to go in order of finished first, so today's (belated and somewhat short) review is of The House of Hades by Rick Riordan! Considering this is the fourth book in the series, beware spoilers of the previous books! It's kind of impossible for me to avoid them with how the author set up his cliffhanger at the end of the previous book.

Via Goodreads

Percy has jumped into Tartarus to save Annabeth (who fell in shortly before him), and Gaea has had her forces endlessly assaulting the crew of the Argo II. With time running short, all of the demigods will have to face their fears and a cast of colorful characters in order to stop Gaea from unleashing all of Tartarus on the world.

Personally, I was not nearly as excited for this book as many of my friends were. It had been a year since the cliffhanger of The Mark of Athena, and I tend to move on pretty fast unless its something I really, really like a lot, which surprisingly doesn't happen as often as it should. This being said, I had basically forgotten the details of the entire series, so it was a rough start in the beginning of the book. Still, my memory was refreshed and I rapidly devoured the book like a ravenous animal.

I really liked how Percy and Annabeth's relationship grew through their travels through Tartarus. It showed that they weren't skin-deep, but that they really were friends and wanted each other to not die. I also loved the inclusion of Bob, a call-back from the end of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. It tied up that loose end very well, and created an amazing character from what originated as something of a joke.

I should just be up front and say that in general, I really liked all of the character development. It is hard to remember that these are books for children younger than myself, because they face tough decisions and they actually think hard about them. There's no frivolity or immaturity in most of their actions anymore.

However, I wasn't too crazy about Nico. I never have been, especially since his sister died and he basically turned into a little pile of sad. The author's 'surprise' twist about Nico didn't really seem justified to me, and in fact just seemed random. He handled it well, I suppose, but other than that it didn't really add anything to the book whatsoever except sort of not really justifying Nico being a little pile of sad.

I also felt some of the Grecian/Roman mythology moments got a little teach-y, but maybe the books have always been like that and I've just not noticed before because I hadn't learned the Greek and Roman myths in-depth until last year.

The action kept me engaged, and the plot kept my head whirring as I tried to out-think the characters (especially the villains). Overall, I'm excited for the final book in the series, but I have a feeling that my excitement will wane with time once more. These are great for any lover of fantasy, and I highly recommend them, but be ready to wait a year for the next book to come out!


Until next time,
Hailey Jenkins