an Informal and rambling 'Let's read' of the Trials of Apollo series

NotLeviathan · Jan 16, 2023

I have a history with Riordan's books. I think I was 9 years old when I first saw the Lightning Thief movie and as an idiotic uncultured child I was like, "This is cool!".

Then as a 12 to 14-year-old I actually read Percy Jackson and the olympians, the entire series, and I realised two things. One, these books were pretty good and two, the movie kinda sucked…

Much of my time back then was reading the series in my schools library, then the Heroes of Olympus series and then I read the entire Kane chronicles trilogy. Then I sorta drifted off from the series and his books… still read the occasional fanfic though.

I read like the first few chapters of the norse book when it came out but I never finished it and I never read the kane and Percy crossover stuff. Didn't even realise the man released five more books till like a year ago so here we are. This isn't gonna be a completely blind Let's Read as the fandom and the wiki has sort of spoiled certain plot details for me.

I know Jason Grace dies

But try not to spoil stuff in posts cause there's probably plot points i still dont know.

I saw the Trial series on sale on amazon for a relatively low price and decided "Hey, why not try it ?"

So now that we got my ramblings out of the way lets begin with chapter 1 of 'The Hidden Oracle'. Otherwise known as the beginning of Apollo's very bad time.

'Hoodlums punch my face
I would smite them if I could
Mortality blows'

Are all the chapters gonna begin with one of Apollo's infamous Haikus? That is a haiku right? Might not be that idiotic uncultured child anymore but I am an uncultured 19 year old who stopped taking English lit about 3 years ago. I know that the series is about Apollo and his adventures after becoming mortal, it says so on the blurb on the back of the book. I also remember that he's a bit off a weeb but maybe thats fanon infecting my brain.

I can kinda remember him doing some pretty awful haikus when he showed up in Titan's curse. My memory of the original series is kinda blurry.
many humans would agree with that sentiment Apollo, though a lot would disagree too I guess.

'My name is Apollo. I used to be a god.
In my four thousand, six hundred and twelve years, I have done many things. I inflicted a plague on the Greeks who besieged Troy. I blessed Babe Ruth with three home runs in game four of the 1926 World series. I visited my wrath upon Britney spears at the 2007 MTV video music awards.
But in all my immortal life I never before crash-landed in a dumpster .'

Well thats certainly a way to start off a story.

Homer can testify for the troy thing, not much of a sports fan but good for Babe ruth i guess. I wonder what the hell Britney Spears did to piss off a greek god… could be anything really, the Olympians have punished people or gotten angry over a large variety of stuff in the myths.

What did Britney spears do to you Apollo?

I'm interested in how Apollo ended up in a dumpster.

Reading on, even he's not sure how that happened, the former god woke up falling and none of his variety of shapeshifting or divine abilities were working. Definitely dont envy his situation though, pass on the smell… and the possibly broken ribs.

'My mind stewed in confusion, but one memory floated to the surface- the voice of my father, Zeus: YOUR FAULT. YOUR PUNISHMENT.'

Yeah Apollo's reaction to that memory was very vivid, He didn't take it very well. Not helped by the fact he cant even remember what zeus looks like, let alone why he was punished.

That's rough buddy. Of course after his panic and brief moment of angst, Apollo's vanity comes back and he enters denial. Desperately hoping zeus is only trying to scare him. My memory of HoO aint the best but i'm pretty sure Olympus nearly losing to the Giants was more due to zeus not apollo. He was the one who stuck his head in the sand and did his best to ignore the situation. Every other God and Goddess did their best to salvage that mess.

But what am I expecting? Zeus to actually acknowledge his mistakes and swallow his pride? Like that will ever happen. Wonder why he chose to punish apollo though and not like Juno/hera for going behind his back, would still be unfair but she had more hand in the whole camp jupiter/half-blood debacle then apollo i think.

TLDR, Zeus is a dick.

Apollo's bad time continues as he falls out of the dumpster and onto the tarmac of the alleyway. Ouch.

Oh and hes in manhattan or maybe queens, Olympus is on top of the empire state building so he must have been thrown(?) pretty hard. Google tells me thats anywhere from 3 to 11 miles or so. In a sensible unit of distance thats like 4.8 to 17.7 km. double ouch.

I agree with apollo.

'Zeus must have been really angry with me.'

And of course, he's a teenager.

'I felt sick, weak and so, so human'

…Should i feel offended by that Apollo?

'I will never understand how you mortals tolerate it. You live your entire life trapped in a sack of meat, unable to enjoy simple pleasures like changing into a hummingbird or dissolving into pure light.
And now, heavens help me, I was one of you- Just another meat sack.'

Your on very thin grounds apollo… but turning into a hummingbird or just shapeshifting in general seems fun so you've kinda got a point. Hope you dont call anyone a sack of meat to their face though… actually i wish you would, it would be funny to see you get your face punched in.

The God turned man searches through his pockets and finds some money and a drivers liscence with the name…

Lester Papadopoulus.

Okay that's kinda funny, Marvel Thor had a better mortal name than that. I'd take Donald blake over Lester any day.

Anyway he doesnt have any other items on him and to make the day worse for Lester (Im going to call him Lester from now on cause Lol), he is confronted by two generic thugs, the books calls them out for how generic they are. They proceed to try and mug Lester.

We learn that Lester has been turned mortal twice before but then he still had some godly power and massive strength. This time not so much he finds out and to our amusement.

'I stood up straight, hoping Cade and Mikey would be intimidated by my regal bearing and divine beauty. (Surely those qualities could not be taken from me, no matter what my driver's license photo looked like.)'

And denial is a river in egypt.

Oof. his voice cracked whilst trying to threaten the two. Also one of the thugs apparently reminds Lester of a monstrous sow which terroised a village called Crommyon back in the 'good old days'.

I dont know what this is a reference to.

At least he gave a warning so he's already doing better then most of his family. Not that it helps or that he has the power to back it up.

The thugs then banter to each other and then threaten Lester again.

' "I warned you" I said. "My powers are far beyond your comprehension." '

I can taste the irony.

Lester then proceeds to get sucker punched. I'd feel pity but Lester's internal dialogue makes this quite the humorous comeuppance. Though i feel like Transhumanists and a lot of spacebattles would agree with Lester's idea that Prometheus did a shoddy job when fashioning human legs.

' "Fools!" I croaked. "I will destroy you!"
"Yeah sure." Cade tossed away his knife. "But first i think we'll stomp you."
Cade raised his boot over my face, and the world went black.'

Come on Lester! Most self-inserts on this site handled the traditional alleyway encounter better then you did! Artemis would be ashamed!

Is this an isekai? Does Olympus count as a World in itself?

Is Lester an Isekai protag?

…

Welp see you next time when I cover chapter 2 of "My daily life as a God turned Mortal in this (Urban-) Fantasy world!

I think this was a pretty memorable start to a book all considered.

NotLeviathan · Jan 18, 2023

Welcome back to chapter 2 of "My daily life as a God turned Mortal in this (Urban-) Fantasy world!"

Otherwise known as chapter 2 of the hidden oracle, I'm still not sure on what exactly the title is referring to. Pretty sure Rachel Elizabeth Dare was apollo's current oracle, aka miss "I threw a hairbrush at kronos's face."

Maybe she went into hiding from whatever is the new world destroying threat of the year is? Then again the roman camp had their auguries so maybe there's another oracle in the series that just hasn't come up yet.

Let's begin with chapter 2. I wonder how lester will get out of his current situation of getting his ass beat by two generic thugs.

'A girl from nowhere
Completes my embarrassment
Stupid bananas'

So Lester's situation is going to get even worse? I have some idea on the banana's he's talking about, he crashed into a dumpster, it's probably filled with rotten food waste like banana peels or something like that. The girl will either be these two mugger's boss or the requisite saving by the future urban-fantasy love interest or maybe rick will surprise me.

'I had not been stomped so badly since my guitar contest against Chuck Berry in 1957.'

Looking it up Chuck Berry was the 'Father of Rock and Roll' and as such is now a man who's music im interested in hearing. I know what im going to do after this now. Also I guess it makes some sense for a god of music to be stomped in a contest against a guy who invented a new genre, I Guess even lester needed time to learn new genres.

Though I have a feeling the the literal stomping he's going through is way worse then that metaphorical stomping.

Cade and Mikey continue to beat Lester down, very brutally too. I'm beginning to feel pity for this poor bastard, dude passed out and came to and he was still getting his ass kicked. Adding insult to injury they proceed to throw literal garbage on him.

I think this is actually pretty new for Rick, i dont think in any of the past books has a view point character just been beaten to a bloody pulp whilst being helpless to stop it. Maybe this signals a new darker direction for the series?

They're even mocking his name! Apologies to all the Lester's out there, though i have to agree it is a step down from apollo.

'I stared at the blood on my fingertips. I was a god. I did not have blood. Even when i'd been turned mortal before, golden ichor still ran through my veins. I had never before been so… converted. It must be a mistake. A trick. Something.
I tried to sit up.
My hand hit a banana peel and I fell again. My attackers howled in delight.'

There's the banana incident the title haiku speaks of, if the olympians are watching i doubt they'll ever let lester live this down. Seems like zeus went the extra mile this time, lester is fully mortal and he's not taking it well.

Somewhat ups the stakes, all the past protagonists had some sort of supernatural ability but lester doesnt seem to have any left. He's like the anti-Isekai protagonist, instead of becoming overpowered he's underpowered.

The goons continue to mock Lester and his lack of money, whilst doing so they mention their boss who apparently knew Lester would crash here.

Hmmm… so we've had kronos and gaia as villains so far. I wonder who the Boss is? My guess would be ouranos, to complete the villainous family trifecta, or maybe it's medea she's still around aint she?

'Despite my predicament, I felt a surge of hopefulness. If these thugs had been sent here to find me, their 'boss' must be a god. No mortal could have known i would fall to earth at this spot. Perhaps Cade and Mikey were not human either. Perhaps they were cleverly disguised monsters or spirits. At least that would explain why they had beaten me so easily.'

Sorry to say Lester but I think they're just mortals and your current body just sucks. Also your being very optimistic considering this boss sent them to kick your ass.

Is the main mystery/plot of the book going to be discovering the Boss's identity? Along with whatever is happening with the oracle.

Lester tries to question them to no avail and i'm left wondering what the hell primordial Chaos smells like.

Just before Lester can attempt to magically sing them to submission( and probbaly fail miserably and comedically) he's interrupted by someone shouting. Is that our deuteragonist?
…and she's twelve, i take back what i said earlier about the urban fantasy love interest, my expectations have been defied.

'My first thought was that Artemis had come to my aid. My sister often appeared as a twelve year old girl fo reasons i'd never fully understood. But something told me this was not she.
The girl on the fire escape did not exactly inspire fear. She was small and pudgy, with dark hair chopped in a messy pageboy style and black cat-eye glasses with rhinestones glittering in the corners. Despite the cold, she wore no coat. Her outfit looked like it had been picked by a kindergartener- red sneakers, yellow tights and a green sleeveless dress. Perhaps she was on her way to a costume party dresses as a traffic light.'

Yep definitely not what i expected. Also no fashion sense at all. Though Lester does note her scowl reminds him of an old flame of his Cyrene, one she had whenever she wrestled lions. Ok thats certainly awesome and looking it up she was a thesallian princess which Lester founded and then named a city after which she ruled. Guess he was really impressed by the lion wrestling.

I'm surprised, one of of Lester's love interests not dying horribly or running away from him? Then again she is the mother of Diomedes of Thrace who is a son of Ares so he was briefly NTR'd. Boy, olympus meetings must have been awkward then.

Moving on the girl acts like the 12 year old she is, and insists she will be the one to mug Lester. It just isn't this guys day is it.

' "Why is everyone calling me a loser?" i asked weakly.'

Cause you kinda are right now.

Also the girl then proceeds to magically pelt cade and mike with the rotten fruit including the banana peels. Ok thats funny. She must be the child of some agriculture/nature spirit or deity. Lester must be feeling some schadenfreude. How far the thugs have fallen. Also makes it clear they're mortal.

Just like percy once become one with the plumbing she has become one with the trash.

Its also really amusing that this 12 year old joined Lester's list of dangerous women with Artemis and Hera.

'On her middle fingers she wore matching god rings with crescent signets. Her eyes glinted darkly like a crow's. (I can make that comparison because I invented Crows.)
"Don't thank me." she said. "You're still in my alley."
She walked a full circle around me, scrutinising my appearance as if i was a prize cow. (I can also make that comparison, because i used to collect prize cows.)'

So the rings were called out and assuming the series is continuing with the tradition of magical shapeshifting hidden weapons i'm going to assume those are hers.

Wonder what made him stop collecting prize cattle, is it cause myhthological heroes and deities kept stealing and/or eating them no matter where lester put them? The list including Hermes, odysseus's crew, heracles and so on.

They then go back and forth debating lester's Godliness whilst Lester is tied between his paternal urge to clean her up and give her money for a hot meal and the desire to fend her off with a chair…

Pretty interesting characterization there!

'She reminded me of the strays my sister was always adopting: dogs, panthers, homeless maidens, small dragons.'

Lester… do you see Artemis's hunt as her pets?

They then talk about her name, it's Meg, short for Margeret not Megara.Also, lester should never call her Margaret. Lester the questions if she's a demigod and she doesnt seem surprised to be called one.

' "Well," I said, "You obviously have some power. You chased off those hooligans with rotten fruit. Perhaps you have banana-kinesis? Or you can control garbage? I once knew a roman goddess, Cloacina, who presided over the city's sewer system. Perhaps you're related…?" '

I know her dress sense is trash but I think thats the wong thing to say. If said goddess is still around and had demigod children i'd pity them, they're probably bullied relentlessly.

Of course Lester is unaware of him putting his foot in his mouth and they continue their back and forth. Lester really doesnt want to be mugged again. And for a former god of poetry, he's not good with his words.

'It seemed wrong for a child to say Hell's Kitchen. Then again, it seemed wrong for a child to live in an alley and have garbage fights with thugs.'

Nah she's a demigod (probably), innocence never lasts long with them. Wonder if it's the fact he was turned mortal or if he was always like this. The Olympians are absentee parents, it's chiron's job to make sure they survive. It's a longstanding plot point isn't it that most demigods feel like their divine parent doesnt give a shit.

Lester decides it would be way to easy if he could just go back to the 600th floor, no way zeus would allow it, so he decides to go to camp halfblood. Good choice considering the mysterious Boss is still around.

Also Meg proceeds to take all of Lester's money. Lester then tells her when he becomes a god again he'll reward those who helped him and punish those that didnt. Not sure threats are going to be that helpful in your weakened position mate. She still has the upperhand, garbage powers vs no powers.

They then talk a bit about what Apollo did before to become a god again the past times he was punished like this. Which is apparently to be a slave to some demigod and he hopes it a fellow uptown, who i am guessing is percy.

Being a slave for punishment is a level of dickishness so high I can believe Zeus came up with it.

' "I'm Meg McCaffrey!" Meg blew me a raspberry. "And I claim your service!"
Overhead, thunder rumbled in the grey sky. The sound echoed through the city canyons like divine laughter.'

Wow thats a dick move, lester walked into that sure…

I guess this is the dynamic duo from now on. Also apparently zeus has snapchat. The mist must be working overtime whenever he posts.

With a bribe of food they resolve to head off to find Percy Jackson. Can't tell if he'd find this hilarious or have sympathy. Or just be tired of all this. The man went through ares, atlas, kronos, Gaia, more titans and giants and whatever the villain of the Greco-Egyptian crossover that I never read was.

So far Lester's and Meg's byplay has been entertaining even if i find Meg a bit obnoxious. Who knows maybe her character will grow on me.

The isekai party has got a new member and they are off looking for their third.

an Informal and rambling 'Let's read' of the Trials of Apollo series

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NotLeviathan

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