The Lost Hero and the Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan
Heroes of Olympus, the sequel series to Percy Jackson and the Olympians, isn't as good as the first, but is still pretty fun. The first book is about an amnesiac boy named Jason who wakes up between two other demigods-Piper and Leo-on a bus just in time for the bus to be attacked by air spirits and the three-who don't know they're demigods-to learn learn that their gym teacher is a rabid, homicidal satyr.
Annabeth shows up and announces that PERCY IS MISSING and that she was told she'd find the answer to his disappearance at the bridge where she meets the three new kids. At first, I thought Jason was going to turn out to be Percy with amnesia and hidden in plain sight by the gods with a new face, but that possibility was quickly done away with. Then literally 5 minutes after learning who their respective godly parents are, Camp Halfblood learns Hera has been kidnapped and the three new kids are given a mission to rescue her.
The second book is about a separate trio of demigods with completely different godly parent, and going further than that is rather spoilery. Both books switch POVs between the three leads, which I think Riordan handles here better than in the Kane Chronicles, and he does a bit of a better job with distinct voices here, though I really miss the funny chapter titles. By the end of the second book, we know who the seven prophecied demigods are (I don't think it's a spoiler to say that Annabeth and Percy are two of them?) and while the main lead of both books a a superpowerful white boy (both of whom I quite like, even if I sideeye Riordan a bit for predictability there) the other 5 include 3 girls (and lots of supporting female characters) and 4 POC, and Annabeth is the only one of the seven who doesn't have multiple POV chapters.
There are also lots of deadly/tragic secrets and personal and family curses running around, and Riordan is exploring almost entirely new areas of mythology from the first series and seems to be trying to make most of the new characters-lead and otherwise-be diiferent (sometimes almost antithetical) to the general types he portrayed their subset of demigods as in the first series, with mixed results in both cases, though not really with anything that makes me want to hit something. The characters are also starting out in their mid/late-teens instead of being 12, which I like. Both books seem largely to be set up for the rest, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens. And hoping Annabeth gets POV chapters.
Also, there's lots of "Raised by wolves! And ghosts!" going around. And Riordan seriously ships Annabeth/Percy to an almost ridiculous degree. As in "it's a good thing I like this pairing, too, or this could get annoying."
Annabeth shows up and announces that PERCY IS MISSING and that she was told she'd find the answer to his disappearance at the bridge where she meets the three new kids. At first, I thought Jason was going to turn out to be Percy with amnesia and hidden in plain sight by the gods with a new face, but that possibility was quickly done away with. Then literally 5 minutes after learning who their respective godly parents are, Camp Halfblood learns Hera has been kidnapped and the three new kids are given a mission to rescue her.
The second book is about a separate trio of demigods with completely different godly parent, and going further than that is rather spoilery. Both books switch POVs between the three leads, which I think Riordan handles here better than in the Kane Chronicles, and he does a bit of a better job with distinct voices here, though I really miss the funny chapter titles. By the end of the second book, we know who the seven prophecied demigods are (I don't think it's a spoiler to say that Annabeth and Percy are two of them?) and while the main lead of both books a a superpowerful white boy (both of whom I quite like, even if I sideeye Riordan a bit for predictability there) the other 5 include 3 girls (and lots of supporting female characters) and 4 POC, and Annabeth is the only one of the seven who doesn't have multiple POV chapters.
There are also lots of deadly/tragic secrets and personal and family curses running around, and Riordan is exploring almost entirely new areas of mythology from the first series and seems to be trying to make most of the new characters-lead and otherwise-be diiferent (sometimes almost antithetical) to the general types he portrayed their subset of demigods as in the first series, with mixed results in both cases, though not really with anything that makes me want to hit something. The characters are also starting out in their mid/late-teens instead of being 12, which I like. Both books seem largely to be set up for the rest, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens. And hoping Annabeth gets POV chapters.
Also, there's lots of "Raised by wolves! And ghosts!" going around. And Riordan seriously ships Annabeth/Percy to an almost ridiculous degree. As in "it's a good thing I like this pairing, too, or this could get annoying."