The Lost Hero

"The Lost Hero" is the first book in the "Hero's of Olympus" series written by Rick Riordan, a second series that ties into his first series, "Percy Jackson and the Olympians".  In this book, we meet some new characters - Jason, Leo, and Piper.  Jason finds himself on a school bus not remembering anything about his life - who he is, where he's from, and what he is doing on that bus.  Luckily enough, he meets his friends Leo and Piper who seem to know him and tell him that he has been at the Wilderness School for troubled teens with them for the past few months - oh and that they are on a field trip to the Grand Canyon.

While on their field trip strange things happen.  The group is attacked by a wind spirit and is saved when a girl and boy arrive on a chariot being pulled by Pegasus.  So strange, but Jason, Leo, and Piper are brought to Camp Half-Blood where they are filled in that they are in fact demi-gods.  All of this seems familiar to Jason, like he already knew that about himself, but he can't remember why.  Leo and Piper are surprised by this information, but are quickly claimed by their godly parents.  Jason discovers that he has already been claimed by his parent at some point in the past, but again can't remember when that was - he does remember that he is a son of Jupiter (or Zeus in Greek terms).

Not long after arriving at Camp Half-Blood, Jason is given a prophecy and must go on a quest.  He decides to bring Piper and Leo with him, even though it seems as though they will never make it back alive.  Piper and Leo are dealing with secrets of their own - Piper father has been kidnapped by a giant who wants to eat him and Leo has a special power that he doesn't want anyone finding out about.

Will the three heroes make it through the quest to save Hera and stop a giant from rising?  Let's hope so!  I really enjoyed this book - it is just a fun and exciting as the Percy Jackson series was.  Reading this book introduced many new gods, as well as their Roman counterparts. All very interesting and I honestly think that I learn more about Greek mythology from reading these books that I did in the Greek mythology class I took in university, haha!  Looking forward to reading the next couple books in this series.