Book Review: The Trials of Apollo series by Rick Riordan 

If anyone is wondering, Apollo is obsessed with haikus because in the 3rd Percy Jackson book, it is said that ever since Apollo took a vacation to Japan, he couldn't stop talking about them.

I wouldn't say this series was my favorite entry in Riordan's franchise. But I do love the idea of Roman emperors having such inflated egos and wealth from centuries of public adoration that they effectively willed themselves into immortality. That's a clever joke.

This series might not be everybody's cup of tea, but I love it. I literally cried in the ending. Lester/Apollo has to be one of the most hilarious protagonist in the Riordanverse. He has that funny Kuzco vibe, you know?

Honestly my favorite thing about the book is how it handles abuse and trauma. Like, the Triumvirate and Python are villains, yes, but themeatically they're kinda secondary to the main villain, which is ✨️The Cycle of Abuse We Had to Break Along the Way✨️

4:53 Apollo wasn't foolish tho, what he did actually helps the heroes a lot, he was right when saying Zeus was simply looking for someone to blame

mythology guy "The villain starts with an N but im not gonna spoil it" The title of the book "im about to ruin this mans whole career"

I feel this series is so underrated within the Percy Jackson fandom. I personally love it to bits and it might be my favourite. Also regarding Apollo kids in Camp Jupiter, I seem to remember that Apollo at some point (may have been in Heroes of Olympus) said that his Greek and Roman aspects don't differ that much. So in my mind, all of his kids are just Greek by default ^^'

I love how Rick makes it that all the enemies could kill but talk, cause all the enemies are deity’s.. and in my opinion it plays on their ego and how they have to boast

Personally, I saw the concept of "God falling to earth, paying for their sins and learning to become a decent person" as an incredibly good premise. The best premise of any book I've seen in years. There was so much story potential there. I don't think it was perfectly written or exactly what I wanted but it was still dam close enough that I still loved it a lot.

ToA is by far my favourite of Rick's series. I find Apollo very funny, and his arc is perfect. I actually found him super relatable in certain ways. People seem to hate Apollo and especially Meg, but I love how they play off each other. I've heard a lot of people complain that the first two books are boring? I get that less stuff happens compared to most Riordan books but I still found the characters funny and entertaining so it wasn't a problem.

Thank you for talking about these books they basically are like if Apollo had the fourth wall break ability of deadpool

The reason that N works so well as a villain is that he is more personal of an antagonist. Similar to Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter. The villain that is more real than the BBEG of the series.

This is my favorite book series of all time because I read it first when my dad died and it really helped me understanding my grief and get it better

This series is Riordan's masterpiece, no doubt. And the commentary is very cool.

The thing Apollo did that got him stripped of god-hood temporarily was actually very helpful to the heroes and important in saving the world. Zeus was just throwing a fit as Zeus does. Someone should really try to overthrow him. Oh wait.

I actually really love the series, it has the edge and stakes that I really wish was more present in Heroes of Olympus. And Apollo being the main character is so good, seeing the most pompous and self absorbed of Gods having to be a Mortal as he fights the greatest challenge he has ever faced is a genius concept and I love every step of the journey.

My unpopular opinion is that this is Rick’s best series. Apollo is hands down the best character work in the entire riordanverse. Character relationships are much stronger here. The friendship between meg and Apollo is way more well written than any of the friendships in hero’s of Olympus. The villains may not be the most compelling. The plot isn’t the strongest, but this is a more character driven series. Rick takes risks here and I know some people don’t like those choices but they make perfect sense. I also think the humor is some of the best here, but maybe that’s just the audiobook narrator. The riordanverse doesn’t have great narrators but Robby Daimond is fantastic. I just love this series

Trials of apollo was a breath of fresh air, i enjoyed his perspective and I wasn't expecting to enjoy ammunition.

Don't forget he's actually written a 3 book series on the Ptolemeic Myths in a crossover series between Percy Jackson and the Kane Chronicles. The books are The Son of Sobek The Staff of Seraphis The Crown of Ptolemy

apollo even mentions in ToA 5 that if he just shut up/stopped fumbling around, N would kill them instantly lol

Now that you mention it, Niobe as a villain alongside the Triumvirat and Python would have been pretty cool

"GO AWAY DEVIL ANTS!!!!! BRAZIL!!!!!" gets me every single fucking time

I've been enjoying pretty much every single one of Rick Riordan's books since I first learned about them. From Percy Jackson, to Heroes of Olympus, to the Kane Chronicles, and all the way to the Trials of Apollo. All of them are imaginative, well-researched and even managed to teach me, a major Mythology nerd, a few things about both Greek and Egyptian Mythologies that I didn't know. The Magnus Chase books, however, was a bit disappointing. As a Norseman I was looking forward to those books perhaps more then the rest, cuz this guy had proven to not only be well-informed about Mythology, but he had done more research about them then anyone else I knew about. Even mentioning monsters or characters that barely anyone talks about, such as Procrustes. So I was so excited for a fun and well--researched story about Norse Mythology. Yet not only did he follow the same misconceptions about Norse Mythology that everyone does, specifically about the Jotnar, but the books just lacked a lot of what made the others so engaging and fun. Barely any gods, or monsters showed up. There were hardly any Demigods. The Nine Realms were only touched upon or not visited at all, and there were so many missed opportunities to showcase some of the lesser known gods or monsters. It really disappointed me, despite how good I otherwise thought they were.

For the past couple of days I have been looking everywhere for a perfect review for this series. You have no idea how much perfect timing this is 😭

I loved this series, and thought it was an incredibly good continuation of the Riordan Universe. I loved the feeling that he created with Lord Apollo's initial selfishness and his massive character arc. I also loved the characters he introduced and their arcs and pasts. Always a great time with Rick. I look forward to seeing your review of the Sun and the Star! It is an interesting tale!

Jason’s death still haunts me

They do mention the myth of Neobe, or however you spell it, in passing, I think while Apollo is referring to his mother, Leto

7:20, actually for a brief moment Apollo does talk about that family. In second book when Apollo was telling the audience of how he killed Commodus right before that Apollo admits he murdered a lot of people and in one sentence he mentioned how he and Artemis killed a family of 12 because their mom insulted Apollo and Artemis mom Leto. Granted it is not 14 like how Mythology guy mentioned but I think Rick put 12 instead. I just recently re-read the 2nd book so I remember that being there

Mythology Guy : 'I won't spoil the name, but it begins with "N" ' Also him, 19 minutes ago : "Book 5, Tower of Nero"

When Kheiron was talking to “cat and head” (read Bastet and Mimir) maybe it’s because Ragnarok is happening the roosters have sung and stuff like that and mimir came to warn the other mythologies that the whole world is gonna burn and came to gave them a chance to fight with them in Ragnarok and when the heroes go fight in that they either die gloriously in battle and the world burns the end of Riordanverse or they surprisingly win the battle and the einherja are free cause cause there’s no fear of ragnarok anymore. That would be hella cool crossover.

The hidden oracle was the only one I’ve read in the trial of Apollo series. So thank you for reviewing all of them. Great review!

I've seen a lot of people say that Rick Riordan's writing doesn't grow up with the reader and my reaction is always "how did you read this series with such frank depictions of child abuse, filled with so much torment, including a first person account of the main protagonist murdering someone, and not think that the series has matured?" So I'm glad you acknowledged how much Rick has matured. I also love this series and especially Tower of Nero as a deconstruction of the previous couple of series. Like it addresses how this may have been fun for us to read but it's actually deeply messed up that these children were ever in these situations and they are literally all traumatised.

Personally, id like rick to do a series on the Celtic and Anglo Saxon gods, i think there is some real potential there for some great stories. We don't here much about them nowadays and we don't know much about the Anglo Saxon pantheon, so there's a chance he could add to the mythology and make light of it.

Reading the way the villains were defeated in the final book was so satisfying.

I could hear you talk about mythology for a straight hour and not get bored, love your content man!

I'm pretty sure Niobe was mentioned several times throughout the books, but she never actually showed up

I read this series for the first time last year and really enjoyed it. Nothing will live up to the nostalgia of the original Percy Jackson books for me, but I still think there was a lot of good here. I will say though that some of the modern references gave me a moment of shock. I’m used to these books taking place in the 2000s and early 2010s so it took a moment for me to adjust.

I think they did actually mention Niobe, but not as a plot point more of an offhand mention from Apollo to the reader.

At first, I was sceptical about it but it won me over REAL quick, and now I love it so much! Can't wait to forget stuff about the story so I can go on the adventure again!! Also YES the Arrow is awesome

I do hope that Alabaster does get mentioned in the new book Wrath of the Triple Goddess

As someone who has read these books many many times (it’s a problem honestly aha) Apollo does mention Niobe, but only very briefly. He makes an off hand remark about he and his sister killing her kids as a sort of off hand joke in the first book

There are no words I can use to describe just how much I love Trials of Apollo. I liked it on my first read-through, but on my second (This past February) I've become FIXATED on it. There are so many things that fly over your head the first time, and every reread reveals something new and exciting! It's such a wonderfully crafted series

I will say that my favorite book series is Hero’s of Olympus, I do like Trials of Apollo and Percy Jackson and the Olympians, but my favorite is Hero’s of Olympus series. I enjoy them all tho! Haven’t read his Egyptian and Norse series yet, I have them and am excited to read them in the future!

Yeah in the trials of Apollo Plot armor was practically non-existence. I was genuinely worried who was going to die and what drama will be stirred

I did think that the last Percy Jackson book (with Ganymede) would be a Greek/Egyptian crossover. Setne made the most sense to me for who would steal Ganymede’s cup, especially since we’ve seen him try to gain immortality through the Crown of Ptolemy before.

You need to do more book reviews on all of rick riordan's books

Same author of the Percy Jackson books, all I needed to hear to check it out

I love these books, they’re some of my favorite in the Percy Jacksonverse

Honestly, Trials of Apollo is i think, the best execution of a myth story like this. This is what the first Thor movie should've been. Apollo having to reconcile with the prophets, many of whom were directly harmed by his actions, hit really hard (i think the jar and Harpocrates from Tyrant's Tomb were my favorite), and stuff like just how f*cking terrible that villain (whose name begins with N) is. I can't name anything good here that you haven't said here yourself. It's funny, but way darker, and i LOVED apollo's god pov (the haiku chapter stuff, how he hates Stairway to Heaven (i think. it's been a while since i read the books)). It's just SO good. I really want to read the new percy jackson book (i'd read House of Hades EXCLUSIVELY for Percy and Annabeth bc i loved it)

the series actually does bring up the tale of niobe, but it's kind of just passed off and apollo doesn't't feel bad about it so there was definitely some missed potential

The third book had me drowning in tears so I may take a while to finish the series.

"Uncle Rick" has been hinting about a Celtic series for a while now. After the new Percy Jackson books are done [I think there's going to be three in total, and the second one is coming out later in September], do you think he'll actually go for it? 🤔 ...Yeah, he probably will. Also, every so often, I think about Chiron's cryptic comment about having to go talk to a cat [Bast] and a severed head [Mimir]. I wonder what that'll be about. A Percy Jackson-Kane Chronicles-Magnus Chase crossover extravaganza, perhaps? [edit: Oops, Mythology Guy talks about that. This is why I should've watched the video instead of commenting first, which I what I usually do, but I was too eager to get my thoughts in order. 😅 Even though Magnus Chase isn't nearly as good as it could've been, I'm still keeping my copies. Mainly because of Hearth and Blitz [they're a couple, and I have the green carnation to prove it!] but also because of how much Magnus and his friends feel like a family. It's very comforting.

It was actually my favorite Rick Riordan series before I read heroes of Olympus

The haikus as titles are not only here because Apollo's the god of poetry, but also because he mentions in one of the previous books that he recently got fascinated by them, so it follows his personality as established by the story.

Tyrant's tomb has to be my favourite riordan book

I’m with the others in saying this is a great series. I probably prefer Heroes of Olympus a bit more, but I still love it. Not to mention, it’s nice to see that Rick still has a knack for weaving modern touches into his works. Seriously, when I saw that he mentioned pokemon go in one of these, I burst out laughing, and officially claimed him as my favorite author.

I haven't read past the initial Percy Jackson series, but it does sound good. One idea, no idea how I'd do it is do a series inspired by Rick's work where it has Demi-Gods but these three are the children of the Three Noble Children of Japanese Mythology. Son of Tsukuyomi, Daughter of Amaterasu, Son of Susanoo. No idea what the story could be but i do have that initial idea in my head.

Trials of apollo is my favourite series

I enjoyed this series. I never read any of his other books and didn’t realize its part of the stories but i was able to keep up.

This isn't my favorite book series but who this series hit hard, I was not expecting Apllo to do that with the arrow(not going into spoilers but I think you know what I'm talking about) I never thought that he would do it.

17:40 I see... the villain is Noctavian.

I read the sun and the star plus chalice of the gods over 2 days, and the sun and the star is EVEN darker than the trials of Apollo (as far as I can remember).

From the 3 Camp-Halfblood Chronicles series (PJO, HoO, ToA) I liked Trials of Apollo the least. I liked the characters better in PJO and in HoO and connected with them more, but aside from that I really liked this series, mainly because of the comedy (Apollo is really funny), the expansion on Greek mythology, and the Roman emperors. I still like the Magnus Chase series the most out of every book series I've ever read, mainly because of how much I like Norse mythology.

I'm in the middle of slowly making my way through trials of apollo, but I'll definitely come back to this video once I'm done reading it! I'm excited to hear your thoughts! :D

Great, another series to add to my wishlist, thanks!

Can’t wait for the spoiler version of this review, I’m curious about some of the moments in the book that you enjoyed

I loved the trials of apollo series

I love your content man.Very entertaining videos.I hope you do a "Every mythical inaccuracy in God of War Ragnarok" video

On the crossover thing,there is a short book he wrote called demigods and magicians which is comprised of three short stories in which Percy and Annabeth meet Sadie and Carter.

Not going to lie the reason I even read the first book was Nico and Will's relationship...I think that says a lot about me... Like, I hadn't even finished reading the other series. I just heard that there were a few lines about Nico and Will's relationship and was just instantly in because I ship them. There's not even that many references to their relationship since they aren't even main characters in it I just latched onto the few mentions and reveled in them. Made it kind of awkward when my mom rented the audiobook from the library for a family vacation because I was just sitting there in the backseat fangirling whenever they got brought up while my brother, grandmother, and my mother were forced to listen... I need Jesus.

I worry about the shaky table. :D

This was not my favorite of his series, but I definitely enjoyed the ride. There is some good character development and attention to myths.

not sure if i already said it or not, but i fully remembered everything mythology guy, thanks to the plan me and kelcie made years ago on to jolt my memory, i even remember my daughter, if kelcie still lives where i last saw her, i live 5 minutes away

I would love for you to do a review of each of the Percy Jackson books as well as every inaccuracy of Percy Jackson books and the Apollo books.

now I will have new things to read thanks man

I have to say that it's probably Ricks best series so far. Especially after Book 2 it really takes off and doesn't stop until the end of Book 5. Truly amazing. Might be because it's less episodic than most of the other Books. (In that they travel somewhere and then meet a monster, travel some more and meet another monster etc...)

I'm so glad you read this series and liked it, I read it a year ago and loved it, not exactly sure what I'm saying in this comment, just wanted to comment to help the video out on RU-vid

We need book reviews of sun and stars and chalice of gods. Please and thank you!

Loved these so much.

What's the context of the mountain dew thing? I've completely forgotten.

for the Niobe story they mention it in one of the earlier books i believe

They do in fact bring it up in ONE OF THE VERSIONS of the book! Mine version of book five has a short story, which does in fact talk about niobe

I actually liked the LGBTQ+ representation in the series. Mostly because of Jo and Hemithea who were old ladies instead of teenagers. I have a soft spot for old gay people and you rarely see them in media.

I love your content men, shirt was a good touch.

I recommend reading and reviewing the Stormlight Archive and Mistborn books

when i heard meg my hades playing brain immediately thought she was megara the fury

Trials of apollo is just soo fun i love it. In my list its second to the og 5 pjo series.

I love the arrow definitely one of my favorite characters. THE SON OF MAGIC IS SO GOOD I read it in one of the side books and was blown away Rick’s son if such a fantastic writer I enjoyed his take on the universe and his character greatly it’s one of my favorites Riordanverse books even if it wasn’t written by Rick or that long.

I got very similar feelings about the whole N-dude thing, except with someone who was a generation before. It’s why ToA is currently my favourite series.

Gotta say, if TMG likes this series then it's worth reading it.

21:28 IKR I loved that story!

im pretty sure naomi is mentioned but its just a throwaway line

I didn't know you did book reviews! You have to check out the Olympian's graphic novels by George O'Connor. Some of my favoirte depictions of Greek mythology ever

I have a feeling he won't like The Sun and The Star because it is different than the normal writing style. A lot of people said it read like fan fiction, which I agree. But I love fan fiction, so I did love the book. I hope I'm wrong, but I guess I'll stick around and find out.

Dudee when I started ThO I could NOT put the book down I was and am so obsessed with this series 😭

I own the entire Apollo series and to be honest it's my least favorite. It's still interesting and out of all the series there is going to be a perceived worst from everyone. I don't know what about it I don't like to be honest. So yeah, that's my take. It's great that so many people love this series, though!

I just finished reading the serie. I think the one who shines the most by her absence was Cassandra, her fate was one of the most tragic in all Greek mythology and Apollo is mostly responsible for it.

Meg is the best character in the Percy Jackson world

Apollo also mentioned Magnus chase stuff he mentioned the sword

Hey, I would love to hear your take on The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker. It's a bit more grown up than Riordan (definitely NOT a kids' series) but the take on the Illiad from the point of view of Breisis. I haven't seen it from a captured queen's POV before, and wondered what you thought.