A Review of "The Sun and The Star" novel written by Mark Oshiro and Rick Riordan
Overall a great story, the descriptions are colorful and flavourful, and there are a bunch of concepts/"quirks" were very interesting to chew on. The female deities throughout the book were great and delightful to read of. The book was a bit preachy at times with long-winded speeches about how "It's Okay To Be Yourself" happening a little too often and felt some what ham-fisted at points. The dream sequences were very well done, the pages literally darkening was a cool touch. And the black streak causes what's discussed on those pages to have just that bit more of an oomph to it.
SPOILERS;
The Wife Of Acheron (River Of Punishment), Gorgyra is AMAZING. I loved her asking price for the demigods being stories about their lives. Nothing maliciously painful just wanting a bit of company. Nico's description of her just Hits different in my brain. Her and her husband's story is tragic with a sprinkle of hope, and her dress was just so cool.
The hat culture of the troglodytes was cute to read. It felt very unbrand for Niko to accidentally bring the Trog Recycling Plant™ to the underworld, it was hilarious to read.
The dream sequences were well done. It also helped emphasize the unwritten idea that demigods, rarely- if ever, catch a break. The page is literally darkening was a cool touch. Nico were calling Tartarus being a literal black streak in the book made the flashback communicate just how messed up Tartarus is for a demigod to be in.
Nico's fatal flaw affecting his relationship with Will and not making their love an exception felt refreshing. He keeps bottling it in and it made sense for his character. The issues they had during their quest with their relationship did not feel like an idiot plot but something that made sense. Healthy communication in a relationship is always good to see. Will and Nico being unsettled by the reversal of their usual Dynamics, caretaker and caretakee it was refreshing to see.
Speaking of Will... I really like the idea that sons of Sun deities are affected more than other demigods due to their natural leanings towards the sun itself and the underworld. The fact being a double-edged sword, and being able to affect/injure the exact opposites of their godly inheritance was intriguing. Will struggling with not only being the one that needed to be taken care of and and having issues with darker topics in managing to ask for both health and process that is okay to have a morbidity, even as a healer, was a fun journey to read throughout the book. The scene of will asking Nico's stepmother, persephone, how to love someone from the underworld, did not feel cheesy to me. It felt like someone struggling but really wanting to truly understand and asking for advice.
After her first appearance, I honestly forgot about Nemesis for a bit but every interaction with her in the book was a delight. She is a very well worded goddess. Migos first interaction with Nemesis has the deity emitting that Percy Jackson made her change her opinions on other Demi-children. A direct contrast to her mother, Nyx, who opposes any change and see things as absolutes. It made the verbal beat down Nemesis gave her mother all the more flavor. Especially with her admitting balance is not black and white. I found her argument that revenge was simply one aspect of balance interesting.
Nico's descriptions of his Puff-Children when he interacts with them we're fun to chew on when reading. Cacodemons as described in concept was interesting. I liked that they were not depicted as evil symbolism like dementors from Harry Potter but rather creatures with an evolutionary quirk. Giving the coco-puffs freedom in order to fulfill the prophecy, whilst a cool scene, felt rushed. When they finally reached bob, the whole interaction with the goddess of night fell off somehow, like the pacing was vaguely rushed so to say. And Nico's conversation with hazel about Jason felt needed but tacked on to the story. It kind of felt like this book was going to be longer or there was going to be a duology but it got cut.
Dionysus saying "I don't understand and I don't want to understand" when encountering modern-day references was just a solid mood and hilarious.
Au where Saiki sees Tumblr gaslighting the Internet into believing that Goncharov is a real produced movie and starts to mention fake movies and comics to people just to see their inner theatre room create a whole fake story with the vague explanations he gives.
After around the third time of doing this to his friends, Saiki realizes that he just found a creative loophole to spoilers via telepathy. Using his friend's thoughts as a random movie generator.
I really like the idea of Kubosai because in my head, them in a romantic or queer-platonic relationship would be so utterly normal and boring.
Like, these two will talk about their likes and dislikes and what made them uncomfortable. They would even talk about the more mundane, such as what Adventures they went on with Kaidou or some discount they saw at the store. These two would be so normal with each other, on paper it sounds like they're an old couple who's been married to each other for decades.
And I think that there wouldn't be any turning point, no dramatic confessions of love because that's not who they are as characters. At the point that both Saiki and Kuboyasu feel comfortable after knowing each other for quite some time, there wouldn't be any room for awkwardness. And I don't think there is a certain point in time that the two even have a confession scene. Like one day the two realize, "wait, when did we start dating?" It's never been a question about their love, because Aren can read miniscule body language better than most and Saiki is always hearing Aren's thoughts. In the end, they didn't really have a beginning of a relationship it just kind of bled from their friendship and doesn't really matter.
