I think some of the problem in tsats (other than a bunch of canon things being thrown out the window) is that the age range is for 10 to 14 year olds and focus is on building a romantic relationship…
Like it’s kinda missing the fun adventurous side of pjo and feels more like a lecture on how to date someone who’s (apparently) you’re complete opposite.
For like 12 year olds. (The core readers)
Kids read fantasy to live in the story with the characters for a while. Not to listen to a ton of romantic advice. I’m only two years out of the age range and I still felt like the story was talking to the audience the entire time in a way the pjo books don’t. Hoo and ton didn’t even really do that.
I think that’s part of what made it not fun to read.
There was a lot of things readers wanted to see: Like how the campers react to Nico now. What friends Nico has made outside his boyfriends cabin. What Nico thinks about Reyna joining the hunters. Nico thinking about Hazel and that if he dies in Tartarus he’ll never be able to see her again. Also nico just never finds out where Jason’s soul went??
It feels like the focus of the book is to see how much lgbt rep they can shove in instead of actual plot. Like, they literally made a list of it before the book was out 😭😭 I mean I understand having the representation and romantic stuff obviously but not when it’s detrimental to plot lines and almost THE COMPLETE FOCUS the entire time.
Like, it’s called ‘A Nico di Angelo adventure’ and all his other important relationships are tossed out for a slightly one-dimensional boyfriend….
There were too many loose ends just to focus on a underdeveloped romance.
