#rr critical

[saltyoldfan]

“PJO ended with The Last Olympian.” I say into the mic. The crowd boos. I begin to walk off in shame, when a voice from the back speaks and commands silence in the room.

“She’s right!” someone says. I look for the owner of the voice. It's Percy Jackson, and he still has the curse of Achilles.

[elnotwoods]

A part of this fandom apparently refuses to acknowledge that it does not really make sense for Ilya to no longer fear Russia’s repercussions he would face in TLG. @gingeralevodka and @lesbianroselandry pointed out how the seeds of Ilya’s fears were sown in 2013-2014 - when Russia first introduced their anti-lgbtq laws… I would argue that there is another reason, albeit not as directly impacting Ilya as the anti-lgbt legislature, as to why he would want to abandon Russia and get a different passport as he says.

As already mentioned, Ilya fears going back to Russia around the time of the Olympics - the 2014 Sochi Olympics were eventful ones when it comes to Russia and scandals & heinous crimes that came to light there/around that time.

At the tail end of the Olympics, Russia started it’s military operation that ended in the annexation of Crimea. Its one of the major contributors to the worsening of international relations between Russia and the US. What happened in 2014 was very much one of the reasons why the relations between the US and Russia got so bad that Ilya wanted a different passport (not to mention the shitshow of 2017 and Trump).

One thing people need to remember is that professional athletes, especially at Ilya’s level of fame (major NHL star, one of the best players in the world, captain of the national team), are part of the countries soft power and patriotic propaganda.

The Ilya who had ties in Russia and regularly returned up until 2017 could not really stray from his careful path in fears of persecution. However bad his relationship with his family was, any of his actions would trickle down to his family and would endanger them and Ilya would never put them in danger.

Him participating in pride night could be seen as promoting the lgbtq “idiology” and land him in jail upon his return to Russia. (The first pride night held by the NHL was in 2011 and a lot of Russian players refused to participate throughout the years - especially ones that had significant ties to Russia and some bc they very vocally support Russia)

All this is still very much relevant in 2017 when Ilya decides to cut ties with Russia, seeing as the attitudes inside Russia are getting worse and his safety is not guaranteed.

Ilya is also an immigrant and relies on a visa - that much is clear from their conversations at the cottage where they first start planning their future.

Shane and Ilya have no guarantee that they would be able to continue playing in the league if their relationship became public and their decision to continue hiding while taking steps to assure Ilya’s safety are completely rational and mutually affirmed!

During TLG, Ilya is still on a visa and that is still tied to his job which he can possibly lose - this threat has not disappeared just because Ilya is now in Canada. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe Ilya does not even have PR nor has he taken any steps towards obtaining PR in Canada* so he has no ties to Canada other than his job (his NHL one and his charity), as far as the public is concerned.*a conversation he has in therapy with Galina suggest that he probably has PR but still has a way to go towards citizenship

If Ilya’s queerness became public knowledge and he lost his job, ergo his visa, he could possibly seek asylum in Canada as a queer Russian citizen (especially a public figure like him which would land him in jail in Russia).

As a way to keep Ilya in Canada, they could also go the marriage route but that also takes time. Not to mention that they would face public backlash for their relationship from bigoted hockey fans and their relationship would be questioned by the authorities - they would have to provide proof of prior relationship - which we know there is not enough of, seeing as they keep deleting conversations and pictures they have of each other.. it would be hard to provide hard proof and not just anecdotal one.

So Russia would still very much be a thing Ilya has to keep in mind until he has that Canadian passport - to pretend that it isn’t is incredibly ignorant.

As @gingeralevodka mentioned in their very patient responses - even if Ilya is a millionaire and a queer man who could technically seek asylum, Russia could still manufacture crimes that would lead to an international warrant and could lead to the potential extradition.

Ilya is in no way, shape or form safe from Russia in TLG. More so when you take into account what has been happening in Russia in the early 2020s that lead to Russia’s expansion of the anti lgbtq laws to include all age groups, not just the propaganda of non traditional relationships towards minors.. (not to mention the ever increasing fear of a Russian invasion of Ukraine which ended up happening mere months after Shane and Ilya get married with no Canadian citizenship for Ilya).

The problem is that RR only alluded to the very real fears of the Russian lgbtqia+ community but what should have been a major driving force behind Ilya’s actions even in TLG was scrapped for his depression and very uncharacteristic desire to come out even though it would not have been safe nor is it consistent with the Ilya of HR.

You cannot just abandon your Chekhov’s gun.. not to mention turning around and pretending it wasn’t a gun in the first place.

[sunelloise]

Literally so many problems with the PJO show could have been solved if it was a cartoon.

Terrible cgi? Animate it, then it's uniform across the board

Grey, bland "realistic" sets? Animate it, then the Underworld can be as colorful as Wonderland

Actors aging past their characters? Animate it

The "best fitting" actor not looking like their character? Animate it

Percy's sarcastic wit in his narration not translating to screen? Animate some thought bubbles or blurbs, or give him a little chibi like Lizzie McGuire (iykyk)

Stiff fight scenes because they're child actors limited by bad choreography? Hire the team from ATLA or KDH

Lacking diversity in the color grading between the mortal realm and the fantastical mythical realms? Animate it and exaggerate those features

PJO is middle-grade fiction built on wacky mythological monsters, campy puns and humor, whimsy, and some pretty cool battles.

Literally handed to the ideal hypothetical animation team on a silver platter.

But noooo. Cartoons are for children(?!?!) and aren't edgy or dark enough and live action is inherently superior and more Mature.

Meanwhile Disney can throw a billion dollars at a production and yet it still looks like it was filmed on a Disney Channel sound stage.

[bubbles-burster]

I wish Annabeth had been a daughter of Aphrodite instead.

Not only would you avoid having a virgin goddess being utterly disrespected for no good reason, but it would justify way better why people constantly underestimate Annabeth. Because, oh dear, do Aphrodite's sons and daughters get dragged through the mud in these series!

Annabeth being a child of Aphrodite would be a ruthless situation to be in at first; she would more often than not be judged on her looks rather than her wits.

In Rick's very nature-deterministic world where the Dionysus kids will hand you energy juice bottles while all the Ares kids are on the frontline and all the Apollo kids are archers and/or medics, Annabeth Chase would be expected to sit nice and look pretty and break some hearts and maybe fix other campers' armors.

And she'd understandably hate the idea.

Annabeth would attempt to deny and escape her parentage, such as by avoiding her siblings or trying way too hard to make an impression on Athena. She'd despise pink and femininity, just like Uncle Rick did with all of his other main female characters, because there's only one way to be a likeable girl and it's by not wearing any makeup and not trying 'too hard'.

Annabeth's pride, which she would take after Aphrodite's, would have her deliberately avoid learning about the numerous myths relating to her mother, and that could prove dangerous in missions.

Then she would learn to embrace her divine parentage. She'd stop running away from the parts of herself that society had conditioned her to hate, she'd learn about the actual Aphrodite, about her mother's cunning and bravery which has her not think twice before thrusting herself into a decade-long war, about how feared she was even on Olympus.

Annabeth would learn to let her heart lead her on, as she'd realise how remarkably good of a compass it can be when the entire world seems dark and hopeless.

It would also be far more powerful message than what we're currently working with.

Remember two things, kid: pink nails will never, ever, soften a punch, and wisdom is something forged in mistakes, not in the womb.

[rosabell14]

on Percy and Nico in HoO

I wish the pjo fandom just accepted that Rick Riordan is a bad writer sometimes or at the very least inconsistent. Maybe then they'd recognize that a lot of characterization problems are retcons and bad writing instead of taking it as fact. It's why half the fandom is convinced that Percy hates Nico/does not care about him or that Nico's relationship with Percy only brought him pain. Why Jason, Hazel, Reyna and Will are considered Nico's support system but Percy isn't.

Nico and Percy's relationship does not exist in a vacuum and you need to understand the doylist problems in heroes of Olympus.

1- Rick very much repeats Nico's arc from pjo but worse. Nico's arc in pjo dealt with grief and being ostracized due to being a son of Hades. The second problem was established since the very FIRST book. Hades is not considered an Olympian he does not have a throne and his kids don't get cabins because otherwise "it would be terrible" according to Grover(we never learn what the terrible thing is I mean Zeus and Poseidon's kids are equally destructive soooo) PERCY very much calls this out in Botl when Hera insinuates that Nico doesn't belong. HE calls her out which causes Annabeth to do the same. People talk about Hera's beef with Annabeth but they leave Percy out of it. Then in TLO Percy calls out Nico's heroism and uses it as a reason why Hades deserves a recognition. Nico gets a cabin(which he designs) and the implication is that he will be accepted. In fact Hades' kids being accepted is why the position of the Oracle is not cursed anymore

Then HoO comes along and people STILL think that Nico/hades kids are creepy? It would have been fine if it was just CJ since they didn't have the development CHB had but no apparently camp half-blood went back to treating Nico the same after like 2 weeks. And Rick cannot for the life of him decide if this ostracization is in Nico's head or not. Frank is fine with Nico in SoN and then in their next meeting he's terrified. And then the rest of the 7... I don't even have a problem with the scene with Hazel where they talk about him being untrustworthy(that's fandom exaggeration they did not want to leave him behind Y'all they just said that he might be untrustworthy and then like 3 lines later it's dismissesed hell the conversation literally begins with PERCY telling Hazel they're saving Nico. Also let's be honest with ourselves Nico IS shady sometimes and any true Nico fan would love him for it) but their general attitude is like "ooooh so creepy." and Nico doesn't even do anything to cause that he just exists and idk is a little bit sneaky? As in he can move quietly? Leo makes a joke at his expense and him and piper are surprised that Jason defends him implying he wouldn't have done so before? Percy and Annabeth find him unsettling (even though they were FINE with him in PJO I'll DIE on that Hill. Even his SISTER is like "oooh Nico is not easy to be around thank you Frank for talking to him he needs practice talking to people." bruh who IS this guy 😭 pjo Nico wasn't like that! He could hold a conversation with people he could work in a group setting even though he preferred to do things alone. He doesn't hiss at social interactions 😬 Rick uses Iapetus/Bob from sword of Hades but apparently forgets that this was the same story where Nico went on a quest with Thalia and Percy and he was FINE. In fact Hazel's very presence relies on Rick retconning the lesson Nico learned in tBotl because he apparently only found Hazel while looking for Bianca. Which is really unnecessary I mean he could have just found her in the underworld while investigating the whole Thanatos problem.

Do you see the problem Here? For Rick to repeat Nico's "people find me creepy and Because of that I self isolate until I find support" plot. Nico needs to be isolated again. Camp half-blood needs to go back to isolating him(also Rick retcons who designed Nico's cabin) we need Jason and Reyna to be Nico's first real friends so we need to scrap Nico's friendship with Percy and how much Percy cared about Nico. Hell let's mischarachterize Nico and make him even more anti social to create drama.

And perhaps the WORST thing in this whole debacle: Rick retcons this whole thing AGAIN by going "oh no the ostracization was in Nico's head he's the one pushing people away 🤪" Which like it CAN'T be in Nico's head because I was in other characters' heads and they are weird about him too is Nico supposed to be blind as to not notice that? And the fact that this author gaslighting comes out of Nico's love interest is really part of why I could never get into Solangelo. Hell the Solangelo books BOTH have a moment where Nico is talking about his experiences and Will is like " um actually 🤓☝️ non of that happened people wanted to be your friend you just were rude and sarcastic to us." And we're supposed to take his words for it. This isn't Will being unreliable this is supposed to be objective reality. And once again for the people in the back: Nico IS NOT like that. He is not constantly sarcastic and rude to people. He can very much carry conversations He can be polite. One wonders if that really was the case why didn't Will name some of those who wanted to be Nico's friends. I mean if Rick wanted to make Nico's pov sound unreliable that was his way but BoO makes it seem like this is Nico and Will's first notable interaction(which tSatS later retcons again but I expect nothing from that book).

2- Now let's get to Percy. As I've said Nico's problems with Percy does not exist in a vacuum there's a doylist reason that goes back to Nico but there's also a problem with Percy's character arc as well. Rick has like 2 arcs for Percy and they're both ass. One is about his fatal flaw which goes nowhere and the other is that Percy apparently needs to learn to be a better Friend. You hear that? PERCY Loyalty Is My Fatal Flaw JACKSON needs to be a better friend. The culmination of that Arc is basically that scene is Tartarus where Percy realizes that he's been a shitty friend and needs to do better and the examples used here are: Calypso, Bob, and Nico.

For that to work the narrative needs to bend over backwards to either blame Percy for things that are not his fault or retcon Percy's whole ass personality.

A- Percy is in NO WAY responsible for the gods not freeing Calypso. They swore an OATH to make Percy's request come true and if Rick Riordan actually allowed oaths to the River Styx to matter this would not be a problem but again doylist problem. Rick wants Calypso in the plot for Leo's arc so Calypso needs to be in her island so uhhh apparently the gods didn't free her and it's Percy's fault even though he was kidnapped. Calypso needs to fall in love with Leo so Leo needs to succeed where other heroes have failed. Caleo can only work if Leo proves himself different/better than Percy.

B-Iapetus/Bob. Idk if this is unpopular or not but Percy does not owe Bob SHIT. I know that Rick doesn't really remember Sword of hades so let me remind all of you that the only reason why Percy erased his memory was that this TITAN(practically impossible to defeat) was trying to KILL him, Thalia and Nico. He was very much gung ho on murdering them (it's why I roll my eyes at HoH trying to make him somehow different than the other Titans like oh Iapetus was always softer/morally better than the other Titans. No the fuck he wasn't. If we go by personality Prometheus and Krios had a much more nonviolent and calm personality in PJO). If Nico wants to befriend Bob in spite of the murder attempt good for him, it's very much in character but Percy is not a bad person for not thinking of Iapetus more. My brother in Christ they had to deal with the aftermath of a WAR and Percy was kidnapped and had his memories erased and right after that he had to deal with ANOTHER WAR 😭 plus Percy isn't Nico. His relationship with Hades is rocky at best last time he went there he was imprisoned He can't just stroll down the underworld and visit Bob whenever he wants.

C- Nico. I can't believe this needs to be said but Percy was NOT a bad friend to Nico. "Not giving people a second thought" is NOT a problem Percy and Nico had. Percy took on the prophecy because he did not want Nico to shoulder this burden. Annabeth points out that he could be the prophecy kid and Percy actively CHOOSES for it to be him so that Nico doesn't get noticed by Luke/Kronos. He hides Nico's parentage from Chiron. He(+Annabeth) look for Nico for months in between TTC and BotL. When he has a vision of Nico with Minos he's so freaked out by it that he destroys his cabin's fountain and states at it for hours until Tyson checks up on him. He RUSHES to The labyrinth. He RUNS to the dangerous as fuck labyrinth because Nico might be in there and he does so while convinced that Nico wants him DEAD. When Gerion allows him and his friends to go on with their quest but not Nico, Percy gambles his and EVERYONE ELSE' freedom to free Nico. PERCY is the one who calls out Hera because he learned that Hera paid for Gerion to let them leave but not Nico.

It's because of Nico that Percy is so pissed off that he calls out Hera's toxicity when it comes to people like Nico or Hephaestus. Hera dismisses this and turns to Annabeth and Annabeth's response is basically: "Percy is right you DO suck." (This is very significant because it highlights Percy's role as an agent of change in his friends and his role as a cycle breaker because of his empathy. Which makes him a new type of hero. Percy constantly stands up for those who are outcasts. He stands up for Tyson in book 2. In book 3 he is the one person that tries to remind Bianca that Nico would be alone if she joins the hunters. He gives grace to both Bianca and Nico and later finds empathy for Zoe as well. In book 4 he constantly tries to help Nico and he dismisses the prejudices people have against mortals with Rachel. Both Chiron and Annabeth(due to Chiron's teachings most likely) view mortals as stupid and helpless but Percy trusts Rachel's competency and abilities. It is very much a pattern. One can even say it's a parallel between Percy and Nico. Percy stands up for outcasts while Nico takes notice of those in the shadows, those other people wouldn't think about. Like Hestia or Bob).

The fandom compares Jason/Will' reaction to Nico wanting to leave CHB with Percy's to somehow dunk on him because "Oh Percy let Nico leave. Nico said he didn't belong to camp half-blood and Percy didn't contradict him that means-" lemme stop you right there. The conversation literally began with Percy trying to invite Nico to his table for dinner because he worries about Nico missing meals. Percy tells Nico that it's dangerous outside of camp half-blood. Both Percy and Nico are RIGHT. Nico WOULDN'T belong to camp half-blood if he'd stayed there. There was no cabin for him. Percy himself had to take people's distrust due to being Poseidon's child he'd know that things are even worse for a Hades kid, Hera literally proved how little Olympians cared about Nico. He trusts Nico's capabilities because Nico has proven that he can survive on his own, and tells him to keep in touch and then actually DOES something productive and asks the gods for a cabin basically giving Nico a home. Do I even need to talk about the birthday cake scene? Even when Percy is mad at Nico in TLO, he still Carries him through the underworld he does not leave him behind. He calls Nico a Friend by the end and uses him as an example of why Hades' kids deserved recognition.

So what the hell gives in HoO? I mean even in HoO' inconsistent ass writing, Percy still has in Character moments of worry over Nico. He dreams about Nico in the jar, and tells him they'll free him. The controversial conversation about saving him literally begins with him telling Hazel that they're saving him(Leo and Jason only comment after that) when they're saving him he's so worried he forgets about Annabeth for a while and feels guilty about it afterwards. And no Percy isn't being mean when he thinks about wanting to throw bread at Nico, he also thinks about doing the same to Grover in book 1 when he's fighting the minotaur. It's just a Percy thing. Are we going to argue that Percy doesn't care about Grover?

But then you got these weird things like "He had a rocky history with Nico di Angelo. The guy had once tricked him into visiting Hades’s palace, and Percy had ended up in a cell. But most of the time, Nico sided with the good guys." Yeah okay it's Completely in character for Percy to be pissed at Nico for hiding the truth/lying to him AGAIN. But Nico always sides with the good guys or whatever. He was completely neutral in tBotl. He didn't care about the war only reviving Bianca but after that plot is done, Nico rushes to save Percy because Minos told him Nico is in danger Percy even takes note of this. He reveals his heritage and helps them escape from the TA. from then on he's on Olympus' side. Even with the trick with Hades. Percy is pissed about Nico LYING to him. He knows that Nico's goal was always to give him the Achilles curse. Percy knows this. Which is why he sends him back to convince Hades to join the fight. I hate the idea that the new books/fandom perpetuate that "Percy only remembers Nico when he needs something." It's NICO who approaches Percy trying to prove himself with the Achilles curse plan. Percy invites him in simply because he wanted to give Nico a good experience. NICO assumes that Percy doesn't trust him anymore. Percy himself doesn't even know how he's feeling. "Not giving people a second thought-" If there's a distance between Percy and Nico it's NICO who pulls away.

And again, while it is in character for Percy to be angry at Nico, I'd argue that an in character Percy would have also spoken up during the scene with Leo and Jason. Percy wanted to save Nico when he thought Nico wanted to sacrifice his soul for Bianca's. He didn't leave Nico behind even in TLO. I'd argue that it would make Jason and Percy's bullshit conflict into something actually meaningful if we turned it into Percy's Greek individualistic thinking and loyalty VS Jason's collective view and non trusting nature due to his upbringing.

And "Percy had shared some disturbing stories about Nico. His loyalties weren’t always clear. He spent more time with the dead than the living. Once, he’d lured Percy into a trap in the palace of Hades. Maybe Nico had made up for that by helping the Greeks against the Titans, but still-"

And bfr right now. Percy is not the type to gossip about people/talk behind their backs like that to someone he'd recently met. He doesn't tell Chiron about Nico's parentage, He doesn't Annabeth and co about his visions in tBotL. I'm pretty sure he doesn't talk about what happened with Hades in TLO. He refuses to let anyone call Silena anything but a traitor but you expect me to believe he'd be trading stories with Jason of all people? Jason Could have simply distrusted Nico because of his secret keeping. It would have still worked. I mean let's be real what else could Percy say about Nico? Nico's loyalties are not the question here. But sometimes Nico has his own agenda also and he hides things. And it wouldn't be slander, it's the truth. Sometimes Nico is a liar. Jason could have just taken that and become suspicious and it would highlight his personality even more.

And yes Nico finds some aspects of Nico's power creepy but he also finds some aspects of them cool. They're friends. Annabeth also cared about him. The three of them joke around with each other in one of the side book interviews. But we know that Rick is inconsistent. Wether it's with Nico both in personality, or lore(I count 4 birthdays for Nico according to the timeline) and so I don't know why people just accept these new versions of Percy and Annabeth.

There's this wired clusterfuck of Nico, Percy and Annabeth being flamderized by both the fandom and the text. Percy and Annabeth have long since stopped being themselves so that they could neatly fit into the "dumb BF x Smart girlboss GF" trope. It's either Annabeth suddenly being way less emotional than she was before so we could make her "cold and logical and needs Piper's help to face her feelings." Or Percy being dumbed down. Compare Percy's speech to the campers in TLO to the one he makes in BoO. His humor becomes more juvenile. The moment Annabeth shows up they become each other's whole personalities, to hell with Percy's connection to Frank, Hazel and the ones he had in PJO. Oh Percy is a troublemaker who needs Annabeth to keep on a leash. He needs Annabeth to help him out of a paperback. She is the brains. Percy's own strategic mind? Never heard of it. It's also Rick's "girlboss not like other girls feminism" that circle backs to misogyny. Because the girls need to all be mature and emotionally competent so they can roll their eyes at the immature, dumb boys. 🙄 Percy just gets it the worst here. Is it really a surprise that the senior year trilogy have basically turned Percy into a complete dumbass who needs his mom- sorry girlfriend to carry all the braincells? Annabeth is basically the mom Friend whose job it is to be perfect and smart and sigh at the boys' stupidity. Hell even the other boys get some of it Jason is somehow a dumbass oblivious Boy for wanting to involve Reyna or trusting her in front of Piper even though they never dated. Frank and Leo get to have teen bickering while the girlies all get along and roll their eyes at the boys bring immature and therefore don't get to have any conflict or any relationship with each other.

Hell let's circle back to the Reyna thing because that's Rick's second problem. He can only resolve love triangles by erasing/downplaying the platonic connections that existed before. I mean Reyna and Jason do not have a SINGLE conversation that is one to one/not related to the plot. Reyna has more conversations with Annabeth and Piper. Rachel and Percy used to be good friends. He was very comfortable around her but then in HoH he gets nervous after her name gets mentioned and Annabeth is amused because oh they became friends off screen but she needs to keep her boyfriend on his toes(they're in Tartarus btw) Reyna? She believed that Percy was competent enough to be co-Praeor with her but then she meets Annabeth (and an in character Annabeth would have had a more interesting relationship/bigger conflict with her and not even because of romantic jealousy but as a proud daughter of a war goddess meeting another daughter of a war goddess who implied that CJ is better than CHB but god forbid Annabeth gets to be immature) and suddenly she's like "lol Yeah Percy can't find his way out of a paperbag without Annabeth" it's so jarring specially since Percy was complimenting Reyna prior to this. And then she gets to compliment him but bam! Annabeth arrives and suddenly Percy needs to be a dum dum in comparison. It happens with Calypso and Leo where Leo needs to succeed where Percy failed(hell even outside romantic relationships this still applies. Nico can't be Bob's friends him being Bob's friend needs to be highlighted by comparing what a shitty friend Percy is. Jason needs to be Nico's first buddy. We can't have Nico be the one to push Percy away because of his feelings no we gotta make Percy into the failure)

And is ANYONE surprised that the same principle applies to Nico as well? Nico can't move on from Percy after a conversation or some closure. Apparently he holds Percy on a pedestal, even after Percy "failed to save Bianca" and Nico realized that the world didn't work like his card game. No Nico STILL help Percy up on a pedestal and the only way he can move on from Percy is by diminishing how much Nico mattered to him by implying that Percy is a bad friend who failed Nico somehow. And Nico suddenly realizes that Percy is annoying and immature and sees how normal and unimpressive he is after he sees Percy... Right after Tartarus. Right after Tartarus when Annabeth and Percy are complete messes Nico looks at him and goes: wow he looks so normal/not heroic. That doesn't make Nico seem shallow not at all! What are you talking about? I mean in the same book Percy is called the person Nico cares for the most but we need to Speedrun this moving on shit so Nico finds belonging(times 2 but it will stick this time promise) and his new besties and his perfect boyfriend and him and Percy never have a moment to finish their ass conflict(same as Reyna and Jason) just a high five with Annabeth and into happily ever after we go.

[helpallthenamesaretaken]

"percy jackson is really smart!" I say into the mic, and the crowd boos and throws tomatoes.

"no! she's right!" someone yells. everyone turns around and sees annabeth chase standing right there.

except rick riordan is holding a gun to her head and has a hand on her mouth. "she didn't say anything, what are you guys looking at?"

[sideyeing-riordan]

As someone who really liked Jason in his debut book, The Lost Hero, I can not in good faith pretend that he is a well-written character:

For a main character who was raised by wolves (basically a feral child), abandoned by his family under dire circumstances, lived as a soldier in Camp Jupiter and suffers from amnesia, his characterization is mind-blowingly disenchanting. Just think: struggling to communicate with his new found friends, trying to keep up with the new socialization needs, attempting to figure out his interests, values and beliefs. There was a plethora of avenues for exploration

His scope for fatal flaws. Sure, he does have some flaws, but it could've been executed so much better. In the Mark of Athena, the conflict regarding Nico's fate could've established his fatal flaw as excessive/blind caution, or occasional harsh insensitivity. Because, let's be brutally honest here: Nico was doing his job as an ambassador by keeping secrets (the gods themselves kept the two camps apart). His suspicion of Nico was not really valid, and could've been utilised effectively (this isn't the only time Riordan drops the ball on Jason's potential fatal flaw, by the way).

In House of Hades, his writing left a lot to be desired. The quest for self-identity being tied off to a choice between the two camps had potential, but it also encroached the other ways said quest could've been written. Aslo, Riordan's execution certainly missed the mark.

In Blood of Olympus, his writing starts on a promising note, with poignant (albeit very late) insight into his abandonment issues. Said issues, however seem relevant only for the first few pages; by the end of the book they're already forgotten. Unfortunately, the remainder of his PoV chapters in this book is akin to page-filler than actual substance.

[basicwhitewitchy]

I dont think I ever explained why I despise tbe Greek vs Romans thing in Heroes of Olympus.

To put it bluntly it doesnt do shit.

Octavian is seemingly the only roman that cares about the Argos attack on New Rome, the gods are literally the same character with just their names swapped, and the greeks dont find out about the war happening until mid-late House of Hades.

Reyna watches her second home be attacked by a ship carrying the two people who she blamed for the destruction of her first home and then takes Annabeth at her word about the eidolons, Octavian is Bad Guy™️ so he can't be seen caring about anything other than himself, and the background characters are all tragic victims of Octavians manipulation and the reader must ignore that the romans were more than happy to attack the seven before Octavian even got off the Argo.

The gods are supposedly being torn between their greek and roman halves but they literally aren't.

Despite the Romans demanding revenge for the Argo attacking, Nemesis' roman counterpart Invidia is nowhere to be found. Baccus is just Dionysus with a different soda preference. There wasnt any different between Venus and Aphrodite. All Mars and Ares did was give Frank a headache. Hecate was all greek with no sign of Trivia and the opposite is true of Bellona and Enyo.

The only god that showed signs of being "torn" between greek and roman was Victoria/Nike. Even that didnt matter cause she was barely in the story.

The war also just freaking stalled once the Seven left Charleston.

It took about half of Mark of Athena for the seven and the roman legion to cross the entirety of America. It then takes the roman legion almost an entire book length to get from Charleston to New York City (mid MoA to early-mid HoH). Even then it takes until the almost the end of Blood of Olympus for Reyna and Nico to get to long island and deal with Octavian and his allies.

None of the demigods/legacies act like they're at war with each other with the exception of Octavian and Clarisse and the gods are their normal, distant selfs that require a sacrifice before they help anyone.