Thursday, May 22, 2014

Blood Of Olympus Cover Review and Book Expectations

Okay, I've been asked to do a review of the Blood of Olympus cover so yeah, I'll start talking about it.

Above you see the recently released American cover for the Blood of Olympus.
I'll start with the obvious observations first.
Greek columns + giants = fighting Gaea on Mt. Olympus in Greece.
The three people easily appear to be (left to right) Frank with his spear, Jason flying and commanding lighting and Hazel riding Arion.
In the background we can see something hanging from a crane tower.
I've heard someone suggest that it's the Argo two but I don't think so. It just doesn't look like a boat.
At first I thought that it might be the Athena Parthanos somehow captured by the giants.
But then I saw this image (below) done by someone else and it makes sense.


It does appear to be Percy and Annabeth. This worries me but I still don't think that either of them will die.
You can see some lightning arcing around them and that might be Jason trying to free them somehow. Although I don't see how that would work.
Maybe it's just the perspective.

Some people were worried by the fact that there are only 3 (clear) demigods on the cover and the fact that 3 is a sacred number for quests and quests with more than three members often have only 3 members survive.
So does this mean that only Jason, Frank and Hazel will survive? Meaning that Percy, Annabeth, Piper and Leo would die?
I don't think so. In The Battle of the Labyrinth we had a large quest (Annabeth, Percy, Grover, Tyson and (in the end) Rachel.) They all survived.
I saw somewhere, someone said that Rick Riordan has said that he never has more than three characters on the cover.
But I do think that there will be deaths of main characters during this book.
If they didn't have to fight Gaea it would be boring in my opinion.
So for them to fight Gaea, she would have to 'awaken' fully.
For that to happen a girl demigod and a boy demigod have to die.
Rick Riordan has said that not all of the 7 would survive.
Gaea would prefer Percabeth to be the sacrifice but I don't think that Rick would kill them both off.
I'm not sure who will die.

I think:
Something is going to happen with Frank's firewood.
Percy's fatal flaw will come into play.
Hazel might die since she's supposed to be dead.
The 'oath to keep with a final breath' might pertain to Leo swearing to return for Calypso.
Nico is going to have to confront/confess to Percy.
Nico might die.
Reyna might die.

We Know 100% for sure:
Basically nothing.
We know Jason has a POV. ( first chapter preview released in recent e-book)
We Know Nico has a POV. (Rick Riordan said so on twitter.)



Brace yourself



Wednesday, May 14, 2014

5/14/14

Hi everyone! I have another instalment/chapter of Second Generation Demigods ready!
 I found time to work on it when I was supposed to be doing spanish or memorizing bible verses for Survival. (Like Vacation Bible School only for teens.)
  I sacraficed 60 points to get this story to you so be greatful! ;)  (60 points, because we get 10 points per verse and I memorized 1 out of 7.)
It might be a while before I post again because I really should do spanish instead of writting. These past few weeks when I'm supposed to be using my mom's computer for spanish I've been writting instead.
  And I'll need to work on my memory verses more, there are 12 verses for next week. >.<

My story isn't really 'short' anymore. Short stories are normaly about 1,000-1,200 words or less. Mine has now reached 10,879 words. It's the longest thing I've ever written!
And I will say, all my instalments that I post are the first draft. So sometimes there are mistakes. My sister was reading over what I've written (she loves new parts of the story as much as you guys do!) and she found a whole lot of little mistakes, misspelled words, missing words and incorrect or missing puncuation.
  So just remember that most of the time I don't even re-read it after I've written it.
Most of the mistakes are so small I don't even notice them. And I'm sure that you can figure out what it's supposed to say if there is a mistake.
Without further blither-blathering here's more of the story!

  By the light of a green torch Mallory lead Helen and Ben through camp towards the hills.  “Our Oracle lives in a cave, but it’s not drippy and dark like a normal cave. I’m not sure if she’ll be there but it’s the first place to check,” she said.
   When they approached the entrance to the cave they heard worried voices talking about something. A woman with curly red hair turned as the group approached. “We have some visitors,” she announced to the other people, who Helen noticed, all except one were adults.
  “Come on guys,” said Mallory. “I’ll introduce you.”
“You know all these people?” Helen asked.
  Mallory nodded, “They’re all friends of my parents. I call them my ‘aunts and uncles’. We aren’t really related, but they’re like family.”
  “So what brings you over here?” the woman with red hair asked Mallory as they entered the cave, “And who are your friends?”
  “This is Ben and Helen,” Mallory said. “Guys, this is my ‘aunt’ but not really ‘aunt’, Rachel.”
“Nice to meet you,” Rachel said.
  “We’re here so that Helen can consult the Oracle about her quest,” said Mallory.
A girl of about fourteen with long blonde braids stood and walked over, “Did someone say Oracle?” she asked.
  Mallory nodded, “We’re here for guidance on our quest.” To Helen and Ben she said, “Meet our Oracle in training, Nymna.”
“Hi,” Nymna said shyly.
“Oracle in training?” Ben asked.
Rachel nodded, “I’m the Oracle right now. But the Oracle of Delphi lives in young maiden and I can feel my time with the gift of prophesy coming to an end soon, I’m not as young as I used to be.”
  “She’s the same age as my parents,” Mallory whispered.
“And my sight has been getting stronger,” said Nymna. “Soon Rachel will pass the full gift along to me. Right now she is training and preparing me.”
  “Come sit and we’ll make introductions while we wait for Mallory’s parents,” Said Rachel.
“My parents aren’t here already?” Mallory asked.
  “They’re talking with Chiron before he leaves,” explained Rachel as she returned to her seat.
Helen and Ben took seats on the cushions scattered around the floor of the cave as Mallory gave quick hugs with her ‘aunts and uncles’ whom she hadn’t seen in a while. By the time Mallory took a seat her parents had arrived along with two satyrs, a tree nymph carrying a baby and a wind nymph. So she introduced everyone, pointing to each as she spoke. “Meet my parents, Percy and Annabeth. Shawn and Cassandra’s parents, Jason and Piper. That weirdo over there is my ‘uncle’ Leo and next to him is his wife Calypso. They have twins named Hector and Sammy who are our age and are around camp somewhere but I don’t think you’ve met them yet. Then there’s my dad’s best friend Grover,” she pointed to the younger looking satyr. “And the tree nymph is his wife Juniper, the baby is their youngest son, David Billy. They have two more kids, Rose and Birch who are older than us. And last but not least are Jackie’s parents,” Mallory gestured to the older satyr and the wind nymph. “Coach Glesson Hedge and his wife, Mellie. There’s also my aunt Hazel and uncle Frank but they’re not here.” Mallory took a deep breath. “Now for the slightly shorter introductions. This is Helen, daughter of Zeus,” She said, pointing to Helen.
  “Hi,” Helen waved at everyone.
Mallory paused before introducing Ben. Her parents and their friends had all known Ben’s father, but had they known of Ben? “And this is Ben . . . Di Angelo, son of Hades and Legacy of Eirene.”
  There was stunned silence all around. 

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

5/6/14

Hey, sorry I haven't been posting as often as I used to. I've been busy and I tend to lean toward reading over writing when I have free time in-bewteen schoolwork, chores, family time and church events.
But I got the next instalment of Second Generation Demigods done! It's shorter (only about 400ish words instead of 800-900) than some of the other instalments that I've done but that's only because I decided to end it with a little clifhanger. >:) Yes, I'm evil. Thank you.

“Well,” Helen began, “I guess you can come, who else would bring? I don’t have a lot of friends yet.” But she still looked unsure.
  “What about me?” Interrupted Hannah. “I’m your friend.”
Ben bit his lip; he looked like he was afraid that Helen would pick Hannah over him.
 “Do you want to come?” Helen asked Hannah.
“Heck no, I just got to camp and a quest sounds dangerous. I was just pointing out that you don’t have zero friends, you’ve got me, Mallory and Cassandra,” replied Hannah. “But you should consider bringing an older camper along, someone who knows what they’re doing.”
   “We can’t have three unexperienced newbies on a quest anyway. You’d be doomed to fail,” Said Mary as she came over. “I could come instead of Ben and help you guys.”
  Mallory rolled her eyes, Mary was making it seem like she was doing them a great favor, offering to come along on the quest when really she was basically demanding to be brought along.
  Helen glared at Mary, clearly insulted. “If you don’t think that three ‘unexperienced newbies’ couldn’t finish a quest then I guess we’ll just have to prove you wrong,” she said, “Ben you’re in.”
  Mary scowled and turned to Chiron, “Do you really think it’s a good idea to let three newbies go on a quest all by themselves?” she demanded.
  “Helen has the right to choose the members of her quest,” Said Chiron, “And Mallory has some experience. Helen is the leader of this quest and her decision stands.”
  “But do you think it’s a good idea?” Mary pressed. “You didn’t really answer my question.
Chiron sighed, “It is not what I would have chosen, but I have faith in these demigods. There has been many a quest with unexperienced members that has prevailed. What better way to prepare demigods for the life ahead of them than to jump right in?”
  Mary scowled; she knew there would be no changing the quest group. She glared at all of them as she walked away but particularly Ben. She wasn’t happy to have her new, younger, half-brother on the quest instead of her.
  Helen made a rude hand-gesture at Mary’s back then turned back to the group. “So now what?” she asked.
     “Maybe you should consult the Oracle?” Mallory suggested.
“What’s the Oracle?” Helen and Ben asked in unison.
  Mallory grinned, “More like, ‘who is the Oracle.’ Come on, I’ll introduce you.”


(See? Aren't I evil? I thought it was a good place to end this instalment.)