A Letter to the Author

 

Dear Rick Riordan,

 

     Currently I am coming to a close with your novel The House of Hades. First can I just say how excited I was for the release of this book at the end of last year. The Mark of Athena left all of your dedicated readers hanging. I know it's how you keep people coming back to read your work but it creates an agonizing wait to find out what happens next! If only books could be written, edited, and published in a matter of days (sigh). Although, if this were true novels wouldn't have near as much quality as they do!


     There are a couple of things about your writing that I really enjoy. First off, your genre. For whatever reason I love fantasy books. Particularly, I tend to be drawn to books based off of mythology. You can see that The House of Hades fits comfortably under this category. Greek mythology really intrigues me. I enjoyed your Percy Jackson books and when I saw the Heroes of Olympus series I just had to get my hands on the books. It's really cool how you included Roman mythology this time and connected it with the Greek mythology. The fact that you incorporate mythology into modern life and include details of historical events is really creative.


     Your use of literary techniques is always really impressive as well. On almost every page you found an exciting way to describe a setting, character, mood of a scene, etc. For example you wrote, "In the fiery light of the Titan's armor, her Death Mist disguise made her look like a burning ghoul" (Riordan 471). In this single sentence you use not one, but two, that's right two techniques. You describe the Titans armor using imagery so we can picture how bright it glows. You also used a simile to explain what Annabeth looked like after spending so much time in Tartarus. Of course you know why you used these techniques (I am simply explaining for the benefit of my blog readers who also get to view this letter).


    One more thing that I really enjoy about your work is how you put personality in your characters. I feel like I know each demigod very well. You use direct and indirect characterization throughout the whole book. Readers are told what people look like and we learn their character traits when we see how they react in certain situations and around other people. Towards the end of the book Leo meets a goddess Calypso and we learn a little more about him from their encounter. You wrote, "But Leo? He was the annoying guest she couldn't get rid of. She'd never fall for him, because she was totally out of his league. Not that he cared. She wasn't his type anyway. She was way too annoying, and beautiful, and - well, it didn't matter" (Riordan 379). Here we can see Leo has some self confidence issues. We also can see that he is starting to fall for Calypso but he doesn't want to admit it to himself.


     I think you're a great author. You do a great job of allowing readers to connect to your writing. Your stories leap off the page and come to life. I can't wait to read another one of your novels! Thanks for your hard work and dedication.
                                                         Sincerely,
                                                                           Kayla Stroud

Stand Out Lines

 

       Recently while reading The House of Hades I came across a line that really stood out to me. But before I tell you what it was, let me set the stage of what is going on. Jason and Nico have just faced Cupid, god of love. The demigods were after Diocletian's scepter. It has the power to summon the ghosts of the Roman legions. The only way Cupid will give them the scepter is if Nico spills his feelings. Nico isn't the type of guy who just proclaims he loves someone to the world. In fact, he hardly talks. He is a child of Hades, so he prefers to slink aroung in the shadows. He bottles his emotions up. After reading this chapter I realized how alone he feels-no self confidence. I think many of us know people like this. I think it's our job to help lift these people up, make them feel wanted.

 

     Nico is scared of Cupid and scared of his feelings. However, he knows he has to confess them to help out his friends. I'm not going to tell you who Nico has interest in for sake of spoiling the book, but he does tell. After Nico fesses up, Riordan wrote a line that really stuck out to me. He said, "Fot the first time, Cupid's gaze seemed sympathetic. 'Oh, I wouldn't say Love always makes you happy.' His voice sounded smaller, much more human. 'Sometimes it makes you incredibly sad. But at least you've faced it now. That's the only way to conquer me" (Riordan 292). I think this line speaks volumes. I see it apply to everyday life as wells as the story. This quote propels the plot and gives some insight to what may happen in the future.


     First off let me talk about how this line is relevant to our lives. Most people probably think of hearts and happy couples when they hear the word love. However, with love comes heartache and I think that's what Cupid was trying to say in this quote. At some point in our lives, we may feel the sadness of loving someone who doesn't love us back. Or we may be hurt by someone we love. That's tough. Some people deal with it in different ways. There are people like Taylor Swift who write world known songs as revenge. There are people who cry and watch movies all day eating out of a gallon bucket of ice cream. And there are people like Nico who bottle their feelings up until they can't take it anymore and then they explode. Cupid also says you have to face love to conquer it. I think this means that in order to move past our feelings we have to admit to them first and accept them.


     I this quote also being very important to the book. The group of demigods all have struggles with love. Each one of them grew up without one parent, due to them being a god. Also, within the group there are four couples and let me just say it's hard when at least a few members are in trouble at every moment. They have to risk their lives for each other. If you have read my previous posts I mentioned Hazel, Nico's sister. She may have to die because she loves her friends. It also possible that her brother has to die instead. Then there is Nico who loves someone who doesn't feel the same way. I think now that Nico has expressed his emotion to Jason and Cupid, he may be able to get over it. This quote could also foreshadow some hardship in the future for the demigods because of certain relationships. Only reading will tell!

Connections can be anywhere!

     Today I'm going to take a break from blogging about my personal book. I figured you guys might want to hear about something different than the same old Greek mythology story. After finishing Fahrenheit 451 for class I realized how much it reminds me of a musical I am currently in. The musical I'm talking about is the school show; Urinetown. Yes, I know it's a weird name for a musical. I assure you the plot line is even stranger! This story is seriously messed up- it's a jumble of angry poor people and singing cops and evil businessmen and random outbursts into intense choreography and a not so happy ending- all adding up to pure chaos on a stage.

 

     Urinetown is about a city where a devastating drought has occured. It's so bad that people have to pay to pee. If you can't pay or if you go somewhere else, the cops take you to Urinetown. In truth Urinetown is really them just pushing you off of a building. I kid you not someone actually wrote this into a musical! What is wrong with people these days? The main character is a young man named Bobby Strong. He leads a rebelion to gain free access. Bobby reminds me of Montag. Bobby didn't question the society much in the beginning, just like Montag. Bobby's call for action was sparked when he met a young woman named Hope. Hope is one of those girls who just loves to love. I mean it gets to the point where you wanna yell, "Hope, not everything is rainbows and hearts! Wake up and smell the stench of Urinetown already!" Anyway, after meeting Booby she tells him to follow his heart. Bobby's heart told him that change needed to happen. In Fahrenheit 451, Montag's questioning began when he met Clarisse. Clarisse asked so many questions that Montag never thought. This caused him to begin to wonder about their society. Ray Bradbury writes, "How immense a figure she was on the stage before him; what a shadow she threw on the wall with her slender body!" (Bradbury 9). We can see how large of an impact she made on Montag. In both stories the main character's change was sparked by a young female. Once these characters get their idea of a new way of life, they go to extremes to fulfill their goal.

 

    The plots of these two stories also have some similarities. The main character tries to start a revolution against those they see doing wrong in their society. For Bobby that is Mr. Cladwell, head of the Urine Good Company which controls the public bathrooms. For Montag it is the government/ firemen and their burning. However Bobby gets an entire group of poor people to follow him, Montag only gets Faber's help. The endings of Fahrenheit 451 and Urinetown both are a bit disapointing, at least in my eyes. If there is one thing that bothers me, it's when a story either ends poorly or open ended. Lucky for me Urinetown and Fahrenheit 451 both end in one of these ways (why?!?!?!?!?). Montag fails in his attempt to overthrow the firemen. Also, he never brings back books the way we wanted him to. At least this story has an ending with potential and hope. In Urinetown Bobby gets pushed off a building, so Hope leads the revolution and pushes Mr. Cladwell of a building. Their revolution succeeds however the water becomes silty and unuseable from over consumption. The result? Everybody dies! Yeah no hope there...

   I find it intersting how two completely different texts can have hidden similarities. I mean who would have thought a book about a society that burns literature and a musical about paying to pee could be connected?

Watch the video below to see the Tony awards performance of Urinetown!
Although the title is befuddling, I promise you it has great music!
 

Where Are They Now?

 

 

     Ok, so I realize my title may be a bit misleading. Sorry, but this post isn't like one of those reality TV shows that tell you where your favorite stars from five years ago ended up. This post is about the setting in my book. Well, one of the settings. There are eight characters and each chapter focuses on the journey of one imparticular. Not all of the characters are in the same place and everyone is constantly on the move because of the quest. It makes the story interesting but it can be hard to follow. The only people as of now who are constantly in one place are Annabeth and Percy. They're stuck in Tartarus, the hell for monsters and Titans. This is the setting I am going to focus on.

 

     First off, let me just say that I would never want to go to Tartarus. Some books have really nice settings that you can easily picture yourself visiting. Yeah, not for this book! The only way Annabeth and Percy can survive in Tartarus is by drinking magic fire, which helps them but it burns their throats as they swallow it. The atmosphere is poisonous and the landscape is treacherous with jagged rocks every where. Riordan writes, "They picked their way across the ashen wasteland as red lightening flashed over head in the poison clouds" (Riordan 161). Sounds cozy huh? Not to mention the fact that monsters who have been destroyed are litterally reborn from the ground. They emerge from large blisters on the surface. The two demigods with the help of a friendly Titan have to travel over this deadly landscape into a dark forest to get to the doors of death. To help you picture Tatarus even more both Percy and Annabeth notice that the land seems to be living. The ground is described to be skin like. Annabeth thinks it's the body of the god Tartarus himself. I have to admit Annabeth and Percy are brave to be traveling across a place like that. They are scared out of their minds though, that's for sure. Who wouldn't be?