The mythological fiction novel The Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan is about the once wonderful god Apollo who became a mortal, and undergoes emotional changes throughout his journey to save the world. The main character is Apollo, who is the son of Zeus and Leto, and twin brother to the goddess Artemis. Apollo was once the god of prophecy, music, medicine, healing, plague, the sun, truth, archery (but not hunting), poetry, and much more! Being a god, he can appear any way he liked, but usually is seen as a well tanned, muscular youth, with long golden hair, and a bow slung across his back. Apollo is a very big bragger, and likes to claim credit for a lot of things he didn’t do. He is a very flashy guy, being the sun god after all, he likes to flirt with the ladies and play the cool dude. Then, when stripped of his powers he became the human, Lester Papadopoulos, a scrawny 16 year-old with curly brown hair, blue eyes, and a bad case of acne. When Apollo’s leverage of authority was taken away, he lost his godly knowledge too. Along went his confidence at first, but later he turned out to be a leader in a mortal’s state of mind. These circumstances have made Apollo more generous, humble and caring- something that never would have occurred to him if not for this experience. The main problem is that the once dead Emperor Nero or the “Beast” has come back alive as a ghost god, fueled by the fear that mortals have in him. Nero has slowly recruited runaways, orphans and other children to do his bidding, all through the war with Gaea and even before! Now his plan is finally coming together, with all four oracles of Delphi shut down and hidden from the world, no one can see the future. Apollo has to re-open the oracles of Delphi, find Nero and kill his life force, restore peace to the world, all but being a puny ex-god with amnesia. My opinion is that this is one of the best Rick Riordan (he is an amazing author) books I have ever read! I love the action that Apollo has to go through to conquer the Beast. I also love the affection that Apollo feels toward his mistress/ruler, Meg, at the end of the story when they part. The humor is always there, really to jump out and surprise you, like a cat going to pounce on its prey. I was also taken away by the twist near the end, that changed the way I looked at some of the characters. That sudden trip in the plot made me feel sad, surprised, but most of all sympathy, for Meg, and for Apollo, for what they had to suffer. This novel is sure to make you have tears of sadness, scream with joy, and bellow with laughter! Ha ha ha!!! -Serena
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