The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

Overview

Jason has a problem. He doesn’t remember anything before waking up on a school bus holding hands with a girl. Apparently she’s his girlfriend Piper, his best friend is a kid named Leo, and they’re all students in the Wilderness School, a boarding school for “bad kids.” What he did to end up here, Jason has no idea—except that everything seems very wrong.

Piper has a secret. Her father has been missing for three days, and her vivid nightmares reveal that he’s in terrible danger. Now her boyfriend doesn’t recognize her, and when a freak storm and strange creatures attack during a school field trip, she, Jason, and Leo are whisked away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood. What is going on?

Leo has a way with tools. His new cabin at Camp Half-Blood is filled with them. Seriously, the place beats Wilderness School hands down, with its weapons training, monsters, and fine-looking girls. What’s troubling is the curse everyone keeps talking about, and that a camper’s gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist they are all—including Leo—related to a god.

Rick Riordan, the best-selling author of the Percy Jackson series, pumps up the action and suspense in The Lost Hero, the first book in The Heroes of Olympus series. Fans of demi-gods, prophesies, and quests will be left breathless--and panting for Book Two.

My thoughts:
I bought this book a year ago when our local Borders store was closing.  I started it and got halfway through and then put it down.  Most likely because a review was due for something else.  For some reason I kept passing it over to finish it.  The a couple weeks ago I noticed it as an digital audio book at the library so I checked it out.  I listened to the beginning again just to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything, and then the rest while running.  Some of the god and monster names were hard to keep track of in the audio version, but I enjoyed it and also enjoyed seeing some of the characters from the Percy Jackson series.  Annabeth is looking for Percy, but when she follows the directions she has received she ends up finding Jason instead.

The adventure Jason, Piper and Leo go on is like the ones Percy, Annabeth and Grover went on in the other series.  Different gods, different monsters, different difficulties but similar and similarly engrossing.  I can see myself reading or listening to this one with my children at some point, perhaps come summer.  It is rather lengthy to commit to reading to them or with them during the school year when we don't have quite as much time.  When I downloaded the audio version I accidentally missed one segment so I missed all of the action towards the end when they have to meet and fight a monster and attempt to rescue someone.  Luckily I have the book so later that night I found the pages I missed and read them.  Now I know to be more careful when downloading to my Ipod.  I'd hate to have that happen with a book I didn't own!  Now I need to check if the library has the next book.  I am trying to be really good about not buying new books, as I have so many books waiting to be read in my house already!

Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9781423113393
• Publisher: Hyperion
• Publication date: 10/12/2010
• Pages: 576
• Age range: 9 - 11 Years                        
• Series:Heroes of Olympus Series, #1