The Trials of Apollo

The Hidden Oracle

Book cover of The Hidden Oracle
The Hidden Oracle (2016) The Dark Prophecy (2017)
Author	Rick Riordan
Cover artist	John Rocco
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Greek mythological fiction, fantasy, adventure and children's fiction
Publisher	Hyperion Books
Published	2016-
Media type	Print (hardcover and paperback), audiobook, e-book
No. of books	5
Preceded by	The Heroes of Olympus

The Trials of Apollo is a pentalogy of adventure, mythological fiction and fantasy novels written by American author Rick Riordan that collectively form a sequel to the Heroes of Olympus series.^[1] The first book in the series, The Hidden Oracle, was released on May 3, 2016. The series follows the trials of the god Apollo, who has been turned into a human as punishment from Zeus. The next book in the series, The Dark Prophecy, will be released worldwide on May 2, 2017.^[2]

Books

The Hidden Oracle

The Hidden Oracle is the first book of the series. Apollo tells the story in a first-person narration, and uses haiku for chapter titles. The book was released on May 3, 2016.

Zeus punishes his son, Apollo, for events that transpired in The Blood of Olympus by making him a mortal, even giving him human blood, as opposed to keeping his immortal and golden blood, Ichor. Apollo lands in an alley in New York City in the form of a mortal teenager named Lester Papadopoulos. There, he meets demigod Margaret "Meg" McCaffrey, daughter of Demeter, with uncommon, strong power. They seek out the demigod Percy Jackson, and persuade him to give them a ride to the demigod training facility Camp Half-Blood in Long Island Sound. During their visit of Percy's home, we learn that Percy's Mom is pregnant, and that Percy is trying to catch up on his own life, as he "...lost most of [his] junior year because of the war with Gaea" (35, The Hidden Oracle).

After an encounter with Nosoi, plague spirits, they arrive at Camp Half-Blood, where they meet Chiron. Chiron tells them that all the oracles have fallen into the hands of a mysterious enemy known as "The Beast" and that campers have mysteriously disappeared. Meg tells Apollo that her real father was killed by The Beast.

In his dreams, Apollo sees a mysterious woman who tells him that "The Grove of Dodona", Rhea's oracle, is still free from control, hidden in the woods of Camp Half-Blood. Apollo realizes that if he is able to regain control of the Dodona Oracle before The Beast is able to find it, he may be forgiven by Zeus for his transgressions and be allowed to return to Olympus.

With no time to waste, Apollo and Meg set out into the woods to find the Grove of Dodona. Meg gets captured by Myrmekes and is separated from Apollo. Hopeless and full of guilt, he collapses in the woods, lost. He is awakened by a Lion who belongs to the mysterious woman in his dreams, who turns out to be Rhea herself. Rhea helps Apollo and he saves Meg and they finally reach the grove only to find the Beast wanting to burn it down. Meg suddenly hugs the Beast announcing that he adopted her, despite being directly responsible for her father's death. Apollo then stops him but the Beast flees with Meg. During the conflict at the Grove of Dodana, Apollo moves the lost campers away from a fire that the Beast starts, but is unable to stop it from spreading. Trapped and conscience ridden, he cries out to the forest for help, only to be devastated when dyrads respond and sacrifice their lives to quench the fire with earth, drawing the heat into their bodies. This causes Apollo to realize he has commited deeds similar to the Beast himself; he had selfishly asked many Heroes to sacrifice themselves for him in his past.

Apollo then stops an invasion on Camp Half-Blood by a 100-foot tall statue of Nero by cursing an arrow with "Hay Fever" and shooting it into the giant statue's ears. The statue explodes, thus saving Camp Half Blood from destruction. When curiosity leads campers to wonder what had happened, Apollo responds, "I believe," ... " the Colossus sneezed his head off." (340, The Hidden Oracle)

This first book saw the return of Leo Valdez, Calypso and the automaton dragon Festus from Ogygia from the Heroes of Olympus book series.

The Dark Prophecy

The Dark Prophecy is the second and upcoming book in the Trials of Apollo series. It is expected to be released on May 2, 2017. The book continues the story of Apollo as the mortal Lester, as he leaves the safety of Camp Half-Blood and journeys across North America to restore the remaining four Oracles.^[3]

References