#but rick just rushed himself to get HOO out and the story rolling without pausing for breath

[m4gp13]

I love most of the HOO characters but HOO would have been so much better if we got to see it through the eyes of characters we already knew.

We should have had one of the Stoll's, preferably Travis because he's older (I think), and he would have to deal with the repercussions of one of the titan army's most notorious demigod leaders being his brother and the conflicted feelings that would come with all that happened at the end of the war. There would have probably been a lot of distrust surrounding the Hermes cabin even after things had settled down. Travis would have been struggling with leading his cabin through new times, the pain of his brother's betrayal and the distrust of camp as well as being away from his brother for a prolonged amount of time probably for the first time ever.

Clarisse also should have been on the quest. She was probably guilty about all the deaths that occurred while she and the Ares cabin stayed at camp and also she just fascinates me. I want to see her perspective on things for more than maybe a couple chapters in SoM. She probably would have taken charge of the quest and tried her best to fill in the role of a leader in spite of everything going on like her dad. If Ares and Mars were warring in Frank's head they would have been doing the same in hers and we know from SoM that she's likely had scary and bad experiences with him before.

Also, Silena and Ethan shouldn't have died and instead been on the quest. The conflicting of knowing they were right and following the only person they thought could help them when they were just being used to further a goal that they didn't sign up for would have been interesting to explore. In HOO we are shown that the gods didn't keep their promise and that would have been gut-wrenching for the two of them and all the other TA demigods that joined CHB. They would have to force themselves to pick the better of two evils and deal with the hatred they'd undoubtedly receive due to their role in the first war and I want to see that concept explored. Also, how hard would it have been to just let them survive their injuries? Disabled people are right there and it would not have been difficult to ask someone about how to accurately depict the disabilities their injuries would have resulted in.

Between PJO and HOO Rick should have focused on the Romans and given them a series of their own before putting them up beside the Greeks. Even just a trilogy would have helped them a ton. We could have had any number of Romans on the Argo 2 that we actually care about instead of some kids we literally just met and are being asked to put them beside a guy we've been reading about for quite literally several years. I adore Frank and Hazel but Rick really shot himself in the foot with them. I want to know what NR was like before Percy showed up. I would have loved to see Hazel trying to figure out the modern world and NR's weird mix of modern and ancient. I would have loved to see Frank trying to adapt from his normal childhood up to his teens to being a child soldier in a war-torn world he knows nothing of. I would have loved to see stories from Reyna, Gwen, Dakota, Octavian, Jason, any of the Romans but Rick rushed himself and didn't give us a chance to connect with the Romans like we did with the Greeks and that made HOO an inherently weaker series.

There are a million other things I could say about this but that's a post for another day. Oidhche mhath.

#I like piper and leo as well but even they fell flat for me #they're all good characters dammit! #I just wish we had more time with them #I want to know the HOO characters as much as I know the PJO ones #but rick just rushed himself to get HOO out and the story rolling without pausing for breath #or letting his readers take a breather #and that directly works against my ability to enjoy the series as much as I did PJO #there are a ton of other issues as well #but that one just jumps out at me #pjo #hoo #percy jackson #heroes of olympus #travis stoll #clarisse la rue #silena beauregard #ethan nakamura #hazel levesque #frank zhang