Review: The Dark Prophecy

The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I gotta admit, I was just a tad bit disappointed in Riordan's latest madcap mythological adventure. Sure, it's fun to keep going in the POV of an assbuttish god who's still being brought down all the pegs and is none too happy about it, and I'm overjoyed that Leo's back (even though Calypso comes with him and doesn't do as much as I'd like, but still, Leo!) and hasn't lost a bit of his personality.

But the book, while it does evolve a bit from its predecessor and becomes darker (and deals a lot in Apollo's guilt and troubled romantic past with the main villain), it sometimes feels a little too dark, lacking at times in the signature Riordan humor. (Though I admit, as a classic rock fan, I laughed my ass off when Apollo basically said he sang Tom Petty's part on Stevie Nicks' hit, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," and has never been credited for it, not once.) Sometimes, that darkness gets to the point where I had to wonder, why even is Riordan writing this as a middle grade series again and not making it more YA?

(Though it's a good thing he is, if only to ensure that the target audience sees the normalization of an LGBTQ+ protagonist - bi, in Apollo's case, but you already knew that.)

Naturally, this book ends on quite the cliffhanger, with another old fave making a return and promising to play a massive part in next year's third novel. Bring it on, Uncle Rick.

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