Review: The Tower of Nero

The Tower of Nero by Rick Riordan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It only occurs to me after finishing this novel - the official fifteenth in the mainline Camp Half-Blood Chronicles, not including the two trilogies that spun off into non-Greco-Roman pantheons - that Rick Riordan's never really given any of them a sense of a straight-up ending. Up to now. But given that this one is meant to be the last in the mainline 'verse - at least for now, though Uncle Rick absolutely leaves the door open to continue a lot of side characters' stories, though they'll likely wind up in the hands of Rick Riordan Presents authors if nothing else (Reyna, especially, comes to mind, as does Nico, who really deserves his own spinoff series with Will) - it really stands out that this one makes it a point of NOT ending on a cliffhanger for once. No, we finally wrap up Apollo's adventure in a mortal shell, with tons of difficulty against the last and worst of the Triumvirate of immortal Roman emperors, the city-burning fiddler and casually matricidal Nero. Man, it's a good thing we were able to defeat Donald Trump in this year's election, otherwise this book would probably hit a little too hard with Nero threatening to fiddle while New York burns. Kronos, Gaea, eat your hearts out. But to the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles, I now bid a most gracious ave atque vale while waiting for Riordan's next book - rumor has it he'll be working in Celtic mythology next? Makes sense, really.

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