The Heroes of Olympus: The House of Hades

The title of this book is the House of Hades, and it was written by Rick Riordan. It has a copyright date of 2013, and is a fantasy book. Also this book is centered around mythology, and the chapters are written using the perspective of different demigods, and each demigod is one of the main characters.
7 demigods must find a way to close the doors of death, to prevent Gaea's army from getting to earth. Plus the greeks must achieve peace with the romans to be able to battle Gaea's army. The overall theme of the book is to never give up, because throughout the book all of the demigods must persevere to achieve their goals, and save the world and everything they love.

The story is told from the different perspectives and story lines of each of the 7 main demigods, switching between them almost every chapter, and the story is in the 3rd person point of view.

In the last book, Annabeth and her boyfriend Percy fell into Tartarus after battling Arcane. Their friends Nico, Hazel, Piper, Frank, and Leo were unable to save them. Now Percy and Annabeth must journey through Tartarus, on a perilous quest to find and close the doors of death from the inside. Her friends must also close the doors from the outside, at the same time. If they are unsuccessful to close the doors, the earth mother Gaea will be constantly be sending her monsters to the over-world to to destroy the titans and conquer the gods, making her and her husband Tartarus the rulers of the world.  Plus the greeks must make friends with the Romans so they can fight together against Gaea and her army. The intended audience in this book is 3rd- 8th graders, and the genre is fantasy. This book fits into the category of fantasy because there are many monsters, creatures, and gods that are from mythology, and unreal. Rick Riordan keeps the readers interested by creating suspense, and lots of figurative language, plus some comedy. Also there is a lot of adventure action, and some romance tied in. All of those aspects are very effective for the intended audience.

This book affected me by making me overjoyed that Percy and Annabeth came out of Tartarus alive, and that they still love each other. But also I became grieved that Calypso and Leo had to be separated, because Leo had to leave her island prison to go save the world even though they fell in love, and were the cutest couple ever! (In my opinion!) However, the book did not change how I see the world, except now I can read feelings a little bit clearer now, and I happen to notice couples a bit more often. This book (and series) reminded me of one of my all time favorite book series'. That series is the Nicholas Flammel series-because they are so much alike. 

I absolutely love this book, it is fun to read, and suspenseful, but also it has a MAJOR cliff-hanger at the end. I really wanted to know what happens to all the characters, (and if Leo and Calypso would find each other) but alas the book ended right before the battle against Gaea. I recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy, adventure, action, and a little bit of romance. 

Sarah Willmann

11-7-13

**** 4/5 stars