The Tower of Nero by Rick Riordan

Reviewed by Anya

You have been cursed, exiled by your dad, and given a bunch of difficult, life-threatening tasks to do. You need to save the world and restore the gift of prophecy, but you face an impossible challenge at the end, facing an old foe you had defeated eons ago. What would you do?

In the book The Tower of Nero by Rick Riordan, Apollo has been exiled to Earth and must free all the Oracles to regain his godhood. Apollo, as in the Greek God of prophecy, music, poetry, medicine, bow, and the sun, manages to free the first four oracles with his master, Meg McCaffery, a twelve-year-old girl with a terrifying backstory of abuse and death. After thousands of life-changing battles filled with death and devastation, Apollo faces one last enemy alone. But how can he defeat this monster again in his puny mortal form?

One reason I loved this book is that it shows Apollo’s progress as a human changing from a snotty god to a grieving person. Apollo gets injured many times and needs to rely on his own children's help, and that shows how much he appreciates them. Apollo eventually feels shame for not realizing before how important family was. He also changes from thinking that one mortal dying was no big problem, to sobbing his heart out at every loss he faces. His change in attitude shows how someone can change in the span of a few months.

Another reason this book was inspiring is that it has small hints of LGBT in it. In the book, Rick Riordan has Apollo’s son date another guy, and the god completely supports it. Apollo himself has dated men, and in one relationship, he has a daughter that he loves dearly. In the other books in the series, there are more LGBT relationships that Apollo completely approves of. I feel like it shows that if gods do not discriminate, why should we, mortals, decide whom our kids can love and whom they can’t?
I would suggest this thrilling book series to people who love Greek mythology and adventure and I would rate it a 9.5/10. This book is in a series called Trials of Apollo, and you should read all the other books before this one. Go to the nearest bookstore or Amazon to buy this book, to see if Apollo gets his godhood restored, or faces the most excruciating death anyone could have!

Disney • Hyperion, 416 pages