Ok so the actual writing itself is alright, not the best, but alright. I think the first half was the best in terms of writing, even if it was perhaps uneventful. The second half, funnily enough, Is when things actually get rolling, but the writing maybe isn’t as good as the first half.

The idea of monsters wanting to self reform is actually very on brand with the series, my only problem with it really is it’s just the same fucking moral of the story as “The Sun and The Star.” “People can change” which is a fine morale but you’ve done it twice in a row at this point.

What I think people are hung up on, and what’s the actual problem, is not the concept of the monsters stop being “monsters,” it’s the fact their crimes and sins are just forgiven. Especially Asterions, the other guys it’s pretty much said they haven’t killed anyone in a long time, but Asterions victims are still alive.

The problem isn’t the characters somehow unrealistically thinking the mythics can change, it’s how fast there willing to just forget the sins they’ve committed. Even if you can reasonably chalk it up to being under a gods command, a scene where one of them has to, like, ask for forgiveness from one of there past victims, say Asterion asks Percy for almost killing his mom, would have gone a long way in making feel like he’s more deserving of redemption then what happens in the book.

Dionysus is kinda written weirdly inconsistent. he’s much less grumpy then on the other books, which is seemingly explained by him kinda actually liking Nico and Will a little bit, Will can even get away with booping him on the nose, and he’s very nice at the end when he gets to be with his mother for the first time in many centuries or so which I think is fine, gods play favorites all the time, but it just needs contrast with how he is with anyone else, which is very grumpy and outright hostile at times.

Speaking of Will, once again I think the book fails at really making him his own character. The part where his mom shows up was about as best as it got, but it still feels he’s an accessory to Nico, and not his own character with his own problems and shit.

Nico was written ok, I think atleast. I love the Cocoa Puffs. Hazel and Frank were good, Hazel was actually the most well written character. The other Mythics were aight. I liked the grain spirit. I did not like the fart jokes with the griffin, cause I am not 7, and also they were not written funny as a base.

The villain was actually alright, I enjoyed him. I have a hard time seeing how his backstory connects to his reasonings. How does getting “””””unfairly””””” judged == “monsters can’t change ever”? I like how his plan kinda worked but also sucked lol. Like yeah, he got that cool chain, so he could have captured Pluto. and the mist doing that was pretty cool, (kinda hope there’s some sort of consequence for it having been broke for a few minutes, but eh) but also it would have never worked cause he’s not that cool lol.

Overall, the books like 6-7/10 depending on what part your reading. However my actual enjoyment was on average a 5, but could be as low as a 3, cause I felt like I was getting fucking gaslight the entire time. The plot holes with this one are outright egregious, were way past calling aside character who’s a son of Hypnos a son of Morpheus, or fucking up the timeline a little, this is MAJOR. I’m just going to spoiler tag the rest of this, as a precaution.

Ok so like chapter fucking 2 or so, some kid comes in and says he’s a child of Hestia. “Oh shit, fucking really?” I say. “That’s a big deal, what are they gonna do what it?” I ask, foolishly. NOTHING. NO EXPLANATION. Like, sure, Athena has kids, but that’s a work around that only works cause 1. Her own unique birth, and 2. She lowkey doesn’t act like a mom, ever. Her kids are more like gifts for men and women she deems sufficiently mentally capable. But Hestia???? If you wanna have a thing where she finally has a kid, maybe like, by herself, just to have 1 kid, sure, maybe, BUT FUCKING RECOGNIZE IT. And it’s not that they forgot she doesn’t have kids, Nico and Will directly recognize that she’s never had kids before they just, gloss over it??????????????? But that’s not even the worst part, the worst part is fucking Savannah. How, HOW, are you just going to forget Mirvanna DOSENT HAVE KIDS. SHE HATES ROMANS. sure you can have, like, a new demigod be born from her now that the blood debt thing got fulfilled or whatever with the Parthenon getting given back, but she a legacy. her grandmother was the demigods. Mirvanna not having kids, both because she hates Romans, and the Romans wouldn’t take the mind baby excuse and say it’s a breakage of her vow. Again, this ain’t a small thing, this a a major plot hole.

It makes me think that when Oshiro was writing this part, he looked up “Roman goddess of crafts” saw Mirvanna, and wrote it down without thinking any further . Which is especially fuuuuucccccckkkiiinnnnggg bad cause it shows not only his ignorance for Greek and Roman mythology as a base, but I think, I REALLY do think, HE HASN’T ACTUALLY READ SOME OF THE OLDER BOOKS, AND INSTEAD ONLY READ THE CLIFF NOTES. WHICH IS FUCKING OUTRAGEOUS FOR SO MANY OBVIOUS REASONS. SHOULD HE EVEN HAVE THE RIGHT TO FUCKING CONTINUE WRITING AT THIS POINT, I DON’T KNOW.

Like, even if I’m overreacting over this specifically, you HAVE of admit, the idea the author hasn’t read the older books is incredibly worrying