Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - The Sun and the Star

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Sun and the Star by Mark Oshiro, Rick Riordan

18 reviews

ronan900's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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jojo_fiction_'s review

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

The Sun and the Star by Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro

3.5 Stars

I love the Percy Jackson world, and with the TV show currently airing, I am falling (no pun intended) right back into my PJO phase. So I figured, what would be a better time to read the Nico and Will standalone that has been sitting on my shelf for months than this?

And like most Rick Riordan books, I breezed through this in under 2 days. The writing style was a bit different as it is also co-written by Mark Oshiro, but overall didn't make too much of an impact on my reading experience.

As for the story itself, I have a lot of thoughts, so bear with me.

The overall plot itself…was kinda weak.

The threat of Nyx, who, despite being stated as being more powerful than Gaea, was underwhelming.

I feel like this book was mostly for the characters and their development, which is fine! But for a Percy Jackson book, I expected just a bit more plot, or at least more stakes. (Although I'm sure for standalones it must be much harder to do so I'm trying not to judge too harshly on that.)

The main conflict of the story seemed to be between Will and Nico and them becoming more secure in their relationship

(as opposed to the literal goddess of darkness)

. They seemed to be annoyed at each other for the majority of the book. Their lack of trust within the relationship, and inability to see each others’ perspectives on a few things, added more to the conflict than

Nyx

for the majority of the book.

The real place this book shines is in its themes and in the development of the characters.

The emphasis of taking care of one's mental health (especially for demigods who have been through so much), is something that really needs to be seen in more middle grade novels.

Discussions of grief, depression, loneliness, guilt, shame, and the fear of change were all subjects that were touched on. The concept of processing grief was really a wonderful aspect of this book, as Nico, who had lost basically everyone who was important to him, was finally able to begin to work through these emotions, and learn to rely on others for support.

The concept of change was an interesting aspect to the book that I really liked. Change is difficult for anybody, things like changes in environments and situations, the change in how you view yourself, how others view you, and the ability to make the conscious choice to change. And I think for a book that focuses around two queer characters it was a fitting topic. As the conversation with Piper at the end shows, sexuality and/or gender expression is fluid and can change as you grow and there is nothing wrong with that. It was a good way to end the story with this final acceptance of change not being a bad thing, but an opportunity to grow into yourself more fully depending on your stage in life.

Since the book was focused around queer characters, the co-author, Mark Oshiro, was absolutely needed. As Riordan said on his website about the book: “It was really important to me that writing a book entirely from the perspective of two queer characters, I collaborated with a great queer author who could bring perspective, authenticity, and a different set of writing strengths to the project.”

When writing about experiences that are not your own you absolutely need to look to outside sources who do have that experience and/or knowledge. One thing I appreciate about Riordan’s growth as a writer is that despite his rough start with proper representation, he is very open to the fact that as he now includes new characters from a variety of backgrounds, sexualities, and genders, he reaches out to those who can help him portray these characters properly.

I can't finish this review without including my one big critique of this book. Which is an issue with consistency which can be seen in other Percy Jackson books.

In Son of Neptune, Bianca is said to have chosen to be reincarnated, which leads to Nico finding Haze and helping her leave the underworld. But in this book, during the last dream Nico has, she tells him that she is in Elysium. In this book the change allows for Nico to receive some type of closure. However, in regards to how that impacts the overarching story, it complicates it a lot. If Bianca never chose to be reincarnated, Nico would have tried to bring her back from the dead instead of Hazel as he claimed to have tried. I am confused on how this plot line could have slipped through the cracks, but in terms of how it affects this standalone, it's not too big of a deal.

In conclusion, I did enjoy this! Going back into the world of demigods made me feel very nostalgic, and the book was fun for what it was. I wouldn't put it on my list of favourites, but overall I think it was a fun read with important messages.

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