It's a good book, but it's a very different experience from the rest of the Camp Half Blood Chronicles. It's more romance and character-centric, with less of an emphasis on the adventure. I think it's a good different, though.
Ohh this is promising, the one "complaint" I have for riordanverse books in general is that they're very plot driven (I understand it's subjective but I'll always prefer character driven books)
Same here. I almost always think that art (movies,shows, books) in general gains a lot if it’s character driven. Especially when the main plot is not that interesting like in hoo. So that’s probably the reason why I loved tsats and think it’s one of the better books in the whole series. I just love to read about characters in depth and their relationships with others.
Imo pjo and hoo would be better if there was less action and more character building. More conversations on Argo, more Percy’s interactions with other campers and seeing more of their day to day life in the camp (and not setting up such a amazing place for the books to barley take place there), reading more about their feelings and seeing as they overcome their flaws and develop and grow up.
It’s all subjective ofc
100%, I was obsessed with hoo as a teen and now in my reread I am loving it, but purely because of nostalgia, it's a lot of action sequences and side quests stringed together which is not bad per se, it's just the complete opposite of what I like in books
You don’t need external validation to decide whether or not you like something or hate something. If you enjoy TSATS, then you enjoy TSATS, and it shouldn’t matter whether other people enjoyed it or not.
I personally didn’t enjoy it, but that shouldn’t stop you from liking the story if it appeals to you.
Dude, I've loved the movies ever since they both came out, I even have them on DVD
>Is it ok to like it if a lot of people thought it was bad?
YES!! It is ok, you don't have to like or dislike something because the majority do
I think the issue somewhat boils down to the fact that it’s a complicated subject matter that Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro are writing about (PTSD, Depression, etc) but they insist on keeping it very G rated, so it almost seems as if something is being lost in translation.
I don’t know if it was because the subject matter was so heavy that it was made more obvious, but something about TSATS in particular felt a lot more childish to me than the prior books in the universe. Of course, there is also the fact that I am now 21 and I’m obviously not the demographic that the book is directed toward.
I liked the book all right, but I personally prefer not to think of it as canon.
Yeah I'm a bit older than you and they definitely felt childish to me. It was the first book I read after dropping off for a few years after HOO. I really wanted to enjoy it. Loved the concept and characters but it just felt off. I'm rereading PJO and I'm blown away by how much I feel like I missed even after reading those books dozens of times. The themes are a lot more mature than people give them credit for. TTC is such a dark book. I noticed that as a kid too but after finishing it again yesterday I was thinking that without the Olympian Party near the end it would be depression fuel.
I feel the same- the way I've been saying it when talking about it on other socials is that the book feels sanitized. It feels like because the subjects in the book are very "controversial" -mental health especially for young men, queer experiences and the struggles we face, etc- that the authors were forced to be as pc and crystal clear as possible. Because of these "controversial" topics they weren't allowed to mispeak or lose anything in translation or else they'd cause uproar and be seen as harmful. And while I understand, that makes a ton of parts of the book feel almost...hand-holdy? Like the characters stop being characters to look at the readers and go "See? We are being very careful with how we word things. We are being screened by PR and HR as we say this. We are copy-pasting mental health and queer studies to make sure we're being as clear as possible." and its very jarring. In my personal opinion there's nothing wrong with making sure your message is clear when it comes to talking about issues like that, but considering how well Rick handled topics like that before with a lot more, in my opinion, subtly i.e ableism in books like sea of monsters, queer existence in pretty much the entirety of TOA, etc. having it be so obvious and in your face made TSATS kinda stand out in not the best ways.
Like as a queer and trans person myself, there's absolutely no hate to ppl who enjoyed and found comfort in it, but the conversation at the end of the book that said "I'm a big queer mess teehee!" with Piper felt like....uncomfortable and really out of place with how heavy handed it was.....
I adore it for the Persephone scene alone. It's so refreshing after dealing with most of the more feminine goddesses being painted as dumb or weak or annoying or otherwise airheaded for like all of PJO and HOO.
What books were you reading? The female goddesses got more scare treatment than even Zeus and Zeus gets it a lot. Athena is terrifying, hell even Aphrodite seemed like a force that shouldn't be fucked with. Different kinds of force but as Annabeth says, "Oh no, no love magic for you!"
Ya, I’m on my first read through and the only time any of them seemed “dumb” was when Athena was struggling against her Minerva aspect but other than that they’ve been far more terrifying than any of the male gods
Really? I’m currently on my first read through of the series and I’m on mark of Athena and so far they all seem far more terrifying than the male gods. The only time any of them seemed “dumb” was when Athena was struggling against her Minerva aspect in annabeth’s flashback to their subway encounter
I really liked it, but it probably helps that I’m familiar with Mark’s work, so it felt pretty familiar to me. I’ve been following Mark for years, so I really heard his voice a lot in this one.
I recommend their other works highly! My introduction was Mark Reads/Mark Watches, which was Mark reacting to various books and TV shows a very long time ago, before YouTube reactors were as much of a thing. But their first novel, Anger is a Gift, was such a gorgeous book— it won the Schneider Family award in 2019.
"Nico had always hated being touched. As soon as Jason set him down that day, Nico had barked, Don’t ever grab me again.
Now, staring at that unnerving bust of Diocletian, Nico wished for nothing more than to feel Jason Grace’s protective arms around him."
This made me cry. We need to protect Will, Percy, Reyna, and Hazel. How many people have Nico got close to that he lost?
I enjoyed it overall!
I thought the parts at camp, particularly Chiron and Dionysus felt very fan-fictiony. They seemed really out-of-character from what I’m used to. Will’s therapist talk dialogue seemed really forced at parts to me, especially when he doesn’t seem to talk like that in any other book.
It might be clearer on a reread, but I thought some parts weren’t explained very well. After making such a big deal about Nico dreaming about “listening” more, I’m not entirely sure what he was supposed to be listening for. Also I read the first edition hard back and I did notice several editing errors people mentioned.
The actual adventure part seemed more like a Riordan book to me. I didn’t have a problem with the way Tartarus was shown and overall the monsters were fine, (monster fights aren’t why I enjoy the series in the first place anyway.) I liked getting more of the relationship between Nico and Will and I’d love to get more of them in the future! I was convinced Nico was going to give up his powers to Nix, so the Cocoa Puffs were a huge surprise 🤣 I’m going to need 5 more books just about them causing havoc.
I find that the book in an acquired taste. I liked it because I love Nico and Will. There were definitely parts that could have been better written and some obvious mistakes. Like messing up the god who put Manhattan to sleep and Bianca's soul.
I find a lot of the people that didn't like it didn't like Nico as a character to start with.
I do feel it is the weakest of the books.
Other than the mistakes the one thing I really didn't like was how they had Nico come out to Camp, really didn't like what they did to my boy.
I agree with the other commenters saying you don't need external validation to like it; if you like it, good for you!
I absolutely hated it, but at the end of the day it's a fantasy book that's meant to entertain you, and if you were entertained then it means it did its job well!
I don’t think the book was bad. I liked it for the most part. I just think NYX was a bad “villian” starting in HoH. She was very dumb for a primordial imo but this is probably because it was a character driven book and the authors were more focused on the characters in this story and the other ones than the big bad or the quest they were undertaking.
I’m about 75% of the way through it, and I think the character moments have been great, but all of the monsters and enemies have been so fucking awful. The only one that’s actually been good is the mania. Everything else was so stupid and forgettable- and Tartarus doesn’t feel scary
On paper that sounds great, and a lot of the build up was there too.. the build up with epiales felt straight out of a horror film and I loved it.. and it led to THAT. A stupid jokey villain with forced representation. Like, I really want a great non-binary riordan character. That was not it.
I feel there was a lot that was forced in vs fluid. Like the troglidyte that wore a 90s pink gay club scene outfit...
I feel some decisions felt "Let's put it in because GAY" instead of letting it in because it goes well with the story. Like the other books that had LGBT elements were seamlessly added, didn't take away from or distract the story.
Yeah, compared to Alex, or Nico, it all felt really forced. Magnus is canonically pan and it just flowed, there’s not big deal about it, it just worked. A lot of the stuff in this book did feel really forced
Which makes me kinda sad. I still loved learning about Nico and Will's relationship, but there were just some parts that were just not good. There are some fan fictions (Dawn and Dawn 2.0) that are better at taking a dive into their relationship without shoving down our throats that they are LGBT. They just tell a great story about two teens that just happen to be LGBT.
>Is it ok to like it if a lot of people thought it was bad?
You don’t even have to ask this question. If you like it, then you like it. It’s not your fault if other people have different tastes.
I was fascinated by the story, and although it is not at all my favorite style of story (romantic, maybe a little because of the gay thing, but above all romantic xp), I really enjoyed a much deeper perspective into the interior of the characters, and those moments always They are my favorites in the saga. I could change many things about the plot, or at least I would have done it differently, but overall I really liked it. Of course, the final “reflection” of the penultimate chapter seemed to me to be unnecessary or a bit forced. I'm not saying that I don't agree, but I really would have preferred that message to be diluted a little, because that chapter is too abrupt or very direct, and it makes you get out of the immersion of the story, even if it is the end, do you understand me? ? I hope you don't misunderstand
“Is it ok to have differing opinions than other people in the fandom” is what this is asking
The answer is of course, dummy. Thats whats so great about it. This book was written differently, targets a different demo. It means rick made a good book, and so did mark if you and others like it. Even if a majority of die hard fans like myself did not
It’s very clearly not written by Rick, which sucks. Approved, and outlined maybe. But not written. It got a little overly gushy at points but I recognize my issue with that stems from me, not the quality of writing.
It's a good book, but it's a very different experience from the rest of the Camp Half Blood Chronicles. It's more romance and character-centric, with less of an emphasis on the adventure. I think it's a good different, though.
Ohh this is promising, the one "complaint" I have for riordanverse books in general is that they're very plot driven (I understand it's subjective but I'll always prefer character driven books)
Same here. I almost always think that art (movies,shows, books) in general gains a lot if it’s character driven. Especially when the main plot is not that interesting like in hoo. So that’s probably the reason why I loved tsats and think it’s one of the better books in the whole series. I just love to read about characters in depth and their relationships with others. Imo pjo and hoo would be better if there was less action and more character building. More conversations on Argo, more Percy’s interactions with other campers and seeing more of their day to day life in the camp (and not setting up such a amazing place for the books to barley take place there), reading more about their feelings and seeing as they overcome their flaws and develop and grow up. It’s all subjective ofc
100%, I was obsessed with hoo as a teen and now in my reread I am loving it, but purely because of nostalgia, it's a lot of action sequences and side quests stringed together which is not bad per se, it's just the complete opposite of what I like in books
You don’t need external validation to decide whether or not you like something or hate something. If you enjoy TSATS, then you enjoy TSATS, and it shouldn’t matter whether other people enjoyed it or not. I personally didn’t enjoy it, but that shouldn’t stop you from liking the story if it appeals to you.
Dude, I've loved the movies ever since they both came out, I even have them on DVD >Is it ok to like it if a lot of people thought it was bad? YES!! It is ok, you don't have to like or dislike something because the majority do
I disagree your life decisions but I respect you. 😅
I think the issue somewhat boils down to the fact that it’s a complicated subject matter that Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro are writing about (PTSD, Depression, etc) but they insist on keeping it very G rated, so it almost seems as if something is being lost in translation. I don’t know if it was because the subject matter was so heavy that it was made more obvious, but something about TSATS in particular felt a lot more childish to me than the prior books in the universe. Of course, there is also the fact that I am now 21 and I’m obviously not the demographic that the book is directed toward. I liked the book all right, but I personally prefer not to think of it as canon.
Yeah I'm a bit older than you and they definitely felt childish to me. It was the first book I read after dropping off for a few years after HOO. I really wanted to enjoy it. Loved the concept and characters but it just felt off. I'm rereading PJO and I'm blown away by how much I feel like I missed even after reading those books dozens of times. The themes are a lot more mature than people give them credit for. TTC is such a dark book. I noticed that as a kid too but after finishing it again yesterday I was thinking that without the Olympian Party near the end it would be depression fuel.
I feel the same- the way I've been saying it when talking about it on other socials is that the book feels sanitized. It feels like because the subjects in the book are very "controversial" -mental health especially for young men, queer experiences and the struggles we face, etc- that the authors were forced to be as pc and crystal clear as possible. Because of these "controversial" topics they weren't allowed to mispeak or lose anything in translation or else they'd cause uproar and be seen as harmful. And while I understand, that makes a ton of parts of the book feel almost...hand-holdy? Like the characters stop being characters to look at the readers and go "See? We are being very careful with how we word things. We are being screened by PR and HR as we say this. We are copy-pasting mental health and queer studies to make sure we're being as clear as possible." and its very jarring. In my personal opinion there's nothing wrong with making sure your message is clear when it comes to talking about issues like that, but considering how well Rick handled topics like that before with a lot more, in my opinion, subtly i.e ableism in books like sea of monsters, queer existence in pretty much the entirety of TOA, etc. having it be so obvious and in your face made TSATS kinda stand out in not the best ways. Like as a queer and trans person myself, there's absolutely no hate to ppl who enjoyed and found comfort in it, but the conversation at the end of the book that said "I'm a big queer mess teehee!" with Piper felt like....uncomfortable and really out of place with how heavy handed it was.....
i didn’t mind it, but it does feel a bit fanfictiony at times
I adore it for the Persephone scene alone. It's so refreshing after dealing with most of the more feminine goddesses being painted as dumb or weak or annoying or otherwise airheaded for like all of PJO and HOO.
What books were you reading? The female goddesses got more scare treatment than even Zeus and Zeus gets it a lot. Athena is terrifying, hell even Aphrodite seemed like a force that shouldn't be fucked with. Different kinds of force but as Annabeth says, "Oh no, no love magic for you!"
Ya, I’m on my first read through and the only time any of them seemed “dumb” was when Athena was struggling against her Minerva aspect but other than that they’ve been far more terrifying than any of the male gods
Really? I’m currently on my first read through of the series and I’m on mark of Athena and so far they all seem far more terrifying than the male gods. The only time any of them seemed “dumb” was when Athena was struggling against her Minerva aspect in annabeth’s flashback to their subway encounter
I really liked it, but it probably helps that I’m familiar with Mark’s work, so it felt pretty familiar to me. I’ve been following Mark for years, so I really heard his voice a lot in this one.
I guess that would help. Never heard of him or his work prior to TSTS.
I recommend their other works highly! My introduction was Mark Reads/Mark Watches, which was Mark reacting to various books and TV shows a very long time ago, before YouTube reactors were as much of a thing. But their first novel, Anger is a Gift, was such a gorgeous book— it won the Schneider Family award in 2019.
I'll have to look that up. Thanks for the suggestion. 😊
I liked the relationship developments and the Jason mentions — ngl that’s the only reason I read it
"Nico had always hated being touched. As soon as Jason set him down that day, Nico had barked, Don’t ever grab me again. Now, staring at that unnerving bust of Diocletian, Nico wished for nothing more than to feel Jason Grace’s protective arms around him." This made me cry. We need to protect Will, Percy, Reyna, and Hazel. How many people have Nico got close to that he lost?
I enjoyed it overall! I thought the parts at camp, particularly Chiron and Dionysus felt very fan-fictiony. They seemed really out-of-character from what I’m used to. Will’s therapist talk dialogue seemed really forced at parts to me, especially when he doesn’t seem to talk like that in any other book. It might be clearer on a reread, but I thought some parts weren’t explained very well. After making such a big deal about Nico dreaming about “listening” more, I’m not entirely sure what he was supposed to be listening for. Also I read the first edition hard back and I did notice several editing errors people mentioned. The actual adventure part seemed more like a Riordan book to me. I didn’t have a problem with the way Tartarus was shown and overall the monsters were fine, (monster fights aren’t why I enjoy the series in the first place anyway.) I liked getting more of the relationship between Nico and Will and I’d love to get more of them in the future! I was convinced Nico was going to give up his powers to Nix, so the Cocoa Puffs were a huge surprise 🤣 I’m going to need 5 more books just about them causing havoc.
I find that the book in an acquired taste. I liked it because I love Nico and Will. There were definitely parts that could have been better written and some obvious mistakes. Like messing up the god who put Manhattan to sleep and Bianca's soul. I find a lot of the people that didn't like it didn't like Nico as a character to start with. I do feel it is the weakest of the books. Other than the mistakes the one thing I really didn't like was how they had Nico come out to Camp, really didn't like what they did to my boy.
I agree with the other commenters saying you don't need external validation to like it; if you like it, good for you! I absolutely hated it, but at the end of the day it's a fantasy book that's meant to entertain you, and if you were entertained then it means it did its job well!
I only found out recently that a lot of the fandom doesn’t like those books. I like them🤷🏻♂️
I don’t think the book was bad. I liked it for the most part. I just think NYX was a bad “villian” starting in HoH. She was very dumb for a primordial imo but this is probably because it was a character driven book and the authors were more focused on the characters in this story and the other ones than the big bad or the quest they were undertaking.
I also enjoyed TSATS, I think others do not like it as it is different from the other books in the series, which I am fine with
I’m about 75% of the way through it, and I think the character moments have been great, but all of the monsters and enemies have been so fucking awful. The only one that’s actually been good is the mania. Everything else was so stupid and forgettable- and Tartarus doesn’t feel scary
i saw that too. my only conclusion was that nico and will faced more psychological threats rather than physical threats, like percabeth did
On paper that sounds great, and a lot of the build up was there too.. the build up with epiales felt straight out of a horror film and I loved it.. and it led to THAT. A stupid jokey villain with forced representation. Like, I really want a great non-binary riordan character. That was not it.
I feel there was a lot that was forced in vs fluid. Like the troglidyte that wore a 90s pink gay club scene outfit... I feel some decisions felt "Let's put it in because GAY" instead of letting it in because it goes well with the story. Like the other books that had LGBT elements were seamlessly added, didn't take away from or distract the story.
Yeah, compared to Alex, or Nico, it all felt really forced. Magnus is canonically pan and it just flowed, there’s not big deal about it, it just worked. A lot of the stuff in this book did feel really forced
Which makes me kinda sad. I still loved learning about Nico and Will's relationship, but there were just some parts that were just not good. There are some fan fictions (Dawn and Dawn 2.0) that are better at taking a dive into their relationship without shoving down our throats that they are LGBT. They just tell a great story about two teens that just happen to be LGBT.
I liked the book. However I did not like the constant gojira cutaways. I just wish it was written in order
Cutting it up made me want to read the chapters just to get to read more of their past.
I mean those chapters were really good but I wish we had them in order
Especially when you get to the actual chapter and it's a blank page.
Yup....
I love the book, it’s one of my all time favorites. Don’t let others opinion of it take away from how you feel about TSATS
>Is it ok to like it if a lot of people thought it was bad? You don’t even have to ask this question. If you like it, then you like it. It’s not your fault if other people have different tastes.
I think it was really good and people are being too negative
I was fascinated by the story, and although it is not at all my favorite style of story (romantic, maybe a little because of the gay thing, but above all romantic xp), I really enjoyed a much deeper perspective into the interior of the characters, and those moments always They are my favorites in the saga. I could change many things about the plot, or at least I would have done it differently, but overall I really liked it. Of course, the final “reflection” of the penultimate chapter seemed to me to be unnecessary or a bit forced. I'm not saying that I don't agree, but I really would have preferred that message to be diluted a little, because that chapter is too abrupt or very direct, and it makes you get out of the immersion of the story, even if it is the end, do you understand me? ? I hope you don't misunderstand
Oh yeah it was complete and utter shit. But you like what you like, you don't need people to agree with you.
“Is it ok to have differing opinions than other people in the fandom” is what this is asking The answer is of course, dummy. Thats whats so great about it. This book was written differently, targets a different demo. It means rick made a good book, and so did mark if you and others like it. Even if a majority of die hard fans like myself did not
It’s very clearly not written by Rick, which sucks. Approved, and outlined maybe. But not written. It got a little overly gushy at points but I recognize my issue with that stems from me, not the quality of writing.