Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4531192-20141008075409/@comment-4515675-20141022203107

Maysie66 wrote: Himeyuka wrote: SayuriDarling wrote: Himeyuka, I would just like to say I greatly missed your essay long rants. It's been too long, lol. LOL yes I have quite a reputation haha. But you know, I'm disappointed about being disappointed. This was the last book and I was expecting so much more? Reyna and Nico's chapters were great and Piper finally got some well deserved character development, but there were many fillers in Leo and Jason's chapters that could have easily been replaced with PoVs from the other characters.

Also, I'm pretty pissed that Percy was made to look like an idiot in this book and his major role taken away from him. Like RR said in a recent interview that he didn't write the whole fatal flaw scene because Percy is too popular? And it would have taken away from the other characters? Even though Leo has the most book time in this whole series and had a PoV in four of the five books? Also, whose fault is it that Percy and Annabeth are so popular? You can't bring them back from the previous series, give them major roles and in the last book just push them to the side and complain how ppl like them too much. I'm sorry you couldn't write Piper and Jason as appealing characters? I'm sorry you didn't think of adding Reyna and Nico to the seven from the start? I'm sorry that the one character that ppl liked from the new trio you decided to butcher in the last book and make him look like a douche?

A lot of build up for many plots that turned into dust, a lot of focus on romantic relationships while family and friendship is pushed to the side and yet he thinks the fandom is to blame because they love Percy too much? Yes we love Percy but he's the one that pushed him in the spotlight from the very beginning and now he's angry that we don't like the new characters just as much? Oh wow. Also, what's his excuse for not adding Frank and Hazel? Frank has literally half the book time Leo has. Is he going to tell me that while Percy and Annbaeth are too popular, Frank and Hazel aren't so popular and the fans might not have enjoyed their PoVs? Because it looks to me like he's just coming up with excuses. Wow - I was going to write a post, but I don't have to because you've written exactly what I would have wrote. To be honest, I'm not even done with the book. I'm struggling to finish it because I'm so disappointed in it, and I'm finding it boring and repetitive. Yes, I admit - Percy is my favorite character and I'm incredibly disappointed in how he was portrayed here. He couldn't do anything right - he was made to look like an idiot. And really, a nosebleed? His nosebleed woke up Gaea? How ridiculous. To make matters worse, Leo was never my favorite, and in this book, I liked him even less for all the reasons that you mentioned.

The other thing that annoyed me was how the other characters thought about Percy in this book. Leo resented him, Piper was frightened of him, Jason thought he'd make things worse, and Nico - really? He "resented him" he "thought he was juvenile" (even though he could be serious sometimes too), and in the end he kind of talked down to him with a dismissive - "you're cute, but you're not my type" (yea, I skipped ahead and read some key parts). So, he went from being "the most powerful demigod I ever met", to some cute, juvenile, clown.

And the giant fight? Percy, "the most powerful demigod" gets captured and whacked away, and Piper - with few previous fighting skills, comes flying off the scafolding, hits what's his face right in the forehead with her knife, and takes on two additional giants, while Percy just lays there, and Annabeth runs with a cut on her leg. Seriously? And I'm not even going to mention the Polybotes fight - yeah, just what we all wanted, Jason defeating Percy's arch enemy after a three book build-up.

I understand RR wanted folks to like the others. Sidelining beloved characters and making them look incompetent and powerless is not the way to do it. I realize he said HoH was the Percy and Annabeth book - but I don't buy that either. Yes, we got to traverse Tarturus with them, but the other 7 had a big part in that book as well. They all had POV's and they were portrayed as heroic and competent. In BoO, I was happy to get a Nico point of view, but honestly, even though she was pretty awesome, I don't know why Reyna, who was kind of a minor character throughout the series, and not one of the 7, got her own POV at the expense of Percy and/or Annabeth. I know I haven't mentioned Hazel and Frank, I like them too, but I missed the other two more. And at least they weren't portrayed as being weak and not needed.

Finally - I too have to mention "Storm". I don't know why the characters in the book automatically assumed that to be Jason. Percy has been portrayed as making more storms than Jason. And even in real life - sea storms are more powerful and destructive than any storms out there.

(and for people who say - Percy had the whole PJO series to himself.  Well, of course he did.  The other characters didn't even exist then!)

I guess I have a rant in me too - and did have to write a post after all.

The only thing I have to disagree with this is the Reyna part. Two points that I have to add:

1) Reyna being a minor character has little to do with the major role she was given. It's a classical move in literature to bring forward characters, that didn't shine before, into the spotlight. Readers are usually thrilled when that happens because it gets tiresome to always see the focus on the main cast. Not only that but Reyna and Nico's chapters saved the book for the majority of us. I don't even want to imagine what I'd think of BoO if it wasn't for those two PoVs. Her storing was thrilling, action packed and reminded me why I fell in love with PJO. Something that I can't say for Leo, Jason and some of Piper's chapters.

2) She didn't take away from anyone. You can't have a character that only has 100 pages in five books take the spotlight from one that has over 400. Leo took away the spotlight. It wasn't Reyna that had the major fight with Gaea, it wasn't Reyna that had 470 pages and four PoVs in five books, it wasn't Reyna that had filler arcs that could have easily not be written or replaced by someone else. Leo might be part of the seven but that's the problem, he's NOT the only one, yet he gets the most book time? He could easily be considered the main character of HoO with all the attention he's been given. He has more book time than even Percy and let's not even talk about Frank that has half the number of pages Leo has. This series is called Heroes of Olympus not Leo's adventures to finding a girlfriend. The fact that RR played favorites with him in such a way should anger us more than Reyna that had a PoV for just one book and yet managed to have 10x more character growth than most of the seven.