The Lost Hero

The Lost Hero is the first book in The Heroes of Olympus, written by Rick Riordan, who is also the author of the internationally famous Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Unlike the books in the previous series, The Lost Hero is written in alternate third person points-of-view of Jason, Piper, and Leo.

Origins and development
Riordan began writing a second series after realizing how many Greek and Roman myths he hadn't been able to explore and twist into tales for modern-day readers in the first series. After creating the storyline, Riordan created three new main characters, Jason Grace, Piper McLean and Leo Valdez, but kept the previous main characters, Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood as secondary/main supporting characters. The narrative is told from the three main characters Jason Grace, Piper McLean and Leo Valdez's perspectives. Although initially nervous Riordan later found that most fans enjoyed the new format which allowed them to learn more of each character.

Riordan set the book two seasons after the events of The Last Olympian (during the winter) so that previous characters could be involved and so readers wouldn't be confused. He says that it was his way of letting his readers "revisit that world in a fresh twist, but also to catch up with Percy, Annabeth, and the rest of the gang from the first series."

He also decided to add in the Roman gods after many readers requested for Riordan to write a new series on them, who were actually just the Greek gods with Roman names and slightly different personalities. After such requests, he began to think how the Roman aspect of the gods would be after moving from Greece to America. After a while, "playing with that idea gave me the idea for the new series."

The Grand Canyon
Jason wakes up with no memory while on a bus from the Wilderness School, a boarding school for delinquent kids with Piper who claims to be his girlfriend and Leo who claims to be his best friend respectively. While on a trip to the Grand Canyon, a storm appears, and one member of the class, Dylan, transforms into an Anemoi Thuellai (or Venti) or in other words, storm spirits, in the English language. Jason later takes a Roman coin out of his pocket, Ivlivs, that turns into a sword or a lance (depending on which side he flips it to) and saves a falling Piper with his abilities over the winds. Meanwhile, Coach Gleeson Hedge, a satyr (or faun, as Jason calls him) who was assigned to protect the demigod students, saves Leo, but is kidnapped by Dylan after retreating to his 'mistress'. Two demigods, Annabeth Chase, a daughter of Athena, and Butch, a son of Iris, who are looking for Percy Jackson, who has been missing for three days, and collect the demigods on a Pegasi-ridden chariot, to take them to Camp Half-Blood. After they crash in the lake, Leo is almost immediately claimed by Hephaestus, god of fire and forges, then Piper and Leo are taken on a tour of camp while Jason is taken to see Chiron by Drew, the bossy and rude counselor of the Aphrodite cabin.

At Camp Half-Blood
In Hera's cabin, Piper is introduced to Rachel Elizabeth Dare, the Oracle. Then Hera appears to her by possessing Rachel, asking Piper to free her. After her vision, Piper blacks out. Meanwhile, Leo is taken to Cabin 9 (the Hephaestus cabin) which had been cursed since Beckendorf's death. None of their machines are working and the Bronze Dragon that someone made long ago went haywire and is hiding in the forest, destroying everything in its path, disrupting campers and eating satyrs. Leo learns that his ability to manipulate fire, which is a rare trait among Hephaestus's children and a dangerous ability due to it normally bringing destruction to the area around them (like Thomas Faynor, who started the Great Fire of London in 1666). Leo is shocked at this, as he accidentally used his fire powers during his childhood and killed his mother, being provoked by Gaea. Jason is accompanied by Drew, the tyrannic counselor of Aphrodite, to Chiron, who is puzzled at Jason being at the camp, saying, "You should be dead." Jason has a vision of Juno (Hera's Roman form) asking him for assistance, and he learns from Clovis, a sleepy child of Hypnos, that his memories were actually stolen by Juno. Jason walks into the his cabin and finds a few photos. These trigger his memory enough for him to learn his last name and the name of his older sister, Thalia Grace.

A Quest is Given
That night at the campfire, Jason proves himself to be a son of Zeus by flipping his coin into a lance and shooting a bolt of lightning from it, (though he initially calls him Jupiter) and accepts a quest to save and release Hera by the winter solstice in four days. A month earlier, Olympus was closed by Zeus and none of the gods were making contact with anyone. Rachel issued a new prophecy that demands the need for a child of Hephaestus and Aphrodite to free Hera. Leo volunteers and, shortly afterward, is able to obtain air transportation (since Rachel's prophecy warned them to "beware the earth") in the form of the fixed mechanical haywire dragon, who he names Festus the Dragon (which means Happy in Latin). Leo equips a pair of found wings on him in an underground workshop called Bunker 9 that Festus shows him. Drew also volunteers to go on the quest as well, but Piper intervenes. She asks Jason to let her go but she couldn't since a child of Aphrodite must go. Piper is then claimed by Aphrodite (through a new set of clothing and make-up), proving that she can now venture on this quest.

Talk with Boreas, At Detroit, and Medea's Shopping Mall
The next day, the trio leaves for Quebec, Canada to see Boreas, the North Wind, and try to figure out where to find Aeolus, master of the winds, and track down the anemoi and make them tell where Hera is imprisoned. They make it to Boreas' penthouse. Leo crushes on Boreas' daughter Khione, goddess of snow, who turns out to have a very cold heart-figuratively and literally. Boreas's sons do not let Leo go in the throne room as he can summon fire. As Jason and Piper meet Boreas, Jason's mysterious tattoo makes Boreas to turn into his Roman form of Aquilon and allows them to leave for Chicago, where they will find their next lead. They are detoured when three Hyperborean Cyclopes capture Jason and Piper in a car plant in Detroit. Leo is able to save them using his fire powers after being contacted by a sleeping woman in the earth, who is the real reason for his mother's death. After this, they follow a group of wind spirits who are sucked down a sewer, they decide to follow them and Leo sends Festus off telling him to listen for a safety whistle (which he summoned from his tool belt) and not to barbecue people. While camping in the sewers, Leo talks about his fire abilities saying that it is a curse but Jason says that its a gift. After getting some sleep, they explore the sewer and find a elevator with a map on the side. They followed the elevator to a shopping mall owned by the Princess of Colchis (who is revealed to be the witch, Medea, is the same in the myths), who nearly persuades Jason and Leo into killing each other using Charmspeaking, but were stopped by Piper who helped free them by countering Medea's influence over the boys. Medea in retaliation sets free two Sun Dragons (gifts from her grandfather Helios), which are easily defeated by Festus, and they escape after rescuing Coach Hedge from her. Later, while flying, Festus malfunctions and is shot out of the sky by lasers. So they crash-land in the yard of a huge mansion that happens to belong to King Midas, the king who could turn stuff to gold. He turns Piper and Leo to gold, leaving Jason to fight and eventually defeat him.

Meeting with the Hunters
While resting in a mountain cave after returning Leo and Piper from being gold, the group is attacked by Lycaon and his group of werewolves, before being saved by the Hunters led by Thalia, who is Jason's sister. She explains that their mother was visited by Zeus twice and she gave Jason up to Hera at age two, shortly before Thalia ran away and their mother died while drinking and driving. Thalia leads them to Aeolus' palace. They get separated when Leo accidentally begins to melt the ice bridge. Thalia tells them that the Hunters will go to the wolf house and hold it while they rescue Piper's dad from the giant. She also says that Jason already knows where it is and that they'll meet again soon.

Aeolus and the Real Enemy
They go up the mountain and are escorted by Mellie, an aura, assistant of Aeolus. When finally meeting Aeolus, he turns out to be a constantly changing weather reporter-type figure and says he knows Jason from before. Though Aeolus stops the order to kill demigods (he explains he was "just cranky") and the children's parents tell him to reveal the location of Enceladus at Mount Diablo, he gets a call from an anonymous source that tells him to kill them. Mellie and Jason are just able to save themselves with their wind powers and are transported to San Francisco thanks to Aphrodite, who tells Piper in a dream of their true enemy - Gaea, the Greek personification of Earth.

Mount Diablo
They get to Mount Diablo, and Jason, Leo, and Coach Hedge try to distract Enceladus while Piper frees her dad. The giant summons Earthborn to kill them but they are defeated by Leo and Piper. Jason fights Enceladus, having his lance destroyed in the process and unleashing an explosion that creates a large crater. Jason then prays for assistance from his father, and Zeus's lightning bolt transfers through Jason into the giant, who falls into the crevice it creates, for the only way to kill a giant is for a god and a hero to kill it together.

At the Wolf House
The group gets a helicopter (thanks to Piper's ability to charmspeak), and Hedge takes Piper's father to safety as the demigods travel to the Wolf House, otherwise known as Jack London's home. The group crash-lands and joins the Hunters. They find Hera in a cage made from the earth with the giant Porphyrion using her power to reform himself. Khione, the goddess of snow, comes and reveals herself to be the reason for the giant's power and Gaea's rising by manipulating the god's thoughts. She also freezes Thalia Grace. Leo fights her, even though he thought she was pretty, and Jason goes one-on-one with the awakened Porphyrion as Piper forces Hera's cage to sleep and Leo tries to break it in its weakened state. Jason manages to distract Porphyrion enough for Hera to be released and show her divine form, which Jason accidentally looks at. He is knocked unconscious and he apparently dies, but Piper is able to save him with charmspeak, and Hera brings them back to Camp Half-Blood.

Aphrodite, Counselor Change, and Bunker 9
After the quest, Piper forces Drew to step down from her position as Aphrodite counselor by challenging her to a duel, but Drew backs down. Piper and Jason share a moment before going to Leo, who reveals the entrance to Bunker 9 and his fire ability to Chiron, and the Hephaestus' cabin, making him the head counselor and also breaking their curse. Chiron tells them that a map in the Bunker was made during the Civil War, which had another side to it as being the battle between two different demigod groups and causing the gods to separate them as much as they could. Leo shows them blueprints and a drawing he did as a child for an aerial warship, with Festus' head as the masthead, and Leo names the ship Argo II. They make plans to travel to the original Mount Olympus in Greece in the summer to protect the gods' "roots" and stop Gaea.

Visit from Juno and Camp Counselor Meeting
While in Cabin One, Jason is visited by Juno, Hera's Roman form, who promises she is watching over him as his patron and gives him a new gladius to replace his old weapon before Piper comes to bring him to the council of cabin leaders. Jason reveals that both Greek and Roman demigods were never aware of each other because they always both hated, but respected one another. He also tells them he was a leader of his camp and helped in the second Titan War by destroying Mount Othrys and defeating the Titan Krios single handedly. They decide to find the Roman camp in San Francisco, and Annabeth wishes to come with them, as they reveal Percy Jackson, as the war leader of Camp Half-Blood, was traded with Jason to the Roman camp, and probably has no idea who he is.

Prophecy
Child of lightning, beware the earth, 

The giants' revenge the seven shall birth.

The forge and dove shall break the cage, 

And death unleash through Hera's rage.

Unraveling of the Prophecy

 * Jason, a child of Jupiter, has to beware of the awakening of Gaea, the Earth.
 * The Giants rise to defeat the Olympians and cause the appearance of the seven heroes of the Great Prophecy.
 * Leo and Piper, children of Hephaestus and Aphrodite respectively, break the cage Hera is trapped in.
 * Hera goes into her Divine Form and kills all the monsters except Porphyrion and almost kills Jason, but he is revived, after being charmspoken by Piper to return to life.

Chapter List
There are no chapter titles. Each chapter has a name of one of the main characters and is written in Roman Numerals. There are 56 chapters going alternately in the order of Jason, Piper then Leo. Each characters gets two chapters before it shifts to another character.

Main Characters

 * Jason Grace: A 15 year-old son of Jupiter who lost his memory, he's also the younger brother of Thalia Grace. He comes from Camp Jupiter and is one of the leaders on camp, called a Praetor (Much like Percy at the Greek camp). He has a golden coin with Julius Caesar's face on one side a battle axe on the other that turns into a lance, or a double-edged sword made of Imperial Gold depending on the flip. He can survive lightning that would kill twenty men though his shoe is blasted to bits when it happens (The original Jason lost a sandal, and found the Golden Fleece). He can also manipulate air. Jason saw a friend being bullied and took an instant dislike to the bullies, though he couldn't remember them. Jason jumped off the Grand Canyon to save Piper, showing his courage and loyalty to his friends. He and Percy seem to share this fatal flaw (personal loyalty). He is the champion of Juno (Hera) and has tattoos on his arm showing the letters SPQR (Senatus Populusque Romanus), an eagle, and twelve lines (His tattoos represent his time at camp and godly parent like how Camp Half Blood gives out beads when you survive a summer). His golden coin was destroyed by Enceladus. When it was destroyed, Hera gave Jason a new gladius. He is the title character for The Lost Hero.


 * Leo Valdez: He's Jason's best friend and a son of Hephaestus and is very mischievous. He also likes to build things and is constantly busy with tools. Leo is a fire user; the first in hundreds of years. He is fireproof as well, fire can't hurt him. This is a very rare ability because very few children of Hephaestus have the power, and it is also very dangerous. The last fire user burned down London. Leo uses humor to compensate for the immense pain he feels from his past. His mother was killed in a workshop fire when he was young, and Leo blames himself for it. He also has had interactions with Hera and the "Dirt Woman" in his past. He becomes leader of the Hephaestus cabin after his quest. He shows attachments to all his creations, mostly his dragon Festus. He also discovers Bunker 9, where the Hephaestus children worked on inventions during the American Civil war.


 * Piper McLean: She's Jason's demigod crush, and a daughter of Aphrodite who can charmspeak, a very rare talent that is used to charm most people into doing anything. She was sent to Wilderness School because she unintentionally charmspoke a car dealer into giving her a BMW for free. She also becomes the head of her cabin after challenging Drew (who can also charmspeak), the current leader and Drew backs down from the duel. Her dad is a movie star, Tristan McLean, which she keeps secret because she doesn't want the attention, until she blurts it out to the Aphrodite cabin after being bullied by Drew (who doesn't believe her). She and Leo are fooled by the Mist before they discover Camp Half-Blood.


 * Gleeson Hedge: He's a satyr posing as a middle school P.E. coach who was assigned to protect Leo and Piper. He sees through the Mist when Jason shows up on a school bus. Once Jason is attacked, however, Gleeson decides to protect him. Previously, he tried to defend a park in Toronto from a giant evil badger. He is the only one who wasn't fooled by Jason's Mist. He was earlier mentioned in The Last Olympian by one of the letters sent to Grover. He is later found in Medea's department store captured with a bunch of storm spirits. He accompanies them for the rest of the story and later starts working for Piper's dad. Also he can be a bit overprotective at some times and irrational, jumping into battle without thinking.

Minor Characters

 * Thalia Grace: Jason's long lost full sister- meaning they have the same father and mother. Thalia's father is Zeus (Greek aspect), and Jason's father is Jupiter (Roman aspect). Same father, different aspects, Greek and Roman. She was mentioned in Chapter XIV (in the end) where Jason says his last name is Grace after he finds a picture of Thalia. In chapters XXXIV (in the end) and XXXV she is mentioned where she saves Jason's and his friends life from Lycaon and his Wolves and she finds Jason. When Leo first sees her, he thinks she is extremely beautiful. She was frozen by Khione- goddess of snow. Fortunately, when Hera revealed her divine form, Thalia and the other Hunters were unfrozen.
 * Hera: When Jason was 2 years old, he was given to her to be her champion, by Jason's mother (Mrs.Grace). Captured by Gaea to be used to feed the giants return, she was the one who stole both Jason's and most likely Percy Jackson's memory. When Jason's magic coin broke, she gave him a new sword.
 * Clovis: He is a son of Hypnos and the head of Cabin Fifteen. He is described as 'looking like a baby cow, with a tuft of blond hair on his head and with arms that looked like they hadn't lifted anything heavier than a pillow'. Clovis is the one who confirms that Jason's memories were stolen, specifically by Hera/Juno, and is partly a reason for Jason's, Piper's and Leo's quest. Clovis, being the son of the god of sleep, is able to manipulate dreams and see things in his dreams. He can also wipe people's memories away and bring them back, and carries an aura with him that causes people to drop to the ground, deep in sleep. Once he used this power on Annabeth and Jason.
 * Dylan: He is a cruel boy with blinding white teeth. He transforms into an Anemoi Thuelli, also known as a Venti in Roman mythology. He is a storm demon (a son of Typhon) or a storm spirit and tries to kill Jason, Piper, and Leo. He summons two other storm demons, but Jason slays them. Gleeson Hedge protects the kids, but is captured by the storm spirits. Dylan says that his "mistress" will destroy all demigods. Later in the story, his mistress is to be revealed as Medea
 * Butch: He arrives with Annabeth on a chariot pulled by a pair of pegasi. There is a rainbow tattoo on his arm, as he is a son of Iris, goddess of the rainbow. Leo makes fun of his love for rainbows and Pegasi, the quote is, "Rainbows, Ponies...", but stops when Butch threatens to knock him off the chariot.
 * Annabeth Chase: A 16 year-old daughter of Athena (a main character from the previous series). Annabeth arrives in a flying chariot with a demigod named Butch, on account of the dream Hera sent her, telling her to go there and find someone with one shoe in order to find her boyfriend, Percy Jackson, who has been missing for three days.
 * Percy Jackson: Son of Poseidon (the main character of the previous series). He has been missing for three days. Percy was sent to the Roman Camp by Hera, just as Jason had been sent to the Greek camp (the exchange of leaders).
 * Drew: Drew is a daughter of Aphrodite at Camp Half-blood. She can also charmspeak. She seems to dislike Piper very much, and have feelings for Jason. She was the leader of the Aphrodite's Cabin at the beginning of the book before she stepped down to Piper. She is known as a tyrant of the Aphrodite cabin.
 * Tía Callida: Leo's childhood babysitter. Tía Callida is Hera in disguise. When she babysat Leo, she put him in the chimney and set it on fire and many others situations that could've killed Leo. But Callida claimed that she was only 'practicing' his powers or capabilities. When Leo's mother was alive she kept calling Leo her little hero.

Trivia

 * The cover depicts Jason, Leo, and Piper flying away with Festus from Boreas' palace, yet Piper is still wearing her outfit from Aphrodite despite taking it off before they went on the quest.
 * This book's cover is currently the only one without Percy on it.