Oh, hello Percy Jackson! There you are! Welcome back to your story, already in progress.

You see, folks, after a pentalogy aptly entitled The Percy Jackson Series, in which young Perseus, demigod son of Poseidon and all around unlikely/reluctant hero type, starred as a mover and a shaker in the ongoing struggle of the ancient Greek gods to defend their eternal lives from some understandably put out Titans whom they had long ago defeated, the follow up series, entitled simply Heroes of Olympus, kicked off with the story of one Jason Grace, as the eponymous protagonist of The Lost Hero.

Oh, Percy was there in the periphery, as his friends and colleagues -- and one very worried girlfriend -- fretted over his sudden and unexplained disappearance, mere weeks before Jason arrived on the scene. Jason, who referred to the demigods of Camp Half Blood’s parents by their Roman names. Jason, who wielded a sword made, not of Celestial Gold but Imperial Bronze. Jason, who had no memory of his former life and who was wearing a purple shirt.

Then again, the title of the last book could just as possibly have been referring to Percy, also lost, and whom we now discover here just as he makes his way to the plot. Percy’s been on the run from monsters for months now, weary and ragged and still wearing his orange shirt but suffering from amnesia about almost every detail of his life, except for flashes of memory about a girlfriend, Annabeth. But some invisible, primal force has driven him to come to this very spot where he encounters a puckish goddess masquerading as a homeless woman, and whom the very-heroic-indeed Percy saves from what he believes to be certain death.

And then: hey, it’s Rome!

Much like his own Camp Half Blood, where the illegitimate kids of Greek gods are sent to train and stay safe (ish) from the various malevolent forces seemingly always arrayed against them (clad in orange), Percy finds himself in a hitherto unseen camp full of the Roman gods’ offspring: Camp Jupiter; signature color: purple. Despite being an amnesiac and referred to disdainfully as “graecus” by the camp’s resident ghosts (yes, it is a little Hogwarts, isn’t it?), the fact that he was first accepted by a she-wolf named Lupa and then commended to their care by the Queen of the Gods, Juno, means that the testy, suspicious Romans must accept this son of Neptune into their midst. After making almost immediate friends with the camp’s outcasts, Percy is all too soon on yet another quest (all he does in go on quests, you know; it must be so tiresome for him) to stop a giant son of the series’ Big Bad, Gaia -- yes, Mother Earth is the Big Bad in this series; good luck, Heroes! -- and it’s all just non-stop wackiness from go to woah.

Did I enjoy this book? Oh, absolutely! I loved the clever references to the previous novels, the fun new characters in Percy’s Roman BFFs -- Hazel and Frank, if you please -- and the burgeoning battle with Gaia, who really is very cross with us all, I’ll have you know. Also, gosh it was nice to see Percy again! Odd as it is to say, I missed him quite extraordinarily in the last outing; imagine Order of the Phoenix without Harry, or The Arctic Incident without Artemis. They may still have been good, but they wouldn’t have been right.

The problems I had with The Son of Neptune are the same issues I have with all of the Percy-related books; to wit, the suddenness of the quests on which our heroes must depart and the immediacy of that book’s most looming threat, which often seems forced. Oh, hi Percy, welcome to our camp! Damn, would you look at that? There is a big battle headed our way ONE WEEK FROM NOW and only you can save us! Now, quickly, young man! Head off into the wilds of Alaska without adult supervision! It’s the only way!

The other problem I have with this book, and indeed series, is the whimsical insanity of the gods our heroes serve, but considering the manner in which this pantheon of deities has been portrayed in the ancient writings from whence comes our knowledge of both Roman and Greek mythology, one could certainly suggest that their unreasonable demands and reliance on the cryptic is in perfect keeping with the historical record.

And really, whatever my petty criticisms, I think the fact that when the third book of this series, The Mark of Athena, releases in fall of 2012 I will be first in line for it -- yes, even the point of elbowing some excited eight-year old out of the way, if I have to -- says it all really.

So, yes, welcome back, Percy! Don’t be gone too long!

   -- Rachel Hyland