The Burning Maze by Rick Riordan

Amisha | Biotechnology High School, Grade 9

Rating: *****

In Rick Riordan's final series surrounding the Greek demigods at Camp Half-Blood, we meet the God Apollo in a new form. In Apollo’s opinion, this form is quite embarrassing since he was banished from Olympus by his father Zeus and sent to live on Earth as a mortal named Lester Papadopoulos. When Apollo realizes this banishment isn’t going to be taken lightly, he accepts that he will have to go through several trials to regain rights to being a God. In Riordan’s novel, The Burning Maze, each page will have you laughing and constantly worrying for Apollo’s fate!

From the very beginning of this novel, I was enticed by Apollo’s character and how that was portrayed when he was hindered posing as Lester Papadopoulos, who is a mere mortal with humane needs and living qualities. Apollo is faced with the fact that he can die and has to prove himself even though he may believe he doesn't need to given the fact that he has been a god for a few thousand years. Rick Riordan perfectly captures Apollo’s anguish and disappointment being Lester as well as developing his character greatly towards the end of the novel. I especially loved reading about the characters Riordan previously introduced to us through his other novels such as Chiron, Percy, Will, and Nico! It was so heartwarming to read about how they were doing after the events of The Heroes of Olympus Series. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the novel due to the amazing characters, especially Apollo who has a very charismatic and open personality!