Fans of the long-running, bestselling series (plural) by Rick Riordan will be thrilled by this volume, which focuses on Nico di Angelo, the son of Hades, and his boyfriend Will Solace, son of Apollo. Several other books in the series have included Nico and touched on his sexuality; this is the first to center his story. In keeping with Riordan’s commitment to let writers from other cultures tell their own stories, however, he has teamed up with Mark Oshiro, a queer author, as co-author, to take readers back to Camp Half-Blood and into the depths of Tartarus.
Nico has been hearing a voice calling out to him from Tartarus, the lowest part of the Underworld. He thinks the voice is from a reformed Titan named Bob, whom Percy and Annabeth had to leave behind when they escaped Hades’s realm. Nico’s dreams and the latest prophecy from Rachel Dare, the Oracle of Delphi, make Nico think that Bob is in trouble. He wants to go help, despite the objections of Camp Half-Blood directors Chiron and Mr. D (Dionysus).
Will won’t let Nico go alone. Their relationship anchors the story, as the authors show how brooding, grumpy Nico and bright, optimistic Will must work across their differences to support each other during the stressful journey. But when the prophecy says that Nico will have to “leave something of equal value behind,” does this mean Will? (At the risk of spoilers, I’ll just say that the book happily doesn’t fall into the “kill your gays” trope.)
While LGBTQ-inclusive middle-grade books have been plentiful in recent years, it is still significant to have a blockbuster series with mainstream popularity center the story of queer teens in love. Queer teens will feel seen—and perhaps their non-queer classmates will be motivated to read a book with queer protagonists, which they (unfortunately) might not do otherwise. The book may thus open windows and build bridges—useful both in the Underworld and in our world above.
