The Sun and the Star by Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro

3.5 Stars

I love the Percy Jackson world, and with the TV show currently airing, I am falling (no pun intended) right back into my PJO phase. So I figured, what would be a better time to read the Nico and Will standalone that has been sitting on my shelf for months than this?

And like most Rick Riordan books, I breezed through this in under 2 days. The writing style was a bit different as it is also co-written by Mark Oshiro, but overall didn't make too much of an impact on my reading experience. 

As for the story itself, I have a lot of thoughts, so bear with me. 

The overall plot itself…was kinda weak.

The threat of Nyx, who, despite being stated as being more powerful than Gaea, was underwhelming.

I feel like this book was mostly for the characters and their development, which is fine! But for a Percy Jackson book, I expected just a bit more plot, or at least more stakes. (Although I'm sure for standalones it must be much harder to do so I'm trying not to judge too harshly on that.)

The main conflict of the story seemed to be between Will and Nico and them becoming more secure in their relationship 

(as opposed to the literal goddess of darkness)

. They seemed to be annoyed at each other for the majority of the book. Their lack of trust within the relationship, and inability to see each others’ perspectives on a few things, added more to the conflict than 

Nyx 

for the majority of the book.

The real place this book shines is in its themes and in the development of the characters. 

The emphasis of taking care of one's mental health (especially for demigods who have been through so much), is something that really needs to be seen in more middle grade novels. 

Discussions of grief, depression, loneliness, guilt, shame, and the fear of change were all subjects that were touched on. The concept of processing grief was really a wonderful aspect of this book, as Nico, who had lost basically everyone who was important to him, was finally able to begin to work through these emotions, and learn to rely on others for support. 

The concept of change was an interesting aspect to the book that I really liked. Change is difficult for anybody, things like changes in environments and situations, the change in how you view yourself, how others view you, and the ability to make the conscious choice to change. And I think for a book that focuses around two queer characters it was a fitting topic. As the conversation with Piper at the end shows, sexuality and/or gender expression is fluid and can change as you grow and there is nothing wrong with that. It was a good way to end the story with this final acceptance of change not being a bad thing, but an opportunity to grow into yourself more fully depending on your stage in life. 

Since the book was focused around queer characters, the co-author, Mark Oshiro, was absolutely needed. As Riordan said on his website about the book: “It was really important to me that writing a book entirely from the perspective of two queer characters, I collaborated with a great queer author who could bring perspective, authenticity, and a different set of writing strengths to the project.”

When writing about experiences that are not your own you absolutely need to look to outside sources who do have that experience and/or knowledge. One thing I appreciate about Riordan’s growth as a writer is that despite his rough start with proper representation, he is very open to the fact that as he now includes new characters from a variety of backgrounds, sexualities, and genders, he reaches out to those who can help him portray these characters properly.  

I can't finish this review without including my one big critique of this book. Which is an issue with consistency which can be seen in other Percy Jackson books. 

In Son of Neptune, Bianca is said to have chosen to be reincarnated, which leads to Nico finding Haze and helping her leave the underworld. But in this book, during the last dream Nico has, she tells him that she is in Elysium. In this book the change allows for Nico to receive some type of closure. However, in regards to how that impacts the overarching story, it complicates it a lot. If Bianca never chose to be reincarnated, Nico would have tried to bring her back from the dead instead of Hazel as he claimed to have tried. I am confused on how this plot line could have slipped through the cracks, but in terms of how it affects this standalone, it's not too big of a deal. 

 

In conclusion, I did enjoy this! Going back into the world of demigods made me feel very nostalgic, and the book was fun for what it was. I wouldn't put it on my list of favourites, but overall I think it was a fun read with important messages. 

Nico Di Angelo and Will Solace. What a book. I’m emotionally destroyed. I’m in heaven. I’m in hell. I am so fucking thankful for this book - the justice finally given to Nico and his story. 

A beautiful nuanced look at darkness and light in relationships, literally.

Amazing 

People who became gay because they got really into Percy Jackson when they were younger we won.

Nico’s a fan favorite character for a reason. He’s the mysterious son of Hades with a tragic backstory and many tricks up his sleeve throughout both Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus. He’s also the first openly queer character in Rick Riordan’s books and the first time many PJO fans ever saw positive queer representation (myself included).

I’ve seen some people complaining that Nico was out of character in this, but I disagree. Despite being present throughout all three series before this, we mostly only saw him from other characters’ perspectives. He did get a POV in The Blood of Olympus, but that story wasn’t really focused on him.

This book dares to ask the bold question “how is Nico di Angelo?” It’s a look into his trauma specifically and him trying to cope with it. Nico’s arc had me sobbing towards the end! This book was to me the literary equivalent of therapy and did heal a little bit of something inside of me.

This also made me finally like Will Solace! I think I’m in the minority of PJO fans for taking this long to appreciate him. My reasoning is that he was essentially a glorified background character in the other books. So to me Solangelo had felt like just throwing Nico at the nearest presumably single boy we could project onto and have the fun little light/dark dichotomy with.

But now I like my boy! This book expanded on both his backstory and relationship to Nico. He has some of his own trauma he’s working through but processes things differently from his boyfriend. He starts TSATS wanting to help Nico, but is stumped on how to as he can’t fully understand Nico’s experience, which in his defense perhaps nobody could. I loved that this was a book about a queer couple that gets to have a realistically complicated relationship!

Overall, the character work in this was great! The plot and writing had some issues though. Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro’s writing styles don’t blend well and you can pretty easily pick out who wrote which scenes, though I didn’t dislike either writing style; it would occasionally take me out of the story. The antagonist was way too unserious, a situation where some of the typical Riordan jokes needed to be cut. The themes are handled mostly without subtlety. And I already critiqued this in my review for The Tower of Nero, but Riordan still relies too heavily on convenience to get his characters out of conflict.

Oh and where were Reyna and Hazel???? Why were they barely even mentioned???? They were the closest people to Nico in HoO!

I also have mixed feelings on the flashback scene where Nico asked Will out in regards to queer rep. Without spoiling, basically Nico and Will were pressured to come out. This is especially problematic given Nico was outed in The House of Hades. Can we just let that boy come out when he’s ready???? Hasn’t he been through enough????

Despite that scene, I view the queer rep in this (and Riordan’s books in general) as a net positive. And despite my other critiques, I did really love The Sun and the Star! It was cathartic to see a character that means so much to me finally begin to unpack the tragedy of his story.

BTW though it's not necessary, I'd recommend reading the Trials of Apollo series before this. Though Nico and Will only appear in the first and last books, there are some spoilers to ToA and you'll have a better understanding of Will, particularly his relationship to Apollo. Trials of Apollo is also just a really good series itself!

TWs: outing (Cupid when you catch these hands), PTSD, death, grief, some gore including injuries and blood, bugs.