Apollo's Harp, co-written by Books_4_ever1234 and myself, tells the stories of five friends who finally get the chance to be the heros. Set after the events of the famous series' Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heros of Olympus, this story follows the adventures of five demigods who are given the task of retrieving Apollo's harp, a powerful weapon that has fallen into the hands of an even more powerful goddess. Though all of the events recounted are fictional, two of the main female characters are based around the book's authors. As the characters face their struggles and past mistakes, people will learn along with them that anyone can be their own hero.
The book changes point of view each chapter. We see the first chapter and beginning of our story in Angela Rin's point of view, as she wakes up in the camp infirmary after having been unconscious for four days. Becca Morgan is there when she wakes up and takes her on a tour of what she calls her second home, Camp Half-Blood. Becca explains that Camp Half-Blood is the only safe place for demigods, people who are the children of a god or goddess and a mortal. We are introduced to old faces through Angela's eyes, and it's sure to bring a smile to the face of anyone who has read the beloved series' aforementioned. Later that same day Angela and new boy Alexander are claimed. As she finds out that she is the daughter of Hades, and he the son Zeus, both struggle to come to terms with the fact that their lives will never be the same.
When the camp leader, Chiron, learns that Eris, goddess of strife and discord and daughter of Nyx, primordial goddess of the night, has stolen Apollo's harp, a magical weapon with both powers of healing and mass destruction, he realizes that something their oracle prophesied may soon be coming to pass. He enlists the help of Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, two familiar faces, in choosing the five demigods that will go on the quest to retrieve the harp.
Their quest takes them away from Camp Half-Blood and into the mortal world, where monsters are everywhere and the protection that the camp provides is nowhere to be found. Within an hour of their arrival in the heart of New York City, they are attacked by monsters and forced to steal a car to escape.
Throughout their adventures, they go to many places; Camp Half-Blood is located in Long Island Sound in New York; Angela accidently shadow travels the group to her old home Pennsylvania in an attempt to escape a monster; The goddess Hecate directs them to Becca's hometown of Killeen, Texas; They group is told that the harp is located in the top of the capitol building in Austin, Texas; Apollo transports Angela and Caden as far as he can, to Spain, telling them that they will find the antidote to Caden's illness in Greece; Angela shadow travels Caden, their new friend Zoey Demo and herself to Romania; After having her half brother Nico travel Caden and Zoey back to camp, Angela goes to Greece, where she acquires the antidote for Caden.
The demigods chosen are a strange bunch. As the book progresses, it's clear to see that the characters problems are similar to ones that people all around us struggle with. Angela Rin, the daughter of Hades, was homeless for three years after her adoptive family died. Daughter of Athena Becca Morgan's father is deployed with the military and doesn't know when he's going to come home. Alexander Robinson, the only known living son of Zeus, has no memory of his mother, as she died when he was an infant. Caden Lee, son of Hermes, has a magical terminal illness, one that means he only has five years to live. Each of the demigods have been beaten and battered, but that doesn't mean that they don't have strengths as well.
Not all of the problems the group faces are something mortals will have to deal with. Infact, their more prioritized issues are godly in some way. Becca struggles to come to terms with the fact that she is apart of both the mortal and godly world, but misses both horribly when in the other. Alexander must learn to control his newfound powers, something that is emotionally exhausting for him and the people around him. Caden's illness has been sped up, meaning that if he doesn't find treatment in a timely matter, he might die. Angela doesn't really know where she fits in in the demigod world, feeling as though everyone has their place and that there is not room for her. Layla James, Caden's unfaithful girlfriend, juggles the weight and guilt of being with one guy while loving another, on top of the prejudices set against her as a child of Aphrodite.
As the characters face mortal adversities and one-eyed monsters alike, that fact that anyone can take on anything, no matter how small they feel, is evident through every chapter of the book. Readers may particularly enjoy the insight we get into the author's lives and personalities throughout the character's progression, as many of the characters are based off of people close to the authors. The characters are not perfect, and they acknowledge that, admitting that they are important in different ways. Each character is important in completing their quest, and each one brings a different skill to the table. Though the book is the first in an unfinished series, it sets up a not-so-perfect situation in a not-so-perfect world, focused around not-so-perfect characters who learn more about themselves and the growing world around them as they are thrust into the depths of it.
