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grav_ityOkay, so literally every time I start a new series of his, I'm always thinking "okay, how many more times am I going to buy into this?", because on the surface, they are things I shouldn't like: predominantly white male protagonists (with the exception of Carter and Sadie Kane, who are bi-racial).
And yet.
(I'll admit to not being a huge fan of the Magnus Chase series. But I feel like since it's an entirely new mythos, Riordan has more work to do then plunking down another series about the Greek/Roman demigods.)
Anyway, it turns out that The Hidden Oracle was almost entirely about a privileged white kid acknowledging his privilege, and accepting the consequences. It took a while to really get going, but once it did, I was super impressed by what Riordan was doing with the character.
Oh, and also he's SCREAMINGLY bisexual. On the page. MORE THAN ONCE.
(This book is MIDDLE GRADE. The target audience is TEN.)
More importantly, the main female character is an abused child. And since the book is narrated by Apollo, he is able to literally spell it out. Name it for abuse. Elaborate on what abuse looks like (in this case it's gas lighting, the sort where a parent-figure convinces the kid that 1. the parent is different when they're angry and 2. that it's the kid's fault for making them angry), and I just...it was really good.
Also the bad guys are still Romans, which always makes me feel better.
So yeah, they're not perfect. But, my heart, I love them. And I'll keep reading them. And telling other people to.
And yet.
(I'll admit to not being a huge fan of the Magnus Chase series. But I feel like since it's an entirely new mythos, Riordan has more work to do then plunking down another series about the Greek/Roman demigods.)
Anyway, it turns out that The Hidden Oracle was almost entirely about a privileged white kid acknowledging his privilege, and accepting the consequences. It took a while to really get going, but once it did, I was super impressed by what Riordan was doing with the character.
Oh, and also he's SCREAMINGLY bisexual. On the page. MORE THAN ONCE.
(This book is MIDDLE GRADE. The target audience is TEN.)
More importantly, the main female character is an abused child. And since the book is narrated by Apollo, he is able to literally spell it out. Name it for abuse. Elaborate on what abuse looks like (in this case it's gas lighting, the sort where a parent-figure convinces the kid that 1. the parent is different when they're angry and 2. that it's the kid's fault for making them angry), and I just...it was really good.
Also the bad guys are still Romans, which always makes me feel better.
So yeah, they're not perfect. But, my heart, I love them. And I'll keep reading them. And telling other people to.
no subject
Date: 2016-05-16 07:32 pm (UTC)I also very much appreciated the abuse being called what it was. (I mean, Nero. Seriously. Abusive is putting it mildly.)
no subject
Date: 2016-05-16 07:35 pm (UTC)Also, I cried when Apollo was outlining what Meg's abuse looked like. Some kid is going to read that and recognize it, because it's very plainly said. AND THEN THEY MIGHT GET HELP. I just...have a lot of feelings.