A Journey to Achieve Peace

After the events of the last book The House of Hades, the ten heroes are divided into two groups. The first group was made up of the original demigods of the Argo II: Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Leo, Frank and Hazel. They are supposed to reach the Acropolis, that's where Gaea, the Earth Mother is supposed to awaken, and their goal is to stop it. The other group is made up of Nico, Reyna and Coach Hedge. Who together are attempting to get the Athena Parthenos statue back to Camp Half-Blood as a token of peace between Greeks and Romans, and hopefully stop Octavian from attacking Camp Half-Blood.
Jason, Annabeth and Piper infiltrate a gathering of spirits who are plotting something malicious. Jason manages to get information from the ghosts about a safe passage to the Acropolis. One of the ghosts recognized Jason and a fight breaks out. The heroes were winning the fight, when Jason was stabbed in the back. The sword was made of Imperial Gold which is poisonous to demigods. While injured Jason suggests they summon Juno. Juno appears but she cannot heal Jason, she suggests they find the goddess Nike on their journey around the Peloponnese.
The other group: Reyna, Nico and Coach Hedge appear over Italy by sadow-traveling and they crash land in Pompeii. They rest there and while sleeping,  Reyna has a vision of a hunter pursuing them and a Roman army outpost, set by Octavian to attack Camp Half-Blood. The next day they are unexpectedly attacked by rock monsters and they shadow-travel, escaping just in time.
The crew of the Argo II with Percy and Jason is planning their nest step, which is to find Nike. They send Percy, Leo, Frank and Hazel to find Nike in Olympia. They find a broken statue in a museum and after inspecting it, Nike appears. They try to convince Nike to come with them and that Gaea is the real enemy but she refuses. Nike proposes a fight to the death to win her honor. She summons four metal soldiers and gives them five minutes to prepare. The heroes make a plan and Leo provides everyone with gadgets. Percy and the other demigods win and they get information on were to go next from Nike. They need the poison of Pylos, the chained god's heartbeat in Sparta, and the curse of Delos.
Nico is having a vision of Camp Half-Blood and how it is doing everything to defend itself from the upcoming attack. They are nervous that the Athena Parthenos will not come in time. The last shadow jump leads them to Portugal. A flaming ghost beckons Nico and leads him to a temple made of human skulls. Nico's father, Hades, is waiting there. Hades informs Nico that the hunter following them is Orion and that they cannot defeat him, only outrun him.

His family included all the demigods who fought at his side, Roman and Greek, new friends and old. He wasn't going to let anyone break his family apart. (Riordan 45)

While these words were being thought by Jason, he was in a moment of self reflection after seeing the ghost of his mother. For the first time in a long time Jason finally felt "whole". In this sort of novel it is very common for young adults or teenagers to call their friends family. Jason, like every other of the heroes in this story, had parental issues and therefore not a stable family. Jason and, every other demigod in this story, considered his friends closer to them than their actual parents. Jason states that he know felt "whole" meaning that he was know comfortable with all of his friends, they had been through so much together that they were inseparable and they cared a lot about each other. Young adult novels often use this time of relationship between friends because the main characters in these novels usually has a difficult relationship with his/her family. Making the characters less reliant on their parents makes them more independent, making the characters strong and showing teenagers that they will soon have to solve problems on their own.

I can't die, [Jason] told himself. My friends are depending on me. (Riordan 50)

Being the son of Jupiter, Jason has always believed that his friends have depended on him as a leader, much like Percy. Jason thinks of his friends first instead of in himself because he cannot bear the thought of letting them down. Jason has been abandoned before and since he thinks that his friends are dependent of him, he will not leave or abandon them. Jason does not want his finds to feel the same way as he did. Jason, as one of the leaders, has to always show that he is still strong. A leader has to always worry about the morale of the people under him. If something would have happened to Jason the whole quest would have been in jeopardy and he cannot afford that.




I like the way leadership, true leadership, plays a role in this story. Both Jason and Percy don't believe in giving orders to their friends but to help them through their troubles and facing hardships by their side. They both believe in helping their friends carry the weight of their quest instead of just telling them how to deal with it.