Review of The Tyrant’s Tomb from the Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan

Whenever I think that Rick Riordan can’t surprise anymore, he proves me wrong. The Trials of Apollo have been one of my favorite series since it came out, not only for the arch Riordan puts Apollo through but also for the plot holes he fixes that none of us had really thought about, also the diversity is always nice.

The Tyrant’s tomb is action-packed and events are happening one after another, but there are still some quiet chapters where we get to see nice moments between our characters.

Apollo has suffered a lot lately, not only was he taken down more than once and no one really wants him around, but he has to come to terms with the fact he was not the nicest god, this book doesn’t change that. People still tell him how much of an ass he was for doing certain things, but they also show him that they care, which he has gotten very little off lately. I especially love the conclusions Apollo comes to in this book about who he is and who he must be, as well as who and what matters to him. It is nice to see him gain confidence and power in who he is, not just as Apollo, but as Lester.

The plot is not that different from the past books, Apollo did something to someone and they are here for revenge, but this time Apollo is confronted with the fact that he didn’t just hurt the emperors or some enemy, he went after everybody without pity.

We get to see some characters for HOO, like Frank, Hazel, and Reyna, and discover how they’re lives will move on from now on, as adults and heroes. As someone who grew up with these characters, it is nice to see them catch up to where I am in life and grow older. I especially liked Reyna’s conclusion, I feel like it went where it should have gone.

The diversity in Rick Riordan’s book always surprises me, maybe because I am not used to reading so diverse in a book for 13 years old. He says it casually, the characters are as much background as they are protagonists.

There were some mistakes when it comes to what is canon in Rick Riordan’s universe, but they were pretty small compared to the story and other than one, in the end, they can be ignored.

I would absolutely recommend this book and my only complaint is that it is please be moved from the kid section at the bookstore because everybody stares at me when I go to buy it like I am doing something wrong. It has enough violence to be in the YA section anyway.