It's great to be back at Camp Half-Blood. And with an ex-god as our POV character no less! I was really excited to read this story taken from the perspective of a being we see mostly in the sidelines in the PJ universe. Sure, Apollo may not be at his usual top billing, yet still clings to his godly ego for most of the adventure, but it makes for great character moments. I love stories that use an extreme use of humbling to evoke character development and that's basically what this entire series is going to be about. Even in this first installment, Apollo's development starts off very compelling as we see him struggle and reflect, already showing a very human side.

This book definitely has a smaller scope than the rest of the books, especially coming off the Heroes of Olympus series. With one half of it in New York City and the other in Camp Half Blood and its forest, it starts off very intimate setting-wise, whereas even in The Lightning Thief there was a cross country trek. At first it was a little disappointing, since one of the appeals of the series is its showcasing of interesting locations, but it makes sense for Apollo to start off small, as he's still learning what he's capable of as a mortal and even tossing him into a dumpster in NYC already gave him enough trouble. 

Great to see Percy setting some boundaries when it comes to epic quests. Boy's been scarred enough for ten lifetimes at this point. Nico and Will are incredibly adorable together and absolutely steal the show. All in all, The Hidden Oracle gave a good balance of seeing old and new faces as we're eased into a new core trio for this series.