I am always afraid of being disappointed. Unfortunately, that is exactly what Rick Riordan did with this book. I am a big fan of the Percy Jackson series and the Kane Chronicles; they were original, they were funny. Riordan’s new work with The Sword of Summer feels kind of lackluster when considering his talent for creating engaging stories. I’m going to say this now: this book should not have been 499 pages, because it felt like nothing was happening. It didn’t pull me in as much as the others did, frankly, it didn’t pull me in at all. Riordan’s voice, which was so quick and witty in his previous works, felt extremely forced this time. He wasn’t funny. It was a stream of cheap jokes, puns, and ridiculous events that didn’t make much coherent sense together. Sure, Riordan is known for being a bit ridiculous. Weird shit happens in his stories. But Sword of Summer read more like a 30 Places to Go in Boston Buzzfeed article. He not only had a hodgepodge of events, but his description was so lackluster I was left wondering if anything had happened at all. I had very little sense of place, which was a problem considering how often characters were jumping around America’s Eastern seaboard as well as the Tree of Life. When your reader can’t tell where the characters are it leads to some confusion.

For full review see here: https://aggietheskeletonreads.wordpress.com/2016/06/23/review-the-sword-of-summer/