A God being thrown down from Olympus? The “Trials of Apollo” is the fifth series by Rick Riordan. The story follows the the sun god Apollo after Zeus cast him down from Olympus after the war with Gaea, which Zeus blamed Apollo for.

The first book, “The Hidden Oracle”, came out on May 3. It shows the struggle Apollo has adjusting to his new, flawed teen body. His new name is Lester Papadopoulos and he’s an out-of-shape teenage boy with acne. Throughout the book, he tries to appease Zeus so he can be a god again.

The book starts as Apollo is falling from Olympus. He lands in downtown Manhattan, where he runs into the  street junkies, who beat him up, and he is saved by an ambitious 12-year-old girl named Meg McCaffrey. Apollo only knew of one demigod close by who could help: none other than Percy Jackson, the protagonist of another of Riordan’s well-known series, who gave him some clothes and drove them to Camp Half-Blood. That's when things started to turn.

First, they were bombarded by some Plague monsters. Then, Meg and Apollo make their way to camp. At camp, they run into problems with the Oracle not giving prophecies and demigods going missing. The book then follows Meg and Apollo as they try to get the Oracle back for “The Beast” and save Camp Half- Blood from being destroyed.

This was another book from Rick Riordan that I could not put down. Not only did it have new characters, but it also shared some characters from the other books, including Percy Jackson, Will Solace, Nico Di Angelo and others. I love how all his series seem to intertwine with each other. I love that you could understand it if you started on this series, but if you have read his other stories, you get the little jokes and connections he includes.  I absolutely love this book and I am anxiously awaiting the next book, “The Dark Prophecy”, that comes out on May 2, 2017. I give this book five cardinal heads out of five.