The Tower of Nero

The Trials of Apollo series is author Rick Riordan’s third group of novels set in the Percy Jackson universe. In this universe, Greek and Roman gods are real, magic and magical creatures exist, and the protagonists are usually demigods, children of gods with human beings. The concept of demigods is inspired by Greek mythology, where human descendants of gods often play the part of heroes, interceding with gods on the behalf of humanity. Examples of heroes in mythology are Hercules, the son of the arch-god Zeus and a human woman, and Perseus, the mortal son of Poseidon, the god of water and oceans. Percy Jackson, protagonist of Riordan’s flagship Percy Jackson series, is modeled after Perseus.

In the Trials of Apollo pentalogy, Apollo, the god of the sun, poetry, music, and healing, has been “punished” to become a human by his father Zeus. To regain his immortality, Apollo must complete a series of trials to free Oracles or sources of prophecy. The Oracles have been seized by an evil trio of resurrected emperors from ancient Rome who call themselves the Triumvirate. Behind the Triumvirate is Python, a legendary monstrous serpent and the arch-nemesis of Apollo. Python escaped into the world of the living after events in Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series. The Trials of Apollo series sets Apollo up for self-realization and transformation, important themes in the books. As Apollo embarks on his quest in the form of Lester Papadopoulos, a mortal teenager with flaws, he discovers that being human is not the punishment he assumed. Apollo’s partner in his trials is Meg McCaffrey, a demigod who is 12 when she meets Apollo. Meg has a powerful connection with the Triumvirate: She was raised by its leader, Nero, as his adopted daughter. Nero has manipulated Meg into acting as his weapon and uses her demigod powers for his ends. Meg’s journey involves freeing herself of Nero’s psychological control.

Throughout Meg and Apollo’s quest, prophecies, or predictions of the future, provide crucial guiding clues. Prophecies are important in the overall Percy Jackson universe and frequently move the plot along. The Trials of Apollo series, the first of Riordan’s oeuvre to feature a fallen god as a hero, raises important questions about the limits and powers of humanity. In the first four books of the series, Apollo frees the Oracles of Dodona, Trophonius, Herophile, and the Sybil of Cumae, and defeats Commodus and Caligula, two emperors of the Triumvirate. In the final book of the pentalogy, Apollo must defeat Nero and free Delphi, the Oracle seized by Python.