The Lost Hero
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The Lost Hero

The Lost Hero is an American fantasy-adventure novel written by Rick Riordan, based on Greek and Roman mythology. It was published on October 12, 2010, and is the first book in The Heroes of Olympus series, a sequel to the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. It is preceded by The Last Olympian of Percy Jackson & the Olympians and followed by The Son of Neptune. The novel has since been translated into many languages and released as a hardcover, e-book, audiobook, and paperback.

The story follows Jason Grace, a Roman demigod with no memory of his past. He, along with Piper McLean, a daughter of Aphrodite, and Leo Valdez, a son of Hephaestus, is given a quest to rescue Hera, the queen of gods, from the clutches of Gaea, the primordial goddess of the earth. It is the first book in the Camp Half-Blood chronicles to use third-person narration, switching between the points of view of Jason, Piper, and Leo.

The Lost Hero received positive reviews from critics for its complex and mature plot when compared to its predecessors. Criticism was focused on its stretched action sequences and dialogues. At its peak, the novel has appeared first on The New York Times bestseller list, the USA Today bestseller list, The Wall Street Journal bestseller list, and the Publishers Weekly bestseller list. It was named the best children's book of 2010 by Barnes & Noble and won the Junior Young Reader's Choice Award in 2013.

Jason Grace awakens on a school bus that belongs to the Wilderness School, unable to remember anything about his past. He is next to Piper McLean, his apparent girlfriend, and Leo Valdez, his apparent best friend. All three are part of a class field trip to the Grand Canyon. After they arrive there, a classmate, Dylan, turns into a storm spirit and attacks the trio and their trip leader, Coach Gleeson Hedge. In the ensuing fight, Jason battles the spirit and surprises everyone with his powers, including himself. Hedge is revealed to be a satyr and is captured by the storm spirit as it flees. A flying chariot with two demigods appears on the scene. The female demigod, Annabeth Chase, expresses her frustration upon seeing that her missing boyfriend, Percy Jackson, is not there as she had hoped, as he has been missing for three days without a trace. Jason, Piper, and Leo are told they are Greek demigods and are taken to Camp Half-Blood. There, Leo is revealed as a son of Hephaestus, Piper as a daughter of Aphrodite, and Jason as a son of Zeus. Juno, the Roman form of Hera, appears to Jason and tells him he is also her champion.

Leo, who has the rare ability to conjure fire, does not use nor tell anyone about it out of guilt about his mother's death seven years prior. The ability of summoning fire is an ability granted upon the children of Hephaestus, but Hephaestus' cabin remarks that it is a 'curse', and that the last Hephaestus child to be given this ability, Thomas Ferriner (spelled Faynor in the book) caused the Great Fire of London due to his inability to control his powers. Meanwhile, Jason finds out about his sister Thalia Grace, a daughter of Zeus and lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis. Leo discovers a damaged mechanical bronze dragon in the woods and rejuvenates it. Shortly thereafter, the three are given a quest to rescue Hera from danger. After encountering Boreas, Piper, Jason, and Leo discover that their enemies are working under orders from Gaea, the Greek primordial goddess of the Earth, to overthrow the gods. Throughout their journey, they overcome numerous obstacles and eventually manage to save Coach Hedge, and also meet Thalia and the Hunters, who have also been looking for Percy. Thalia and Jason reunite for the first time since Jason was two, but they are separated on the way to Aeolus's castle. After almost being imprisoned by Aeolus under Gaea's orders, the trio manages to escape and end up in San Francisco.

They defeat the giant Enceladus at Mount Diablo and rescue Piper's father, who was being held captive. After saving Piper's dad, she gives him a potion given to her by Aphrodite and he forgets about the mythical world. The trio, along with the Hunters of Artemis, travel to the Wolf House and defeat the forces of Gaea, saving Hera. They temporarily stall Gaea's plans but are unable to destroy the ancient beings. Meanwhile, at camp, Leo creates plans for a ship that can sail to Greece, and the Hephaestus campers decide to build it, appointing Leo as their new counselor. With part of his memory returned, Jason realizes that he is a son of Zeus's Roman form Jupiter, and a hero from a Roman counterpart camp to Camp Half-Blood called Camp Jupiter somewhere near San Francisco. Hera, known as Juno to the Romans, has switched him with the Greek hero Percy Jackson, who is now at the Roman camp with no memory of his previous life. Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter have had a ruthless rivalry, and whenever they come into contact, things never end well.

After realizing how many Greek and Roman myths he had left untouched as well as the immense success of the original series, Riordan began writing a second series, using inspiration for his storyline from experiences that he and his children had while playing video and role-playing games such as World of Warcraft and Scion. After creating the storyline, Riordan created three new main characters—Jason, Piper, and Leo—but continued to use the previous main characters such as Annabeth and Grover as secondary characters. Unlike the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series which uses first-person narration solely from Percy's point of view, the second series is told in third-person, with the point of view alternating between various main characters. In The Lost Hero, those characters are Jason, Piper, and Leo. Although initially uncertain how fans would react, Riordan later found that they enjoyed the new format, as it allowed them to learn more about each character.

The novel begins six months after the events of The Last Olympian, which allowed continuity with the first series, so previous characters could be included and readers would not be confused. Riordan says that "it was my way of letting them revisit that world in a fresh twist, but also to catch up with Percy and Annabeth and the rest of the gang from the first series". He also decided to include the Roman gods after many readers requested that Riordan write a new series on Roman gods, who are the Roman equivalent of the Greek gods, with some minor changes in personality. He pondered on how the Roman aspect of the gods would be after moving from Greece to Rome to America. After a while, "playing with that idea gave me the idea for the new series".

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