The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo, #2)
by Rick Riordan

3 out of 5 stars

Zeus punishes Apollo by turning him into a mortal human. Apollo must complete various trials and serve a demigod named Meg, so that he can regain his godly status. But Meg has a complicated relationship with her stepfather, the evil emperor Nero. In this second book, they are travelling with Leo Valdez and Calypso to find the oracle of dark prophecy. Anyone who enters the dark caves will go insane when they are given a prophecy, unless they can sit in the throne of memory and expel the prophecy to regain their sanity. But the throne of memory is missing, and the caves of the oracle are heavily guarded.

The adventure is exciting, and I loved learning more about Apollo’s backstory and his famous exploits from the old Greek legends. I especially loved seeing Leo and Calypso together, since their relationship has been through some serious stress, but they are committed to making it work even when times are hard. They are so cute together!

I really loved the hilarious narration from Apollo’s perspective! He is so ridiculous, and I was laughing through most of the book. I was not sure how there could be any believable character development for Apollo without losing his signature swagger and arrogant personality, but little by little the story shows us greater depths to Apollo’s character as he reacts to being a helpless human. In this second book, he has even deeper character development as he learns the meaning of self-sacrifice.

Through their adventures, Apollo, Meg, Leo, and Calypso find a safe haven with a lesbian couple whose adopted daughter has gone missing, and they agree to help them find their daughter. We get to know these characters quite well and they have an important place in the story as they teach Apollo the value of family and home. What’s really interesting about them is that they used to be Hunters of Artemis, and yet these two women fall in love and forswear their virginal vows and give up their immortality to live a mortal life and grow old together. They are presented in the story as being very admirable, but I personally did not like their characters very much.

To see minor violence and other sensitive content in this book, you can check it out on the Screen It First website! https://screenitfirst.com/book/the-dark-prophecy-trials-of-apollo-2-341239