The Demigod Diaries (The Heroes of Olympus)

This book is basically divided into two parts: what Rick Riordan wrote and what his son Haley wrote.

Everything Rick wrote was, as usual, charming and funny and exciting and cute. He's one of my favorite writers because he knows how to balance the light and the dark, and it never gets too dark, even in life or death situations. His books are perfect "escape" books. They're fluffy, and I love that. I know I'm going to enjoy myself no matter which world or character he's writing.

I would have given this book four stars, but the very last story, "Son of Magic", knocked one off. Haley is a great writer for 16, and his stuff is years ahead what I was writing when I was 16, but the story just didn't fit. The main protagonist wasn't a demigod, and wasn't very likeable even at the end of the story. He uses a gun to try and kill a monster, and for some reason the appearance of guns, working guns that shoot bullets, in this world was disconcerting to me. It's almost too "real", and it knocks the tone down from exciting to a bit dark. Especially when the main protagonist kicks a monster's jaw so hard it flies off her face (as dust, but still). I also didn't like how Hecate was portrayed as a white-robed Virgin Mary wannabe praying at a church altar. What's that supposed to tell us? It's left unanswered but I definitely don't like the idea of these mythical Greek gods worshiping the Christian god. That sends a bad message.

Haley did not write badly. He knew how to pace and describe things, and it didn't feel clunky and choppy. It just didn't fit the tone of the world his father has established. He might be trying to inject some maturity into it, but I don't want that at all. I'll stick with Rick.

Riordan's "The Demigod Diaries" is like an "interlude book" between or supplementing larger, more significant works. Evanovich does it with her popular Stephanie Plum series. For us, it is much like JK Rowling's "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" or "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them"; these are several of Rowling's books to supplement the Potter series. Riordan's "The Demigod Diaries" is a short, quick read. Although it consists of four short stories plus original art, character interviews, and some games and puzzles, it is still well written and brings enjoyment and interesting information about our Greek and Roman campers. If you have enjoyed Riordan's books so far, then I strongly recommend this delightful book!

These short stories provide interesting and/ or vital information to the "Heroes of Olympus" and the Percy Jackson stories. The first story was Luke's story, "The Diary of Luke Castellan," which was my favorite. Luke, certainly one of the more interesting and complex characters from Camp Half-Blood, is featured here; the story is told from his point of view which provides and interesting change. We are now given an interesting glimpse into Luke's character before he betrayed the camp and the gods (which is prophesied in this story). Additionally, it was interesting to see Luke and Thalia fighting together, and then later finding a young, lost Annabeth and making her a part of the group. The second story is "Percy Jackson and the Staff of Hermes," in which Percy and Annabeth are celebrating their one month anniversary of dating. Of course, this anniversary is more important to one than the other, and does Percy feel on the spot. This uneasiness is interrupted by Hermes who just happens to need help as the Caduceus (his staff) has been stolen. It is a little weaker, but still an interesting story. Third, "Leo Valdez and the Quest for Buford," provides the reader with a great look at the inventiveness of Leo, who made a delightful appearance in "The Lost Hero." It is a delightful story filled with surprising events, including a magic table named Buford, and eggnog drunk nymphs. The last story was "The Son of Magic" written by Riordan's son, Haley. I was a bit surprised that the tone of the story was certainly a darker tone than the other stories; perhaps I just expected something lighter, with a bit more humor for a young writer's first major attempt. However, that was from my expectation; young Haley's story still made an impact and made you think! See what you think!

For those people who loves Percy Jackson & the Olympians series and Heroes of Olympus series, You would love this short stories of characters Luke, Thalia, Annabeth, Percy, etc. I love the story between Annabeth and Percy. You will not be disappointed in this book Demigod Diaries. Its worth reading. I own it. Love it.

The Demigod Diaries by Rick Riordan is a fun quick read with the characters from the Percy Jackson series. It tells some quick fun stories about how Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth meet, Percy and Annabeth doing a quick favor for Hermes, and Leo, Jason, and Piper building the Argo II. It takes place between The Last Olympian and The Lost Hero. I enjoyed this book because it was nice to be able to visit the world of Demigods again while waiting for Blood of Olympus to come out. I would recommend this book to anyone who misses reading about Demigods and their related issues. I would not recommend this book to anyone who has not read the other Percy Jackson books.

When mayhem erupts in the world of gods and demigods, expect Rick Riordan to be nearby to make sure we hear about it. And in his newest addendum to THE HEROES OF OLYMPUS series, THE DEMIGOD DIARIES definitely brings back what made readers fall in love with Percy Jackson and his friends years ago. Filling in this volume is a handful of short stories, full-color portraits of the characters, games, and a few puzzles and maps.

Before Luke and Thalia made it to Camp Half-Blood, they were constantly on the run facing monsters and gods. Often mentioned in the first five PERCY JACKSON books, we finally find out more details about what exactly happened in those early years in "The Diary of Luke Castellan." When Thalia and Luke follow a mysterious magical goat, they find themselves in a strange house that doesn't want to let them leave. Mysteries hide upstairs and danger waits at every window and hallway. But if Thalia and Luke are going to survive, they're going to have to summon dangerous powers that could kill them all.

"Percy Jackson and the Staff of Hermes" is a fun short story following Percy and Annabeth as they receive a quest from the gods on their one-month anniversary. It feels like years since we last saw Percy and Annabeth together -- and some of their interactions are bordering on genius writing from Riordan.

The third story follows a newer character, Leo Valdez from THE LOST HERO, as he tries to stop a catastrophe from destroying Camp Half-Blood for good. But as Piper and Jason join up to help in "Leo Valdez and the Quest for Buford," they find more danger than usual lurking in the forest outside camp. It's going to take all of Leo's ingenuity to make it out alive and save them all.

Rick Riordan's son, Haley takes the reins on the last story, "Son of Magic," to answer questions that have been hanging out in the shadows for years: Where does the Mist come from? How can monsters smell demigods and find them? And what happened to the gods and demigods who fought for Kronos in the war of THE LAST OLYMPIAN? At only sixteen, Haley shows skill at building a story that is much darker in tone than other PERCY JACKSON tales. The story does take a few pages to build up and get moving, but once it does, the unique perspective and material is enough to keep things intriguing.

Mixed throughout the book are word searches, puzzles, and word scrambles, as well as notes from Rick Riordan, and a funny interview with George and Martha, the snakes curling around Hermes' staff. Answers to all of the puzzles are included as well.

The writing is typical top-notch Riordan, and the pages fly by once readers immerse themselves in the story. He's done an excellent job once again in a volume similar to THE DEMIGOD FILES released a few years ago. And he's definitely brought enough to whet the appetite of Percy fans until THE MARK OF ATHENA releases.

Before my actual review, I have something important to say, because I skimmed other reviews before posting this, and I was laughing so hard. This book has a rough cut edge, also known as a deckled edge. This is INTENTIONAL. That means the paper is not going to look like it's cut all neat and clean. That is INTENTIONAL. It's a choice the publisher made ON PURPOSE. I will include some images of what that looks like.

Rating system:
1 star = did not like
2 star = it was okay
3 star = liked it
4 star = really liked it
5 star = it was amazing

I'll get the artwork and activity stuff out of the way first. There are various artwork images throughout the book. I don't have much to say about those, except for specific thoughts about two character portraits.
-Luke's portrait makes him look dead inside.
-Jason's portrait creeps me out. I don't like his face.
The activities are so easy you can guess the solutions without having to actually do the puzzles. The only one that might take any effort would probably be the word search.

The Diary of Luke Castellan 3/5
This is an entry from Luke's journal about how Thalia acquires Aegis, and how how they found Annabeth. It was weird seeing an innocent version of Luke where he had just as much potential to be a hero as anyone else. He reminded me a lot of Annabeth, except he actually has special powers to back up some of his wit.

Percy Jackson and the Staff of Hermes 3/5
Percy and Annabeth go on a quest to retrieve the caduceus. I'm not a fan of Annabeth, but she didn't seem as insufferable in this story. George and Martha are always fun, and they don't get many appearances in the series.

Leo Valdez and the Quest for Buford 3/5
No comments about this one. I liked it well enough. Buford is a table. That's about it.

Son of Magic 3.5/5
I think this one was the best story in the book. It was actually written by Rick Riordan's son as a clever lore dump.I don't remember if Alabaster was a character actually mentioned in PJO or not, but this story explains the mist, and a gist of what happened to demigods who sided with Kronos.
Alabaster's opinions seemed misguided, because acceptance of lesser gods and their children at camp half-blood was one of the major things those demigods wanted, and they got it, so he seemed to have different reasons for everything. He definitely glorifies Kronos' side of the war even though they lost. He seems like a redeemable character.

The demigods are as diverse as us mere mortals, and so are their adventures. In this companion to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus series' Riordan Riordan gives us a few sneak peaks back in time to fill in gaps around the other stories, and his son, Haley Riordan, takes the groundbreaking series his father started as his own bedtime stories and gives us his first story set in the world of demigods.

"The Diary of Luke Castellan"
Luke is a character we see as a bad seed, but there has to be more to him. In this diary excerpt, we see Luke and Thalia fighting for their lives out in the world against the monsters who hunt them. What they don't expect is to find another kind of demigod who could be their very undoing.

"Percy Jackson and the Staff of Hermes"
The gods can be many thing, but one thing they can be counted on for is to need the demigods to do their dirty work. All Percy wants to do is spend time with Annabeth, his newly anointed girlfriend, but Hermes has another plan for their time, and of course, it involves one bizarre and cantankerous monster!

"Leo Valdez and the Quest for Buford"
As a son of Hephaestus, Leo is an amazing tinkerer. Unfortunately, by failing to properly care for a magical end table, he may have lost the key to stopping certain disaster (Windex is NOT the same as Lemon Pledge!). Luckily, his friend would never let him fail.

"Son of Magic"
Claymore doesn't have time for questions, and certainly not questions that will cause him as much trouble as Alabaster's question. As the leading expert on death, Alabaster hopes Claymore can help him stop the evil woman who is coming after them, but he has no idea how dangerous it is to even know Alabaster.

This was a cute selection of short stories separated by word jumbles and quizzes to test your knowledge of the Greek vs. Roman gods. The short stories were not necessary for understanding the rest of the series', but they are certainly fun for the Olympus buff. The final story, "Son of Magic," is interestingly written by Riordan's son, Haley Riordan. Before the story, in a short note, he explains the Percy Jackson sagas began as bedtime stories to his son, and Haley was given the opportunity to write a story for this book. To be honest, that story has a very different tone from Rick's stories, which you have to be prepared for (it is very dark!), but I was quite impressed. It is a different kind of story, but the idea that the original audience for these stories delivered this contribution at the age of 16 is pretty impressive! Of course, he doesn't have the same abilities of his father, but if he keeps writing like this, he will get there some day!

This is a Christmas gift I purchased for my son, along with multiple other Rick Riordan books. Two of the books, this one and another titled Percy Jackson & The Olympians The Demigod Files were shipped together. I peaked in the box to see that it was the books and quickly tucked them away for wrapping later. Today I pulled them out and I am sadly disappointed in the way the book edges were cut and Amazon would allow this purchase to be shipped like this! Of course not thinking I would have an issue with a books pages not being cut I have missed the return deadline and am left to gift less than satisfactory books. I am sure Rick Riordan wouldn’t be too happy with his book production. My son is such a fan of this author it just saddens me to see a product from Amazon like this!

I enjoyed this second collection of short story in demigod diaries.
You get some back story for Luke Castellan.
And some of these story are reference in Hero's of Olympus.
I really liked Haley's Riordan short story Son of Magic.
And full color illustration of some of the Hero's of Olympus.
Note:( The interview with Hermes staff is in Demigod Diaries and not in Demigod files.Sorry)

i ordered this book and it was printed backwards and upside down . very upset.