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i feel like i’ve spent my whole life waiting for this

“lonely souls finding one another is always a good thing.�

i didn’t know i was queer when i first read percy jackson in high school. (although, how many of us read percy jackson as kids and then grow up queer?) something in me then was drawn to nico di angelo. the book where it was revealed (where he was outed) had not even come out yet. before knowing he was queer, something in his soul called out to mine. (again, how many of us�)

i found out about nico’s queerness when i was in college; long after i stopped reading the heroes of olympus series. finding out about his canon queerness after the fact that i had figured out mine meant something i couldn’t put into words. it was like uncovering something you didn’t know you didn’t know. like looking back at moments before you were out to yourself and thinking ah, yes. of course.

i always meant to come back to heroes of olympus, but i didn’t know how. so instead i let the world tell me what happened, absorbed spoilers and art. i knew about solangelo before i even knew who will solace was on his own.

i feel like i’ve waited half my life for the sun and the star. it feels like the book we were always meant to have. in the words of taylor swift: it’s been a long time coming.

this book is healing. for nico, for readers, for me. it’s finally taking ownership of your story, it’s being a light for others, it’s learning to accept your past. it’s having others accept it too, and love you for all of it.

looking at all the dark parts of you in the eye and knowing you are who you are because of all of it.

how lucky were we to grow up with riordan books coming out year after year. and how lucky are the kids who get to read all the books leading up to this now. how lucky are the kids who get to read this, and see nico and will’s queerness loudly and proudly on page. and know that they can be loved.

they are loved.