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Notes:
(1) For a series where people weep often and for very little reason, it finally provided something worth weeping over.
(2) The big death was the best part, which is mixed bag.
- On one hand, it really elevated the book out of simply going through the motions.
- On the other hand, killing important characters to generate emotion is easy. Here it really contrasted how run-of-the-mill-Riordan everything else was.

Notes:
(1) The Meliai call Meg "The Meg."
- At first, I thought this was alluding to the film "The Meg," comparing Meg to a giant shark.
- However, even though they both came out in 2018, this book must have been written a year before the film came out.
(2) Being dyslexic, whenever I see "Herophile, my mind always reads it as "hermaphrodite." Can't be helped.
- It's the "her" + "ph" + "ile" that causes the confusion.

Notes:
(1) The big death here really elevates the book from a somewhat forgettable story to something pretty special.
- It was my least favorite character in these Greek/Roman books, so I wasn't gutted or anything, but everything about it, the aftermath especially, was done so well that even I felt the loss... scratch that, Meg's my least favorite character.
- That beach scene is up there as an all-time Riordan best.

Notes:
(1) The pop culture references here feel really old. "The Kane Chronicles" companion I recently read, also a 2018 book, was the same.
- He references the 1980s almost exclusively, one exception is a Captain & Tennille song from the 1970s!
- Previously, Riordan would name-drop pop hits du jour, songs and artists so current I hardly knew any.
- I mean, better for me, but kids these days won't have a clue!

Notes:
(1) "I had flirted with Thalia, which…Eww. Curse you, Father, for having so many children! It made dating a true minefield over the millennia."
- I'd think that'd be more an outlier, ever since the Big Three child moratorium.
(2) "I wondered again what was behind their breakup ... Full points for vagueness, girl, but I wanted the dirt."
- Yup, classic Riordan: answers are teased but continually put off.

Notes:
(1) Jason goes to an all-boys boarding school in Pasadena.
- Probably to directly contrast Piper, who's broke and forced to move to Oklahoma.
- Being an orphan, I wonder how he pays the tuition? Possibly his movie star mother left him some inheritance.
(2) One of the noticeable differences about this series is the sheer frequency of crying.
- I don't recall characters "blinking back tears" so often previously.

Notes:
(1) "Another discount sticker grazed my arm with the force of an angry Titaness's slap."
- Is he referring to Calypso? I don't recall her slapping Apollo, but it sounds about right. And it's not like there's an excess of Titanesses running around.
(2) I don't mind that Meg can psychically share her memories with Apollo. What bugs me is she somehow knows she can do it, but doesn't why she knows or how it works.

Notes:
(1) Apollo: "Meg! I told you not to kill [the strix]! You’ll get cursed!"
Meg: "I didn’t kill it. It committed suicide against that wall."
Apollo: "I don’t think the Fates will see it that way."
- That'd be an interesting episode of "People's Court."
- I wonder whether the racquetball defense ever works? Arguably, the wall is the killing blow, not the strike. Perhaps choosing death to the pain of a second hit?

Notes:
(1) It seems like this series is cycling through all the previous Greek/Roman principal characters, each book starting off with a new trio.
- The first book started with Percy, Apollo and Meg, with Nico later replacing Percy.
- The second book started with Apollo, Leo and Calypso, with Meg and Thalia appearing halfway.
- Here you get Apollo, Meg and Grover to start, with the promise of Jason and Piper joining.