Like Rick Riordan did previously with Son of Sobek and the paperback release of The Serpent's Shadow, Riordan and Disney have released The Staff of Serapis with the paperback release of The Mark of Athena. Like with Son of Sobek where it also included the first chapter of the then upcoming The House of Hades book, The Staff of Serapis has the first chapter of Blood of Olympus, the final and climactic book in the Heroes of Olympus series. The paperback version of Mark of Athena came out April 8th. As I didn't care to buy that book a second time, I waited for the e-book version to come out which was released May 20th. The e-book version comes in 2 versions. One is the short story with the 1st chapter of Blood of Olympus and sells for $1.99. In the 2nd version, Rick Riordan tells the story via audio and, it too has the 1st chapter of Blood of Olympus. The 2nd version costs $2.99. I bought the 2nd version as I thought it would be cool to listen to Riordan tell the story. Plus, it's only cost an extra $1. The Riordan audio version comes in 3 parts. The first 2 parts last 34:45 roughly each and the 3rd part lasts 32:15 roughly. Riordan does a great job of leaving you hanging at the end of the first 2 parts to where you can't wait to hear the next part.
The short story itself is a good one and leaves a fascinating opening for Riordan to continue the Olympus stories with a new tangent (I leave it to you the reader to find out what that is). However, if Riordan decides to go that way, he won't be able to do it for a while as he is supposed to start work on a new series that features the Norse mythology. It'll be interesting to see what he does with that. The story also has a possible spoiler in it which I won't reveal. Again, you'll have to find out what it is yourself. I don't think it'll sadden any of Riordan's readers. Whereas the Son of Sobek featured Carter Kane and Percy Jackson, The Staff of Serapis features Annabeth Chase and Sadie Kane.
Concerning the first chapter in the Blood of Olympus novel, it doesn't excite any but, it does make you wish they would come out with the book sooner. It's not supposed to be released until October 7th, 2014 (groan, grumble, grumble, grumble). For those who don't want to buy The Staff of Serapis short story, the 1st chapter will be released later this summer according to Riordan's website.
Overall, I liked The Staff of Serapis. I'd recommend to any fans of Riordan's books. I confess, I'm waiting big time for Blood of Olympus to come out in October. I want to find out how things end. Do the Roman and Greek demigods make peace instead of war? Do the 7 demigods on the quest some how defeat the giants? Will 1 of the 7 demigods die in the final book? There have been a number of references to a big sacrifice being necessary. We'll see. For now, I'll content myself with The Staff of Serapis and the first chapter of Blood of Olympus. Happy reading all!
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