The Trials of Apollo is a young adult book series set in the Percy Jackson universe written by Rick Riordan. It was the fifth series to be written overall, and the third to focus specifically on the Greco-Roman pantheon.

The story follows ex-god Apollo, who has been cast down from Olympus by his father as punishment for events in an earlier book. Stripped of his godly form and trapped in the body of a painfully average fifteen sixteen year old by the name of Lester Papadopoulos, Apollo must earn his divinity back by traveling the country to rescue his captured oracles.

I did not grow up reading the Percy Jackson series. I binged it all in one go over a summer: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, and The Trials of Apollo were all completed by the time I jumped in, so I had the privilege to experience it all as one single continuous narrative.

As much as I enjoyed both PJO & HOO, Trials of Apollo is what ended up hooking me hard. Lester is a beautiful mess of contradictions: He is at once both a god and a mortal, wise and oblivious, an adult and a child. Lester struggles to reconcile different aspects of himself. He is forced to confront some of the horrible things he's done in the past and how he's perpetuated the cycle of abuse. He examines the societal and familial pressures that shaped him. All of this culminates in an eventual ego death and reinvention of himself.

The emotional highs and lows hit harder than they did in either PJO or HOO, and I found the whole story very beautiful and cathartic.

Still, throughout the tumultuous emotional rollercoaster, the books are also extremely funny. Without his Divine Rizz, so to speak, Lester is clumsy and awkward, and it doesn't help when he frequently comes face-to-face with old allies and enemies alike, all of whom hold thousand-year-old grudges against him. Alongside that is a delightful cast of supporting characters who make the whole journey so much fun. (Meg McCaffrey they could never make me hate you.)

I created this website as both an outlet for my own love of the series, and as a space other fans can use to do the same. I arrived late to an already-established and organized Trials of Apollo fandom on both Tumblr and Discord, and I hope I can add something new for you all. ♥