Parents' Guide to

The Tyrant's Tomb: The Trials of Apollo, Book 4

By Carrie R. Wheadon, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

Apollo atones as the exciting mythological mayhem continues.

Book Rick Riordan Fantasy 2019
The Tyrant's Tomb: The Trials of Apollo, Book 4 Poster Image

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What you will—and won't—find in this book.

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What's the Story?

In THE TYRANT'S TOMB: THE TRIALS OF APOLLO, BOOK 4, Meg and Apollo have the sad and necessary task of taking Jason's body back to New Rome in the San Francisco Bay Area. The hearse almost makes it to the Caldecott Tunnel when it's attacked by eurynomoi, giant underworld vultures. Sentries from New Rome come running, but can't stop Apollo from getting scratched. A eurynomous scratch will turn its victim into a vrykolakas (zombie) in a matter of days -- which is about how much time Apollo, Meg, and all of New Rome have before Caligula and Commodus show up in the San Francisco Bay with their fleet of weaponized yachts. To save New Rome and his mortal form, Apollo will need both the Sybil prophesies that a harpy is frantically tattooing onto a cyclops (that's right) and some serious divine Roman intervention.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say Not yet rated
Kids say (16 ):

This Apollo series stays exciting with loads of mythological mayhem, but also gets heavy with sad departures and some serious comeuppance for a now-mortal god growing a conscience. Luckily, nothing ever gets heavy for too long, not when the best weapons are sometimes horrid Dean Martin songs and the best way for a harpy to remember a prophesy is to tattoo it on her cyclops-boyfriend's body. There's a delight just in the sheer randomness of author Rick Riordan's imagination.

So many characters and mythological creatures and side quests swirl about in the story that sometimes it's hard for the reader to piece it all together. (Like why's the guy in the tomb in cahoots with the other emperors, and why on earth would you want to pay him a visit?) Plus we're back in Roman territory with Roman terms, rules, and characters. It takes some time to get all the wheels in motion because there are more wheels than The Tyrant's Tomb needs, but most everything rolls neatly to the end -- well, at least the end before the real ending in Book 5.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Apollo's past in The Tyrant's Tomb. How does he see himself after remembering what he's done? How does he try to atone for it?

  • What do both Frank and Reyna realize about their destinies? How does it help them? Do you think everyone has a destiny? What's yours?

  • Will you read the last book in this series? What do you think is next for Apollo and Meg? Will Apollo ever be a god again? Will he go back to the way he was before he was forced to be a mortal? What's fun about stories based on mythology?

Book Details

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