Rick Riordan isn’t done with Percy Jackson’s world, and he’s making his return with a standalone book about everyone’s favorite son of Hades.
*Spoilers ahead for Heroes of Olympus and Trials of Apollo.
Late on October 6th, Riordan shared an announcement on Twitter about his next book in the Percy Jackson universe, right after starting the tour for his latest book, Daughter of the Deep.
“The next book in the Percy Jackson universe,” read the announcement tweet from Entertainment Weekly, “which for the first time will be co-written by Riordan and collaborator Mark Oshiro, will focus on [Nico di Angelo] and his boyfriend, the son of Apollo.”
Long-time fans of the books will be delighted to see Nico again, as he’s arguably one of the most popular characters from the original Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.
While the book does not yet have a name, Christian Holub’s announcement article explains a bit about the story’s premise. It takes place sometime after the last book in the Trials of Apollo series, The Tower of Nero.
“In The Tower of Nero, Nico started hearing a voice calling out to him from Tartarus, the deepest, darkest part of his father’s realm, the Underworld. Nico believes this voice to be that of Bob the Titan, who sacrificed himself to help Percy and Annabeth Chase escape Tartarus in the previous Heroes of Olympus series. In the new story, Nico and Will are determined to rescue Bob, no matter what Camp Half-Blood counselors Chiron and Mr. D have to say about it,” said Holub.
The news of this new book has caused quite a splash on Twitter in more ways than one. Riordan’s collaboration with YA author Mark Oshiro, who was brought onto the project to ensure Nico’s point of view would be authentic as possible, is unprecedented. Oshiro is the award-winning author of Anger is a Gift, as well as the Hugo-nominated writer for the online “Mark Does Stuff” universe, where they analyze book and TV series.
Riordan and Oshiro are writing the book together, and will reportedly receive equal credit on the book. In addition to writing fantastic books about young LGBTQ+ characters, Oshiro is also a fan of the Percy Jackson universe, so we know this book is in good hands.
“To say that I’m excited about this project doesn’t do it justice,” Riordan said. “This is really new and different for me, and working with Mark, who knows so much about Nico and the Percy Jackson world and writes such heartbreakingly beautiful books, has been such an incredible and rewarding process that I’m just sorry I didn’t think of it sooner.”
Lately, it looks like Riordan has been treating fans to a slew of good news. Riordan announced earlier last year that Percy Jackson and the Olympians will soon be adapted into a live-action TV series from Disney+, and every bit of news about it seems to grow the fans’ excitement.