An Un-Calibrated Centrifuge

I think it's really rare that the second book in a series is better than the first yet here we are. I don't know if it's because Percy is back in the series or if the adventure was just better or what, but I enjoyed Son of Neptune a lot more than The Lost Hero.

I hope this is the end of the four day journeys to a solstice though. It's a format Riordan has used throughout both series and I'm kind of over it.

On to the notes!

Riordan uses a few phrases I'm not a fan of "going native," "Chinese water torture," and "screaming like lame little girls."

What's with all the casual misogyny/fragile masculinity? I don't need a justification for Frank to cry. I don't need to read about how embarrassing a 'man satchel' is over and over again. It's just ridiculous.

I also thought it was strange that Rick Riordan specifically mentions that other black kids are the ones bullying Hazel at school. I mean, it's been established that she goes to a school for only non-white kids, why the need to bring race into it? It doesn't add anything to Hazel's backstory that specifically the black kids are the ones bullying her.

It's weird that Frank's grandmother called Hera a gwai poh when they speak Mandarin, right?

Is there a Roman edition of Mythomagic?

I like Hazel. I like Frank, but a 16 yo dating a 13 yo is creepy.

Occasionally in the books Mrs O'Leary is referred to as him. Not sure why. Maybe just a continuity error like the fact that electronic gadgets go haywire near demigods. Or is that a difference between Greek and Roman demigods?

I have never heard lotus root called lotus fruit (googling seems to tell me they're the same thing?) Is this a Canadian thing? I just found it weird that Frank would call it lotus fruit.

There was only one food comparison for skin color that I can remember. Hazel's skin was compared to coffee beans. Hopefully there will be none in the next.