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It took me nearly two weeks to process this book to the point where I could form coherent thoughts enough to write a review. I actually considered not even writing one. Because how do I find the words to describe my feelings for this book? It wasn’t the best Riordan book. It was fairly predictable, and everything went pretty much exactly how I thought it would. But it was magnificent. And it had the best ending I’ve ever read and will probably ever read. So here I am, writing a review that in no way will do this book justice. I decided to just talk about what I liked, because positivity!

Just FYI, most of this review is me gushing about Nico di Angelo, Will Solace, Nico di Angelo and Will Solace, and my undying love and unwavering respect for Rick Riordan.

Stuff I liked:
- The band is back together, y’all!! Percy, Annabeth, and Grover road-tripping for most of the book hit me with TLT nostalgia so hard I had to pause the audiobook and walk around with my hands behind my head.
- “I couldn’t make myself trust Luguselwa completely. A ‘good cop�� was still a cop.’�� OMG RICK DID THAT !!! I . . . I can’t . . . I just . . . Him casually slipping current real-life problems into children’s books . . . Keeping kids informed . . . You think you’re woke? Well you aren’t. Unless you’re Rick Riordan.
- 👏 SALLY 👏 JACKSON 👏AND 👏 PAUL 👏 BLOFIS 👏BEING 👏 GOOD 👏SUPPORTIVE 👏 PARENTS 👏 AND 👏BASICALLY 👏 HOSTING 👏 A👏 HALF-BLOOD👏SAFEHOUSE 👏 WITH 👏 FOOD 👏 AND 👏 SHELTER 👏 OMFG 👏 I 👏 LOVE 👏 SO👏 MUCH 👏
- Estelle is such a lil cutie🥰
- Apollo and Meg’s friendship officially transitioning from a bromance with playful banter to mature, deep unbreakable bond. There were many lines about them that made my heart sing. It was really beautiful.
- I think sometimes people forget fanon!Nico is really quite different from Nico in canon. He isn’t a prickly but adorable little hedgehog. I mean, his is sometimes, but he’s actually deeply hurt and, while he is slowly healing, some damage is permanent. He’s dark, pessimistic, and brooding. And I love him no less for it. There was one line near the beginning of the book, right after Apollo confirms Jason Grace is dead, that I think is one of the best ones Rick has ever written and it sums up Nico di Angelo so well�� “He didn’t look angry, exactly. He looked as if he’d been hit in the gut not just once but so many times over the course of so many years that he was beginning to lose perspective on what it meant to be in pain.’��
- On much more cheerful note, WILL’S GOT A SUN TATTOO Y’ALL!!! It’s on his left pectoral and I ��
I literally need more Will Solace. This is the first book where we’ve gone in depth on Will as a character and not just Apollo’s son or Nico’s boyfriend and I genuinely love him as a person. The world needs more Will Solaces. Rick’s pretty much confirmed a Solangelo trilogy (be still my beating heart) and I am actually just as excited for more of Will as I am for more of Nico.
- This is irrelevant but I picture Will’s “stylized sun�� tattoo design as the sun from Tangled because it makes me happy.
- While Apollo was away from Camp, Will went shopping for him. I’m not making this up. This boy actually bought Apollo clothes in the hopes that Apollo would return to Camp before reclaiming his godhood and Will decided it would be nice if he had his own clothes. My ability to even spontaneously combusted when I read that.
- There was an extremely depressing recap of all the pain and misery Nico has endured. I wasn’t a fan, but the line “Jason, the first person he [Nico] really considered a friend�� sent me.
- Rick addressing some heavy topics head-on and not mincing words for the children. Abuse was a huge theme, and it was written masterfully. In a way, I think it was written so an abused child could identify their own situation as abusive. Then it goes into details on how to escape from that harmful setting, giving the abused child the fundamental tools they need to get away from their bad situation. Also, Rick specifically refers to Nico’s “upbringing as a conservative Catholic Italian male in the 1930s [. . .] as a young gay man��. Something that always mildly bothered me was that Rick has never before used proper terminology. This was the first book to use the word “gay�� and I got (perhaps a bit unreasonably) extremely excited. Nico’s PTSD is also addressed. Half the characters probably have some form of PTSD, but it’s never been talked about. It isn’t ever discussed in children’s books because of the “heavy topic�� matter, although kids in those books would undoubtedly suffer in the aftermath of traumatic experiences. Nico has more reason than any other to suffer mental consequences, and Rick finally confirms on page that Nico has severe PTSD. Not only is this trauma addressed, the adults are depicted as actually try to help!! Dionysius - god of madness - actually tries to help, counseling Nico in the effort to save him from spiraling into madness himself. I’ll see myself out.
- “‘Hmph,�� Nico said, though he leaned into Will ever so slightly.’�� Aww . . . just awww . . .
-Nero’s invitation to Apollo had me cackling! Especially since there had been so much discussion of dark things right before the invitation arrives. Again, Rick found the perfect balance between dark and light. He keeps it funny, but in a non-dismissive way.
- Nico is such a badass. Like, I’m not even exaggerating. This boy is P O W E R F U L and we all forget it with our fluffy Solangelo and McDonald’s headcanons. Apollo (who’s a god, btw) thinks things like: “Nico di Angelo wasn’t physically imposing [. . .] But Nico wasn’t someone I would EVER want as an enemy. He was deceptively quiet. He appeared anemic and frail. He kept himself on the periphery.�� ((then there’s the most depressing paragraph I’ve literally ever read about how much my baby’s been through)) “Anyone who could survive all that had more resilience than Stygian iron.’�� Speaking of which, my baby “summoned his black Stygian sword from thin air��??? He can do that??? He’s so amazing??? I love him so much??? But back to Apollo being intimidated by Nico: “Nico rubbed his eyes and frowned at me. I tried to look harmless.’�� Yes, honey.
- “Nico’s smile was a bit of winter sun breaking between snow flurries.’�� Just kill me now, please.
- “I stepped between Nico and Meg before things escalated into the biggest Hades/Demeter smackdown since Persephone’s wedding shower.’�� This is probably my second favorite quote in the entire book. I about died when I read it. How does this man even come up with this stuff???
- Rachel Dare makes an epic comeback! I’ve never disliked her (except for that part in the beginning of TLO that we don’t talk about), but I didn’t have a very strong opinion on her other than that. I guess I’ve never really care about her before. I really enjoyed her presence in this book though!
- WILL ! SOLACE ! GLOWS ! IN ! THE ! DARK ! This is not a drill! I repeat, this is not a drill!
- This �� “Nico smirked. ‘Friends, meet my glow-in-the-dark boyfriend.’’��
- The trogs give Will a lampshade lmao.
- Apollo refers to Nero’s demigod children (slaves, ahem) as “the Evil von Trapp children�� and I laughed.
- Nico’s hair apparently smells like “rain against stone�� and I really like that for his aesthetic for no particular reason at all.
- When Nero is being a manipulative douche to Meg and Apollo - “I wanted to badly to go to her, to shield her.’��
- The Hamilton reference in a haiku.
- The Covid reference in a haiku.
- Dream!Jason !!! **ugly dry sobs ensued**
- One of the Trials of Apollo’s main themes is the gift of humanity. Apollo gets cast off Olympus in THO and he despises everything about his human form. He despises mortality. For the next four books, he slowly comes to the conclusion that human life is beautiful, to the point in this book where he labels humanity as the ability to keep going, adapt, and believe in a better world. Apollo realizes that a world without heroes, without mortals who live freely despite their ever-shortening lifespan, would be “much worse than a world without Apollo.��
- “I’ll make things right. Or I’ll die trying.’�� Character development.
- During the confrontation with Nero, Apollo tells Meg to trust herself. He admits to himself that not only did she chose him, but he chose her. He trusts her. He admires her. In a line that nearly sent sobbing into the carpet �� “She was �� gods help me �� my role model.’��
- Nico cruises on in to save everyones�� ass atop a skeletal bull. Along with his whole black-and-white deal he is wearing a white frickin cowboy hat. “I half expected him to say ‘yeehaw�� in the most unenthusiastic voice ever.’��
- Nico being ((finally)) referred to as “the emo kid��. Yesssssss.
- When, in the final CHC book, Rick finally found the perfect description of Chiron: “like a combination demigod soccer mom and minivan.’��
- Apollo going all MomFriend on Meg and muttering a curse that he deems “not appropriate for the ears of a youngster like Meg�� . . . and then goes on to say she taught him that particular curse. Lol.
- “It’s always a fun time when Apollo goes to war.’��
- Will Solace being the real MVP and saving everybody from Nero’s tower with the best entrance line ever: “Nobody hits me boyfriend.’��
- Rachel being a badass out of nowhere!! Warrior queen🙌
- Speaking of Rachel, my favorite callback in the entire book was from “The Last Olympian��. Return of the blue plastic hairbrush!!! How fitting is it that the last book of the first series and the last book of the last series both have the iconic blue plastic hairbrush as Rachel Dare’s weapon? Y’all remember when she beans Kronos in the eye with that thing? Icon.
- Now we’re moving on to the confrontation with Python and book’s conclusion. Here’s where I get emo af. “Deep breath. This was for Meg. This was for Jason. This was for everyone who had fought and sacrificed to drag my sorry mortal butt from quest to quest for the last six months, just to get me this chance at redemption.’��
- Apollo realizing Zeus wasn’t going to save him, like Nero would never save Meg. Him finally coming to terms with the fact that Zeus has never loved him and never will. He realizes, like Meg, that he is the only person who can him is himself. It was really painful to read about this heartbreaking acceptance because, although he’s deeply flawed and can be a horrible person, Apollo didn’t deserve this. No one deserves to be treated by their fathers the way Zeus treated Apollo and the way Nero treated Meg. But they do and they did. Watching Apollo accept this is hard, but also satisfying in a way. The first step to making things better is acknowledging the problem.
-“‘Has anyone ever told you,�� Python rasped, ‘that you are annoying?’�� I’m a bit ashamed for laughing at this. Hahaha.
- Ummm okay. The Arrow of Dodona sacrificing itself?? Omg, why did that make me emotional?? “FARE THEE WELL FRIEND, said the arrow. APOLLO WILL FALL, BUT APOLLO MUST RISE AGAIN.’�� I’m not crying. You’re crying. “My chest throbbed. Definitely broken ribs. Probably a broken heart.’�� Rick, enough. “I hadeth to keep goingeth.’�� Please stop.
- “Given my puny mortal weight, I should have simply hung there like an air freshener from a rearview mirror.’�� That made me laugh.
- “The prophecy came true. Apollo fell, and Python fell with me.’�� That made me scream.
- The thought of Meg motivating Apollo to complete his final task was just 👌👌 👌
- “The world of demigods wasn’t my place. I had been privileged to experience it, and I needed to remember it.’��
- I already talked about this a little, but more specifically: When Apollo becomes a god again and reunites with Zeus and comes to the revelation that he can’t change his father anymore than Meg could have changed Nero. He knows he can only strive to be a different kind of god: “Better. More . . . human.’��
- “‘You did well, Apollo,�� he [Chiron] said, gripping my shoulder like the affectionate father I’d never had.’�� Ahh, yes. Chiron being the stand-in parental figure since 03/01/06.
- Aaaaaand back to Solangelo. “The boys sat comfortably next to each other, Will’s arm around Nico’s shoulder�� “He [Nico] snuggled a little closer to Will.’�� THEY’RE !!! SNUGGLING !!! “He [Will] laced his fingers through Nico’s.’�� Okay, I promise I’m done gushing about them now.
- Leo Valdez. I have very complicated feelings towards him. When I was twelve and first read the HoO I adored him. Upon mUpon my recent reread though, I found I don’t really like the way his character was developed past TMoA. See my review of HoH for more tea on that one. But now, here Leo is, devoting all his free time to “teaching homeless kids shop skills at a local shelter.’�� He says, “Bunch of kids like me, you know? They never had much. Least I can show them somebody cares.’�� And I��
- Leo also calls Jo (maybe Emmie too?) “mom�� now which makes my heart happy. And Reyna is at the Waystation when Apollo visits too, and she proclaims herself as Leo’s older sister. You guys. Leo Valdez finally has a family.
- Caleo appears to still be having relationship problems, but I really don’t care :)
- Percabeth finally moved into college!! Apollo ofc shows up in New Rome when they’re moving into their **seperate** dorms. He’s actually surprised that they aren’t shacking up, which made me simultaneously crack up and squirm a little. Rick really tried to put a stopper into that fanfic, huh? It’s not going to work, darling. Annabeth has an invisibility cap :) :) :)
- Piper has a girlfriend! Not only was I happy that she’s moved on and trying to live a normal life, I’m so relieved that that was her reason for breaking up with Jason. I got lesbian vibes, not bisexual vibes. After all, Hera kickstarted Jasper with false memories; Piper fell in love with Jason on false pretenses. She never even had the chance to explore her sexuality because she was tricked into thinking she was in love with Jason. And then things were crazy, she needed support, and Jason was there. As soon as things quieted down and she got her “normal�� life with Jason in Malibu she realized (probably as soon as Jason wanted to do more than just kiss) that she actually wasn’t that in to him. Or into guys. My favorite thing about this was that it didn’t seem random. You could totally tell Rick’s been planning this since the beginning of TOA at least.
- Apollo giving Meg a unicorn. Uwu.
- And, alas, we have come to the end of the book. I'm going to end my review here with the pre-review, which was my initial - and final - thoughts on "The Tower of Nero."

Pre-Review: 10/17/20 @ 1:34 am - “Call on me. I will be there for you.�� Oh, Apollo. Oh, Rick. You have no idea. You’ve been there for me all this time. Thanks for the adventures. TRC.