I agree, except I would put Tyrant's Tomb over Tower of Nero strictly because I had a better time reading it cuz Tower of Nero is a WONDERFULLY written story and seeing Apollo finally pull that 180° where he makes a conscious choice to be better just hits especially when he finally confronts Zeus at the end and just opts to leave him and spend his time with better company. I agree in saying Apollo has some of the best character development I've seen

Hands-down Apollo has the best charachter arc in the entire Percy Jackson Universe, even if it seems simple from a writing stand point, it Is just so well executed! Also, completely agree with the #1 pick, it was the book that made me cry the second most after House of Hades

Here’s an interesting theory I have. So, the Trials of Apollo series is a result of Zeus blaming Apollo for Octavian’s delusions of grandeur, punishing him by casting him from Olympus to live a life as a mortal. Exactly how is that worse than all the way back in the Lightning Thief, when Ares almost causes the destruction of the entire world just for the sake of causing a war? Compared to Apollo’s punishment, Ares should have been turned into a mortal and dumped in Tartarus for good measure.

fuck, that last apollo fight was so damn emotional! it had me in tears.

No bones about it: Trials of Apollo is the best series Riordan has ever written by a comfortable mile. There is a great argument to be made that this series is the single best mythological fantasy stories EVER CONCEIVED.

One of the things I remember about my first time reading the tyrants tomb is that I cried, like actually cried. In fact I cried when reading most of these books. They were really well written and the character development really shows through especially with Apollo. Really well done list btw loved how you explained everything👌

I think ToA is easily the best series, it gets the most depth and character arch. Also seeing things through Apollo's veiw is really great because you get to see how much of a dirtbag Zeus is to his kids. The one thing that tips it over for me is Estelle, omg Apollo was right shes gonna end up ruling the world some day, I instantly thought she is the most precious thing in the whole world. Also she is the reincarnation of Bianca di Angelo so I really wonder how thats gonna play out. Anyway ToA is the best

You should do all of Lester Papadoupolos' abilities. (Things he has done during the books, i.e shootings arrows with immense speed.)

Great tier list! ToA is in my opinion the best book series I have ever read. It has beautiful character development for all characters involved, the character interactions are highly entertaining and it has such heartbreaking moments. All while being absolutely hilarious and still keeping Apollo/Lester's dramatic and humorous flair all through it

I’ve always considered The Riodanverse to be my favorite book series (I see it as one series the same as people who consider Discworld or The Cosmere to be one series) but if I was forced to choose only one ToA would be my favorite easily. It was incredibly satisfying to read, more dramatic and emotional than MC or even HoO in my opinion, and some phenomenal character development. Apollo’s arc is one of the best character arcs I’ve ever seen (I’m talking Prince Zuko level development here) and the other characters get fantastic conclusions to their arcs from the previous series. My ranking would be. Minor spoilers by the way! 5 The Hidden Oracle, still a great book, but it felt like set up and not as much happened in it compared to the other books, but I love how it establishes Nero as a villain and Meg’s relationship with him and Apollo. 4 The Tower of Nero, the pay off here is phenomenal for Apollo and Meg’s arcs, the final duel between Apollo and Python is incredible, and the final scenes where Apollo goes to all the major locations to check on everyone we’ve met is the most cathartic thing I’ve ever read in a story, the only things that takes it down for me is that I didn’t really like the Troglodytes and demon cows and how long they dragged on. 3 The Tyrants Tomb, lots of great character moments and character development for so many characters, the only thing that stops it from being near perfect for me is that it feels disorganized and not as well structured as the top 2. 2 The Burning Maze, very well paced, structured, does some great things for Piper’s character, it finishes off Grover’s arc, it explores more of the world, and it has the best character death in the universe since The Last Olympian. It would be number 1, but there is one more book that managed to touch me in a more personal way. 1 The Dark Prophecy, probably my favorite book of all time. I could take most of the praise I’ve put on the other books and shift it to this one. It has incredible character moments, expanding of the world, conclusion to existing character arcs, but what puts it on top is one thing, empathy. Apollo had started his arc in the first book which had him learning to care about those around him, but this book had him facing his own mortality, confronting how he’s treated people in the past, him trying to help Meg by empathizing with her and comparing how Nero abused her to how Zeus abused him, and by the end of the book he’s willing to fight like a hero for those he cares about and even sacrifice himself. If The Burning Maze was about not forgetting the past, including Jason telling Apollo never to forget what it is to be human, then The Dark Prophecy was about him learning to be human.

One thing I wish was changed in the books: Meg constantly hitting Apollo. I don't care that she's "only a kid", she's 12, and old enough to know not to hit anyone (that doesn't deserve it), especially someone who's enslaved to her. I get that she was abused by Nero, and practically a feral demigod, but stop hitting Apollo, Margaret! Apart from that, I really enjoyed the books (except what happened to a certain someone in The Burning Maze 😭💔).

My *relative* ranking would be: 5. The Dark Prophecy (just didn't like the feel that much) 4. The Hidden Oracle (better than #5, but I felt that Camp was made overly comical) 3. The Tower of Nero (fantastic book, but the battle with Python seemed too easy after all that build-up) 2. The Tyrant's Tomb (excellent character development) 1. The Burning Maze (sorry, !!!spoiler!!!, but this was just an amazing story)

Before I watch: I’ll rank mine and then come back and compare. I actually love this series even more than HoO, so my worst book isn’t even a book I dislike 1. Tower of Nero 2. Tyrants Tomb 3. Burning Maze 4. Hidden Oracle 5. Dark Prophecy Edit: Holy Schist, I cannot believe our ranking is literally the same. Can’t help great taste

Not even a minute into the video & you started spitting facts! I love ToA & it's my second favorite series in the Riordanverse.

Mr ranking (there will be spoilers) 5- the dark prophecy - this book was good and well written but the book wasn’t the most interesting 4- The tyrants tomb - many people say this is the best out of the five but for me the plot was super predictable it felt obvious frank was going to die and when he did I just didn’t believe it it just felt like a fake one and it was but I still enjoyed the book 3- the lost oracle - I loved this book I liked that we got to see camp halfblood again and I loved the characters and I like how we got to see Nero and python in this book instead of us just seeing the antagonist in the fifth and only the fifth 2-the burning maze- I cried when reading this because of Jason’s death and I loved the fights and the characters and the settings the end had me questioning what was going to happen next 1- the tower of Nero - I loved this book I loved the character arcs I loved the fights I loved everything about it I like how Apollo went to jackson apartment like he did in the first book and how he compared himself with him in the first book I just loved it and I thought that Lu was going to have this plot twist similar to the plot twist with quintus but she wasn’t lying this is my favorite book I have ever read atleast yet

Very nice ranking, what if you rank ALL the Rick Riordan books? Just a thought, but you could try it.

I just finished THAT chapter in the burning maze ( if you know you know) and I don’t know how I will ever recover

I probably would put the dark prophecy over hidden oracle because it was more emotional the characters were definitely better especially because the first book ended on a cliffhanger of (SPOILER) Meg betraying Apollo.

I Miss Jason

Here's a good question: With this Percy Jackson Disney+ series in the works, If YOU were the director of the Percy Jackson Disney + series, what scene, or even moment within the full first series would you plan out to FULL EXTENT (like with the music, how the camera is angled ect.) for me (and especially for this first series) I would do the part where Zeus asks Percy what gift he would want and he just straight up turns down the LITERAL gift of immortality. Like think about it once Zeus asks what he would like to be rewarded with the camera zooms in on Percy's face and it shows a flashback of every big moment where he literally stared death in the eye and just said "F*ck You!" also are u on any other platforms like twitter. u r very entertaining and i want to support u!!

My list is similar except I would put Tyrants Tomb between Dark Prophecy and Hidden Oracle. Hidden Oracle is quite a lot of fun due to finally seeing some more Camp Half-Blood slice of life stuff, which I felt THOO series lacked and I really liked Rhea as a character too. For me Tower of Nero is a solid bit above the rest and really continues the trend of the greek-series ending strong. IMO Percy Jackson and THOO also had the best book last. The fight against Python is perhaps my favorite in the franchsie, the way it is Apollo willingly throwing the both of them down through all the layers of greek cosmology, until dangling on the edge of creation, the sacrifice of Dodonna's Arrow was also neat.

JUST barely finished the series and my ranking would be 1. the tyrants tomb, it's not the necessarily strongest one but for some reason i had the most fun reading it. really great action at the end. 2. the tower of nero, soo good and a great finale, although the python encounter was a bit underwhelming, loved seeing the character arcs be completed. 3. the burning maze, emotions are high in this one man 4. the dark prophecy, really interesting stuff in this book it feels like there's so much that could've been explored more as well. but it did drag on a bit. 5. the hidden oracle, honestly didn't really pull me in and if i wasn't as attached to the universe i probably wouldn't have finished the series based off this book. maybe the ranking will shift as these are all first impressions but by the end it was a fun series :)

I wish I finished the entire series but unfortunately I only managed to make it to finishing the 3rd before freshman year ended. Due to my short memory now I don’t remember some of the storyline 😢

I love Rick Riordan books

hidden oracle- 5 dark prophecy- 4 burning maze- 3 tower of nero- 2 tyrants tomb-1 only correct list

I personally didn’t like the series all that much- I got The Hidden Oracle when it first released but could barely get through the first 100 pages. I’ve read through some of the other books (1-3) after a few years, hoping fresh eyes would help but I still don’t like them. I still absolutely ADORE HOO and PJO, but I can’t stand the way TOA is written. I don’t like Meg that much (I just don’t really like children), Lester is okay but I feel like his personality is played up a lot. I feel like most side characters don’t have a distinctive personality (If you switched a lot of Nico and Percy’s lines, I really feel like I couldn’t tell). And overall, I feel many of the characters have been mischaracterized. My hottest take though, is that I don’t like Solangelo. I know this is like a crime in the Riordan fandom, but I just have never liked it. I love Nico and Will is nice enough, I just can’t help but feel like the romance is extremely forced. I feel like many people ship it because of the tropes it falls into (Sun x Moon, Extrovert x Introvert, etc) and for the fact it’s one of the only canon queer ships in the entire Riordanverse. I’m queer myself and I adore Rick, but I just can’t get behind an inorganic love. It’s just my opinion though! I can understand why people like it, but I was bored reading it. I might try it again sometime soon! Hopefully it might grow on me. Sorry for the long winded rant but thank you sm for the video!! I’ve watched a few others as well, you have a very likable personality.

It’s sad but I did kinda grow out of these books right around the halfway point with this series. It’s not that they aren’t good, they’re great and these stories formed a major backbone of my childhood. Just, after a certain point they just get boring to read.

Dark Prophecy hate is annoying. Tyrants tomb STINKS idk why people live it... My: 5. The Tyrants Tomb 4. The Hidden Oracle 3. The Dark Prophecy 2. The Tower of Nero 1. The Burning Maze

This is my exact ranking lol. Great video. Although overall I liked the series much less than you.