Demigods and Magicians Review

Demigods and Magicians was a collection of short stories that I always desired to read, it was posed as the “Avengers” of Rick Riordan’s book universe. But when I heard that it was all to be composed of short stories, and not released as an actual full length book, and the fact that it would only be available on certain paperback editions of the Heroes of Olympus series and the Kane Chronicles series, I felt a strange feeling of negativity towards the stories. As if Riordan was trying to make everybody forget about these stories, and as if they only existed for money making purposes. But I tried these feelings when I picked the collection up from my local Half Price Books. Demigods and Magicians features parts that feed into one another, and takes hold of the idea of crossing two beloved series together nicely, but it falls flat of Riordan’s more superior writing, and cannot be considered for more than just a simple read.

The collection itself is rather small, easily compared to the Demigod files and diaries that acted as companion books to the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series. Those companion books proved that Riordan wasn’t quite too skilled in creating excellent short stories, as well as he could masterfully create 500 page books, this collection is no exception. Everything in all three stories gave me a sense of being too repetitive and cliché like. The most notable would be the Son of Sobek story. The interaction between Carter and Percy feels rushed and as if the quality wasn’t as good. But when the story closes, it all feels like a small coincidence instead of a complex part of setting up the uniting climax of the collection. Dialogue is sloppy, and never fully transitions into some of Riordan’s more recent works. But there are some good news about the stories, the final one, The Crown of Plotemy features a heavy focus on the uniting of the four characters. Whilst it doesn’t feel grand as they face off against Setne, a dull villain for such a take, it retains and gains a sense of what the other Riordan books accomplished. It is here where all these parts, if sometimes dull, stories turn and make sense.

For the collection itself, new artwork comes into play, with beautiful and stunning art by John Rocco himself of all the original covers for the story, and character portraits for the protagonists and antagonists. If you have already purchased or read the stories before, there is no reason to pick this collection up, since there is very little bonuses with spending the extra 9.00 on the collection.

Demigods and Magicians does its characters sly justice, but the injustice dealt overpowers it heavily. It represents a below average work of literature, and could be easily forgotten. It never transitions into what could have been a turning point for all Riordan novels, but instead falls flat on its face. It never becomes a moving story, of what it means to be a hero and face against evil. For that reason I award Demigods and Magicians a below average 4.9 out of 10.