Gryphons, ostriches, and robotic dragons take front and center in first looks at THE DARK PROPHECY!
The cover and first excerpt from Rick Riordan’s second book in The Trials of Apollo series are here! After losing his godly powers and (just barely) adjusting to life among the demigods of Camp Half-Blood, The Dark Prophecy sees Apollo–now going by Lester Papadopoulos– on a quest to find an ancient, darkly infamous Oracle who may be able to help him out.
Mythical, surprising beasts take hold of the cover image as Apollo and his friends fly on the backs of gryphons above a group of helmeted ostrich soldiers. Don’t be fooled, those long-necked cute creatures can be vicious!
USA Today revealed the cover and also has a lengthy first chapter excerpt up on their site.
The novel will open with Lester/Apollo and his team going to a certain state that has inexplicably earned the ire of Festus the robotic dragon. Coincidentally (or perhaps not-so-coincidentally, given that this is Rick Riordan,) the state in question has received some pretty bad PR following discriminatory laws in recent years.
Chapter 1
Lester (Apollo)
Still human; thanks for asking
Gods, I hate my life
When our dragon declared war on Indiana, I knew it was going to be a bad day.
We’d been traveling west for six weeks, and Festus had never shown such hostility toward a state. New Jersey he ignored. Pennsylvania he seemed to enjoy, despite our battle with the Cyclopes of Pittsburgh. Ohio he tolerated, even after our encounter with Potina, the Roman goddess of childhood drinks, who pursued us in the form of a giant red pitcher emblazoned with a smiley face.
Yet for some reason, Festus decided he did not like Indiana. He landed on the cupola of the Indiana Statehouse, flapped his metallic wings, and blew a cone of fire that incinerated the state flag right off the flagpole.
“Whoa, buddy!” Leo Valdez pulled the dragon’s reins. “We’ve talked about this. No blowtorching public monuments!”
READ THE FULL EXCERPT ON USA TODAY!
The Trials of Apollo: The Dark Prophecy hits bookshelves on May 2, 2017. You can pre-order it now via Amazon!
