History YMMV / TheTrialsOfApollo

** This series along with the Magnus Chase series has divide fans into three camps. Those who wish that Rick Riordan would stop forcing LGBT issues on fans and see his usage as preachy and unnecessary, along with the accusation that he is doing it for the attention and is pandering to his tumblr fanbase; those that view his inclusion of LGBT characters as brilliant and progressive; and those whose complaint is not that he's including LGBT characters but that he's doing so in a tone-deaf manner, ie, many queer fans feel the LGBT characters fall into a number of harmful tropes and worn-out, overdone plotlines. Needless to say debating LGBT issues in the fandom starts many heated discussion.

** The Burning Maze takes this up another notch by [[spoiler: killing off a major character mostly to emphasis the cost of war. Jason Grace was a POV character and is the first major character to die in a Riordan book (excluding Magnus Chase).]]

** This series along with the Magnus Chase series has divide fans into three camps. Those who wish that Rick Riordan would stop forcing LGBT issues on fans and see his usage as preachy and unnecessary, along with the accusation that he is doing it for the attention and is pandering to his tumblr fanbase; those that view his inclusion of LGBT characters as brilliant and progressive; and those whose complaint is not that he's including LGBT characters but that he's doing so in a tone-deaf manner, ie, many LGBT fans feel the LGBT characters fall into a number of harmful tropes and worn-out, overdone plotlines. Needless to say debating LGBT issues in the fandom starts many heated discussion.

** [[spoiler: Jason's death has led to many a flame war on the internet wit many calling out Rick for the supposed DarknessInducedAudienceApathy and others defending the death of such a flat character.]]

** [[Spoiler: Jason's death has led to many a flame war on the internet wit many calling out Rick for the supposed DarknessInducedAudienceApathy and others defending the death of such a flat character.]]

* WinBackTheCrowd: Many Grover fans were complaining about his status as DemotedToExtra in ''Heroes of Olympus'', [[spoiler: but at the end of ''The Dark Prophecy'', he returns.]]

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: Oh man. Oh man, oh man. Where to start. Well, first we've got Emperor Nero, AKA The Beast AKA the least likely to win the father of the year award because he is really, really damn abusive. Jext we have the fact that that same emperor tied a bunch of *kids* to wooden stakes and intended to burn them along with the sacred oracle he wanted destroyed. And of course, in the most latest book, Apollo attempts to commit Suicide to stop the BigBad of that book from getting what he wants. Why isn't this series in the YA section again?

* MemeticBadass: As a few comments on the Riordan wiki noted, the third emperor, [[spoiler: Caligula]], [[HeroKiller did the thing that Gaea and the Giants couldn't successful]]. As a mortal he scared a god so much just by meeting him that said god, Apollo, did not return to the empire for decades.

** The Burning Maze could be considered by some Rick thinking over everything people had issue with with Jason x Piper and nodding in agreement. That and the mocking way Leo referred to the defeat of Gaea suggests an overall awareness of the problems the previous series had.

** This series along with the Magnus Chase series has divide fans into three camps. Those who wish that Rick Riordan stop forcing LGBT issues on fans and see his forcing as preachy and unnecessary along with the accusation that he is doing it for the attention and is pandering to his tumblr fan base; those that view his inclusion of LGBT characters as brilliant and progressive; and those whose complaint is not that he's including LGBT characters but that he's doing so in a tone-deaf manner, ie, many LGBT fans feel the LGBT characters fall into a number of harmful tropes and worn-out, overdone plotlines. Needless to say debating LGBT issues in the fandom starts many heated discussion.

** This series along with the Magnus Chase series has divide fans into three camps. Those who wish that Rick Riordan stop forcing LGBT issues on fans and see his forcing as preachy and unnecessary along with the accusation that he is doing it for the attention and is pandering to his tumblr fan base; those that view his inclusion of LGBT characters as brilliant and progressive; and those whose complaint is not that he's including LGBT characters but that he's doing so in a tone-deaf manner, ie, many queer fans feel the LGBT characters fall into a number of harmful tropes and worn-out, overdone plotlines. Needless to say debating LGBT issues in the fandom starts many heated discussion.

** This series along with the Magnus Chase series has divide fans into two camps. Those who wish that Rick Riordan stop forcing LGBT issues on fans and see his forcing as preachy and unnecessary along with the accusation that he is doing it for the attention and is pandering to his tumblr fan base and those that view his inclusion of LGBT characters as brilliant and progressive. Needless to say debating LGBT issues in the fandom starts many heated discussion.

* MemeticBadass: As a few comments on the Riordan wiki noted, the third emperor, [[spoiler: Caligula]], [[Hero Killer did the thing that Gaea and the Giants couldn't successful]]. As a mortal he scared a god so much just by meeting him that said god, Apollo, did not return to the empire for decades.

** This series along with the magnus chase series has divide fans into two camps. Those who wish that Rick Riordan stop forcing LGBT issues on fans and see his forcing as preachy and unnecessary along with the accusation that he is doing it for the attention and is pandering to his tumblr fan base and those that view his inclusion of LGBT characters as brilliant and progressive. Needless to say debating LGBT issues in the fandom starts many heated discussion.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: A slight one for a goof in the first book of the franchise: but Apollo's comment about having a kid with a mortal man offers an explanation on why Grover would suggest Percy was the kid of Sally and the goddess Nemesis.
** Although, it's not like HomosexualReproduction is outside the realm of possibility for gods. Percy has a half-brother conceived from such a relationship.

* BrokenBase: On the villains being [[spoiler: the emperors of Rome]]. Some feel like it's an AssPull, adding more characters when the Doors of Death plot has been done already (though these characters haven't explicitly ''died''), and others feel that while a bit sudden, it follows Riordan's usual ShownTheirWork quite well on something ''considerably'' less well-known. (spoilers on note) [[note]]Historically, the emperors of Rome were considered gods in certain ways. If the Imperial Cult was right, some of the emperors received divinity through the Senate (it's complex, let's just say that 'worthy' caesars were voted into divinity). The numerous mystery cults (such as the Cult of Iris, the Gnostics, the Imperial Cult, the bacchic rites, the Dionysus mysteries, and (originally) Christianity) were a major part of the Roman Empire's religious landscape in the late BC to 312 AD.[[/note]]

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Carrying over from ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' and ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'', Nico di Angelo. Reactions on sites like tumblr are disproportionately more about him than, say, Apollo or Meg.

* HilariousInHindsight: A [[WickedStepmother wicked stepfather]] who happens to be the sociopathic (Former) head of state? And the one responsible for their birth father's death? [[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Funny coincidence.]]

* IKnewIt: From Fanon, it was common to assume that [[spoiler: Demeter's children had GreenThumb as one of their powers]].
** Apollo being bisexual was also common in fanon. Though that should never have been a surprise, since he was in Mythology as well.
** Pretty much everyone predicted that Nico and Will would be in the book, but whether or not they'd be explicitly referred to as a couple was questioned.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome
** "Percy Jackson had arrived." For context, Percy arrives in the nick of time to battle the giant statue and save the camp.
** Apollo uses his power of music to tame the giant ants and uses them to help him rescue Meg.
** Apollo in the climax of the second book. He actually manages to save his friends from a hostage situation that would've resulted in people getting hurt either way note  by revealing his divine form and blinding Commodus and his Germani, allowing the defenders to gain the upper hand. Note the fact that he is nowhere near full strength (by mortal standards), having just regained consciousness after passing out from surviving a sanity-exhausting trip to the Dark Oracle, swimming with one arm while carrying an unconscious Meg, and a blemmyae attack that left his arm broken.
** Apollo is tired, Meg is out of commission, and the blemmyae have him outnumbered and have a bomb to go off after five seconds. How does he solve this? By convincing them the main blemmyae to set the bomb off underwater, [[BlatantLies because everyone knows that the timer doubles underwater]] and then uses the commotion, and a few lucky rocks, and the timely arrival of an army of Peaches to escape.
** The Hunters of Artemis pull off a BigDamnHeroes to save Apollo and Meg from the gladiatorial battle, not that the two weren't already doing a good job themselves. Highlights include.
*** Apollo using an elephant to stop a freaking racecar.
*** Meg rescuing Peaches

* TearJerker: Any time Apollo thought about or [[spoiler: expressed his own suppressed guilt]] over Daphne and Hyacinthus.
** In addition to that, [[spoiler: when he expresses his desire for eternal companionship/marriage, but saying that it's not in his destiny.]]
** Apollo tells Percy that one of the previous times he was turned mortal was for killing the Cyclopes who created the lightning bolt that killed one of his demigod children. He admits later in the book, [[spoiler:after seeing the way Nero has manipulated and abused Meg into loving him while also fearing his wrath]], that it wasn't an accidental or irrational decision. He compares the way [[spoiler:Nero]] talks about [[spoiler:his "Beast" side]] to the way Zeus would talk about his lightning bolt before punishing Apollo with it, and says that he hated the lightning bolt because it was easier than hating his father.
** [[spoiler:Meg's betrayal]] it utterly breaks Apollo at that point in the book and while she ultimately does the right thing, [[spoiler:Nero's]] hold on her is too strong to break at this point.
** Flashbacks to Apollos relationship with [[spoiler: Commodus]]. You know it's going to end in tears when they're SoHappyTogether, but it's still tragic no matter how evil the latter turned out to be.
** Apollo [[spoiler: killing Commodus]] is this, full stop.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Without getting into anything age inappropriate, Apollo makes it absolutely crystal clear that not only is he attracted to men as well as women, but that he's perfectly happy about it. He's also perfectly happy that his son is in a relationship with another boy, so long as his son is happy. He's also perfectly happy to have children with another man. One need look no further than ''The Hidden Oracle's'' Amazon reviews to see the kind of prejudice [=LGBT=]+ individuals can be subjected to, so while Apollo might be going a little out of his way to emphasize non-heterosexuality is nothing to be ashamed about, it's also very timely. Several fans have expressed hope that [=LGBT=]+ youth will be able to see themselves represented in the books.

* ValuesDissonance: In-universe. Nico and Will sit at the same table at camp and are pretty obviously a couple. Apollo doesn't find this weird at all - instead he notes that Nico is sitting at ''his'' table and not at the ''Hades table''. [[BiTheWay Apollo, however, completely understands why they would be so close to one another and doesn't find this odd at all - after all he does mention that he had a lot of boyfriends over the years]].

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler: "Percy Jackson [[BigDamnHeroes had arrived]]."]]
** Also, [[spoiler:Apollo]] in the climax of the second book. He actually manages to [[spoiler:save his friends from a hostage situation that would've resulted in people getting hurt either way [[note]]The deal was that either the Waystation's defenders hand over the Throne of Mnemosyne, let the building be razed, and Lester/Apollo and Georgina be killed (meaning that Meg would remain permanently insane, they would lose an important shelter, and the aforementioned people would be killed, respectively) or Leo, Emmie, and Georgina would be killed.[[/note]] by revealing his divine form and blinding Commodus and his Germani, allowing the defenders to gain the upper hand. Note the fact that he is ''nowhere'' near full strength (by mortal standards), having just regained consciousness after passing out from surviving a sanity-exhausting trip to the Dark Oracle, swimming with one arm while carrying an unconscious Meg, and a blemmyae attack that left his arm broken]].