“I believe in returning dead bodies.”

From Rick Riordan’s The Trials of Apollo: The Tyrant’s Tomb.

Punished to the teenage human body of a boy named Lester until his father (Zeus) feels he has learned his lesson, the Greek god Apollo is less than thrilled with the danger his punishment has put him in.  Stripped of his godly powers and now armed only with his bow, ukulele, and slowly returning and very unreliable skills, life has been pretty terrible for Apollo.  He is still tasked with helping and protecting the young demigod Meg who has bravery, but very little sense of fashion or self-preservation.  Meg and Apollo have found themselves on a sad, personal mission to Camp Jupiter in California, but even this is sabotaged by Caligula, the evil Roman emperor back from the dead to take over the world with the other evil emperors Commodus and Nero.  Young legionnaire Lavinia helps Apollo and Meg into Camp Jupiter where centurion Hazel and camp leaders Frank and Reyna fill them in on their latest crisis: deadly and unstoppable zombie attacks.  When Apollo is sliced by an eurynomos (monster with a death-causing scratch), things quickly go from bad to worse.  Apollo and Meg are quickly drafted to help and sent to Ella and Tyson for prophesy help which propels them to a terrible (and confusing) discovery.  Apollo, Meg, Levinia, and Hazel are chosen for a recon quest to find the evil Tarquin’s tomb and try to discover information on Camp Jupiter’s upcoming attack.  However, the ghosts and mistakes from Apollo’s godly past that keep returning to haunt him make everything that much more difficult.

The fourth book in the Greek/Roman spin-off series is full of action, adventure, and heart.  Readers will enjoy both watching familiar characters develop and being introduced to solid new ones.  The Tyrant’s Tomb will captivate fans of Riordan’s work, while also push readers into the next book in the series.