“When traveling through Washington, DC, one expects to see a few snakes in human clothing.”

From Rick Riordan’s The Trials of Apollo: The Tower of Nero.

After being trapped in the human body of the teenage Lester, the Greek god Apollo has had a terrible time trying to stop the end of the world without dying in his mortal punishment.  Along with his young demigod friend, Meg, Apollo has freed several Oracles and repeatedly faced off against the trio of evil, ancient Roman emperors that threaten to destroy the world.  On their way to face Nero, the most powerful emperor, Apollo and Meg are captured by his monsters; things look hopeless until one of the Nero’s lead soldiers, Luguselwa, double-crosses the others to help her old student Meg escape.  With no other way to stop Nero from destroying New York City, Luguselwa tells Apollo and Meg that they’ll have to surrender to Nero so she can help them escape and defeat the emperor from inside his tower.  Apollo is unsure of how much to trust Luguselwa, despite Meg’s complete acceptance of the plan, until they receive prophetic confirmation of the plan from the partially-blocked-by-Python Oracle of Delphi, Rachel Elizabeth Dare.  With no other options, Apollo and Meg join forces with Rachel, Nico di Angelo, and Apollo’s son, Will, to follow Luguselwa’s plan to stop Nero from within the deadly tower.  When Apollo and Meg arrive at Nero’s evil fortress, everything quickly goes wrong and Apollo find himself at the center of a deadly battle that will decide not only the fate of the world, but also the punished god’s life.

The fifth and final book in the series brings a thrilling, satisfying conclusion. Riordan creates a story that allows the main character to complete his quest for humanity, while also bringing conclusions to countless secondary characters.  The Tower of Nero is a fast-paced adventure from start to finish that fans of the series will love.