The House of Hades: The Graphic Novel

The Heroes of Olympus: The Graphic Novels #4

by Robert Venditti, Rick Riordan

The fourth exciting entry in Rick Riordan's best-selling Heroes of Olympus series is now a graphic novel!

At the conclusion of The Mark of Athena, Annabeth and Percy tumble into a pit leading straight to the Underworld. The other five demigods have to put aside their grief and follow Percy's instructions to find the mortal side of the Doors of Death. If they can fight their way through the Gaea's forces, and Percy and Annabeth can survive the House of Hades, then the Seven will be able to seal the Doors from both sides and prevent the giants from raising Gaea. But, Leo wonders, if the Doors are sealed, how will Percy and Annabeth be able to escape?

They have no choice. If the demigods don't succeed, Gaea's armies will never die. They have no time. In about a month, the Romans will march on Camp Half-Blood. The stakes are higher than ever in this adventure that dives into the depths of Tartarus.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Mythology, Comics, Percy Jackson, Middle Grade, Greek Mythology

160 pages, Paperback

First published September 24, 2024

About the author

Robert Venditti is a New York Times bestselling author of more than three hundred comic books and graphic novels. Some of his works include the monthly comic book series Justice League, Superman ’78, Hawkman, and Green Lantern for DC Comics, X-O Manowar, Armor Hunters, and Wrath of the Eternal Warrior for Valiant Entertainment, and the graphic novel Six Days, inspired by the story of his uncle’s participation in D-Day. He has also adapted Rick Riordan’s global bestselling Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus novels, as well as Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia and Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz. His graphic novel The Surrogates was adapted into a feature film by Touchstone Pictures, and his work on The Flash was the basis for season three of the CW television series.

Venditti lives in Atlanta, where he both writes and serves as a storytelling consultant for some of the most recognizable entertainment brands in the world.

Reviews

[Minji · Rating 3 out of 5]

TELL THE SUN AND STARS HELLO FOR ME

[Julia Kerrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each installment we commit more and more to giving Nico the most emo haircut possible (I endorse this effort, of course)

[Regan Durdle · Rating 5 out of 5]

huge moment in reyna stan history. also my face when i remembered the cupid scene was in this book. i was shocked.

[Madison Head · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was a really good adaption. As the books get longer they do a good job of taking as much of the story as they can into the graphic novel. The battle scenes were really cool in this one. Leo looks scary the most, and Nico looks more normal. Calypso was beautiful.

[Makenzie Muñoz · Rating 4 out of 5]

AMAZING!!!! Can't believe the 5th graphic novel adaptation isn't made yet 😭

[Isabella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4 stars

I grew up with Percy Jackson and Rick Riordan. For a very very long time, The House of Hades was my absolute favourite book in the world (yes, above The Hobbit). I had caught up to the publications around this time, so it was the first real instance where I had to wait for a new Rick Riordan book. I have a vivid memory of saying to my friend that the series felt unfinished, because the ending of The House of Hades wasn't that conclusive. He looked at me strangely and said "yeah, because it's not the last book in the series". Thus I learned such a thing as "upcoming releases" existed, and that books were actually still being written (contrary to popular belief). I still keep The House of Hades on my favourites today, mostly out of nostalgia, but also because it really is a great book.

So, 10 years later, I see there is a graphic novel being made. Then I see it has been released. Then, against all odds and defying all expectation, I see it at the library.

Reading this story again after such a long time was so refreshing. The highest compliment I can pay to this graphic novel is that it made me remember how I felt reading The House of Hades all those years ago. I know the story like the back of my hand, and the fact that the adaptation was accurate enough for me to recall the experience is a testament to how well it was put together.

My main complaint with this graphic novel, is that it should have been longer. The regular The House of Hades is about 600 pages, and this graphic novel is only 160. The other Percy Jackson graphic novels are also this kind of length, but the difference is their prose versions are half the size. If it was longer, or maybe released in two parts I would have given it five stars, but otherwise it's a pretty strong four.

[Selah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, before I start this review I have to say something. If you are looking at this because you are considering starting to dive in the pj universe, but you don’t want to read the actual series, just the graphic novels , THEN GET YOUR BUTT OFF THIS REVIEW AND READ THE ACTUAL AMAZING NOVELS. Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine.

This was so good! It portrayed the story perfectly, and I loved the animation.
This is probably my favorite HoO graphic novel so far, it was emotional, intense, scary, funny, and again, just like the “Wrath of the Triple Goddess”, filled with nostalgia.

I liked about 99% percent of the pictures, I mean some of them were super strange. There were some pictures that I was actually a little scared myself, especially with the goddess of misery scene, that was straight up creepy. But OH MY GOODNESS that part in the end with the stars was SO beautiful, bob was probably one of the best part of this book.

Highly recommend if your a fan of the Hero’s of Olympus series, and your hoping to get a HUGE dose of nostalgia out of this one!

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was probably the best one so far! This story is so complex and has so many moving parts and it was brilliantly done. I’m giving it 5 ⭐️s!

The story hit all the major points needed to propel the story. We got some romance, some major monster butt-kicking, and some heartfelt, wholesome parts!

I’m very glad we got the part at the end about “Tell the stars and sun hello for me” from Bob the Titan. Always a win.

Calypso was well done, too. Ogygia was gorgeous and, even as a montage, I truly enjoyed meeting Calypso for the first time in this medium (since she was skipped over in Battle of the Labyrinth)

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novel holds my favourite character, my favourite sub-plot and two of my favourite illustrated pages of the series; HOWEVER, I missed details like which minor god(dess) was which. I needed a little bit more from this due to the crazy amount of new, and old, titans, giants, monsters etc. were included.

[Soraya Keiser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this on the plane. Obviously you can’t capture everything in a graphic novel, but it was pretty good! Returning to this story for the first time in a while, I really appreciated how this book seems to delve into the nuance of good vs. evil, monster vs. hero more than the others in this series.

[tdadragon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man why did I not know that Heroes of Olympus had graphic novels????

[Charlotte Diver · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my favourite of all the Heroes of Olympus graphic novel adaptations!

I’ll never get tired of seeing my favourite scenes and characters brought to life, especially Bob and Small Bob. I do wish a few other scenes had been left in but I understand the need to pick and choose

[Allison Demetri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute. I’ve loved the Percy Jackson series and all the extended stuff for years and this was a great edition to the graphic novels.

Can’t wait for the Magnus Chase trilogy to get some love though.

[ML · Rating 5 out of 5]

THEY FINALLY PUT IN CALYPSOOOOOOO and she looks noice :) I swear there making Percy seem like the bad guy from Calypso's pov

[silvercyclops · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the darker color palette for this one, and Nico was drawn especially tiny and cutesy

[Vail Chester · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a weird inconsistency with the way Hecate is drawn, the problem with being known as a "triple goddess" is that people don't know if you shapeshift between the mother-maiden-crone aspects or if you have 3 faces that spin on an axis or if you just have Dissociative Identity Disorder. So in the few sporadic appearances of the goddess of magic, there's little consistency of how her head should look like.
Regardless, a very faithful adaptation of this highlight of the 2nd arc in the saga penned by Riordan. Bear witness to all the ups, downs, and minor triumphs that come with teenagers with attitude overcoming crazy cosmic obstacles on their way to self-actualization & love (oh and stopping an apocalypse too). Particular note are the duo we've been following since book one traversing their way through SUPERHELL where pretty much everything is designed to torment mortals and it really shows in the art how haggard they are by the end. And Bob, former Titan that Percy gave amnesia to & renamed in a side story that may or may not be canon, is the MVP of this tale as he had all the reasons to give in to hate and leave the puny mortals to suffer...BUT HE DIDN'T BECAUSE HE'S A GOOD GUY WITH A PET SABER-TOOTH-TIGER KITTEN!
Bring on the last part as the stakes keep escalating!

[Enrique Sebert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insisto en que este libro no debería ser para niños.
Revivir las cosas que sentí cuando leí La Casa de Hades hace casi una década, y verlas ilustradas, pegó de forma diferente.

Sin duda, mi novela favorita hasta el momento de toda la saga de Percy Jackson.

El desarrollo de personajes y de la historia en sí, es simplemente perfecta.

Por cierto: ESA parte de Jason y Nico está perfectamente desarrollada. Rick tan adelantado a sus tiempos. Amo.

Y lo de Bob, me hizo llorar en serio.

Tengo malos recuerdos del siguiente libro, pero tocará ver con toda esta emoción que tengo, qué pasa con los siete mestizos de la profecía.

[Reader Joseph D’Addio · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a solid adaption! Waited over a decade to see this! Tartarus in all its glory! Although some scenes had to be skipped it made a lot of sense as they couldn’t cram everything in. But could Hazel at least meet her dear old dad after she defeats Sciron? The Book is literally named House of HADES! Also the Cupid scene should have been amid the outdoor ruins not deep in the dungeons of Diocletian’s Palace! Other than that it is the best thing we will get before we get to a Disney+ adaption in 2038 at which point they would have to just age up the characters.

[Emma Fitzpatrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the original book and I don’t think that this does the original justice. I think that they skipped too many important scenes. I understand they need to keep it short but don’t cut the important scenes. Also not a huge fan of the character looks it was a little weird looking at them. And why was Nico holding a skull every chance he got? Like I get it, he’s the ghost king, but why? The skull is not part of his personality. It’s in most of the graphic novels it’s part of his personality at this point. STOP giving him random skulls.

[Mae (bookishpremed) · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Bob says hello” 😭😭😭😭 Percy J got me crying late at night bro.

Arguably, this story is the best in the Heroes of Olympus series. Percy’s journey through the Underworld while the rest try to make it on the other side of the Doors of Death was so action-packed and kept me at the edge of my seat this time.

Bob is still my favorite character. I’m happy he also returned in Sun in the Star. He deserves better 😭

[Topher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big Day for Nico Stans!!!! Him confessing his love to Percy but drawn? Don’t mind if I do! I also loved seeing my boy Bob Jr. he truly is the bestest cat and deserves the world. He better have survived Tartarus or I am going to fight someone. Hazel getting her limelight was amazing and also seeing Leo and Calypso drawn out made me believe their romance a little more than the chapter we get in the book.

[viv reads whatever · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel like the art style for the Heroes of Olympus graphic novels can be hit or miss at times. (Nico can look so strange at times) This one definitely has some really good visuals, especially Annabeth and Percy in Tartarus. Nyx's character design is so beautiful as well. This very well might be the best HoO graphic novel.

[Katie Kaste · Rating 5 out of 5]

Annabeth and Percy are falling endlessly into Tartarus, feeling as though it will never end. Meanwhile, the rest of the group is racing to reach the Doors of Death for two reasons: to temporarily close them and, most importantly, to save Annabeth and Percy. Jason is struggling to hold the group together in the absence of their two friends, all while trying to prevent the Romans from launching an attack on Camp Half-Blood.

Nico, too, is facing his own personal challenges, especially when he must confront Cupid.

This is one of my favorite books in the series. I didn’t think The Mark of Athena could be topped, but this book raised the stakes, provided meaningful character growth, and kept me thoroughly entertained. I’m not sure if I like it more than Athena, but it’s at least just as good.

The artwork is stunning, and the adaptation is strong—I can’t wait for the final book in the series!

[Cinthia Fukuma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Não tenho muito o que dizer. A arte é incrível, tem uma das melhores cenas de todos os "Heróis do Olimpo". Posso confessar q uma das melhoras coisas q a série do Disney+ trouxe, foi q as Graphic Novels voltaram. Juro, tinha ficado muito triste quando descobri que Son of Neptune era o último q tinha. Mas agr, provavelmente o último já está sendo lançadoooo.

[Jeri Goins · Rating 5 out of 5]

On to the last graphic in the Heroes of Olympus series! (as soon as they publish it!) Loving these for quickly getting through these books by Riordian that I want to know about without actually reading the novels.

[Cookie · Rating 5 out of 5]

House of hades has always been my favorite volume out of ALL OF THE RIODANVERSE. Seeing it in comics ver really brings satisfaction to how underworld is, people are drawn in to what is the underworld and damn orpheus really bring justice to that hellish place

[Glen Wagner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book is better. A little too much was omitted. And the panels are too small, making it difficult to read. Artwork leaves something to be desired. More than a few scenes seem poorly drawn. Faces are often oversimplified.

[Dippit! with E.S.Jennette · Rating 3 out of 5]

The gang is back together to restore the balance of Hades. The Gods as well as the half bloods (of course) need to save the day before Hades takes over.

We get to see how the Gods are really fighting for power and how they hate each other more so then the half-bloods themselves.

[Hana · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5

BOBBBBB

[Alex(Books-In-A-Storm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutly beautiful. I loved this one.