In the wake of The Sun and the Star, Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro’s bestseller about our favorite son of Hades, Nico di Angelo, and his sunshine boyfriend, Will Solace, fans (me) have been anxiously awaiting the sequel.
When I read TSATS, I thought it was going to be a one-off because of its self-contained story. Especially because Oshiro tweeted in April 2024, after a fan joked about a Will-centered sequel story, that there were “so many deadlines,” which implied to me that there was no time!
So, imagine my surprise when Mark Oshiro dropped the fact that there would be a sequel— and the fact that it was already written and on its way to being published!
Fans of Nico di Angelo (me) went ballistic over this info. How could there possibly be more to Nico and Will’s story?
As someone who always fears the worst, this sequel is terrifying. Already in the first book, the prophecy made it sound like Nico would have to sacrifice Will in order to save their Titan friend, Bob:
Go forth and find the one who calls your name,
Who suffers and despairs for refusing to remain;
There leave something of equal value behind,
Or your body and soul no one will ever find
“Equal value” immediately felt about Will, and Nico having to leave someone he loves behind in order to succeed at this quest. In the end, it was about Nico’s cacodemons—his literal inner demons that he had to ‘leave behind’ in the sense of removing them from himself. This turn of events was both comical (they are referred to as the “cocoa puffs” from there on) and an extreme relief.
However, I don’t think Will is out of the ringer just yet.
(I say this with so much love for Will, by the way. I just fear for him deeply.)
With The Court of the Dead’s cover, synopsis, and release date (September 23rd) being dropped, my anxieties come to a front. Nothing, of course, is confirmed yet, but I have theories.
The official synopsis is:
A few months after returning from the depths of Tartarus, demigods Nico di Angelo and Will Solace agree to join Nico’s half-sister Hazel Levesque at Camp Jupiter on the West Coast. She needs their help in managing a situation that the boys inadvertently brought about: the demigods showed the monsters of the Underworld that they have options; they don’t have to be evil.
Now some of those monsters have taken up residence at Camp Jupiter to seek refuge. Nico and Will are on site assisting Hazel when one by one monsters start disappearing from camp. A mysterious dark force is at work, and its plan is to punish all monsters for their past crimes.
Things only get worse when Nico, Will, and Hazel learn that they’re all connected to it . .
I’m so happy that Hazel is going to be a part of whatever wild ride Nico and Will stumble upon next, but I can’t lie and say I’m not extremely worried about the “mysterious dark force” that this new trio is “all connected to”.
Looking at this beautiful purple cover, my eyes immediately jump to two places:
First, the trio at the bottom of the cover: Nico, Will, and Hazel fighting the minotaur.
Will being in the center concerns me…
The last time a blond boy was in the center of a trio on a Rick Riordan cover, he got speared by a Roman emperor. (RIP Jason Grace.) I do not trust Riordan enough with Will’s security in between my favorite half-siblings of Hades.
The second place my eyes drift is the top right corner where there are three silhouetted figures looking down onto the trio fighting the minotaur. It’s going to drive me crazy for the next seven months not knowing who they will be.
In mythological context, it seems the Court of the Dead is the Judgement Pavilion where new souls of the Underworld are sorted by their life’s actions by three judges. The Greeks believed the three judges were Minos, Aeacus, and Radamanthus, and the souls would then be sorted to Elysium (glorious heroes), the Fields of Asphodel (purgatory), or Tartarus (very, very bad punishment).
The minotaur being at the cover’s center in chains gives the feeling of this judging of souls. And from the synopsis talking about the idea that monsters “don’t have to be evil” and are disappearing, this is probably a scene where he is being judged.
In the Percy Jackson universe, we see this pavilion only twice. Once in The Battle of the Labyrinth, where Nico encounters the judgment of Daedalus, and another time in The Son of Neptune, where Hazel and her mother are examined after their conjoined deaths.
This was a pivotal moment in Hazel’s life, where she was decided to be sent to Elysium and her mother to Tartarus. Hazel couldn’t bear it, and so she offered the judges to send them both to Asphodel in a compromise— taking away her heroic status as well as her mother’s punishment. She spent years there, wasting away, until Nico pulled her back to life when he was searching for the Doors of Death.
So, not only are Nico and Hazel connected by their father, but they are further connected by this relation to the Judgement Pavilion.
Now I have to ask: Where does that leave Will?
As far as we’ve seen, Will has no connection to the Judgment Pavillion (although there’s always the opportunity of flashbacks throughout this sequel to prove me wrong). But what he does have a connection to is people from camp who have died.
The three figures at the top right corner look familiar to me in an uncanny way, and with this book being called the Court of the Dead, I think perhaps this threat the trio is ‘all connected to’ might just be someone— or some people— they know that have died.
Hear me out:
Minos, Aeacus, and Radamanthus have been replaced, and the new trio of judges that govern souls of the dead are familiar faces.
This wouldn’t be a super far off idea since in chapter eighteen of The Lightning Thief, Annabeth mentions William Shakespeare and Thomas Jefferson were judges at some point (or still are?).
Looking at these silhouettes, I see a shocking resemblance to three characters who have passed away.
Left to Right: Octavion, Bianca di Angelo, Jason Grace.
Right off the bat, I bet you think I’m crazy. And, well, you might be right… I’m kind of grappling at any straw I can for Jason Grace’s return.
However, the trio being connected to them makes sense.
Octavian is connected to Hazel through Camp Jupiter, and Nico and Will through his accidental launch to death. He’s also an Augor (a Roman oracle, basically), and his complex ambitions would be an interesting mix as a judge of the dead.
Jason was a praetor at Camp Jupiter as well as one of the kids from the Prophecy of Seven. He braved the Argo II with Hazel, and later Nico, who both looked up to him. As for Will, they weren’t super close, but Will helped Nico grieve the death of Jason and their first kiss happened to be a moment of ‘light’ for Nico after his friend’s death.
Bianca is more of a stretch since she really only knew Nico. However, she is technically half-siblings with Hazel— who Nico compared her to a lot— and for Will, like Jason, impacted Nico and his ability to be in a relationship/accept himself.
(In TSATS Bianca told Nico in his dream that she had ‘moved on.’ But a girl can dream.)
Not all of these predictions can be correct, which I know, but at the end of the day I’m just a fangirl and I want these characters back even if it’s impossible.
Mark Oshiro made a tweet responding to a fan about these judges, saying that “two are [new]. One you’ve definitely met.”
So, no, these three judges definitely won’t all be Bianca, Octavion, and Jason. But maybe one of them? Jason? (Can you tell Jason is one of my favorite characters of all time?)
The “one” we already met could be Minos since he was actively manipulating Nico throughout The Battle of the Labyrinth. However, if Riordan and Oshiro are exploring these judges, it would definitely be more interesting to include someone new and shocking…. Especially if the judges have been replaced before, Minos manipulating Hades’ son is surely enough to get him kicked out of the Court.
These judges, however, are not the only things stressing me out.
In an interview with Cosmopolitan, Riordan and Oshiro said many, many things that fill me with dread.
Immediately, Riordan states the book is “more like Will and Nico go to the circus” in comparison to their descent into Tartarus. Usually, a circus is fun. But I don’t trust it.
Later in the interview, the authors are asked to describe the book in three words. Riordan’s are relatively normal: carnival, family, food. Oshiro’s, however, are anxiety inducing. They call the book “healing” and then immediately switched to “shocking” and “unhinged” because “there is a plot twist people would be very mad about” and it is “the most unhinged Percy Jackson book.”
Right. I’m so calm about this.
Starting with “unhinged,” I think that’s a crazy statement! How could this sequel about our beloved boys and the formidable Hazel Levesque be more unhinged than House of Hades? To me, book four of the Heroes of Olympus series is the most ‘unhinged’ book Rick Riordan has ever written. I mean, come on… Percy and Annabeth are in Tartarus, Leo gets sent to Ogygia, Frank gets Mars’ blessing, Hazel becomes an apprentice of Hecate, Piper kills a snow goddess, Jason is strung upside down by kerkopes, and Nico gets outed by the literal Cupid.
Will and Nico also went to Tartarus in TSATS, which is pretty unhinged. What the heck is going to happen in The Court of the Dead that makes it more “unhinged” than these?
As for the “plot twist,” another thing Riordan and Oshiro mentioned was TCOTD being “the first time we meet Will’s mom,” Naomi Solace.
While it should be exciting (as Will refers to Naomi as his “best friend” throughout TSATS) for Nico to meet his future mother-in-law, I am simultaneously filled with joy and dread.
Since Naomi was mentioned to be on tour during the duration of TSATS, and if Will, Nico, and Hazel are journeying to the Judgement Pavilion in the Underworld, the entrance is in Las Vegas. I’m thinking they see her there, perhaps, before they go down. Because Naomi has done what she can to protect Will before (see: Stymphalian birds attack), I wouldn’t doubt she wants to protect Will again.
How evil would it be if she followed her son into the Underworld and then Naomi and Will parallel Hazel and her mother?
This probably won’t happen. But, also… “plot twist people would be very mad about” and “the most unhinged Percy Jackson book.” Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro are not to be trusted.
Though, who am I to figure out what’s happening in this sequel? I’m just a fangirl of 11 years with severe impatience issues and a tendency to spiral. Maybe the plot twist includes these judges, or the fate of the monsters at camp. Maybe the apocalypse is upon us. Maybe Apollo gets turned into a human again (please. I miss him).
As for what the novel truly holds, we won’t know until September 23rd, 2025. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
All I can hope for is that Will Solace makes it out of this one alive, too.