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The Dark Prophecy

The Trials of Apollo

by Rick Riordan

The Dark Prophecy

The Trials of Apollo

by Rick Riordan


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Apollo is still Lester, a mortal teenager, still bound in service to Meg McCaffrey—though he has no clue where she is—and still searching for dysfunctional Oracles. The present and future aren’t his only problem, however; Apollo is being haunted by his distant past.


  • Released 05/02/2017
  • Book Length 432 Pages
  • ISBN 978-1-4847-4642-4
  • Illustrated By John Rocco

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More about The Dark Prophecy

Since becoming mortal as punishment for a near-world ending mistake and reaching Camp Half-Blood alive, Apollo—aka Lester Papadopoulos—has been busy. Sung his way out of the den of the Myrmekes, giant killer ants? Check. Protect the gates of an ancient oracle? Check. Fire a Shakespeare-spouting, plague-ridden arrow into the ear of a bronze colossus so it will sneeze its head off and die instead of attacking the camp? Check. Punch the long-lost, recently returned demigod Leo Valdez in the stomach? Check and double check.

But Apollo’s trials aren’t over. He has received a prophecy—in limerick form, the worst kind—from ancient Grove of Dodona. The prophecy instructs him to locate a second long-forgotten oracle in “a cave blue and hollow.”

Those words send him flying on Festus, Leo’s bronze dragon, to Indianapolis. Leo and his new girlfriend Calypso, former immortal, are with him. They’ve just collapsed Festus into suitcase form when they’re attacked by a horde of ruthlessly polite monsters called blemmyae. They make their escape and follow a headless orange ghost to an underground hideout called the Waystation. They’re met by two former Hunters of Artemis who greet Apollo with distinct chilliness. Why they dislike him is beyond him.

And then things start to get really weird…

Three Roman emperors who by all calculations should have died centuries ago are, in fact, very much alive. Apollo met one of the so-called Triumvirate, the malicious, power-hungry Nero, in the Grove of Dodona. Nero, he learned to his horror, raised Meg. She’s terrified of him—or rather, his alter superego, the Beast—and yet he coerced her back to his side in the grove. That did not please Apollo. As much as Meg annoyed him, he had grown to feel affection for her. Knowing she was under the control of a monster like Nero was hard to bear.

Now he learns the identity of another member of the Triumvirate—Commodus, a bloodthirsty narcissist with a serious grudge against Apollo. (That, Apollo can understand. He did drown the emperor back in the day, after all.) The emperor has big plans for Indianapolis that involve reviving games of bloodshed and death.

Stopping Commodus, finding Meg, figuring out why the former Hunters dislike him, and locating the long-lost oracle in a blue and hollow cave… Apollo’s to-do list is getting longer by the moment.

Books in the series

Trials of Apollo 5-Book Hardcover Boxed Set

The Trials of Apollo 5-Book Hardcover Boxed Set

Trials Boxed Set

The Trials of Apollo 3-Book Paperback Boxed Set

Camp Jupiter Classified

Camp Jupiter Classified

Nero cover

The Tower of Nero

The Tyrant's Tomb

The Burning Maze

The Dark Prophecy

The Hidden Oracle

Rick Riordan Series Sampler

Rick Riordan Series Sampler


Read Riordan

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