We are experiencing a revolution in the LGBTQ community, but while the real world is becoming more accepting, the LGBTQ community is still very hush-hush in the book world. Few authors include LGBTQ characters or deal with their struggles. There just aren’t many stories written for them or about them.  Rick Riordan, an award-winning Greek/Roman/Egyptian/Norse mythology author, is anything but quiet. His fills his newer book with LGBTQ members, but he does not make them the whole story. Riordan folds the characters into the story; they are just another ingredient to add to his masterpiece. He tells their story, but that is all. He makes the LGBTQ characters like all of the other traditional book characters fighting for their lives and saving the world from the godly monsters that arise with the sole purpose to end the world as we know it. He also does not bury them. The characters know each others’ stories well, and any character’s sexuality is not a factor in their relationships. Riordan simply presents their sexuality as a character trait, part of who they are. Riordan’s LGBTQ characters include Nico Di Angelo, the gay son of Hades (from Heroes of Olympians, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and The Trials of Apollo,) Alex Fierro, the gender fluid child of Loki (from Magnus Chance and the Gods of Asgard,) the bisexual Greek and Roman god Apollo (from Trials of Apollo,) and Nico’s boyfriend, Will, a child of Apollo (from The Trials of Apollo.)

The funny thing is that Rick Riordan’s books are targeted towards middle school children, not adults, but adults can benefit greatly from reading these books. These books can show adults and everyone else how the world would be much better and much safer if we forgot about the categories we place people in and we just accept them as human, or in this case half-human half-god. These books could be the start to a new era in the world of books.