I started reading Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians when I was eight years old. The first book in the series,The Lightning Thief, was the third book I’d ever read in my life. I remember when I first borrowed it from the school library. The jacket was plasticky, covered with that thin, filmy layer that libraries for young children laminate over their hardbacks, with a small gap at the top and bottom where a layer of dirt and pencil shavings had still managed to penetrate. It was near the middle of the shelf on the back wall, just low enough for me to reach. My friends had been telling me for weeks that I should try it; that if I really wanted to read stories about magic, and adventures, and weird otherworldly creatures, this was where I needed to start.

I stared down at the front cover, my eyes fixed on the tiny figure of Percy himself, turned facing a stormy New York skyline while the ocean pulled at his legs. I felt something spark inside of me as I flipped to the opening page, and read the first few words: “Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood.” It would take another ten years to fully understand what that feeling meant. It wasn’t that I wanted to be Percy: it was that I had fallen wholly and completely in love with his story.

I haven’t outgrown Percy, and, with Riordan’s continual additions to his narrative, I’m happy to say that Percy hasn’t outgrown me. The Sun and the Star is one of the more recent additions to Riordan’s world of modern mythical adaptations, and his partnership with Mark Oshiro is a match made in literary heaven (or rather, Elysium). The Sun and the Star, written in a third person POV, isn’t quite as quippy as much of the rest Riordan’s work, but for readers like me who have grown up alongside these heroes, that gravity offers a breath of fresh air. After all, while I still love Percy, when I recently went back to The Lightning Thief for an annual re-read, it did come as a shock that I’m over a decade older than Percy at the start of his journey.

The Sun and the Star also shines a light on (pun intended) a handful of characters who, while they debut in Riordan’s original series, have plenty more story to tell. When Nico DiAngelo, son of Hades and boy torn out of time, and Will Solace, son of Apollo and Nico’s boyfriend, are given a prophecy to save an old friend trapped in the Underworld, it can’t come at a worse time. Nico has been struggling with the lingering trauma that comes with being the child of an ancient deity and essentially a child soldier, and is just now making some real progress in his recovery. Will is enjoying their budding relationship, and looks forward to getting to know his partner even better as they continue to evolve together. But, a call from fate is one you can’t ignore, and so the two teens make their way deep underground to the world of Nico’s father, and far, far away from the sunlight that Will needs to survive. The book poses an obvious question: how can the son of the sun, and a son of shadow, possibly be good for each other?

The Sun and the Star is fundamentally about one of the main struggles of romantic relationships: it’s not enough that Nico and Will love each other. Over and over, they are forced to put in the work, to communicate, and to choose each other over the rest of the world, all while battling against supernatural forces seeking to tear them apart. While Nico and Will may be young, as an adult currently in a serious partnership, I can still relate to their struggles. I’ve been with my girlfriend for three years now– we completed undergrad together, we’ve moved to another country for grad school, and we’re looking at renting a house. Every day, we choose to continue to love each other, and although it’s a lot of work, I can’t think of a more rewarding pursuit. While Nico and Will’s relationship isn’t perfect, it doesn’t have to be. No matter what the gods throw their way, as long as they keep trying, it seems like they’re going to be alright.

Provided they make it out of Tartarus, and actually live long enough to see their relationship through.