The Sun and the Star

The Sun and the Star, also known as The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure and also as From the World of Percy Jackson: The Sun and the Star: A Nico di Angelo Adventure, is a 2023 American fantasy-adventure middle-grade fiction novel based on Greek-Roman classical mythology co-written by authors Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro. It is a standalone sequel to the 2020 novel The Tower of Nero in The Trials of Apollo series and was supposed to be the final book of the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles. The story follows the adolescent demigods and boyfriends Nico di Angelo and Will Solace, the sons of Hades and Apollo, respectively, on their quest into Tartarus to rescue their old friend Bob, who is, in fact, the Titan Iapetus.

The Sun and the Star was published by Disney-Hyperion in the United States and by Puffin Books in the United Kingdom and was released on May 2, 2023. It immediately became the number one bestseller on the The New York Times Best Seller list for Children’s Middle Grade Hardcover Books, continued to remain the number one bestseller on the list for an initial period of six weeks,  became the number one bestseller on the list again for another period of eight weeks,   and continues to remain in the top ten on the list after fifty-one weeks.

Plot
Two months after the defeat of Nero and Python, Rachel Elizabeth Dare provides the prophecy for the adolescent demigods and boyfriends Nico di Angelo and Will Solace, the sons of Hades and Apollo, respectively, on their quest into Tartarus to rescue their old friend Bob who is in fact the Titan Iapetus. Concerned that Bob's situation must be getting direr, Nico convinces a reluctant Chiron and Mr. D to issue them an official quest. Before departing, the two contact Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase for advice based on their own experience in Tartarus.

Making their way into the Underworld through the Door of Orpheus, which Nico and Percy had previously used, the two demigods are immediately set upon by the demon of nightmares, Epiales, who reveals that their mother is after Nico before Will manages to kill the demon using his newly-discovered power to emit light. Nico and Will seek the help of the troglodytes, who agree to lead them to a shortcut to Tartarus. But first, they pass the farm of Menoetes, who only agrees not to tell Hades about their quest in exchange for some stolen fruit from Persephone's garden. Although the heist is successful, Will encounters Persephone herself, who offers advice on his struggles to understand Nico, suggesting that Will embraces his own inner darkness rather than rejecting it, before gifting Will the stolen pomegranates.

Pleased with their success, Menoetes reveals that Bob, while reforming from dying while helping Percy and Annabeth, was captured by the primordial goddess of night, Nyx, who seeks to force Bob to go back to being Iapetus despite Bob's continuous rejection of his past. Nico reveals that he had encountered Nyx while traveling through Tartarus before getting captured by the giants and she took an interest in him, realizing that Nyx is using Bob as bait to get at Nico. The trogs lead the demigods to the River Acheron, where the nymph Gorgyra agrees to help them in exchange for Nico and Will sharing their story with her.

Using Gorgyra's canoe, Nico and Will descend into Tartarus where the power of the river forces them to confront their insecurities and differences of opinion, particularly on the nature of the Underworld. Locating Bob's pet saber-toothed skeleton cat, Small Bob, the demigods discover that Percy and Annabeth's giant friend Damasen is still reforming and can't help them before finally reaching Nyx's home, the Mansion of Night, where Bob is imprisoned in a continuous regeneration cycle. By combining their powers, Nico and Will free Bob before Nyx arrives with Nemesis, Hypnos, a reformed Epiales, and an army of monsters to cut off their escape.

Nyx reveals that she has created cacodemons out of manifestations of Nico's darkness and urges him to accept his darkness and stay in Tartarus, where the goddess believes he belongs. With the encouragement of Will and Bob, Nico fights back against Nyx's manipulations, embracing the fact that he is more than just his darkness, while Will accepts his own darkness to tap into Apollo's plague powers to fight Nyx. Taking control of the cacodemons, Nico decides to release them, symbolically letting go of his demons and fulfilling the part of the prophecy that he would have to leave something of equal value behind. Nemesis, Hypnos, and Epiales turn on Nyx and restrain her long enough for the group to get on the Acheron, which Nyx can't cross. To Nico's surprise, the cacodemons, which he renames Cocoa Puffs, decide to join them of their own free will.

As Bob sails the group back up the Acheron to the Underworld, Nico is visited in a dream by Hades and the spirits of his mother, Maria, and sister, Bianca. Hades reveals that he had sent Nico the prophecy so that he would rescue Bob, and arranged this dream. Maria and Bianca express their love and pride in Nico, as does Hades, who admits that Percy's actions have made him rethink his behavior towards his son, particularly when Hades realizes that the quest has risked Nico losing someone else that he loves. Hades, Maria, and Bianca urge Nico to enjoy his future with Will and find happiness.

Returning to Camp Half-Blood, Bob declines an invitation to stay and decides to head west to figure out his future, looking forward to finally having the freedom to do so. Nico adopts the cacodemons and contacts Piper and her new girlfriend, Shel, to discuss their shared grief over the loss of Jason Grace. With a more hopeful outlook on life, Nico looks forward to what the future holds for him.

Background
The Sun and the Star was announced on October 6, 2021. As a heterosexual man, Rick Riordan decided to co-write the novel with Mark Oshiro, an author of young adult fiction and middle grade fiction centered on young LGBT characters, to make sure that both Nico's point of view as a gay person as well as Nico and Will's romantic relationship would be as authentic as possible. Riordan and Oshiro created the synopsis and manuscript together and received equal credit for the book. Oshiro is also a longtime fan and an avid reader of the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles.

On September 28, 2022, the cover art was announced alongside the final release date for the project. The cover art was done by Khadijah Khatib, and the release date for North America and the United Kingdom was May 2, 2023. Riordan also announced that he would be doing a limited North American tour with co-author Oshiro.