The Tower of Nero – Rick Riordan (2020)

The Tower of Nero by Rick Riordan, published in 2020, is the climactic conclusion to The Trials of Apollo series, which forms a major part of the broader Camp Half-Blood Chronicles. This series follows the sun god Apollo, cast down to Earth in mortal form as Lester Papadopoulos, as he undergoes a redemptive journey across five novels. In this final installment, Apollo must face Nero, the last surviving member of the evil Triumvirate, and confront his most ancient enemy, the pythonic terror of Delphi. It is a narrative that balances mythological grandeur with sharp wit and heartfelt emotion, closing the chapter on one of Riordan’s most reflective and transformative hero arcs.

Plot Summary

The sun had not risen for Apollo in a long time. Not truly. Bound in mortal form as Lester Papadopoulos, the once-arrogant god was weary, scarred, and uncertain. With Meg McCaffrey at his side – fierce, green-thumbed, and determined – he boarded a train into New York City, knowing that only darkness awaited. Nero, Meg’s adoptive father and the last of the Triumvirate emperors, was waiting. So was Python, the ancient serpent who had usurped Delphi itself.

The quiet train ride was shattered by the appearance of a two-headed serpent in a business suit – an amphisbaena channeling a divine prophecy. Before he could finish speaking, crossbow bolts silenced him. The attackers came swiftly: Luguselwa, a warrior of towering strength and tattoos, and Gunther, a brute with a taste for decapitation. Yet Lu did not strike to kill. She called Meg “Sapling” and told her to surrender. Meg’s obedience, her hurt, and the recognition in her eyes spoke of a shared past. Lu was her old trainer – and her betrayer.

Bound in chains of deception, Lu led the captives through the train toward Nero’s men. But when the train dove under the Hudson River, she whispered two words: “Now. Run.” In the chaos that followed, Meg and Lu dueled with twin blades, fighting like mirrored flames. Apollo, pinned between two train cars and with Germani pounding the doors, used his bow to sever the coupling. The train split. The enemy roared past into darkness. The fugitives remained behind, breathless and alive.

They emerged in a rain-slicked alley. Lu revealed that Nero had eyes on every camera, every door in Manhattan. No safehouse was safe. But Meg remembered one place – Percy Jackson’s home. And so, dripping and shivering, they knocked on Sally Jackson’s door. She opened it with the warmth of summer sunlight. Food, dry clothes, and laughter flowed into the cracks of their battered spirits. Even Lu, skeptical and stoic, surrendered to the safety of lasagne and love.

But rest could not last. Apollo’s dreams turned prophetic, dragging him into nightmares of Python, whose shadow now smothered Delphi. Rachel Dare, the Oracle, was under siege. The future itself was poisoned. The Tower of Nero stood not just as a monument to a tyrant, but as a weapon, its foundations laced with explosive traps, its corridors crawling with soldiers and ancient creatures. If Apollo and Meg entered, there would be no backup. This was a mission of two.

With Lu’s help, they infiltrated the tower from below. Secret passageways, once familiar to Meg from her days under Nero’s twisted reign, guided them into the heart of the enemy’s lair. Along the way, they rescued Rachel Dare, whose prophetic voice had been muted by Python’s corruption. Reunited, the trio pushed deeper, facing mechanical monstrosities and manipulative visions. In the shadows of the marble halls, memories of Meg’s tortured childhood pressed against her spine. Nero had groomed her to be his dagger, his flower-wielding weapon. Now she had returned, not to serve, but to break his hold.

Nero waited in a throne room gilded in vanity and dripping with cruelty. Surrounded by his adopted children, all bound by fear and brainwashing, he welcomed Meg with open arms and Apollo with scorn. He demanded Apollo’s surrender. Instead, Apollo challenged him. But Nero was prepared – the tower itself would burn if he fell. Death would come to the city with him. Apollo and Meg hesitated, watching the hostages, the children, the trap.

Then Lu appeared.

She had returned to Nero’s side, pretending to have failed her mission. She betrayed his trust at the perfect moment, turning against him with sword in hand. Her defiance shattered the illusion of control Nero wielded. His children faltered. Meg spoke to them, not as a weapon of Nero’s making, but as a survivor. Her voice cut deeper than any blade. Some stepped back. Some refused to fight. The hold Nero had spent years tightening began to unravel.

In the chaos, Apollo fought Nero. Not with godly radiance, but with grit, pain, and purpose. When the tyrant fell, Apollo disabled the bombs. The tower remained standing, if only barely. Meg was free. Lu vanished into the aftermath, a shadow slipping into history. The children Nero had twisted were no longer his. The empire had fallen.

But Python remained.

No army could march on Delphi. No mortal weapon could unseat the great serpent. To reclaim prophecy, Apollo would have to die – or rise. He journeyed alone to the heart of the world, where the Oracle of Delphi had once spoken in riddles of fate. Now, it echoed only Python’s malice. The primordial terror awaited, bloated on chaos, his voice a thousand echoes of doubt. Apollo stepped forward, mortal bones trembling.

There, in the chasm of shadow and memory, Apollo faced what he had always feared – his own failures, his vanity, the broken promises, and the dead who haunted his name. Python did not fight with fangs alone. He fought with truth twisted into venom. Apollo’s mortal form cracked beneath the weight of it. But he endured. Not because he was a god, but because he had become human. He remembered Meg. Jason. Calypso. Leo. Frank. Hazel. Will. All those who had fought and bled with him. All those he could not let down.

The battle was not won in flashes of power, but in a choice: Apollo let go. He surrendered the last of Lester, the last of fear. In that moment, his divinity returned – not as a reward, but as a right reclaimed through humility. Python was vanquished. The Oracle breathed once more.

Apollo rose from Delphi not as the god he had been, but as the god he had become. He returned to Camp Half-Blood, where the faces of friends waited. Meg chose her own path, no longer anyone’s weapon. Rachel painted again. The sun shone.

The trials had ended. But the echoes of love, pain, loss, and hope would endure. They always did.

Main Characters

• Apollo/Lester Papadopoulos – Once the glorious god of the sun, Apollo is now a pimply, awkward teenager on the final leg of a painful, humbling journey through mortality. With each trial, he has grown from a narcissistic deity to a self-sacrificing protector of his mortal friends. In this installment, his internal struggle—between the lingering echoes of godhood and his newly earned humanity—reaches a poignant culmination.

• Meg McCaffrey – A fierce, nature-loving demigod and daughter of Demeter, Meg is Apollo’s guide, master, and moral compass. Raised in the clutches of Nero, her arc is one of liberation from trauma and rediscovery of her autonomy. In The Tower of Nero, she is both warrior and wounded child, confronting her past with remarkable courage and forging a future on her own terms.

• Luguselwa (Lu) – A Gaulish warrior once loyal to Nero, Lu reveals herself as a secret ally. Gruff and battle-hardened, she trained Meg and now risks everything to betray her old master. Her conflicted loyalties and brutal pragmatism bring depth and unpredictability to the story.

• Nero – The last emperor of the Triumvirate, Nero is a monstrous symbol of tyranny and manipulation. Charismatic and cultured on the surface, his cruelty festers underneath. His relationship with Meg is deeply abusive, adding a chilling psychological tension to the narrative.

• Python – A primordial serpent who has claimed Delphi, Apollo’s sacred Oracle. As Apollo’s oldest and most metaphysical enemy, Python represents not just a personal adversary, but a cosmic usurpation—chaos replacing prophecy, void replacing light.

• Rachel Elizabeth Dare – The current Oracle of Delphi, caught in a power struggle between Apollo and Python. Her spiritual vulnerability and insight are central to the battle for the future of prophecy.

Theme

• Redemption and Identity – Central to Apollo’s arc is the struggle to redefine himself not through power but through humility, sacrifice, and earned loyalty. The novel poses the eternal question: can someone who has inflicted great harm truly change?

• Abuse and Recovery – Meg’s story with Nero is a haunting portrayal of psychological abuse and gaslighting. Her process of reclaiming power is not linear, but deeply courageous, making her one of Riordan’s most compelling characters.

• Heroism and Mortality – The final book examines what makes a hero. Apollo’s journey is less about slaying monsters and more about embracing fear, vulnerability, and love—even in the face of death.

• Prophecy and Free Will – The battle for the Oracle of Delphi becomes a metaphor for reclaiming one’s future. Riordan challenges the tension between fate and choice, illustrating how power over prophecy can be abused or honored.

• Family (Chosen and Blood) – Whether through the abusive ties of Nero’s “adopted” children or the support of found family like the Jacksons, the book probes the nature of familial bonds and what it means to truly belong.

Writing Style and Tone

Rick Riordan’s signature style—fast-paced, irreverent, and emotionally resonant—is on full display in The Tower of Nero. The prose balances humor with heartbreak, often shifting from self-deprecating one-liners to grave meditations on trauma and mortality in a single paragraph. Apollo’s first-person narration is rich with irony and self-awareness, creating a narrative voice that is both endearing and profound.

Dialogue remains one of Riordan’s sharpest tools, used not just to entertain but to reveal deep character truths. His integration of modern settings with ancient mythology is seamless, grounding the grandeur of the gods in the messiness of mortal life. As with his previous works, he does not shy away from real-world issues—abuse, identity, power—but filters them through myth in a way that is digestible for younger readers while still meaningful for adults.

The tone oscillates between comedic absurdity and epic gravitas, often within the same scene. This tonal duality mirrors Apollo’s own internal conflict and captures the reader in an emotional tide that builds toward a cathartic and satisfying finale.