So, mixing Tartarus with glow-in-the-dark Will and “little grumpy ball of darkness” Nico means you get some heavy topics like trauma and PTSD, but also many hilarious, innocent, and beautiful scenes between two demigods who are in love. The Sun and the Star takes place in Tartarus, but its main characters are Nico and Will. This never happens to me! I’m still in shock, haha.” This specific line from Bob felt like a beautiful summary of what Rick and I were going to attempt in the book, so it was only meant to inspire me. I give all my projects a working title at the beginning that I know won’t make it through the publishing process. Meanwhile, Oshiro may have inadvertently chosen the book’s title! They wrote, “I chose to title the outline this in my own files. They are soulmates of equal brightness, no matter how different or far away they seem from one another. There is commonality even in things that seem like exact opposites. The closer you get to a star, the more it becomes a sun. Whether we call something a sun or a star is really just a matter of distance.

Here’s one personal take that brings me joy: the sun is a star. The sun and the star also refer to Will and Nico, as you mentioned, though I think the way they fit those celestial symbols is up for discussion. The obvious one is that Bob is harkening back to what he told Percy Jackson in the Heroes of Olympus: “Say hello to the sun and the stars for me,” because he has not seen the sky since he fell into Tartarus. The meaning is up for debate and can have many interpretations. I had the opportunity to chat with Riordan and Oshiro over email and received some insight into their collaboration, the meaning behind the title, and the tragicomic nature of the book.Īnother early question I had was regarding the meaning of the book’s title, as Bob seemingly calls Nico and Will his “sun and star” within the book, but the reference isn’t explained. Through an equal collaboration, they have brought readers The Sun and the Star, a tragic, humorous, and heartfelt Nico and Will adventure. Riordan is the mastermind behind the beloved and ever-expanding world of Percy Jackson, while Oshiro is the award-winning author behind Anger Is a Gift, Each of Us a Desert, and more YA novels that provide powerful commentary on topics ranging from sexual orientation to transracial adoption to police brutality. While it’s a standalone story, it expands on the prophecy Nico and Will first received in the final Trials of Apollo book, The Tower of Nero. The Sun and the Star hits bookshelves on May 2nd, 2023, and follows Nico and Will Solace on a journey to Tartarus to save the Titan Bob.

Nico di Angelo has received a solo story in the Percy Jackson universe, and it comes in the form of the standalone novel The Sun and the Star from the combined talents of Rick Riordan and Mark Oshiro.

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