what would you have me do?

Them

literally!

"Trials of Apollo doesn't have a sense of urgency to defeat the big bad" "Where are all the monsters in Trials of Apollo?" "Why isn't Apollo heroic like the previous protagonists" that is kind of the point.

It's not a story about saving the world, or even defeating Python. Apollo isn't trying to become a hero. He didn't even know Python was a massive threat to the world at large until after he defeated him.

Trials of Apollo is about becoming human. Not just physically for Apollo, but in his state mind. It's not about his physical battles, but his mental battles.

Trials of Apollo is genuinely amazing, I will not stand for anything else. I could go into the beautiful themes of redemption and humanity and what it means to be a good person, a good friend, and a good hero. I could go into the amazing fight scenes that felt so heavy even Atlas would crumble under their weight. I could go into any of that, but let’s talk about Apollo. Apollo was the best narrator in all the Greek chronicles and the second best character, and I will not waver. Every other narrator went through great arcs, yes, but Apollo became a totally different person with out it feeling forced. He was witty and emotional and infuriating and everything that I could have ever asked for in a story like ToA. His inconsistency in power didn’t like an over-site, but rather an intentional decision to make him feel like a toy for the gods. No other character in the Greek stories had that in my opinion. Even if the idea of someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth getting sympathy for stuff other people have to suffer through bothers you, like it does me, ToA doesn’t do that. Apollo is never given pity because he is a god or whatever. He’s only given pity when he truly isn’t. Reyna and Meg berate him for his past crimes and he knows it’s deserved. It’s not a boo-hoo sob fest about a rich kid going through the ringer. It’s about a kid who thought he lost everything at the start of his journey realizing how little he always truly had and feeling lost after he gets back the life he thought he loved. Apollo doesn’t become Apollo again because he wants to. He becomes Apollo because he knows he has to, even though he hated it. Apollo spits the spoon out, melts it, and flushed down the toilet. The story could have fallen into a lot of the pitfalls that others like it do, but it doesn’t. Apollo is reprimanded not by people more powerful, but by people more important, and he knows it.