22 January 2014

Series Review: Percy Jackson and The Olympians by Rick Riordan (NON-spoiler!)


Percy is a demigod - which means that 1 of his parents is a God. All these demigods is in danger, since monsters are after them, so they have to get to Camp Half-Blood - which is a camp for demigods. Some of the kids die on their way to the Camp, because the satyrs (=half man, half goat) have not found them. Percy's best friend Grover is actually a satyr, and his job is to protect Percy.

At Camp Half-blood there is 12 cabins, 1 for each Olympian God. Not all demigods know who their godly parent is. So they live in the Hermes cabin.

When you are at this camp, you train for combat - because demigods are never safe, except from within the borders of the camp. Some demigods go on quests - which means they have to leave the Camp and go out in the "real" world again, and fight monsters. Percy is one of those demigods who always go on quests.

Percy also gets some new friends, including Annabeth, daughter of Athena and Luke son of Hermes.




Tyson, which is introduced in book 2 is one of my all-time favorite character, he is so funny and I just love him. Everytime he is included in the books I smile and it just makes me happy! 

I love that in these books, being dyslexic and having ADHD is not a negative thing, they are actually just symptoms if you are a demigod - and that is a great message for kids. Even though they have these disabilities, Riordan teaches them that it can be a positive thing. 

Annabel is such a quirky character, she is brainy and not that girly. She knows how to take care of herself and does not rely on anyone. In the beginning she actually ignores Percy. 

Grover, Percy's best friend and "protector" is a great character too. I remember laughing when I realized that he eats metal, I do not know why, but I just thought it was funny. 

In the beginning I really liked Luke, but then stuff starts happening and BAM the love is gone! 

With Clarisse, daughter of Ares, I have a love/hate relationship. At times I think she is the most bad ass character, and at other times, I just feel like she is a whining little baby... But thats how life is! You cannot just love or hate every character, sometimes there is the "inbetweeners". 

This book has a bunch of different types of people, he mixes a lot of the "stereotypical" characters and turns them into something completely unique. 


All he books are fast-paced and adventorous. Something happens on every page, and that definetely makes it a page-turner! At times though, I felt that the books were TO fast-paced, everything happened either to easily or to quick. The demigods did not have to fight to accomplish something, it just happened. 
With that said, I still enjoyed it, and I kept reminding myself that this is a middle grade series! 

I loved seeing Percy grow, reading about him becoming more sure about his new identity and himself. In the first book, Percy is 11 or 12 and in the last book he is 16. 

Rick Riordan is a really good author, he knows how to take things and turn them into something entirely different. I mean, Mount Olympus (=the home of the Gods), lies on top of the Empire State building. 



Since this book is centered around Greek mythology, it only makes sense to comment on it. 

I love how Riordan incorporated Greek mythology into the modern world, it is briliantly done and I can only say WOW. Everything is incorporated into modern day perfectly, he has a place and answer for everything.

If you do not know that much about Greek mythology, I would recommend you using this site. It has everything, the Gods, the myths, the creatures etc. 


Even though I really liked this series, I also felt it was missing something - but the ending was AMAZING! So I have decided that I have to give this series an overall rating of 4 hearts, since I really enjoyed it, and thought it was written wonderfully. 





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