Book Review: Percy Jackson and the Olympian (Series)
I’ve always asked myself what would happen if Enid Blyton, England’s most prolific children storywriter, were still alive.
Would we even bother to acknowledge the global phenomenon that the Harry Potter series has become, thanks to each of the books being adapted into movies.
It’s staggering when you think of it. Eight movies in the Harry Potter series amounting to profits in the billions. And now, it’s over with all the actors who were children at the beginning now looking all grown up.
(Yes, you can find a bazillion Hermione memes by running a quick Google Search.)
Of course, the Hunger Games is the next big thing, and we can all find Suzanne Collins among the list of millionaires, thanks to how well the first movie, based on the first book, has done.
Which leads me to believe that it’s only a matter of time until Rick Riordan’s ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ begins to rake in the millions as well.
Greek Mythology Is In… Back With A Vengeance
What’s old has become new again. There’s great truth in that statement. Enid Blyton’s books had settings based in boarding schools, and so does Rowling’s books as well.
Well, I’m not insinuating that Rowling merely regurgitated Blyton’s masterpieces but merely used that concept to come up with someone to suit the times. A school for magic and wizards, if you will.
Rick Riordan’s five books that comprise Percy Jackson and the Olympians seems to offer a new take on Greek mythology, and judging by its response (223 weeks on the New York Times’ bestsellers list for children’s books), some of us can be so happy that is of educational value as well. Some men only want to watch the world learn, if you will…
Simply put, these five books take the reader through different adventures with Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood being the central characters to each book.
Speaking of the books, the titles in their order of being written are The lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Titan’s Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth and The Last Olympian.
The first book takes these characters to find the thief of Zeus’ lightning bolt, the second deals with the decay of Thalia’ tree, the third covers the rescue of the Greek goddess Artemis and his friend Annabeth Chase, the fourth tells the story of how Percy prevents Luke Castellan and his army from invading Camp Half-Blood.
The last book, which is a sequel to the fourth novel and the final one of the series, deals with how Percy and his friends protect Mount Olympus.
As for movie adaptations, the first two have already been released as of August 2013, and it looks like the rest will also follow suit in the years to come.
Even if this might not seem like your conventional book review, it has been written with one intention: to bring this series to your attention, and give it more than the respect it has earned so far.
In Closing
Of course, if you’re into Greek mythology, this series might be just up your aisle. My reason for writing about these books is because unlike the other two series mentioned, these books make references to Greek history.
After all, some men just want to watch the world learn…