Megan reads Percy Jackson and the Olympians

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've had the Percy Jackson series on my To-Read list for four years, but it wasn't until my nephew* started reading it that I finally made it the priority. I am glad that I did; it was such an enjoyable series!

The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series tells the story of a teenage boy who learns one day that the mythic Greek gods are real, and one of them is his biological father. Unfortunately, once a kid learns they are a demi-god, they become irresistible to monsters, and must learn to defend themselves and the people they love. Fortunately, there's a camp where he and mingle other demi-gods can learn the skills they need to survive. While he's there, Percy learns about a prophecy that he seems destined to fulfill.

The series has been compared to the Harry Potter books, and I can see why, but I think that's a little unfair. Percy is his own hero, and his friends and challenges are quite different than the wizard's, as is the tone of the writing. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the events from Percy's point of view and in his voice. I could tell the author had fun weaving the myths into the narrative, and also finding ways to apply the stories and characters to the modern world. The characters were distinct and engaging; I liked reading about the way they changed and grew as they got older.

The last book in this very enjoyable series managed to scoop up all of the minor clues and details collected from the previous books, and tie them all together. There was even a call back to one of my favorite lines in book two, The Sea of Monsters:

My dear young cousin, if there's one thing I've learned over the eons, it's that you can't give up on your family, no matter how tempting they make it. It doesn't matter if they hate you, or embarrass you, or simply don't appreciate your genius for inventing the Internet --

I didn't realize when I read and wrote the line down that it was the over-arching theme of the series!

It was fun, exciting, plausible (within this world), and satisfying. If anyone is looking for something fairly quick, easy, smart, and entertaining to read next, I definitely recommend this one to kids and grown-ups alike.


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*My nephew is nine. When I looked at reviews from some of my other friends, it turned out they were reading because their nine-year old son or daughter liked it, too. The book definitely has a demographic!

**I have seen the movies, and my nephew mentioned that he skipped the two first books because they had already been made into movies. I was surprised to find that the movies barely resembled those first two books. I have no idea where they came up with the climactic battle in the second film, and it kind of wrecks the plot in the other books. I could understand that if they only wanted to make two movies, but then why end on a cliffhanger? Anyway, when I mentioned it to my nephew and he said he had already gone back to read the books. That's my boy!