percy jackson and the olympians: the lightning thief
i caved. i saw the movie trailer before anything and thought “what is this harry potter rip-off crap?” then it made it on someone’s end of the year best books list and that’s when i caved. i can’t help but compare it to harry potter. the adventurous trio: two boys and a girl. the girl being the genius of the group. one boy who is an adorable dimwit, then the star of the show who is brave and defiant…gee whiz. they even use the term “half-blood” for their camp name (not to mention that they have to go to this camp to hone special skills). the trio go on perilous adventures to save the world. sheesh. aside from the minor distraction of comparing percy jackson with harry potter, i enjoyed it quite a lot.
it is a bit geared towards a younger crowd but i found myself laughing out loud a few times by some special one liners. the incorporation of traditional greek myths was very interesting and the way they were reworked to fit into a modern time was fun. i really appreciated the explanation of why certain characters in greek mythology were alive today even though they were supposed to be killed in the myths. kronos, who is the titan father of “the big three” (zeus, poseidon, and hades) is given some explanation. i wasn’t very familiar with titans in mythology and i found it refreshing that the mention of this titan father is the start of the thread to the 5 book series. it was very easy to get lost in the details of this story: the daddy/mommy issues all demigods (half-bloods) have, the dyslexia & ADHD, the magical weapons, the prophecies, the pit stops during the trio’s quest that each touch on a different myth, the tragedy of thalia…yeah, i impulsively bought the entire series in hardback and it came in this cool chest thing.
the bookend. 