Percy Jackson and the Olympians

[ShotgunWilly]

Hey guys, I'm not dead after all! I've just been recuperating from finals and the worst semester ever. I got 2 D's this semester (at my college, a D is failing, you just don't get hit quite as hard in the GPA as if you made an F) but, well, shit happens. I plan to bounce back with a vengeance next semester and that's all that matters.

Anyway, onto the point of this post. Now, a warning, this is gonna be a bit rambling. I just need to get all this out. I also want to say that there may be an old thread about this, but better to start a new one rather than play at necromancy like that.

Who else here likes the Percy Jackson series? Recently I've been on a PJatO (and other related series) kick. I've been reading almost nothing but Percy Jackson fanfiction for the past few weeks. This goes along with ventures into the Heroes of Olympus Series and The Kane Chronicles. In fact, I just finished reading the Kane Chronicles today. I liked Percy Jackson better, but TKC is still pretty awesome. Even more awesome are the hints Rick Riordan dropped about eventually combining the 2 parts of the universe. Possibly even all 3 parts when he's done with it (I think I remember hearing that he intends to write another series about Norse mythology).

Sometime here in the next day or two I'm gonna get started catching up on The Heroes of Olympus. I read the first book not long after it came out but I never got around to reading the 2nd or 3rd.

For those of you who aren't familiar with it, Percy Jackson and the Olympians is a series that basically says "What if the Greek Gods are real?" It then goes on to follow the life of the demigod Perseus "Percy" Jackson, son of Poseidon, as he battles the forces of the evil Titan Lord Kronos in an attempt to save Olympus in the 2nd Titanomachy. The Heroes of Olympus is a direct sequel series to this which explores the Roman mythology. It starts a few months after where The Last Olympian leaves off. Anybody who knows what came right after the Titanomachy in the Greek mythos can probably guess what this one's about.

Meanwhile, The Kane Chronicles is a companion series much like PJatO except that it deals with Egyptian mythology and follows a brother/sister team named Carter and Sadie Kane instead (if you look closely at the books, you can see a fair few references to events in the PJatO series, along with an occasional cameo by some minor characters from PJatO).

Anyway, I'll be the first to admit that the books are more written for kids to read, but that doesn't make them a bad read either. They're quite fun, actually, and I find that the story flows quite a bit like reading a good fanfiction - it's not as... formal as JKR's writing in HP, but still of excellent quality which is something I quite like.

Anyway, I've rambled quite a bit here. I guess my point is that all of the series are pretty good and that there's a fairly large fandom out there. Not too many great fics, and unfortunately there are a lot of cliche fics, but there are a few gems too. It's also interesting to note that the RtB fics are still going fairly strong in the fandom. In fact, the most-favorited PJatO fic is an RtB fic. I'm not saying that several weren't deleted - while I can't remember, I'm quite certain several got caught in the purge, but it definitely didn't keep them down for too long.

Well, anyway, if anybody wants any PJatO fic recommendations, I'll be happy to provide whatever I can, and I also hope that I might've succeeded in interesting some of you enough to read the series.

If you really have to, and I'm not going to provide the links for this, but all the same, I will say that there are free ebooks out there for all of the books in the various series. They're not the best ebooks in the world, but they're not hard to find either. Still, I'd recommend either finding an official ebook to buy or actually buying the books physically. *shrug*

[G. Novella]

Ohh, starting Heroes of Olympus? I love that series, and the first two books I think I actually liked a little more than I liked the original, concept-wise. Execution wise, I think Riordan's hit a wall where the ages of his characters and their maturities as well as the Annabeth/Percy romance aren't his forte and he's struggling to keep them natural while at the same time balancing the reading level for the kiddie crowd.

On that note, I despised Mark of Athena. It felt like- fanfiction. Actually, I'm not a big Annabeth fan and that could have contributed... But at the same time, I feel like Riordan put too much emphasis on Percy and Annabeth as the main heroes when he should have spent more time developing the other characters and creating more heroes.

But his concepts were still awesome, and if he does plan to combine all his series... then I need to read the Kane Chronicles. I started the first book and wasn't a fan... Guess I'll have to get through it. I personally thought the Kane Chronicles were less interesting because it was overly childish. I mean really, cheese?

[ShotgunWilly]

I'm willing to bet he's gonna bring in the Norse gods somewhere along the line - I wouldn't be shocked. And yea, I agree, Son of Neptune was pretty awesome ("Twelfth Legion FULMINATA!"). I didn't manage to get very far into Mark of Athena (though I liked the first couple chapters) before I just put it down and got involved in something else.

[G. Novella]

Mark of Athena is just- I didn't enjoy it. I feel like it was too focused on Percy and Annabeth, and the romance was starting to get a bit irritating. Overall, it was a bit mediocre, so I hope the next book will be better.

And yeah, I can see him doing the Norse Gods as well, but I'm not sure how well a combination would work. There seems to be too many characters, and even the gods don't really translate well into each other as they do with Rome and Greece.

[Isilarma]

I haven't read Son of Neptune or Mark of Athena, but I just finished The Serpent's Shadow, which is the last in the Kane Chronicles, and that was really good. I really like his writing style; he doesn't take himself too seriously, and it's easy to get sucked in. Sometimes the romance can get a bit tedious, but other aspects make up for it.

One thing that is interesting is that The Serpent's Shadow mentioned the possibility of 'other gods' appearing in the future, which could mean the Greek/Roman ones or a completely new set. If it's a new set, then my money's on the Norse gods, which would be cool, but might be confusing. Not to mention I can see a lot of people getting mixed up with the Marvel versions.

[ShotgunWilly]

Well, and I'm presuming that Heroes of Olympus is going to be another 5-book series, and 4 books at the least. In every series, there's always one book that really doesn't work well. For example, I wasn't a huge fan of Sea of Monsters in PJatO. It was alright, but that one is my least favorite of the series. Hopefully "House of Hades" will come back strong.

Also, a lot of romance is something to be expected going into Mark of Athena, with Percy and Annabeth being seperated for so long. A lot of building romantic tension and all is coming to a head there. Between Percy and Annabeth, Frank and Hazel, and Jason and Piper. Also, the ending is such a cliffhanger. I won't spoil it, but I can't wait to see what happens in House of Hades... So yea, it's not the best book, but it works as a bridge if nothing else.

And yea, if Riordan does do another set, it'd pretty much have to be the Norse gods, but you're also right in that I dunno how he'd pull off a crossover between all 3. I've seen a couple good Kane and Percy Jackson crossovers and he's already included cameos of minor PJ characters and the 21st Nome is in Brooklyn next door to Mt Olympus, after all, but all 3 might be pushing my willing suspension of disbelief...