[Lindsay 10-14] Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

This delightful series has fast become one of my favorites. Set in modern-day America, New York City resident Percy Jackson discovers at the age of 12 that he is the son of Poseidon, and from then on his life is never quite the same. Based around Greek mythology, the books tell the story of Percy and his friends from Camp Half-Blood (a summer camp for kids with a godly parent each), who must battle against Kronos, the god of time, and the other Titans who are plotting to overthrow the Olympian gods and destroy all of western civilization. Percy must also deal with the possibility that he may be the subject of a dooming prophecy . . .

In the first book, The Lightning Thief, Percy is thrust into the world of his godly half after he is accused of stealing Zeus' great thunder bolt, and horrific creatures are sent to retrieve/kill him. Until that point, Percy had no idea about his true nature, but he quickly acclimates to life at Camp Half-Blood, where he meets other demi-god children with a variety of powers and skills. Also at camp is the mummified Oracle at Delphi, and after a visit to her, Percy and his friends Grover and Annabeth embark on a quest to the Underworld (the entrance to which is in Los Angeles) in an attempt to clear Percy's name and recover the lightning bolt. On the way, they battle various evil creatures, outwit some Olympian gods, and begin to untangle a greater threat than they had been anticipating.

Full of humor and clever spins on classical Greek mythology, this book was nearly impossible for me to put down. A great introduction to the series, with an intricate enough plot for it to stand on its own. It has been made into a movie and will be released on President's Day. I have every intention of going to see it, and am glad I got to read it first.

In Book 2, The Sea of Monsters, the magical borders of the camp are under threat when a particular pine tree is poisoned and begins to slowly die. The only way to save it, and the camp, is for some of the campers to travel to the Bermuda Triangle and retrieve the Golden Fleece from the island of the Cyclops. Clarisse, a daughter of Ares, is officially chosen, but of course Percy ends up lending a hand, and in the process learns more about his family and the greater plot against the Olympians.

I wasn't as impressed with this follow-up as I was with the first book. The humorous tone continues, but I feel like the action of the plot is too continuously intense. The pacing doesn't really work for me because there's barely a moment to breathe after the characters get themselves out of a violent mess; they immediately find themselves in another. The plot is less intricate than in the first book, and therefore less interesting to me. Still, it's a good book, and is a suitable bridge between parts one and three of the series.

Book 3, The Titan's Curse, takes place during the winter (unlike the others, which take place during the summer), and opens with Percy and Annabeth traveling to Maine to retrieve two newly-discovered half-bloods and bring them back to camp for training. Mayhem and violence ensue, of course, and before they are able to return to camp, Annabeth and the goddess Artemis both go missing. A team of campers and Artemis' Hunters set out of a rescue mission to San Francisco, the location of Kronos' and the other Titans' stronghold; Percy gets left out, but that doesn't stop him from tagging along to save Annabeth. New characters are introduced, the plot against the Olympians thickens, and things get a bit tragic for all involved in the rescue mission.

After the minor disappointment of Book 2, I was glad that this book brought the series back up a notch. The pacing is better, a lot of interesting new characters are brought in, and the quality of the writing is as good as ever. This is the first book in the series that I had a really strong emotional response to, and I see it as a real turning point in the tone and direction of the overall story. Yes, the humor is still there, but things get a little more serious and the stakes get a bit higher. The one motif that really stuck out to me was self-sacrificing characters, and the effects of their sacrifices on their immediate situations and also on other characters. Some is good, some is bad, but it all adds that emotion evoking layer that I just don't get from the first two books.

For some reason, I was expecting to not enjoy Book 4, The Battle of the Labyrinth, as much as the others, but I think it's my favorite of the series. In it, Camp Half-Blood is at risk of being attacked and wiped out by Kronos' army; his plan is to attack the camp from underground via Daedalus' labyrinth, which extends across the entire country and has openings at various locations, one of which is inside the camp. Percy and Co. enter the labyrinth themselves in an effort to reach Daedalus before Kronos' minions and convince him to help their cause and not Kronos'.

I think this is my favorite book because Daedalus is such an interesting character. Riordan really took the time to establish his myth throughout the whole book, and builds on that myth to create some great character development through his actions in the present day, much moreso than he does with any of the other secondary characters in the series. Since the labyrinth is so intricately linked to Daedalus, his myth and the the outcome of the campers' quest are closely fused, so the different subplots tie together nicely.

My two favorite scenes of the whole series are in this book. The first is when Percy et al. encounter the Sphinx in the labyrinth. Instead of asking riddles that require clever though and logic, she (with her hair in a tight bun) asks book-learning types of questions with simple answers (which must be answered on a bubble sheet). I thought it was an interesting dig at the current educational system, and also a good example of how Riordan modernizes Greek mythology in funny ways whole not straying too far from the heart of it. My other favorite scene is when Pan, the nature god, asks that everyone on the planet take on the job of preserving the "wild places" remaining on the planet. A really moving and currently relevant moment, again within an appropriate context of Greek mythology.

The fifth and final book, The Last Olympian, is a satisfactory ending to the series. The main plot revolves around the Titans and Olympians finally engaging in battle for control over Western civilization. Percy and his friends fight on behalf of the Olympians, but their fight never leaves New York City. The action is non-stop, but in a less annoying way than in Book 2, a few new characters get introduced, and everything gets (mostly) resolved with a few plot twist.

The ending is appropriate, but a little anticlimactic, and I wish Riordan had given more of a glimpse into the psyches of the other characters (though since all the books are narrated in the first person from Percy's point of view, that would've been difficult). For me, there wasn't a consistent and gradual enough build-up of most of the characters to really feel connected to them in the final book, and some characters who I feel like I should have cared more about, I just didn't. I don't know if that's Riordan's fault, or because I read the books really fast. I do plan on reading them again more slowly so I get a bit more out of them.

Overall, I found this series REALLY enjoyable, and definitely recommend it to anyone, especially those with an interest in Greek mythology. Riordan includes a LOT of different gods and creatures, even the lesser known ones. The modern American setting and humorous voices of the characters make very old material more fresh and entertaining, and I would definitely justify using the series as a gateway to instruction on Greek mythology in the classroom.