Percy Jackson and the Olympians

[silverthunder]

So, I recently finished reading the five-book series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Which was pretty good.

Since I saw the movie first, I figured I knew what to expect from these books. And, well, in terms of the basic premise, I guess I did. But they were so different and had a much more original and interesting flavor than the movie. The characters in the film seemed a little bland; in the book, they were fun. The story was also a lot more engaging.

I haven't read a first-person narrative in published fiction for a while, so it took a little getting used to. It worked for this particular story, though. I get a real kick out of this kind of narrative when it's used properly and has the right tint of humor.

I know a few people on my friends list are going to call blasphemy on me, but I liked this series better than Harry Potter. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed Harry Potter, but these books were even better. The action, the hero, the storyline, and the mythology were all just way more interesting to me.

Plus, I gotta say, Riordan does a much better job with the romance than J.K. Rowling did. Percy's ultimate romance definitely didn't feel like it was tossed in at the last minute, anyway. There was an actual gradual build-up. It was developed and fleshed out. And it had that lovely awkward adolescent edge to it that I adore so much.

Anyway, I suppose I should get to the point: the books.

This is another of those series where the hero ages during the course of it, so it has the benefit of being a coming-of-age story at the same time as it is a fantasy adventure. And for all his flaws, Percy is a likeable hero. Being in on his thoughts helps with that, too. Plus, the author didn't forget about the other characters; you still get to see their character growth through Percy's eyes.

The cast of characters is a pretty sizeable one, considering there's a camp full of demigods who interact with the main characters on a more or less regular basis. New characters were introduced in every book, and you had a whole pack of side characters to remember. I didn't have problems with it, though. There weren't too many times when I found myself wracking my brain trying to remember who was who and what their significance was. It also has a way of making you like characters you may have hated earlier. Which is cool.

At no point when reading the books did I find the story lagged or that my interest started to wander. When I was reading, I just wanted to keep going. The last book is pretty much one big battle, but it still held my interest (although I found it the least compelling of the five overall).

I'd also categorize this as a good re-read series. I suspect I'll pick up even more tidbits on future passes through it.

The author did a decent job in terms of making the book feminist-friendly, too, despite the fact that the main three Gods were all male (that's not exactly the author's fault, though, since this is all following Greek mythology). Lots of strong female characters around, and they don't get held back out of the fighting to be protected. Our main heroine Annabeth is probably more frequently saving Percy than the other way around (they kind of made her more the 'sultry but tough' chick in the movie, though - bleh). Thalia was also pretty awesome, and there were a bunch more who weren't as much in the spotlight who got some kickass moments as well.

All in all, this series was very fun to read. I'm glad I picked them up, and I recommend anyone who hasn't done so to... well... do so.

Comments

[silverthunder]

*blank stare* Sokka gets shafted in the romance department? Are we talking about the same Sokka? The Sokka who had more girls into him than either Aang or Zuko?

Aang = Meng, Onji, Katara (eventually)
Zuko = Song, Jin, Mai
Sokka = Suki, Yue, Ty Lee, Toph

And let's not forge those ladies at the poetry club who seemed pretty into him as well. XD

Sokka is like a chick magnet. XD In fact, I think I saw a comic about that. Two, actually. One was Sokka using Foo-Foo Cuddlypoops to get chicks (and Zuko commenting 'like he needs help with that') and the other was this 'water tribe people attract the opposite sex' thing where Sokka's sitting surrounded by Yue, Suki, and Ty Lee (with Toph in the background), and Katara's sitting surrounded by Haru, Jet, and Aang (with Zuko in the background being dragged off by Mai).

I would like either Sokka/Suki or Sokka/Ty Lee (or Sokka/Toph or Sokka/Zuko, lmao), but I'm not a fan of threesomes. At all. You probably knew that already, though. XD

I actually don't care if people want to ship Katara with Zuko. If that's their thing, then whatever, right? I just think it's odd that it was so insanely popular. Although then again, Zuko is a huge fangirl favorite and in season one, Katara was pretty much the only person you could ship him with so... yeah. I guess I do see where this came from. Heh.

I can also see where Zuko/Jet came from. I don't like it either because Jet's not one of my favorite people, but as a slash fangirl, I can see the appeal.

The idea of incest in ATLA makes me queasy, mainly because the sibling relations are so realistic. Particularly between Sokka and Katara, but also with Zuko and Azula - despite the fucked-up nature of their family, they ACT like siblings most of the time, which makes the scene where they fight each other at the end that much more potent.

Then again, incest ANYWHERE makes me queasy. I can live with it if they're cousins. Siblings? No. It's gross. I don't like it. Knee-jerk reaction perhaps, but I'm sticking to it. Ew.

Besides, the only person I think could realistically be shipped with Azula is Ty Lee. And I don't even really ship that pairing. I guess I just don't ship Azula with anyone. XD

Rachel didn't seem that hostile towards Annabeth. It seemed pretty much entirely one-sided hostility. She wasn't even really trying to take her down so much as she just didn't want to be around her or hear about her, especially from Percy. Plus at the end of the series, even that is gone so I think this snippy interaction will be more or less over with. XD

I just don't see Percy/Luke at all. Percy never really angsts about how Luke was so nice and he could turn good again and whatever else. That was all Annabeth. I honestly think Luke would've killed Percy without much regret. The one person I think Luke would've regretted killing is Annabeth (and possibly Thalia). He and Percy just didn't have enough of a bond before he turned evil, and of course there's no time to form a bond after he turns good again.

But then again, that's my bias showing itself, assuming they need to have a bond at all. XD

Luke was okay. He wasn't a character I was very focussed on, but I guess he was all right. Nico was more of a favorite. He was cool.

Yeah, true, a talented fanfic writer can make you ship things most of the time. Although it depends on the pairing, too. Quite a few of my friends tried to get me shipping Draco/Harry by throwing fic at me and it never worked.

Travis/Connor appeals to me not at all. I can't get over thinking of them as brothers, and... yeah. See my above opinions on incest. I won't be able to get around the 'ew' factor long enough to ship this, ever. XD

Sorry.

[lira-chan.livejournal.com]

Hey. There is a difference between putting a male character and a female character in the same place and throwing a dash of interest at them, and giving the characters a ROMANCE. The first episode with Suki was great, but very short-lived and I didn't actually ship it then. It wasn't enough, and there was also the whole "they have to part and we don't know if they'll even see each other again" thing, which pretty much kills it for me. I have a hardcore bias against long-distance relationships, especially in a world with the tech levels of Avatar. (Also, all of this is coming from me not having rewatched the series in a LONG time, so I may be vague on the details.)

Then Yue. THAT was a romance, but dear lord that was depressing. THAT to me was Sokka getting shafted, because that was just... Yeah. Also, I admit, half of me being all "Awww Sokka gets the short end of the stick so much ;o;" is because he IS pretty much the comic relief character, so sometimes it feels like we aren't taking his relationship stabs seriously, since it's supposed to be FUNNY, right? *slight sarcasm there*

I forget how much of Sokka/Ty Lee was canon, and how much was fans reading into it.

I think I made myself forget any Sokka/Toph because I really, really don't ship that.

So I basically see his RELATIONSHIPS being with Yue and with Suki, and I am so happy the Kiyoshi warriors came back in and kicked ass and it was awesome, and that in the post-series bit at the very end Sokka could spend time with Suki again and I could see it as a RELATIONSHIP and not just the writers throwing him a brief, metaphorical bone.

...does any of that make sense?

I just don't think his lovelife was so great and full of high romance. It was teenage romance and he got shafted sometimes. Doesn't mean it wasn't worth it.

The comics sound pretty awesome, though.

(Also, I think Sokka THINKS he is a chick magnet, more so than he actually is. Sorry Sokka.)

Yeah, I do kind of know about you and threesomes. (It's funny to me because didn't you used to write with Rae? I've been talking to her more lately, and rediscovering that she seems to freaking LOVE threesomes. It feels very extreme to me, the two of you. xD)

My policy on rival ships is still mostly that it's fine until it's in my face and people are starting wars over it. If people can coexist peacefully and not shove fanfic I would disdain at me, I'm pretty fine.

I can see where Zuko/Jet comes from, too. I just don't actually see the appeal. It's pretty much me being stubborn though.

Sokka and Katara would creep me the fuck out, yes. Siblings incest is usually NOT MY THING even though I know somehow them being same-gendered twins can make it better for me. Brother/sister incest has always creeped me the fuck out a lot more than brother/brother. I almost want to say the possibility of offspring adds to it, but I'm really not sure if that's what my problem is.

However, the fact that Zuko and Azula's present-series relationship was so utterly fucked up makes it less "*instantly cringes away in horror*" I still think it's fucked up, but it becomes bizarrely interesting fucked up, which I might be persuaded to read, and not KILL IT WITH FIRE fucked up.

(I still have never read a Zuko/Azula fanfic.)

Feel free to stick with the siblings incest squick. I know fanfic will allow me to forgive things that in real life would bother me a lot, but sometimes it seems like a good idea to PRESERVE your inflexibility towards those things. You know?

Rachel and Annabeth. I don't think it's a matter of Rachel being deliberately hostile. I think it's a matter of she can take care of herself and stand up to Annabeth if she needs to, which makes it interesting. And yeah, it's pretty much gone at the end of the series, but there can always be fanfic set during the series, or fanfic exploring how their interactions change and such, which is interesting to me. Just because Annabeth is no longer JEALOUS doesn't mean the two of them will suddenly have boring conversations about paint drying.

[lira-chan.livejournal.com]

I'm not even trying to get you to ship Luke/Percy, because it isn't even my main ship. If I was going to go into full-on persuasion mode, I'd go after you for Percy/Nico. I know Percy doesn't angst. But I think overhearing Annabeth's angst plays into the dynamic. And it may be my like for the pairing and for Luke that makes me object to the thought of him killing Percy without regret. I've been a bit corrupted by fanon at this point, and part of it might be main character bias. But I still can't see a universe where he kills Percy like swatting a fly.

And yeah, I am a lot less requiring of this "bond." I think Percy at least had some respect for Luke initially, and I kind of believe we don't know quite how Luke felt, with events through Percy's eyes. Consider Percy and Luke's swordfighting match. I think that alone would make Luke interested -- in a "I'm curious" sense, not "I want to have sex with that" sense. I also think a son of one of the big three by itself would catch his curiosity. He might not be having positive thoughts, but there are thoughts.

I just think there is enough to play with there, and that it isn't one of those "these may be the two hottest guy characters so they should bang" phenomena. And I don't need to see them go through some of the sequences of events that I know you really enjoy. I wonder if that's part of the reason for the disinterest, because some of the things you like to see just wouldn't realistically happen.

I still prefer Nico over Luke. :P Percy and Nico are actually totally my favorite characters. ^^;; Even if I have a huge soft spot for Annabeth.

I know some pairings, you just can't be won over to. I think Zuko/Jet will never do it for me, no matter what fanfic people could show me.

Not that surprised about Travis and Connor, really. xD I'm sure it's the interactions more than the biology, so there would be no need to point out the "two different mothers; gods don't have DNA" thing, especially since couples with the same godly parent is considered to be, you know, kind of fucked up.

But you don't have to apologize. xD <3

[silverthunder]

Well, I'd be more likely to ship Percy/Nico than Percy/Luke, but that's kind of like saying I'd be more likely to ship Daisuke/Takeru than Daisuke/Iori. I don't really ship either pairing, I just find Percy/Nico mildly interesting, whereas I don't find Percy/Luke interesting at all.

I'm not even really interested in talking about it so much, although I can understand where you're coming from in trying to defend it. I'm content to leave it at that. We have different opinions; that's cool. Makes life more interesting.

Nico was cool; I'd put him at about 'Thalia' level on my favorite-character meter (just below Percy, Annabeth, and Grover). He was definitely awesome.

Yeah, you really need to have at least a passing interesting in the pairing to be won over to it; if you're leaning into 'dislike' territory, it's hard to be pulled back out.

If the characters consider themselves siblings, it starts to get a little iffy for me. I still find it a bit uncomfortable even if they're not blood related. XD

[lira-chan.livejournal.com]

It does make sense, and my weird fandom pride is somehow happy that at least my preferred pairing is less strange than the OTHER pairing that, you know, I've been reading a lot.

I'm pretty sure we have covered all of the interesting talk about the pairing anyway, so good plan.

I totally support your hierarchy of favorite characters. Nico is just higher up on mine, and Thalia is just a bit lower, because Luke and Rachel are somewhere around her level.

This is very true. It's why my Percy/Luke thing is funny, because I THOUGHT I hated it when I was starting out, and it just... Grew less and less like hate, until I was at a point where I could be won over by fanfic. I think the fifth book did give him some leverage.

Yep, that was what I figured. That is sort of my feeling, although like I said, I can be convinced otherwise more easily than you. I think also since I have my own siblings, if there is behavior which is supposed to be sibling-ish, but it doesn't ring true based on my personal experience, it kind of lessens the sibling relationship for me. Because it's all in how they view each other, and if they don't seem to view each other that way...

It's like blurring the line.

[silverthunder]

Mm. Well, whether or not you think Sokka got shafted in the romance department (which I completely disagree on, because he got Suki in the end and she is all kinds of awesome), you have to admit that the others didn't do any better. Zuko had two failed almost-relationships and then had to leave Mai at Azula's mercy. Aang was faced with the choice of letting go of the girl of his dreams or having both of them die, and then ended up being rejected by her later in the series just before his life-or-death battle.

Face it, none of the characters have any sort of luck with love. Whether or not Sokka was "shafted" in that department, the others were too.

Yeah, I remember Rae liking the threesomes. I haven't talked to her in forever! I see Karasu on LJ sometimes, but Rae hasn't made a post in a long time. How's she doing?

I'm told there were ship wars in Avatar and I see hints of it here and there, but no one's ever bothered me, so I just don't care. It's not like their opinion on shipping makes mine any less valid (or vice versa), so whatever.

I find Zuko/Azula at least as creepy as Sokka/Katara, maybe more. The fucked-up nature of their relationship just makes it worse for me. XD

I just don't think Rachel and Annabeth will go out of their way to talk to each other much, that's all. I didn't see a lot of chemistry in their relationship. But that's just me. *shrug*