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Despite the Greek mythology connection, I dismissed this series as one that wouldn’t appeal much to me, as it was clearly intended for 12-year-old boys for ages, but then I heard that it actually depicted ADHD and dyslexia, instead of only mentioning or stereotyping them.
These are very much books for 12-year-old boys, but pretty entertaining ones, and while the depictions of ADHD and dyslexia still have problems, they’re handled much better than the norm.
Percy Jackson has ADHD and dyslexia, exactly one friend, is hated by his math teacher, has never met his father, and has an uberjerk for a stepfather. At least his mom’s nice? When his math teacher transforms into a winged monster and tries to kill him, Percy learns that his best friend, Grover, is a satyr, and that he’s the son of a Greek god and has to get to Camp Half Blood, a safe place for the half-human children of the gods that’s run by the centaur Chiron and the god Dionysus, before all the monsters of mythology try to catch and eat him.
And then he learns that his father is Poseidon and everyone thinks he stole Zeus’s master thunderbolt, so the Oracle of Delphi (who is a mummy in the attic) sends him on a quest to recover it, along with Grover and Athena’s daughter, Annabeth. (Before everyone justifiably has an apoplexy, Athena is still a virgin. She gifts her favorite mortals with “brain” children. Which is less, uhm “eccentric” than impregnating women by turning yourself into a beam of light. I’m just saying.)
The first book only really touched on the more commonly known parts of Greek mythology, but later books get considerably more in depth. In general, the series is a string of adventures either loosely or directly based on an adventure from mythology, with each book loosely following the adventures of a Greek hero. Book 1 is Perseus, book 2 is Odysseus, book 3 is Hercules, book 4 is Theseus, and book 5 is Achilles, with some switching up throughout. However, while Percy is the main character and so largely the default performer of heroic feats, he isn’t always the one to reenact the myth. For example, while he starts out The Last Olympian in the role of Achilles, he moves to more of a Hector role, and the Achilles role is more filled by Ares’s daughter, Clarisse. (If Hector and Achilles were on the same side. Usually.) Also, while there are plenty of demi-gods of both genders, most of the other demi-gods featured in a traditionally heroic role are girls. Actually, Percy is frequently rescued by teenage girls. (Riordan is actually fairly critical of the douchebaggery frequently committed by the heroes, so I suspect this is no accident.)
That said, Riordan has a definite preference for gods over goddesse s(gods are cool and goddesses…probably aren’t!), and chunks of the first book feel like he’s dealing with some leftover childhood issues relating to being bullied by girls. Also, while the ADHD and dyslexia are better presented than usual, all the demi-gods have ADHD because they’re meant to be warriors and heroes, so the ADHD makes them supercool in battle, and the dyslexia is caused by their brains being hardwired to read ancient Greek. Despite the “This condition actually makes you super special!” part, though, the real-world difficulties and consequences are shown. Also, the series often seems almost aggressively white. Most characters whose appearance is given are white, and the only demi-gods who appear to be POC (based on their surnames, which isn’t always the most accurate way to judge these things, but…) are traitors. Also, I rolled my eyes a lot at “The U.S.A. is the heart of western civilization and has been for ages and ages!”
The series is no great work of art, but is pretty enjoyable. There’s a sequel series coming out, but this lead is apparently inspired by Jason, and while I have no problems reading about a kid based on Perseus, I am decidedly not fond of Jason.
For the curious, my favorite characters are Annabeth, Thalia and Clarisse, and my favorites of the gods are Apollo and Artemis.
In order, the books are:
The Lightning Thief
The Sea of Monsters
The Titan’s Curse
The Battle of the Labyrinth
The Last Olympian
Then I watched the movie (and made a poor soul watch with me) which may have been a mistake.
As near as I can tell, the thinking behind the movie was to take the general idea of the book and run around willy-nilly with it. This was accomplished by:
1. Age-ing the character from 12 to 17~ without, you know, adjusting their maturity levels or actions.
2. “Tightening up” the story by removing everything that actually made the plot make sense.
3. Transferring all emotional and personal motivation and conflict to Percy.
4. Removing as many female characters as possible. This will help enormously with #s 2-3. (I started keeping count at one point. I think the number was 6. 7 if you include a character not in the first book, but who hugely impacted most of the cast, including why a lot of the characters acted the way they did.) Also, trying to combine two female characters with vastly different personalities into one totally works.
5. Stereotypes are awesome. Character development and experience are pointless. Ditto for actually developing skills and learning how to use your abilities.
That said, the acting was pretty good, and it was nice to look at, with much better effects than I was expecting. Also, Uma Thurman’s small part as Medusa was fabulous. Skip the movie as a whole, but watch that part if you can. Also, the moviemakers possibly noticed the apparent overwhelming whiteness, and so made 2 characters black? But it was by making Persephone abused and bitter, and Grover a not-bright guy who chases after anything with breasts and goes on a lot about how it’s his role to sacrifice himself for the awesome white hero.
So: Books are fun but not perfect. Watch the movie only to snark. And maybe look at the pretty.
These are very much books for 12-year-old boys, but pretty entertaining ones, and while the depictions of ADHD and dyslexia still have problems, they’re handled much better than the norm.
Percy Jackson has ADHD and dyslexia, exactly one friend, is hated by his math teacher, has never met his father, and has an uberjerk for a stepfather. At least his mom’s nice? When his math teacher transforms into a winged monster and tries to kill him, Percy learns that his best friend, Grover, is a satyr, and that he’s the son of a Greek god and has to get to Camp Half Blood, a safe place for the half-human children of the gods that’s run by the centaur Chiron and the god Dionysus, before all the monsters of mythology try to catch and eat him.
And then he learns that his father is Poseidon and everyone thinks he stole Zeus’s master thunderbolt, so the Oracle of Delphi (who is a mummy in the attic) sends him on a quest to recover it, along with Grover and Athena’s daughter, Annabeth. (Before everyone justifiably has an apoplexy, Athena is still a virgin. She gifts her favorite mortals with “brain” children. Which is less, uhm “eccentric” than impregnating women by turning yourself into a beam of light. I’m just saying.)
The first book only really touched on the more commonly known parts of Greek mythology, but later books get considerably more in depth. In general, the series is a string of adventures either loosely or directly based on an adventure from mythology, with each book loosely following the adventures of a Greek hero. Book 1 is Perseus, book 2 is Odysseus, book 3 is Hercules, book 4 is Theseus, and book 5 is Achilles, with some switching up throughout. However, while Percy is the main character and so largely the default performer of heroic feats, he isn’t always the one to reenact the myth. For example, while he starts out The Last Olympian in the role of Achilles, he moves to more of a Hector role, and the Achilles role is more filled by Ares’s daughter, Clarisse. (If Hector and Achilles were on the same side. Usually.) Also, while there are plenty of demi-gods of both genders, most of the other demi-gods featured in a traditionally heroic role are girls. Actually, Percy is frequently rescued by teenage girls. (Riordan is actually fairly critical of the douchebaggery frequently committed by the heroes, so I suspect this is no accident.)
That said, Riordan has a definite preference for gods over goddesse s(gods are cool and goddesses…probably aren’t!), and chunks of the first book feel like he’s dealing with some leftover childhood issues relating to being bullied by girls. Also, while the ADHD and dyslexia are better presented than usual, all the demi-gods have ADHD because they’re meant to be warriors and heroes, so the ADHD makes them supercool in battle, and the dyslexia is caused by their brains being hardwired to read ancient Greek. Despite the “This condition actually makes you super special!” part, though, the real-world difficulties and consequences are shown. Also, the series often seems almost aggressively white. Most characters whose appearance is given are white, and the only demi-gods who appear to be POC (based on their surnames, which isn’t always the most accurate way to judge these things, but…) are traitors. Also, I rolled my eyes a lot at “The U.S.A. is the heart of western civilization and has been for ages and ages!”
The series is no great work of art, but is pretty enjoyable. There’s a sequel series coming out, but this lead is apparently inspired by Jason, and while I have no problems reading about a kid based on Perseus, I am decidedly not fond of Jason.
For the curious, my favorite characters are Annabeth, Thalia and Clarisse, and my favorites of the gods are Apollo and Artemis.
In order, the books are:
The Lightning Thief
The Sea of Monsters
The Titan’s Curse
The Battle of the Labyrinth
The Last Olympian
Then I watched the movie (and made a poor soul watch with me) which may have been a mistake.
As near as I can tell, the thinking behind the movie was to take the general idea of the book and run around willy-nilly with it. This was accomplished by:
1. Age-ing the character from 12 to 17~ without, you know, adjusting their maturity levels or actions.
2. “Tightening up” the story by removing everything that actually made the plot make sense.
3. Transferring all emotional and personal motivation and conflict to Percy.
4. Removing as many female characters as possible. This will help enormously with #s 2-3. (I started keeping count at one point. I think the number was 6. 7 if you include a character not in the first book, but who hugely impacted most of the cast, including why a lot of the characters acted the way they did.) Also, trying to combine two female characters with vastly different personalities into one totally works.
5. Stereotypes are awesome. Character development and experience are pointless. Ditto for actually developing skills and learning how to use your abilities.
That said, the acting was pretty good, and it was nice to look at, with much better effects than I was expecting. Also, Uma Thurman’s small part as Medusa was fabulous. Skip the movie as a whole, but watch that part if you can. Also, the moviemakers possibly noticed the apparent overwhelming whiteness, and so made 2 characters black? But it was by making Persephone abused and bitter, and Grover a not-bright guy who chases after anything with breasts and goes on a lot about how it’s his role to sacrifice himself for the awesome white hero.
So: Books are fun but not perfect. Watch the movie only to snark. And maybe look at the pretty.