A Series in Summation - Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

Let's talk about one of the series I read in November- Percy Jackson. No, I hadn't read this before hand and a few of my friends kept telling me how great these books were, so I picked them up. Now, since I already discuss all of the individual books in my monthly wrap up that's coming, and I am definitely going to be discussing this series on the blog because I do love it, we aren't going to have a book by book breakdown on this post. Stay tuned until the end of the month for that info. For now, let's talk about the series as a whole.

         Percy Jackson is a children's series with Greek mythology meeting modern day and following the tale of a young twelve year old. Now, don't let the children series label fool you. This is wonderful, and I've known YA and adult book lovers to pick up this series and fall in love. It's fantastic. The characters are witty and well developed, and they grow up as the books go along so no, you are not reading five books about an understandably slightly immature twelve year old. But for acting his age, Percy is not in the least annoying. He's sarcastic, and hilarious, but dedicated and loyal. He is a great lead character. And I loved the supporting characters as this story went on and we go to know everyone. They really are some special people, and this series is now one of my favorites. 

        Let's talk about the plots in the stories. So, without giving any spoilers, I will say that I loved these stories, but I saw a definite pattern in them. The beginning would start off slow and while I would enjoy the story I wouldn't be freaking out about every page turn. That is, until you reach the middle of the story. Then, suddenly, Rick Riordan has a heck of a lot to do in the last half of the book, and there's no way to get it done, and Percy is just having the craziest life, and oh my gosh what was that, and oh no, and go Percy, and suddenly the end of the book is upon us and the books have ended in a way that doesn't feel rushed but was perfectly done. The only very minor problems I had were with two books. The Lightning Thief was very predictable to me, and so I knew what was going on the entire time. Percy was a little immature in the first book, but honestly it wasn't obnoxious and he definitely had reason to- his character is twelve at this point. The fourth book, The Battle of the Labyrinth, broke the pattern in two ways- I was very interested from the beginning, but didn't get the oh my gosh look at what's happening feeling until the very end. So that book got 4.5 stars.

The main thing that bothered me were the little lines like "Little did I know I wouldn't be seeing her for awhile," or "I didn't know it, but it would be the last time I'd be there." There were always a few of those in the books, not enough to really frustrate but I dislike that style of writing. It took away from the moment at hand and felt like I was being shoved out of the context of the story. Sure, it would make me wonder 'Why won't he see someone?' but honestly what it made me do more was 'Why do I have to be hearing about this now when there's so much stuff that I want to hear about going on in the present moment?' Honestly, that was my only overall bother about the writing style, the rest is so amazing that I can't truly be bothered about some little interjections that interrupt the story.

       Overall? I freaking love this series. It was the type where I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I hadn't realized how much it meant to me until I'd gotten to the end. Thank goodness there's another series to go with it. Fingers crossed for even more companion series. I love this world Rick Riordan, please keep us in it! I loved the characters: everyone was so developed with these nuances that really made them special. By the end of the series, you can look back and see how far everyone's come, and they're your little Percy Jackson family. I loved this series so much and I am so happy I finally read it!

        Sunny, I'm not sure if I should thank you for introducing me to these books, or complain that you've gotten me addicted to yet another book series and now I have to start the Heroes of Olympus series and marathon it sometime in the near future. But I definitely think it's fantastic and I'm so glad I finally read them. This is a great, great series. The characters are wonderful, the overall plot is so intense, the individual stories are great, the Greek mythology really was well done, and there's so much that is wonderful about this series. It's marvelous. It's mythology. It's one of my favorites.

From a paper world,

V