Modern Adaptation of the Week--Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Okay, that's it. I've done enough stuff that I hate. I need to move on to something that I really and truly love. Something like...

PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS (by Rick Riordan)

For those of you who have never heard of this series, before, it's about a kid named Percy who finds out that he's a demigod, and he goes on adventures with his friends from Camp Half-blood, which houses other demigods, in order to save the camp and keep the gods from being completely destroyed. I was going to make March the Percy Jackson month, but unfortunately, I left my book 1 at home! Oh no! Well, if that's the case, then what I'll do today is sort of do a general overview of the series. You know, why I like the series as a whole. Next week, I'll review the first book, The Lightning Thief.

Also, I'll try to keep this post clean, because some little kid might run across this post while looking stuff up. This is, after all, a kid's book series. However, I beg all of you parents who let your tykes roam the internet, PLEASE keep them off this site! I really don't want to deal with angry parents wondering what sort of gig I have going on here. This is a blog for adults, not children.

Thank you.

And now, we sail off into...

SPOILERS AHOY!

(you know, one of these days, I REALLY need to change that catchphrase. It's sort of dumb, to say the least)

Pros:

+Lovable characters: This, more than anything else, is what draws me to the series. Even though I'm going to make an argument that this series is basically the Harry Potter of the Classical Studies community, the characters in this series are much more fleshed out. Honestly, I never felt that I could grow close to the characters in Harry Potter. The characters in Percy Jackson are a little different. Take Percy, for instance. He's not "The Boy Who Lived." He's this kid from inner city New York who keeps getting expelled from school, has both ADHD and dyslexia, has an abusive creep as a stepfather, and loves his mother a lot. I love the little things built into his personality, like his thing for blue foods. He's not perfect, and he's got an attitude, and I think that's what makes him lovable. More than Harry, he's more on our level. Also, the story is told from his point of view, which I think makes it more interesting. Actually, I love Percy so much that I even modeled a character off of him in one of my own stories, as far as the attitude goes.

Oh, did I mention that Percy has a satyr as a friend who loves enchilladas and is searching for the lost god Pan? I FREAKING LOVE GROVER!!! Grover's a sweetheart! If I ever found him, I would take him home and feed him enchilladas and tin cans and play boardgames with him. I think he's the Ron of the series, but he's SOOOOO cute! I think my favorite scene with Grover involves him at the Hotel of the Lotus Eaters--a play on the Island of the Lotus Eaters in the Odyssey--and he's playing a game where the deer shoot the humans instead of the other way around. As Percy and Annabeth try to drag him out, he starts screaming at them because he's so engrossed in the game. Truly, a brilliant scene.

And then, there's Annabeth. She's the Hermione of the series, right down to her intelligence (though I don't ever remember Hermione wanting to become an architect). She's the daughter of Athena, obviously. I'm not going to reveal who Percy's dad is, but because of his dad, she and Percy don't get along all the time, which makes for some funny scenes. However, they really are friends, and I personally am a Percibeth fan. (I DON'T KNOW THIS RACHEL ELIZABETH DARE GIRL, BUT I DON'T WANT PERCY TO HOOK UP WITH HER /endrant)

Beyond our main characters, there's a cast of all sorts of wonderful characters, from Chiron, to Mr. D, to Nico, to... LUKE.

Oh Luke. How could I ever forget about you? Oho, I won't spoil his character for you, but I'll say that he was my favorite for awhile. Mwahahaha...

+Clever use of source material: From the Hotel of the Lotus Eaters to the Labrynth, this book series makes an interesting use of the original Greco-Roman source material. As Chiron explains to Percy, the gods are actually following the "Heart of the West," so that wherever Western Civilization is, there the gods will be also. Where do the gods reside? The 600th floor of the Empire State Building. Where does Hades live? In Los Angeles. Really, it's all just very clever.

+Use of Greek/Latin: Yes, you can actually get a sampling of both Greek and Latin by reading this series! As far as I can recall, "Di immortales" (Latin) is used often, as well as "Erre eis korakas" (Greek). Actually, that Greek phrase is kinda funny, because while it literally means "Throw yourself to the crows" in Greek, it sort of equates to our "go to hell." Also, when I was a fledgling Greek student, I learned it as "Balle eis korakas." Eh, to each his own, I guess.

+Darkness/Heaviness of the series: I grew up on The Rats of Nimh and We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story. (you all have been saved from an image of Professor Screweyes because I can't find one straight from the movie. I guess he's too scary for the internet...) We had some really horrifying stuff in our movies, and you know what? We're not any worse for it. Actually, I think we're the better for it, because we weren't as shielded as children nowdays are. Percy Jackson is sort of similar. I still remember the day when my mom and I were at the gas station and she asked me, "So, I was flipping through those books, and they seemed really dark. Are you sure that they're okay for your little brothers (probably around 11 at the time) to read?" My answer is "yes." Children need a dose of heaviness. They can take it, I swear. Also, I think the heaviness makes the series more enjoyable for adults, too. It's not dumbed down, so we can read it as a good action/adventure story.

Cons:

-Harry Potter: Author Rick Riordan didn't intend for his series to be very similar to Harry Potter. He simply didn't have it in mind while he was telling these stories to his kid in order to cope with his diagnosis of ADHD and dyslexia. However, in a world where Harry Potter is by far the most popular children's book, the parallel is unavoidable. Rick Riordan actually likes the comparason. Personally, I think it's actually a negative. I can't stand it that EVERY kid's book nowadays is being compared to Harry Potter, when personally, I feel that Harry Potter is okay. That's it; I don't see it as the literary masterpiece that everyone else sees it as. It has its moments, sure, and it's certainly not bad, but I don't think it's fair to compare every children's book since God to Harry Potter. Even Diana Wynne Jones, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien are being compared to J.K. Rowling, which pisses me off because all three of those authors were writing LONG before Ms. Rowling was. For those of you who have been living in a hole all these years, Ms. Rowling wasn't even a professional writer when she started. She hadn't published anything before Harry Potter. As a writer myself, DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THIS PISSES ME OFF?! So fine. I'm jealous. I've got a little green-eyed monster running around in my brain somewhere. Still.

... where were we? Oh yes, Percy Jackson. The parallels are unavoidable; Percy spends his summer at a camp for other demigods like him (Harry spends his school year at a school for other wizards like him). He has two friends, a boy and a really smart girl (Harry has two friends... yadda yadda yadda). He has really awesome fighting skills and is the center of a prophecy (Ditto for Harry). I was sort of misleading earlier when I said that Percy is no "boy who lived." While he's not as perfect as Harry can sometimes be, Percy DOES have some attention cast his way due to his daddy (I won't reveal who he is until next week!). Also, Percy talks to horses (Harry talks to snakes). Actually, this last point is sort of unfair. It makes it look like the parallel is obvious, when in fact, there's a VERY specific reason that Percy can talk to horses that is otherwise unrelated as to why Harry can talk to snakes.

But yeah. That's my only major downside to this series, and really, it's unfair. I think Rick Riordan is a fine stand-alone author, and doesn't need to have Ms. Rowling connected to his name.

~~~

For those of you who are more interested in checking out this series, I have some links for you!

Rick Riordan's Official Site

Rick Riordan's Blog

Hyperion's Site for Percy Jackson

If you know any kids, I'd highly encourage you to tell them about this series. It's truly a good series.

CARTHAGO DELENDA EST!