Percy Jackson

Percy Jackson

This review is by Miss 11 (almost 12).

This series of 5 books starting with Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan, are for ages 11 and up and are very good!

Percy Jackson thinks he is a regular boy until he finds out that he is half Greek god and he needs to stop Kronos, the Titan Lord from rising and taking over the world. The series is based in modern time, eg, to get to Olympus you must take the Empire State Building elevator to floor 600.

In the first book, Percy goes to a camp where half-bloods are trained to fight monsters, receives weapons, tests his powers and finds out which god is father is. He also makes friends with Annabeth and Grover the satyr (half goat and half boy) and they go on a quest to return Zeus’ stolen lightning bolt to him.

In Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters Grover’s goal in life (like all satyrs) is to find the great god Pan, the Lord of the Wild. However, he’s lured to an island where he’s captured and asks Percy for with Annabeth and a new friend Tyson, a Cyclops.

In book 3: Percy Jackson and the Titan’s Curse, Annabeth goes missing after she, Percy, Grover and Thalia (new friend) are tasked with bringing two new half-bloods safely to Camp. Percy is desperate to find her, however the goddess Artemis is also missing, and her followers, the Hunters of Artemis, are the one tasked to save her.

In Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth, Percy, Annabeth, Grover and Tyson adventure into the Labyrinth, a maze full of traps and try to find Daedalus, it’s creator. In the end, monsters invade the camp and must be stopped.

The fifth and final book Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian, Percy and the camp must protect the city of Manhattan from Kronos’ army, and so the final battle begins.

There are no Christian references, because the entire premise is based on the Greek gods, such as Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Apollo, Ares, Aphrodite, Hera, Artemis and more.  

One of my highlights was when a quest was issued, the leader is given a prophecy to help them.  The main prophecy from the series is:

A half-blood of the eldest gods, shall reach sixteen against all odds,

And see the world in endless sleep, the hero’s soul, cursed blade, shall reap

A single choice shall end his days, Olympus to preserve or raze

**

Miss 11 also loved the next series of five books: The Heroes of Olympus.  Mr 13 has also devoured all of them, and pretty much anything else by Rick Riordan.