Percy Jackson series - Rick Riordan

[ghost8772]

Good luck with that, I haven't seen any books that are on par with the Percy Jackson ones.

For those noting that its more of a kids books, I'd disagree. How to Train your Dragn was a kids book, seriously shallow, and not a whole lot of story anyways, Junie B Jones is a kids book, bad grammar and all. Percy Jackson is a true YA book, not too twisted a plot, though it does have some riddling going on. But it didn't fall into the HP trap of maturing the story way beyond YA levels. I read book 7 of HP and was wondering if I wanted my daughter to EVER read the series because it became so dark, depressing, and had so many overtones of abuse-of-trust thrown in. Percy Jackson books were a very enjoyable read, especially since I enjoyed reading Greek Mythology stories growing up, and found in a contemporary fiction piece, the same stories with plausible reasons for them to remain valid, not drug out dust covered and attempt to get people to find them interesting as they were millenia ago. My hat is off to Riordan, but I'm not going to go through the Heroes of Olympus series until they are all written, I HATE waiting for the "next" book to come out. Years I've needed to be patient etc... I finished the first section, I'll wait for the second, in the mean time re-read the first run, and maybe Narnia, and Jane Yolen's Dragon books, when I want a YA bint in my reading.

As far as the movie goes. Hollywood lived back down to my expectations of a movie not being as good as the book it was "based on" (How to train your dragon had me thinking "maybe there had been a lull in the trend." this has been corrected to "that was a rather enjoyable fluke") Mashing Clarisse and Annabeth's characters into one being? what were they thinking?

[tjwell01]

Yet another popular book turned into Hollywood dreck.

[Persona]

Originally Posted by ghost8772

Good luck with that, I haven't seen any books that are on par with the Percy Jackson ones.

For those noting that its more of a kids books, I'd disagree. How to Train your Dragn was a kids book, seriously shallow, and not a whole lot of story anyways, Junie B Jones is a kids book, bad grammar and all. Percy Jackson is a true YA book, not too twisted a plot, though it does have some riddling going on. But it didn't fall into the HP trap of maturing the story way beyond YA levels. I read book 7 of HP and was wondering if I wanted my daughter to EVER read the series because it became so dark, depressing, and had so many overtones of abuse-of-trust thrown in. Percy Jackson books were a very enjoyable read, especially since I enjoyed reading Greek Mythology stories growing up, and found in a contemporary fiction piece, the same stories with plausible reasons for them to remain valid, not drug out dust covered and attempt to get people to find them interesting as they were millenia ago. My hat is off to Riordan, but I'm not going to go through the Heroes of Olympus series until they are all written, I HATE waiting for the "next" book to come out. Years I've needed to be patient etc... I finished the first section, I'll wait for the second, in the mean time re-read the first run, and maybe Narnia, and Jane Yolen's Dragon books, when I want a YA bint in my reading.

As far as the movie goes. Hollywood lived back down to my expectations of a movie not being as good as the book it was "based on" (How to train your dragon had me thinking "maybe there had been a lull in the trend." this has been corrected to "that was a rather enjoyable fluke") Mashing Clarisse and Annabeth's characters into one being? what were they thinking?

The Dresden Files are good if you are old enough. I stick with books over movies anyway.

[ghost8772]

Originally Posted by Persona

The Dresden Files are good if you are old enough. I stick with books over movies anyway.

I haven't managed to get into those just yet.

I agree though, books typically trump movies. I have found a couple exceptions IMO, but of the hundreds (thousands?) that are based on a book, usually the book is the better choice.

[Timba]

For those who enjoyed this series (I sure did) might I suggest Kathy Reichs "Virals" It now has a sequel that I have not yet read but my granddaughter and I both enjoyed Virals.

The good news is that Reichs is also the author of a whole flock of books that the television series Bones is based on so if you like her writing you have a large selection to pick from. I do not think the "Bones" books are YA though so not somewhere I would send kids.

[ljdevet]

It is a brilliant series; very creative indeed!
And the motivations behind its creation is quite admirable.

[ghost8772]

Originally Posted by kythe

I'm surprised there hasn't been more discussion on this series (unless I've missed a thread). I just finished the 5th and final book today, and it left me wanting more.

The Percy Jackson books were very well though-out, with the stories intertwining and really coming together in the end. The author definately knows his Greek mythology, and manages to stick to the myths despite putting them in a modern setting. I've found myself doing some research in non-fiction books on Greek myths just to learn more about some of the characters and events that are referenced.

I'm sorry to see this series end, since I've really enjoyed reading about Percy's adventures.

Guessing you wouldn't be surprised to find out Rick Riordan was a professor of mythology before Percy Jackson made him popular.

[Reivax26]

I have read the first series and the three books of the second series. I would recommend them to people of all ages. I will agree that they aren't as good as the Harry Potter novels but then again a series that captures an audience like Rowling did with her work only comes along once in a generation really. The Percy Jackson books are 2nd in the youth category for me over the last 15 years with only Potter being better. There will be a 9th book out next year as well as the 2nd movie. Apparently they are going to try to follow the 2nd book a lot closer than the first movie followed the first novel.

[planetocean]

After reading the first book I was hooked, its a good series.

[LastRemnant]

What are people thinking about the new movie coming out?
The first one was horrid