Young Carter Kane has a life many middle-schoolers would envy, traveling around the world with his famed archaeologist father Julius. In reality,
it's tough living out of a suitcase, never staying anywhere long enough to make friends... and only visiting his sister Sadie in England a couple
times a year, if that. Sure, she's a pain in the neck, but she's still family. Sadie, meanwhile, does everything she can to rebel against her stodgy
grandparents, jealous of how Carter gets to spend all his time with their father, to whom she seems little more than an afterthought at best or a
painful reminder of her dead mother at worst. When Julius turns up in London for a Christmas Eve visit, neither kid is surprised (or particularly
excited) when his big holiday surprise is a visit to the British Museum... but this night will change their lives forever. Julius starts meddling with
the Rosetta Stone - and chaos literally erupts, as long-imprisoned gods are released. Now Carter and Sadie are on the run, learning things about the
Kane lineage neither parent ever told them, such as their connection to the ancient pharaohs and the magic in their veins... not to mention their ties
to the long-exiled gods. With the god Set quickly building an army of demons to retake the world and a secret society of magicians ready to execute
them as a danger to creation, the Kane children must master their untested powers fast if they want to survive.
Review
Riordan's Percy Jackson series took ancient Greek myths and made them fresh and relevant for modern young audiences. Here, he does something
similar with Egyptian tales, exploring the roots and ongoing influence of one of history's most powerful civilizations. At first, I wasn't quite sure if
he was pulling it off. The pace is relentless, with very little down time to process events, making me a bit numb and overwhelmed and making the parts
look a little pre-packaged (the estranged siblings, the parents hiding Big Secrets from kids, the dead mother, the secret society of magicians, etc.) As
the story unfolds, though, it comes into its own. Carter Kane deals with a peculiar upbringing and, more than once, with being a black kid in a
white-skewed world - and with having a lighter-skinned sister who doesn't understand why he has to be much more careful with his appearance and demeanor.
Sadie grows during the tale, too, with her own demons and troubles. Being a middle-grade title, there's an occasional dip into silliness, though nothing
crass. Like the Percy Jackson series, Riordan doesn't stick with the pop-culture veneer of Egyptian mythos, but delves deeper into more obscure
layers, even offering an explanation for how relationships between gods seem to shift through different stories while repeating the same patterns.
Overall, it's a decent story of magic and adventure and sacrifice, and if it's a little breakneck, well, it is written for a younger, generally more
impatient audience.
Percy Jackson's twelve years of live have been one disaster after another. Raised by his sharp-minded mother and cruel, slobby stepfather, diagnosed
with dyslexia, ADHD, and other general behavior disorders, Percy doesn't expect much of himself except staying out of trouble, but trouble always finds
him. Lately, it's been finding him in quite bizarre ways, as his Latin teacher's Greek myth lessons seem to be coming to life around him; monsters out
of legend attack him, his best friend Grover seems to have goat legs, and that’s just the beginning. Soon, he finds out things about the world and himself
that his mother never told him, things he wished he'd never known... such as the continued existence and influence of the Olympian gods over the Western
civilization they helped create, and how his own peculiar mind traces back to an immortal father he never knew. Percy doesn't have much time to assimilate
this new information before being thrust into the middle of a brewing war between Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades over Zeus's stolen lightning, a war that could
turn the world into a gods-blasted nightmare and may allow a foe older than Mount Olympus to return to the lands of the living.
Review
Like many books aimed at the target age, Riordan mixes modern pop culture with ancient archetypes in an attempt to both engage readers and put a fresh
face on some of the most oft-reprinted myths in Western civilization. Sometimes this approach works, and sometimes it doesn't, but for the most part it
seems to work here, partly because Riordan seems to recognize that there's a time for characters to speak "modern" and a time to let events play out without
excessively hyping the narrative. The story takes a little bit to really get going, despite an early monster attack, but once it starts moving it clips along
at a nice pace. Being a bit more familiar with Greek myths than many readers of this likely are (though less familiar than others, I expect), I saw a few
dangers coming before Percy and his companions did, though even then Percy seemed a little slow on the uptake when glaring red flags waved over certain people
and situations. The plot shows hints of deeper currents and issues underneath the plentiful action and character banter, issues which will likely be dealt
with in future books. I have to wonder if this book will only appeal to kids with an interest in Greek myths, or if perhaps it will encourage them to seek out
more information on their own. Riordan doesn't water down the myths for his audience, which is nice for old and new enthusiasts, even if the middle grade rating
means that he doesn't explicitly spell out certain aspects of the inter-god relations and beast origins. I'll probably pick up the second book when it's out in
paperback, time and budget willing.
Another school year has passed almost without incident, and Percy Jackson can't wait to get back to Camp Half-Blood for the summer. Of course, when
you're the half-human son of a Greek god, the longer you go without trouble, the harder it hits when it arrives. Last year, his satyr friend Grover set
out on a quest to seek the lost god Pan, but through nightmares Percy learns that Grover has run afoul of a terrible danger. Aside from Grover's plight,
Camp Half-Blood itself is under attack from monsters, the sacred tree that ensures the camp's safety poisoned and dying, and nobody seems inclined to do
anything about it. Percy's not one to wait around for adult approval when things need doing, and with his friend and fellow half-blood Annabeth (and
Tyson, a schoolmate who also has some startling immortal ancestry), he once again finds himself up to his neck in a modern quest of Olympian
proportions.
Review
Like the first book, Percy's second outing successfully maintains that tricky balance between modern pop culture and ancient Greek mythos, with some
rather witty updates on classic figures. Also like the first book, Percy seemed a bit slow on the uptake about significant plot moments, especially at the
start of the book, but things got moving fairly quickly nevertheless. The third book looks to be a very wild ride, indeed.
Things were tough enough two years ago for Percy Jackson, where his dyslexia and ADHD and peculiar ability to attract trouble got him bounced from
one school to another. Ever since learning that he's a half-blood, offspring of his mortal mother and a Greek god, life became a lot more complicated,
but he's gotten used to the near-constant danger and the disturbing tendency of mythic monsters to pop up in his vicinity. So, when his satyr friend
Grover calls on him to help rescue a pair of undiscovered half-bloods from a boarding school where at least one monster is lurking, he doesn't hesitate,
even if he has to ask his mom to drive him and his fellow young demigods to the scene. With him are his old friend Annabeth, daughter of Athena, and
the recently restored Thalia, Zeus's offspring, who spent several years as a tree. The rescue mission quickly goes sour - another tendency Percy's
become rather used to - but even he isn't prepared for the full depth of trouble he's in for. The Titans themselves are on the move, calling in some of
the most disturbing and powerful monsters ever to walk the earth, in preparation for the ultimate assault on Mount Olympus. Even worse: Percy and his
half-blood friends are supposed to help them destroy the gods, though how nobody knows - and if nobody knows, they can't stop it. The Oracle tells them
their fate may already be sealed, but the thing about half-blood heroes is that they never give up, even in an impossible fight.
Review
Once again, Riordan weaves in clever updates with classical myths to deliver a witty and action-filled adventure which even us grown-ups can enjoy. He
also pulls off some nice twists in the plot that change the landscape and set the stage for more intense adventures to come; this isn't another series
where the end leaves you almost exactly where you were at the start, give or take a couple extras. I enjoyed it, and I look forward to reading the fourth
book when it comes out in paperback... or when I find it at Half Price Books.
Percy didn't mean to blow up his new school on Orientation Day, but these things happen when you're the half-blood son of a Greek god; monsters and
trouble find you in the unlikeliest places. What's worse is that his mom's new boyfriend, Paul, had to pull some serious strings to get Percy into the
private school in the first place. It wasn't his fault, but he doesn't have time to explain. The long-anticipated assault on Camp Half-Blood by the
forces of the Titan lord Kronos - including a goodly number of half-blood campers who defected to the other side - is imminent. In order to save the
camp and possibly hinder (if not completely avert) the coming war, Percy and his friends - Annabeth, the satyr Grover, and Percy's Cyclops half-brother
Tyson - set out to find the greatest inventor known to god or man, Daedelus. To reach him, they have to navigate his most infamous creation, the
Labyrinth, a creation which has grown and changed through the ages until the threat of a Minotaur seems laughably quaint. But Percy isn't the only one
looking for Daedelus; Luke, Annabeth's former boyfriend and current chief lackey to the Titans, wants to find the old man, too, for if he can control
the Labyrinth then nowhere will be safe from his foul master.
Review
Right on par with the previous books in the series, The Battle for the Labyrinth starts in high gear and scarcely lets up until it hits its
cliffhanger ending. Many more peculiar monsters and lesser gods pop up in Percy's adventures, displaying just how truly broad and inventive the Greek
myth cycles were to those (like me) who just had passing acquaintance with them. Of course, Riordan updates gods and monsters with fun modern twists,
but he continues to work in deeper threads and emotions. I look forward to reading the fifth and final book in the series, which just came out in
hardcover (and which I therefore cannot afford yet.)
Four years ago, Percy Jackson didn't know who his real father was. He didn't know why strange, monstrous things seemed to keep turning
up in his life, or that there were other children just like him all across the country. He didn't know that the gods of Greece still reigned
from Mount Olympus, now centered over New York City. He'd never heard of the Great Prophecy, from the lips of the Oracle of Delphi, which
foretold the end of Western civilization. He'd never even fought with a sword.
Things have changed since then.
A son of the Greek god Poseidon, Percy inherited powers over water and a telepathic link to horses - and, like all half-blood children of the
Olympic gods, an unusual attraction to monsters out of Greek mythos. With his friends Annabeth (daughter of Athena, godess of wisdom) and
Grover (a satyr), he's fought all manner of impossible foes, visited the kingdom of Hades, and even challenged Titans. But worse is to come.
Kronos, Titan lord of time, has regained material existence. Even now, he marches on Olympus with an army of monsters, fellow Titans, and
half-bloods who turned on their own absentee parents. The Great Prophecy foretold that a heroic half-blood would decide the fate of the known
world in the climactic battle to come... but it also predicted that hero's death. To save his friends and his family, Percy must be willing to
make the ultimate sacrifice - and even that might not be enough to stop Kronos from succeeding.
Review
Percy's adventures are a fun hybrid of modern humor with classical Greek myths, fast-paced and easily accessible even to those of us who
weren't obsessively reading Homer through our formative years. Riordan concludes the series with an appropriately cataclysmic confrontation
between god and Titan, monster and hero, and even father and son. Some of the plot twists were obvious, but not all of them. Not everyone makes
it through to the ending, and those who do find that their roles in the finale aren't at all what they expected. The book feels overlong at
times, with some sequences running a few pages past the point of impact. Overall, I found the series very entertaining, well worth reading.
