The unique twist on the average fictional adventure that is Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympions series is phenomenal. During the writing of his Tres Navarre series, this started as a story to his son. On this Earth, the Greek gods have always and still exist, their kids(demigods) go to Camp Half-Blood on Long Island to learn how to survive. The gods move, now in America, 12 year old Percy Jackson gets kicked out of Yancy Academy, his school, after destroying his teacher, who is actually a Fury.(Furies are Hades’s personal bodyguards, they hunt for souls.) Grover, Percy’s best friend, turns out to be a satyr who, while tracking down Percy on vacation, takes him to camp. Percy’s dad is unkown and has had to put up with his stepdad, Gabe. He finds out he is the son of Poseidon. All of this takes place in the summer of 2005( present-day to when the book was made, 2005).

Percy is the 12 year old demigod son of Poseidon. He has black hair, isn’t atheletic or popular, and is the holder of Anaklusmos(Riptide, in Greek), a sword made of celestial bronze that kills monsters and takes the form of a ballpoint pen. Percy has a good sense of righteousness, but will do anything for his friends. He is similar to an average 12 year old boy. Annabeth joins him, a fellow 12 year old demigod, who is a daughter of Athena. She wields a knife in battle, sports an invisibility cap, has curly blonde hair, and is very smart and clever. She becomes Percy’s friend. Grover is a timid satyr who is 27( satyrs grow half as fast as humans), is Percy’s best friend, hates underground places, and lobes to eat aluminum cans. Luke is a friend of Annabeth’s. He is a 19 year old son of Hermes(god of thieves and travelers) and runs away from home. He feels abandoned and hates his father.

Life at camp gets normal for Percy, he has classes like swordfighting and Ancient Greek. After finding out of his heritage, he is offered a quest. Zeus’s master bolt ( his ultimate weapon) is stolen! Poseidon is to blame and Percy and his friends only have 10 days to get it back before war between Zeus and Poseidon starts. All clues point to Hades, but an evil, more ancient power could be behind it.

There is no real moral for this book. If there is any, it would be to never give up, things will work out in the end. Never doubt yourself, take as many opportunities as you can. Adventure lies right around the corner. And be careful who you make friends with, they may be evil.

This book is phenomenal in my opinion. It’s a weird spin on copmmon fiction. The books take getting used to, as they’re first-person, Percy’s point of view. Everything is so real and engaging. You can see them in your mind’s eye. The story is a good action, comedy, and everything in between mix. It has a good balance of storyline and action, which is rare. The first 50 to 100 pages are slightly bad, but it picks up. For the first out of five books series, it’s memorable, a classic worthy of Oz or The Lord of the Rings. In order to find out more, read the book series. In short, Riordan is a master