Series Review: Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

Synopsis from Goodreads

Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school... again. And that's the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he's angered a few of them. Zeus' master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.

Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus' stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

  

#1 The Lightning Thief
#2 The Sea of Monsters
#3 The Titan's Curse
# 4 The Battle of the Labyrinth
# 5 The Last Olympian

My thoughts

 

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is one of the many favourite series of my childhood – and with reason. I wanted to re-read these five fantasy books inspired by Ancient Greek mythology so that I could experience Percy and his friends’ fantastic adventures again, and I wasn’t at all let down or left feeling like I’d outgrown the series. The very opposite – Percy Jackson has now definitely got an eternal place in my heart and I will eagerly recommend his stories to young and young adult readers alike when they are searching for an exciting and hilarious take on ancient tales.

 

Riordan is a talented story-teller – each of the Percy Jackson books has a plot of its own, but they link together into a greater story arc. The writing zigzags expertly between heart-racing, action-packed fighting sequences and bursts of witty humour – such as chapter titles that I guarantee will make even the most serious reader’s facial muscles twitch and brain whir in anticipation. Examples of these are Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants, We Meet the Dragon of Eternal Bad Breath and I Put on a Few Million Extra Pounds.

Of course, a series can hardly become one of my fond favourites if it doesn’t have a lovable and memorable cast of characters. Percy, Grover, Annabeth, Chiron, Tyson, the gods and everyone else are all amazing. I mean, of course I don’t like everyone’s personality (I’d have to be pretty insane to agree with some of the bad guys’ ideas) but as characters, I think they work well in the story and are all fascinating individuals.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is also fantastic because it has one of the most epic final battles I have read – simultaneously tense, thrilling, sad and funny. Not many authors can handle a combination like that, but Riordan succeeds.

To round this off, I’d like to share some of my favourite funny quotes from the series!

                                                                   

                “How did you die?"
                "We er....drowned in a bathtub."
                "All three of you?"
                "It was a big bathtub.”

                                                -The Lightning Thief

 

                                                ***

 

                “There will be deaths,” Chiron decided. “That much we know.”

                “Oh, goody!” Dionysus said.

                Everyone looked at him. He glanced up innocently from the pages of Wine            Connoisseur magazine. “Ah, pinot noir is making a comeback. Don’t mind me.”

                                                -The Curse of the Titans

 

                                                ***

 

                “He looks like a magician. I hate magicians. They usually have rabbits.”

                I stared at him. “You’re scared of bunnies?”

                “Blah-hah-hah! They’re big bullies. Always stealing celery from defenceless satyrs!”

                                                -The Last Olympian

 

 

5/5 A hilarious fantasy series full of action-packed adventures!

 

-Eve