Hello everyone!
It's back to the drawing board with books, although this week my reading section looks like someone blew a tornado through the shelves. I'm honestly reading a couple of books at the same time, jumping back and forth, and I'll be talking about a trilogy of them next week, but for the moment, it's all between Rick Riordan's Heroes of Olympus, a book about Titanic's last night, one about the mutineers of the Bounty, and I'm still slowly going through Conn Iggulden's Trinity.
Yes, I should quite probably try and focus on one book at a time, but I've never been able to do that. I'm all over the place.
Speaking of Rick Riordan, however, I've recently reread his series as I wait for the publication of his new book concerning Norse gods (which will probably be as awesome as the rest of them), and I was reminded just why I prefer the Olympians one more than the Heroes.
To start us off, let's take this picture: Greek gods. You know of them, if you don't know them, you know about Zeus, and Aphrodite, and Hades, and Athena, etc. Now imagine that you take them from Greece, and plunk them down in 21st century America.
Sounds like it might be crazy?
Well, that's just what Riordan did, and in the first five books, we get to learn about children of the gods, demigods (half-human, half-god), who attract all kinds of old Greek monsters, and almost never survive to see adulthood. They (mostly) find their way to Camp Half-Blood with the help of satyrs, where they are safe, and learn how to survive under the tutelage of Chiron (yes, THE Chiron) and Mr. D (Dionysus, the god of wine; it's a punishment from Zeus. Don't ask about it, he might turn you into shrubs!). Sometimes, they go on quests, which could mean bringing back an ancient artefact, or just slaying a monster that's made Walmart her home (no jokes there).
Our main character, from whose POV these stories are told, is Perseus Jackson, mostly called Percy. Percy is the son of Poseidon - and as such, a son of the 'Big Three' (Poseidon, Zeus and Hades), who have sworn back in the day not to have any more demigod children since they're all big issues. It didn't quite work that way seeing as Zeus is a ladies' man, Poseidon can't not look at a pretty skirt, and Hades seems to want to liven up his life a little. Anyway, Percy is the one we connect with the most and who has some really witty lines since he's dyslexic and ADHD at the same time, not to mention ... well, honestly, he's just Percy.
He's aided by Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, a very smart girl with a chip on her shoulder, and Grover Underwood, a satyr, who is searching for Pan. There are also other characters, like the Stroll brothers, sons of Hermes, Luke Castellan, also the son of Hermes, Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares, and so on.
Now, because Percy is a very powerful demigod, this means he attracts monsters like a magnet - and trouble to boot. He's just like that. Even so, he's endearing and someone you'd want to have as a younger brother - or a friend, depending.
In the first book, The Lightning Thief, Percy learns of his heritage and that Zeus has accused Poseidon of stealing his master bolt. Now he wants it back, otherwise Percy dies. So, Percy, Annabeth and Grover trek along to find the thing, meeting a bunch of monsters along the way (Medusa included) and dealing with a matter for Hades and Ares as well, while they're at it. In the end, we learn that Luke was actually the one who stole the bolt, that he's angry with the Olympians, and he's helping raise Kronos from Tartarus (little snippet: Kronos is the father of the Olympian gods, and he ate them after birth so they wouldn't overthrow him)..
The second book, Sea of Monsters, takes us back to the problem of Luke, and the fact that the tree which holds the magical border of the camp is dying. So, they need a quest to get the Golden Fleece to heal it. Also, they need to save Grover from the Cyclops who was tricked by Odysseus back in the day. This quest goes to Clarisse, but Percy and Annabeth go with the blessing of Hermes anyway, seeing as they want their friend back, and they want to try and help Luke. In the process, Percy learns he has a brother, Tyson, who is a Cyclops himself, learns to accept it, and the Golden Fleece revives Thalia, daughter of Zeus, suddenly making a prophecy about one of the children of the Big Three much more dangerous. 
By the third book, the Titan's Curse, you'd think we've seen it all. But, no; we learn Hades has been unfaithful to Persephone, too, and we meet the Di Angelo kids, but in the process lose Annabeth, who is kidnapped, which makes Percy tag along uninvited on a quest led by one of the Hunter's of Artemis (immortal girls who forsake men and hunt with the goddess). They have to save Annabeth from Zoe's father, Atlas (yep, the guy who holds the sky on his shoulders), not to mention try and continue their quest to stop Kronos from rising. They succeed the first, not so much the second, and Thalia joins the Hunters of Artemis.
In The Battle of the Labyrinth, we learn that there's a crazy maze underneath the US which can make you go insane, or swallow you whole, or you can survive it ... barely. Of course, this means our heroes have to go underground, as Grover is also searching for Pan, the God of the Wild, as well, and they need to find Daedalus to try and get his help before Kronos invades camp. They end up getting separated from Grover, and Percy makes a volcano errupt which sends him to Ogygia, where Calypso helps him (and falls in love with him, but that's a different story), before they bring in a mortal friend of his, Rachel Dare, who can see through the mist, to find Daedalus' workshop. Things of course don't end there as the battle at camp begins, with Kronos now inhabiting Luke Castellan's body. The campers win (barely), but know that the biggest fight is still ahead of them.
The Last Olympian, the final book in this series, tells the story of how Percy and his friends defend Mount Olympus (on top of the Empire State Building) from Kronos and his army. They do eventually succeed, although not after some great loss on their side, and not before they pretty much wreck Manhattan while they're at it. The gods offer Percy immortality, but he turns it down and instead wants them t recognize all their children and not leave them to their own fate. Percy and Annabeth also start dating (finally!) with hopes for a bright, peaceful future now that Kronos has been defeated.
Since there's a second series, we know the future wasn't quiet or anything of the sort, but I do recommend reading these books if you're interested in mythology, because they have a fantastic twist to them, and Riordan writes Percy so well it's indescribable!
My favourite would probably have to be the last one, but then, they're all pretty much up there, and I'm sure I'll read them again soon. I'm thinking I need to buy them in paperback instead of having them in e-book version now.
xx
*images not mine
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