Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

What can be better than one book set in the world of mythology that enters the modern reality? Five of them! A whole series dedicated to our lovely pal and his adventures through the ancient Greek myths. Percy Jackson and the Olympians is a pentalogy of fantasy books. All of them were created by Rick Riordan, an American writer fairly recently – during the period between 2005 and 2009. Riordan was telling stories to his son who was just studying the Greek myths in the school and the kid requested the myths to be incorporated with the new characters when there were no more myths to tell about. This gave birth to The Lightning Thief, the first book of super successful pentalogy. Riordan proves that the history and mythology are not only meant for labs and classes. It can be a strong source of inspiration and become extremely popular among the youth. When the history is interpreted to fit the younger generations, a great product appears and is still adored by millions. The series is divided into five books, each incorporating various myths into the story, changing the setting to the modern time. From the first book, we meet a young teenager named Percy.We need to get used to the guy as we will follow his story through the whole series. The boy grew without a father. His mom never really elaborated about the true identity of the man. When he and his mother are at the camp trip, they are attacked by the minotaur, and after some other incidents, they end up in the Camp Half-Blood. The place is a camp and a place for training for the demigods. It is revealed that Poseidon, the god of the seas happens to be the protagonist’s dad. The boy is accused of stealing the Zeus’ Lighting bolt which is by far the strongest weapon in the world. Percy, however, knows nothing about the theft and thinks it is Hades who actually committed the crime. This is the beginning of the ride for the main character and us, the faithful readers. The story leads to many plot twists and sudden changes with the new villains entering the stage. However, just the story about Zeus and Kronos will not be the end for the franchise. Next installments, released right after the success of the first book bring in more characters and more myths to work with. We will witness the quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece and see the characters evade the Great Prophecy. Huge mythological figures like Artemis, Prometheus and Achilles will influence the narrative, and the setting would go as far as the Labyrinth and Olympus. The huge scale has accumulated a large number of fans over the years, and two books were already adapted into the film versions that grossed hundreds of millions of dollars. The cast included personalities like Sean Bean, Alexandra Daddario, and Logan Lerman. The Camp Half-Blood Chronicles is a franchise that Riordan has created for his world. It includes three series with 13 books in total and a number of supporting short stories and graphic novels. Riordan’s imaginary world lives and breathes. It keeps expanding the base of people who have read the books and was fascinated by its scale and the simple narration that does not get boring over time. It can be compared to the Harry Potter universe and The Song of Ice and Fire world judging by how well it functions and how many people are waiting for the next installment. High critic reviews only add to the status of the series with many books earning the titles of bestsellers, letting the author go from rags to riches in a few short years. You never know where the myths will take you, right?