The movie The Lightning Thief, has excellent special effects (Hades in the fire and looking like an old rock musician is well done) and tells the story of Percy Jackson, half human, half Olympian God. Several easily recognized actors play Olympian roles (Uma Thurman is enjoyable as Medusa, Pierce Brosnan with a half-horse body at Chiron, Sean Bean (Boromir from Lord of the Rings and Odysseus in Try) plays Zeus), and, except for the likeness of Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) to my son’s friend Ryan and a few occasions of wooden acting, the kid’s parts (Percy, Annabeth, Grover) were well cast.
As with most, we noted several major differences in the movie versus Rick Riordan’s first novel in the Percy Jackson series. Since the movie was already two hours, one would assume they were cut for time. But there were also pieces that were left out that are needed if the next book in the series is turned into a movie. Slight spoilers below if you haven’t read the book: (more…)
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The Last Olympian is a well written ending to an excellent series, with the 
promise of more to come. The prophesized battle between the Olympic Gods and the Titans starts in the first chapter, and proceeds with all haste through all 381 pages. Though marketed as “Young Adult” fare, this series is entertaining and enjoyable to read no matter your age.
The action starts immediately, with Percy and another half-blood (one parent mortal, the other an Olympic God) setting off to blow up the cruise ship commandeered by the Titan Kronos, who has possessed the body of Luke, half-blood son of Hermes. Percy is still trying, as all teenage boys do, to figure out girls, namely Rachael Dare, a mortal who can see things that mortals aren’t supposed to see, and Annabeth, half-blood daughter of Athena. The cruise ship is blown up, but the other half-blood is killed, and Percy is saved by allies of his father Poseidon. Poseidon is fighting the Titan Oceanus (underwater, of course) but tells Percy it is time for him to hear the prophecy. (more…)
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Though I’d rather see Uma Thurman as Artemis, where she could employ her Kill Bill martial arts skills, this looks like an excellent cast.
Featuring Uma Thurman as Medusa and Pierce Brosnan as Chiron, Fox2000 has announced the actors playing the Olympic Gods in the forthcoming movie adaptation of The Lightning Thief, the first book in the PercyJackson and the Olympians series.
More details here.
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While waiting for Riordan’s next Percy Jackson novel The Last Olympian, readers can get their Percy fix with this collection of short stories and 
interviews. While short (133 pages excluding pictures, puzzles and a Last Olympian preview), the collection (called ‘auxiliary book’ on Mr. Riordan’s blog) features three short stories and five ‘interviews’ with some of Camp Half-Blood’s most famous campers.
The three short stories:
- Percy Jackson and the Stolen Chariot - Percy helps Clarisse, when her half brothers, the demigods Phobos (fear) and Deimos (terror) take Ares chariot, which he had entrusted to Clarisse.
- Percy Jackson and the Bronze Dragon - Beckendorf, from the Hephaestus house, and Percy are on the same side in a Camp Half-Blood capture-the-flag game. Beckendorf sees giant ants hauling off a bronze dragon head, made by Hephaestus house long ago to protect the Camp, and charges. Percy gets captured by Annabeth and Silena, who are on the other side of the game, allowing Beckendorf to get dragged into the giant ant hill. Annabeth, Percy and Silena (who has a thing for Beckendorf) decide to put the bronze dragon back together so they can resue Beckendorf. More Percy and Annabeth clumsy courtship in this story.
- Percy Jackson and the Sword of Hades - this is the longest of the three short stories, and it appears that it will be released on its own in the UK. Percy is reunited with Thalia and Nico, and the offspring of Poseidon, Zeus and Hades go on a quest to recover Hades stolen sword. The sword has one of Hades’ keys in the handle, which would allow the bearer to resurrect the dead from the Underworld…even Titans from Tarturus.
For the kids, there are puzzles at the end, and short interviews with the characters, plus pictures of the gods and half-bloods. An intro chapter from The Last Olympian is included, showing the Percy is going to get into trouble not only with Titans but with girls (Rachael and Annabeth).
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Of the three main young adult series I have read (Twilight and Potter being the other two), Riordan’s is faster paced, funnier and brings out more history/mythology than the other two. Very enjoyable and highly recommended to adults and kids alike. As with the other two series, the Percy Jackson series should be read in order. (Lightning Thief, Sea of Monsters, Titan’s Curse)
With Thalia (daughter of Zeus) joining Artemis and the Hunters at the end of book #3, 
Percy (son of Poseidon) has a new concern with the discovery at the end of book #3 that Nico is the son of Hades. Though he was apparently born before the agreement between the ‘big three’ (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades) to have no more offspring, he and his now dead sister Bianca’s past is vague and unknown to them.
The campers/heroes of Camp Half-Blood know that Kronos’ army (led by Luke, son of Hermes and ex-camper) will attack, probably through the Labyrinth, created thousands of years ago by Daedalus. During a camp game of capture the flag, Percy and Annabeth stumble upon an unknown entrance to the Labyrinth that is inside the Camp’s protective barrier. Since Annabeth, as a daughter of Athena, has studied the architecture and the architect, she is chosen by the Oracle to lead the quest to find Daedalus and enlist his aid against the impending invasion. (more…)
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In this third book in the series, Thalia, daughter of Zeus, brought back to health by the 
Golden Fleece (her essence was put into a tree after she saved Luke and Annabeth, two other half-bloods, battling monsters getting to Camp Half-Blood), is the latest complication in Percy’s life. A prophecy says that a son or daughter of one of the big three (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades) could bring down Olympus on their 16th birthday. With Thalia back on the scene, either she or Percy (son of Poseidon) could fulfill that destiny.
With the battle with the Titans looming, the search for allies and more heroes expands. Grover (the satyr) finds two half-bloods, Nico and Bianca di Angelo, at a school, being stalked by a monster. Percy, Annabeth and Thalia launch a rescue, and are then themselves rescued by the goddess Artemis and her Hunters. During this final battle, Annabeth is apparently killed by the monster they were fighting, and the goddess Artemis goes hunting one of the monsters (as she is the goddess of the hunt) and is also lost. (more…)
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In this second of the series, Percy Jackson (son of Poseidon and a mortal mother) continues
to learn what it means to be a half-blood, and finds that the Titans, whom the Greek Gods overthrew thousands of years ago, are awakening to take back Olympus.
Percy and Annabeth (daughter of Athena) must rescue their friend Grover (the satyr) from a large cyclops on the Sea of Monsters (which just happens to be in the Bermuda Triangle). Grover was searching for the god Pan, but instead found the Golden Fleece, which makes the land healthy just like Pan would. Camp Half-Blood (where all the half-blood’s go in the summer to be trained and educated in the ways of heroes and gods) selects Clarisse, daughter of Ares, to lead the quest to get the Golden Fleece, in hopes that it will restore to health the magical tree that protects the borders of the Camp; the tree was poisoned by Luke, a half-blood who now supports Kronos of the Titans. The tree was created out of the essence of Thalia, daughter of Zeus, who was killed trying to reach the camp. (more…)
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Book one in the Percy Jackson series
Writing for both the adult and young adult (YA) successfully is difficult, though many authors are trying to cross that gap these days. Stephenie Meyer of the Twilight series tried to move to adult fiction with The Host, which was close to a Stargate clone and not very satisfying; Ms. Rowling of Harry Potter fame is trying to do it with The Tales of Beetle the Bard (the book is not yet out, so the the jury is still out).
But the best ‘cross-over artist’ I’ve come across so far is Rick Riordan, whose Percy Jackson YA books are just as entertaining as his adult Tres Navarre series. The fact that he is a Texas author and hails from my home town of San Antonio makes the gloating that much better. (more…)
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Big Red Tequila is the first in a series of Tres Navarre novels,
a semi-private investigator set in my home town of San Antonio. I’ve always enjoyed novels set in locations where I’ve been, describing locations I know. But this is the first I’ve read set in San Antonio that describes the places and characters so well. I will definitely be reading more in this series (and have already ordered Widower’s Two Step, the next book in the series), and recommend it to my San Antonion friends and all who enjoy a good private eye mystery…I read it through it two sittings.
Tres Navarre’s father was Bexar County Sheriff (the county San Antonio is in, for you non-Texans), and was gunned down in front of Tres. Tres returns to SA from ten years of exile at the request of his former girlfriend Lillian, leaving behind his Taichi teacher, private eye partner and lover, Maia, in San Francisco. Starting to dig up the past rapidly gets Tres in trouble with the SAPD, the mob, city councilmen, businessmen, old and new lovers. (more…)
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