REVIEW: Percy Jackson and The Olympians Series

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief:

I have always been a fan of the movie and when people said the book is better and that I should give it a read, I said maybe but it wasn’t until now that I started thinking maybe I should read it, and I’m so happy that I did. We follow young Percy Jackson at 12 years old as he discovers that he is a demi god. That means he is half mortal half God. Before all that happened though, he lives with his Mom and Stepdad Gabe, during the summer after attending boarding school. He has been kicked out of many schools due to being a bad influence and being unruly. So during his last school year, his pre-algebra teacher turns into a monster and tries to kill him. Well that’s not a normal thing for a kid is it? After that he starts to realize that not everything is at it seems. His dyslexia and ADHD are all due to him being a demi god but he doesn’t find that out until later. Anyway, when he and his mom are away, he finds himself being hunted by monsters and that’s when his friend Grover shows up, turns out he is a cedar. On the way to Camp Halfblood, the camp for Demi Gods, his mom is killed by the minotaur and he finds out that he is wanted by Zeus for stealing the thunderbolt as his father is the greek god Poseidon who is Zeus’ brother. Basically chaos ensues all over this book and it’s just easier for you to read it than for me to carry on writing about it. Overall 4 out of 5 stars.

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters:

In this book, we follow our main character Percy Jackson as he heads into his second year of Camp Half Blood and all the mysteriousness surrounding his parentage and being a demi god in general. We enter the story with Percy ending his school year and then something goes wrong, as usual. And then when he least expects it, one of his friends from camp, Annabeth, arrives and things get even more chaotic. He finds out that the camp borders are being destroyed and have been poisoned. So he must go on another adventure and find the cure but something is in his way. His quest is given to another, Clarisse. He despises Clarisse and Clarisse despises him so there is no way that they would be going on this quest together. Instead, Percy sneaks out the camp with Annabeth to save the camp and Grover who has gone on a mission himself and now has landed himself in sticky water. Now they must journey into the Sea of Monsters to save the camp by getting the Golden Fleece and save Grover with some chaos along the way. I have loved listening to this series so far and can’t wait to see what is next for the gang.

Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse:

In the third book in the series, we join Thalia, Annabeth and Percy as they go on a mission to find some new demi gods and recruit them back to camp half blood in order to protect them against the upcoming war with the Titans and Luke. But in doing so they will uncover many secrets. They meet Grover who has found two half bloods known as Bianca and Nico Di Angelo. But in trying to get them back to camp, monsters appear to try and put obstacles in their way. And worst of all Annabeth goes missing. To help them defeat the monsters, the Hunters and Artemis appear. Percy tells Artemis about the monsters that they have seen, she decides it’s too deadly for her hunters and goes alone. So her hunters return to camp and Bianca takes the pledge to be a hunter. But then Artemis goes missing. They must go on the quest to find Artemis and Annabeth and stop whatever Luke is up to. 4 out of 5 stars.

Percy Jackson and The Battle of the Labyrinth:

Battle of Labyrinth follows Percy as he decides what high school he is going to go to when he is out of

camp. Unfortunately for Percy, chaos follows him everywhere, which means… demonic cheerleaders? Demonic cheerleaders, yes you heard me right. Chaos ensues and he once again heads to camp. When he gets to camp, Annabeth and the rest of the camp mates wonder how Luke is getting around so fast and how he plans to attack camp. It turns out he is using the Labyrinth that was created by Daedalus and it has an entrance at the camp. To stop the Titan Lord Kronos, Luke and their army; they must go into the labyrinth and face the many twists and turns that it provides.

This book was the penultimate book in the series and it definitely provided the action that was needed to ramp up the finale. My favourite part of this was when Calypso was introduced and we found out how tragic her story was. We find out that she is the daughter of the Titan Atlas who blindly followed her father into a war. Because the titans lost the war, they were all given punishments. It just so turns out that hers was that she had to stay on a deserted island, which makes her very lonely. But to be kind to her, the Gods sends one hero to the island but alas the hero can never stay as they are the hero of the story and must finish their quest and mission thus leaving her alone once again. Such a tragic story. Of course Percy is the hero to stumble upon her island and for him Calypso would always be in his heart despite his duties. “They sent Calypso someone she couldn’t help but love. But it worked both ways. For the rest of my life I would be thinking about her. She would always be my biggest what if.”

In addition to this, we finally meet Rachel Elizabeth Dare again whom we met in the Titan’s Curse. When Percy is at his High School Induction day, he realizes she is there as well. Are the fates aligned for her to be his mate? Or how else is she involved? Time will only tell.

Overall 4 out of 5 stars.

Percy Jackson and The Last Olympian:

In this finale, the real war begins. At this point the demigods know that the Titans power them ten times over but still have faith in knowing that the God’s are on their side. But with every God and half-blood that Kronos recruits, he gets stronger and they get weaker. Weaker in numbers and in power. The Gods’ have all been called to battle Typhon leaving Mount Olympus pretty much defenseless apart from some small Gods and Poseidon cannot leave the sea because his palace is under attack also. We find Percy attacking the Princess Andromeda, the ship that we have seen in previous books, in which the Titan Lord and his crew is upon. We find out that Kronos has a spy within the camp and knew that he and Charles Beckendorf were on their way. In the end, Charles ends up dead and Percy awakens in his father’s underwater palace. From there we see Percy and Poisedon talking about the great prophecy and how it is finally time for Percy to hear the whole thing.

A half-blood of the eldest gods

Shall reach sixteen against all odds

And see the world in endless sleep

The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap

A single choice shall end his days

Olympus to preserve or raze

Eventually he meets Nico and entices him to go to visit Luke’s Mum. We find out that she turned crazy and the reason why Luke wanted to run away. He believed that his father never cared for him and his mother but it is quite the opposite. We later find out that May Castellan was able to see through the mist and was fated to be the next oracle. However because of events that had conspired with Hades, he cursed the Oracle. He cursed her because of the death of Maria, Bianca and Nicos’s mother, and having to hide his children from the other God’s otherwise they would be killed. He hides them in the Lotus hotel that was previously mentioned throughout the books. Hades claims that whilst they are in hiding and whilst the great prophecy is in play, The oracle could never pass on to another host and as such caused May Castellan to go crazy when she attempted to become the next oracle of Delphi. We find out this information from Hades after Nico and Percy go to see him, however this is a set up by Nico in exchange for the information surrounding his mother hence why we now know this knowledge. But whilst down in the underworld, Percy goes into the River Styx and takes on the curse of Achilles which practically makes him invincible. We found out that this is also how Kronos can possess Luke’s body.

After a series of attacks from the Titan’s army, Percy realises that the God’s cannot defeat Kronos without Poseidon. He contacts his father via sitting on his throne on Mount Olympus, which almost kills him. He persuades his father to join the fight above the water so Kronos can finally be defeated. We find out who the spy was and it is revealed that Rachel Elizabeth Dare is to be the new oracle of Delphi. In the meantime, Luke is fitting Kronos within his body and after Kronos attacks Annabeth, this is when Luke finally takes back his body and must decide to kill himself in order to save everybody else. He is the only one to know where the Achilles’ curse is on him and must therefore fulfil the prophecy lines ‘the hero’s soul, cursed blade shall reap. A single choice shall end his days. Olympus to preserve or raze’

After defeating Kronos and his army, Percy and his friends were given rewards from the gods. Percy is given the choice to be given immortality and to become a god, which of course he denies and that angers the gods. Instead, he asks for all the God’s to recognise their demigod children by the time they are thirteen and have cabins and thrones made for the minor gods, as this is what caused the war in the first place. A lot of the children of God’s were feeling neglected by their godly parents and as such Kronos preyed on those who felt that way.

As a final book, this was simply stunning. Though at times it was slow because we were waiting for the action to begin, it was needed. The lull was needed to make the action within the novel seem more impactful. I’m so thankful that I am reading these books at this time and not when they were published as now I can go on to the next series and simply enjoy where that journey takes me.