Representation: Main character with dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, major character with dyslexia
Trigger warnings: Car crash, storms, disappearance of a mother and child, blood depiction, bullying, child neglect, ableism, war themes, nightmares, explosions, hallucinations, near death experiences

Update: 7/10, I've been wanting to read this for a while and I'm so glad I finally did, this was such an interesting and original concept that was executed well and this still holds up more than a decade after it was published, where do I even begin. It starts off with the main character Percy Jackson and already his childhood is quite different from others I've seen and this plays a critical role later on. He explains that he was expelled multiple times because of some anomalous events that happened and he said he had ADHD and dyslexia but one time his algebra teacher attacked him but then he vaporised her to dust and I knew something was different with Percy. After a brief car chase he was sent away to some mysterious place with more people I didn't know yet and it was called Camp Half Blood and it was such a unique setting and I met some major characters known as Annabeth Chase or Annabeth for short and Grover Underwood or Grover for short and I liked them all. Percy experiences what it's like to be at Camp Half Blood until he was sent out on a quest because apparently some gods were having a disagreement over a stolen lightning weapon and the blame fell on Percy, I don't think he actually stole it rather he was framed so he spends most of the book alongside his friends trying to find it before the end of the summer solstice. That part was kind of trippy to say the least with a chase on a zoo truck, travelling to a waterbed store, going to a waterpark in the middle of nowhere, going to a hotel where he could've gotten stuck forever and going to the underworld under the ocean, how crazy is that yet somehow the author pulled it off. In the end Percy prevents a big war from happening but not before a plot twist happens where Luke was the real thief, a dramatic event happens which set things up for the next few books in the series and ends this one on a high note. Did I mention Percy was the son of Poseidon, there's that I guess, it also explains why he can breathe underwater. ( )

READING LEVEL: 4.7 AR POINTS: 13
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What a great way to learn a little Greek mythology in an adventure fantasy novel. This was required reading for my youngest daughter in AP Reading when she was in 6th or 7th grade. She gave it 5 stars and remembers loving it. I even enjoyed this story, and I'm 57 years old. ( )

I don’t know if I’m being inconsistent, because this reminds me of Harry Potter, but I think this is more children’s lit rather than teen lit, which is what I call Potter. I mean, the Potter books are pop teen lit, don’t get me wrong, but if you’re reading a book that’s like 700 pages or whatever by the end, and you’re not a teenager yet, then you must not be the 49th percentile person, right. But the Percy books are shorter, and this first book that I borrowed is actually illustrated, so I think that put me over the edge. (Not that there’s anything wrong or different about children’s lit, and it’s actually a very pretty book; I would almost buy the undoubtedly relatively expensive illustrated edition just to keep if it’s still in print by the time I have unlimited book buying money again, you know.) It is kinda meant as a popularization of something, both of Potter, arguably (again, just a lot of attention span required to actually get through the whole series), and certainly the Greek stuff, obviously. I mean, a hundred or two hundred years ago, some unpleasant schoolmaster would have growled to you about the Greek stuff, maybe in the Greek language, right; in this book we have kinda the American Hermes, you know. (God, I love Hermes. He my friend, Mommy! He love me!) And it’s certainly the classic hero background and identifiably has that plus the two kinda neighboring backgrounds (white chick/Black boy), but I don’t know, it’s cute, and it’s actually a little bit better than HP, about that, and even if cuteness is nefariousness—it’s want I wanna be. (lollipop) And mommy I also want a pony. How long until I get my pony mommy…. Ooo (looks at car) Or a BMW. How long until a BMW mommy. And how long until they fly?

Okay. ✅

[Edit: Just kidding. It has to go in mythology; it’s a mythology novel. Duh! 🙄 hahaha 😛]

…. It actually seems to have quite a lot about mental conditions and disabilities, you know. I shouldn’t compare—HP has been around so long, that if Jo had invented the very name “Harry”, nobody would know—but it is surprising, that is, surprisingly good, you know.

…. I know I’m getting compare-y—and it is kinda stupid to compare anything to The Best Selling Book Series of All Time, because it’ll always be better or worse, right—but I like Percy-Grover better than Harry-Ron, and not just because of the background issue. Grover has a role, you know, and Ron just doesn’t have a sharply defined place, which I guess is why in several important places the trip narrows to Harry-Hermione (many of the important HP characters are Jo ciphers, and I don’t think you can say that about Ron). On the other hand, Neville is a great character in HP, like the fourth member of the trio. I don’t expect to find somebody like him here; he was unique, perhaps.

…. (Percy on his codependent mom) “how the nicest people have the worst luck”

Or how the people who take the worst care of themselves/neglect themselves, are put forth as the examples that everyone should follow, right. Almost like society itself is being selfish, and in an irrational way—because it thinks there isn’t enough to go around. “There isn’t enough to go around, so you give me yours, and then go sit in the corner and go without. (Wow, she actually did it.) Okay, good girl. Here, have a treat—just kidding.”

…. I know that Homer is very flowery in his negativity, and that you maybe can’t compare them in certain ways, and that you shouldn’t try to compare things, right, but…. Rick is more fun than the Original Homeboy, lol.

…. Ah, so the “Dudley/Draco” characters are girls, and the “Hermione” character is much more boss, you know. (chuckles) I mean, I hate to throw Hermione under the bus, but she’s nobody’s boss, the way that Annabeth can be, you know….

And yes, if Hermes were one of the four evangelists (a useful source of more common, known-to-Americans names), he would defs be Luke….

…. And I think it’s fun how Rick developed the stories—like with Athena’s daughter, right. In the old days, it was like, for the most part, if you were a chick, you either slept with everyone, or you slept with no one—unless maybe if you were THE wife, the strict Classic wife. Like, they were different types, obviously, but there was no movement or anything; there were walls. There were rules. There were Stupid Rules That You Will Not Break, you know.

(shrugs) But it was a seed. It was the seed of an immortal cartoon….

And now if I could just find a really great men’s hair style book, right—Hermes would smile on me….

…. (shrugs) I’d prefer the gods as symbols of humanity or consciousness, rather than as symbols of ‘the West’—that sort of loyalty (I’ve been very loyal in my life, but I guess that, eventually!, no one sees through it quite like a Six, bound to it for so long), is really the same as clinging to the Cross like a sailor to flotsam in a storm, so that in the end, you’re glad that there was a storm (and not a banquet) so that there was an “old rugged Cross” to get tossed about with on the thankfully endless sea of troubles, right—which is almost quite noble (I suppose that most people don’t get that far, to a lot of people all things are more or less equally wicked and painful, in the end), but it just ends up being religion for religion’s sake, you know. Loyalty, because, “that’s who we are”.

That’s more than I was going to write at first, lol. And I mean, it is kinda cool to bring together America and Greece—the gold coins with the old gods on one side and the Empire State Building on the other, and Hades is somewhere below LA, that’s classic, you know. (Although LA is classic lol; it’s always here for us….)

And Annabeth and Clarisse are such great characters; they’re so much better than just Hermione and nobody else, you know….

…. Oh, that’s what I forgot: and I do buy the whole extraordinary children thing. If there are gods and wise men, there are extraordinary children, too. Everything good, really, is a collaboration between the adult in us and the child in us.

…. That being said, it is kinda hilarious how in every chapter there’s like a Giant Tooth that wants to eat you, right, and the illustrations are quite literal and lame, you know—look! This tooth is Huge! 🦷 lol There is a little decent work on childhood trauma (eg Annabeth’s father), but the “good” parts are kinda an aside, you know. Mostly it’s just, Harry Potter and the Giant Tooth, right. 🎃😸 I hate to be negative, but it does make you respect Jo more. Despite (because of?) the length, she can resist the childhood urge to play a real big game, you know, and HP & Whatever actually tends to play a rather subtle, Dickens-y sort of game, you know. (Does anything ever really ever happen in those long books that Charles wrote?) Rick is more middle-of-the-road in the child’s-action-adventure-to-small-game spectrum, which is to say, he plays a pretty “big” game, you know. 🦖 🦷

…. I guess you can’t really have an adventure story without seeing the Shadow Self everywhere, and believing that wealth is like the god of the atheists—the illusion responsible for all evil.

(shrugs) Like I said, it’s hard to write an adventure story without thinking that.

…. But it’s cool.

It’s like, That was cool, you know.

…. Parts of it are very satisfying and well-done; other parts, I don’t know.

In the end, it’s not a—to use this word in a personal way, an Aquarian story, you know.

(shrugs) But I guess it’s still not as pompous as most translations of Greek books, you know. It’s entertaining.

Fun light listen in among the serious stuff! ( )

Rick Riordan is a comical genius whose books I adore! I decided to read this book after seeing the Percy Jackson movie and being told by a friend of mine how unlike the novel is was. So I picked up the book and began reading it. And of course, my friend was right. While the movie was indeed amazing, the novel was even better!

Percy Jackson, Annabeth and Grover are three lovable characters with interesting quirks and flaws. Following them on their journey was a pleasure that kept me hooked at all times. There wasn't much wrong with this novel (other than I wish it was centered more in the YA universe so it could deal with other problems, but that's not an issue more than it is a wish of mine).

The book has amazing twists and turns, as well as good action sequences and character development. I can't wait to continue reading this author's work! Amazing!

Five out of five stars! I'm addicted to this series now! ( )