Tell the Sun and Stars “Hello” For Me

(A readers’ thoughts about the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan)

Warning: This is not a book/series review. This is just some typical crappy random thoughts.

Almost a decade after its final book was released, I’m probably one of the last people to read Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series. It may be exaggerated to think, but I almost feel like it. For someone like me who’s too lazy to deal with things like comparing a story, more likely when you came across the movie first, it’s really hard to dare venturing yourself to take a long peek at the novel where it was based from. I may just end up preferring to watch the movie or its Netflix series version, praising when its good, and leave it unfinished when it sucks.

However, during the first days of 2018, my boredom gone too far – well, maybe in a helpful way – as it fills up a support for my deep-down thirst for a mythological adventure. Like who would not want to be someone like a hero going on a quest, slaying monsters like the hideous typhon, outsmarting a Greek God like Hypnos who may put you into a deep sleep forever, gaining friends whether it be demi-gods or mythical creatures, and coming home as a victor from a tough and despicable mission. A child-like imagination, yes, I still have it. Fortunately, it is one of the few things that tangles me from being who I was.

But moving on to the series, the book one, “The Lightning Thief” which has been turned into a motion picture years ago and paved the way for me to be introduced to the Camp Half-blood universe, was unbelievably a “hook-able” one with its fun, unique and surprisingly accurate original myths. You might never want to read sites and articles about Greek Mythology because reading the book alone stretches your knowledge about them.

The first book introduced me to Percy Jackson, a twelve-year-old boy who was always getting caught in a crappy situation no matter how hard he tries to escape. In due course, he eventually made it to camp half-blood through the help of the Satyr, Grover Underwood. He learned about his parentage – him, being the son of Poseidon. Yet, what’s worse is he’s being accused by Zeus of stealing his mark of power, the lightning bolt. Hence, this urged Percy to thrust in “hero-dom” to prove his innocence and save the day together with the help of Annabeth Chase, Athena’s daughter.

In here, I actually took notice of the root struggle which will have a great deal in the next books – the Olympian gods, being too distant and negligent with the concerns of some minor gods, demi-gods, and monsters.

The second book, The Sea of Monsters was my favorite of the series. I begin to see the growth of strength in Percy now that he begins to know about the prophecy which was still uncertain if it is meant for him. This book appears more entertaining for me with the appearance of new characters like the Cyclops, Tyson, who was revealed to be a son of Poseidon and half-brother of Percy. This provided me a creep fact that Cyclops are the children of the God of Sea. I admit, it feels weird and gross for me. Like, how did it happen?

The Titan’s Curse was the third book. Unfortunately, this was my least favorite. But in this book, strength and skills of the protagonist were not the only ones that came better off. The maturity of the character, whether it be on decision making and actions to commit, was noticeable. I like how Riordan see to it that his characters will grow as the series goes on. Thus, I came to take a peek of a little background of Atlas whom I just knew to be someone holding the earth. Glad that the author threw it in the course of the plot.

Among all the books, the book four of the series, The Battle of the Labyrinth, was the tensest for me. I held my breath a lot of times upon reading this one. It must be insane, yes, because holding one’s breath usually happens when watching movies. But then, this book gave me some chills from the dumps! Mentioning that most of the setting the characters went through was on an isolated Labyrinth made by Daedalus, the father of the fallen, Icarus.

Furthermore, I love how Riordan battled the idea of the Greek mythology in here as he claimed Daedalus to be the son of Athena instead of Eupalamus.

Finally, the fifth and the last book of the series, The Last Olympian as I would like to admit, the perfect ending for a superb series. The battle scenes and the actions were non-stop. I was flipping the pages wildly as I am dying to know the conclusion of the prophecy. Good thing, it didn’t fail me as the answer to the prophecy was perfect and it fits Percy Jackson’s experiences throughout the series. Thus, I could never wish for a more satisfying ending.

It took me almost four days to read all of these and on the process, I received a lot of rants from my brother for staying always at my room. What else can I do? For readers like me, once your soul was gripped with the solemnity of the story, there’s no turning back. There is only a moving forward to do. Hence, Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series is one of those novels that bring out the childhood within of every adult. It ridiculously makes us believe once again on the Greek Gods and Goddesses that we once dreamt to be. I even remember myself insisting to be Athena, the Goddess of War and Wisdom!