Fangirling over Percy Jackson + Mini-Review of Percy Jackson's Greek Gods

In 2012, my friend Joy (yes, there are a lot of us in the planet) introduced me to Percy Jackson. Sure, I've heard about him from other people but I didn't know what I was missing until Joy (confused yet?) convinced me to dig in. She's a true blue Rick Riordan fan and pretty soon, I became part of the club. From the moment I started reading Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, I was hooked. In about a month I finished reading the whole series, including the companion books. And then I went on to read the spin-off series, Heroes of Olympus, just in time to read the 3rd book, The Mark of Athena, which came out in October 2012. When there was nothing to do but wait for The House of Hades (came out October last year), I read Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicles. As if Greek gods weren't enough, I also had to know about Egyptian mythology, which was even more confusing than Greek mythology. I didn't care if Rick Riordan was milking a cash cow -- I just had to read everything he writes.

Percy Jackson is the ultimate male fictional character for me, at least from the fantasy genre. He started off as this dyslexic, confused kid and grew to be this strong, witty, brave, and VERY FUNNY teenaged demigod. I had to emphasize that he's funny, for those who haven't read the books (really, what's your excuse?), because that's my favorite thing about him. In the face of danger, evil spirits, giants, monsters, and crazy Greek and Roman gods, Percy remains absolutely hilarious. And smart, especially when he's with Annabeth and his other demigod friends.

This October, Rick Riordan is slated to release the last book of the Heroes of Olympus series, The Blood of Olympus. Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Leo, Frank, Hazel, and Nico continue their journey to Greece and Rome and face off with Mother Earth herself, Gaea. The waiting is almost over... and I am extremely excited!



While waiting, I got lucky and got an ebook copy of Percy Jackson's Greek Gods. Instead of sharing his and the gang's adventures, Percy tells the story of how the Greek gods came to be. He starts with the primordial gods such as Ouranus, Gaea, and Tartarus, and then the Titans (Kronos, Rhea, Prometheus, Atlas, etc.) and finally the Olympians (Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Hestia, Demeter, Ares, Athena, Aphrodite, Apollo, Hermes, Haphaestus).



After reading about 25% of the book, I saw that there's a free audio book of it on Audible and of course, I downloaded it.

I can't tell you how much I laughed throughout the book.

I already love Percy for his sass, wit, humor, and sarcasm. All of these traits came in handy for this book. I knew that this book was going to be awesome but I was surprised by how good it turned out to be. It was very informative (if you ever need extensive knowledge about the Greek gods and Titans, you should read THIS) and educational. Despite the many ungodly acts that the Olympians managed to pull through (incest, rape, bullying, abortion), the book remained children-friendly because of Percy's humor and sarcasm and his total lack of reverence for the gods, even for his father, Poseidon. Percy injected a lot of reminders (don't do drugs, alcohol is bad for you) and morals, like this one...

“Maybe the lesson is: Know when to brag and when to keep your mouth shut. Or: Sometimes life isn’t fair, even if you are as gifted as Athena. Or maybe: Don’t give away free tapestries.”

… and a lot of unexpected jokes and an absolutely irreverent style of story-telling about Percy's dysfunctional immortal family:

"As for the last brother, Oceanus, he took charge of the outer waters that circled the world. That's how the big expanses of water bordering the earth came to be called oceans. It could have been worse. If Iapetus had taken over the waters, today we'd be talking about the Atlantic Iapet and sailing the iapet blue, and that just doesn't have the same ring to it."

"In the beginning. I wasn't there."

"The king was a guy named Aeetes. (As near as I can figure, that's pronounced "I Eat Tees.") His big claim to fame was that the Golden Fleece -- that magical sheepskin rug I'm related to -- ended up in his kingdom, which made the place immune to disease, invasion, stock market crashes, visits from Justin Bieber, and pretty much any other natural disaster."

"Her sacred animals were the owl and the snake. Supposedly, the owl was a symbol f wisdom from the heavens. The snake symbolized wisdom from the earth. Me, I never understood that. If owls were so wise, why would they go around asking Who? all the time, like they couldn't remember their own names?"

My favorite part is the story of how Hermes stole Apollo's cows. It was mentioned a few times on the other books but this book tells the whole story behind it.

I alternated between reading the book and listening to the audio book, and a few times I read while I listened. I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would because I read faster than the narrator, Jesse Bernstein. Jesse sounded well -- I could totally picture Percy while listening to him. But in my mind, it was all Logan Lerman. Teehee!



Anyway, praises to Rick Riordan for coming out with another masterpiece. I can't imagine how much time and research went into creating this book. Man, you're awesome.

I urge you all to read this book. If you haven't read any of the Percy Jackson books, that's still okay. You can start with this. Or read The Lightning Thief first, because you have to know Percy first. Whichever you decide to read first, I am 100% sure that you're going to enjoy it!

Now, excuse me while I look for more Logan Lerman GIFs as I wait for The Blood of Olympus.

[caption id="attachment_383" align="aligncenter" width="138"] Loved it to bits and pieces![/caption]

---

As a reader and reviewer, I aim to write fair and honest reviews, both on this site and on Goodreads. Please read my Review Policy here.