Percy Jackson: Film Review

Last night I saw the Percy Jackson movie and very much enjoyed it. It did leave a few things out that I wish had been left in. But, overall, I felt it stayed true to the spirit of the book, and that's always the most important thing to me in movie adaptations.

In the first book Percy finds out he is the son of Poseidon and accused of stealing lighting from Zeus. Percy must find the real thief before war breaks out among the gods.

The movie follows this basic storyline. The first Percy Jackson book is very campy with a lot of pop-culture. Since this is usually how I feel Hollywood ruins books, I didn't have to worry about it with Percy. They actually made the gods slightly more serious than they are in the actual book. But I suppose they felt the need to give them a certain amount of gravitas, so this didn't really bother me. And there was plenty of campy adventure and action to enjoy.

I was both happy and sad to see that this movie is clearly self-contained. They dropped all the running storylines from the series. I feel this means they probably don't expect to make the money to do a sequel which makes me sad. If they really can't do another one, I would prefer this one be self-contained. But I plead with you all to see the film so that they do make another!

I give The Lightning Thief: 8 / 10 stars! * * * * * * * *

Oh, and in completely unrelated news: Happy Year of the Tiger!

Now beware the spoilers all ye who read below!

The Good:

Grover: I didn't think he would match the Grover I had imagined, but the actor did an excellent job. They honestly even made Grover more satyr-like than he is in the book since he was more interested in flirting with women. They didn't overdo it, and Grover's more charming personality traits are more prevalent, but I think a healthy interest in females is actually more accurate to the satyrs of Greek myth.

The Minotaur: Ack! That thing scared me! I'm almost never scared of monsters in movies so that's pretty good.

The fast pace: You do not have time to get bored.

The chemistry of the actors: I think the kid who played Grover was actually the best actor, but together they made a believable team of friends.

The Lotus Hotel: This was a pretty spot-on representation and probably the best use of Lady Gaga's Poker Face song.

Persephone: She actually gets pretty shafted in the books, but I liked their portrayal of her in the movie. Once again, even though she's not the same as in the books, it was in impovement to flesh her out.

The humor: Even jokes they added were very similar to the jokes in the books and very in keeping with the characters. My favorite added joke was probably Grover complaining about Medusa's head in the sink of their hotel. I was also pleased that they kept the part from the book where Smelly Gabe gets his comeuppance...

The Not-so-good:

No Dionysos: My favorite god in general and he plays an excellent role in the books as their unsupportive camp counselor. I do understand where they probably didn't have time in the movie. But, alas. I would have happily watched another hour if they'd added Dionysos.

Luke's depth: The actor who played Luke was good, and I felt his portrayal was accurate. But I felt they lost a lot of character conflict by making Annabeth indifferent to Luke. His betrayal in the end has less punch.

Hades as a baddie: I rather like the fact that Hades isn't necessarily bad in the books (at least, not any more than the rest of the gods). But I get that they had to drop Cronos for time (and probably special effects) reasons. Having Luke as the primary lightning thief was also fine. Like I said, I just would have preferred he have a bit more of a relationship with Annabeth.

Stupid lady: Medusa sorta explained it, but why is it people in movies always do stupid things. Like look at the gorgon even when they know what will happen?!

But you'll notice that the things I liked is a longer list than the ones I didn't! And all the things that made me sad could be fixed if they would make another film! Sigh...but with the economy being what it is, I don't have high hopes.

Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian: Book Review

In this last chapter of the Percy Jackson Olympian saga, the heroes of Camp Half-Blood make their final stand against the Titan Kronos and his armies to decide the fate of Olympus and the world. Faced with a fatal prophecy, sacrifice, and betryal, Percy is forced to question what truly makes a hero and whether Olympus is truly worth protection.

One word describes this book: Epic.

When I read this final book of the Percy Jackson series I felt most like I was reading a Greek epic poem updated for modern times. It still had the humor and camp of the rest of the series that I've enjoyed, but it's easily the darkest of all. The entire book is basically one huge battle scene. Normally that would be a bad thing for me, and I still felt like I had to catch my breath from time to time, but I do feel this book was amazingly well done.

I LOVED the identity of the Last Olympian referred to in the title. I never would have guessed who it was, but it was PERFECT. Admittedly, I was skeptical at first, but it gave the book a beautiful depth and meaning. It is the Last Olympian who helps Percy see what's worth fighting for.

I was also satisfied with the resolution of the romance and the ending as a whole.

BOOK CLUB

This is the section where I'll discuss the details of the book as if I were in a book club. Great if you've read the book, but if you haven't, beware the spoilers and zombie soldiers.

What I really like is how Riordan doesn't pull his punches. This book really dealt with death and war in a realistic way. Even when he killed secondary characters I got choked up every time, which both shows his skill in building up the characters and in making you care about a character who's not the main character. For example, both Beckendorf and Silena's deaths choked me up and I don't usually get choked up over characters I don't know all that well. But Riordan managed to make the circumstances so tragic. When Beckendorf sacrificed himself to destroy Kronos's ship and when Silena turned out to be the repentant spy I almost cried. I definitely got a lump in my throat when Percy declared Silena a hero in spite of how she had betrayed them. It also wasn't like a forced forgiveness like I've always felt the forgiveness of Edmund in the Chronicles of Narnia was. I truly believed that Percy was right; Silena did believe she was doing the right thing, and she sacrificed her life in an attempt to set things right. It beautifully mirrored what happened to Luke at the end.

I was also very happy that Percy and Annabeth ended up together. The kissing underwater definitely a great romantic use of Percy's powers. It was a little convenient that Rachel ended up the oracle and therefore couldn't be with Percy. But it was still good.

While I was glad the series had a definite ending, I was happy to see the new prophecy. I've watched interviews with Riordan where he promises that the first Olympian series is done, but there will be a new series, and I'm looking forward to it because I was glad that I'll be able to see how the changes in Camp Half-Blood will take effect. I was so excited that they finally bult cabins to all the gods. It changes things so much.

But by far my favorite part of this book was Hestia. Riordan read my mind again. Not only have I always wanted a story with hippalektryon, but I've always loved the goddess Hestia. Most people would think that's strange because she so rarely features in mythology at all and she's the goddess of the hearth. Hardly exciting. But I loved her because of those things. Hestia represents home and family, both things I love, and she is not renowned for cruelty like the other gods often are. She's also a mystery. Since she doesn't get in the same scrapes as the other gods, she's rarely talked about.

Hestia was the perfect last Olympian. At first, even with as much as I loved her, I thought it strange that Riordan didn't choose a more grandiose god to be the last Olympian. But in the end it was elegant and perfect. Hestia would be the only one who would never leave the hearth of Olympus. And she was the perfect goddess to guard hope for Percy since protecting home and family were at the center of Percy's hopes, and those are what he was driven to protect in the end.

Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth: Book Review

So I wanted to do a video review of this book but who knows when I'll actually get around to that so here goes:

The story continues with our intrepid hero Percy being kicked out of yet another school when he's attacked by mythological monsters in the guise of homicidal cheerleaders. But upon returning to Camp Half-Blood his best friend Grover is in danger of losing his life-long dream to find the wild god Pan, and his equally best friend, Annabeth, is pegged for an almost certainly lethal quest: finding the heart of the Labyrinth. To help them both Percy must use all his skills and wits to stay alive in the not-so-mythical deadly maze.

This is the BEST Percy Jackson book I've read so far. Depending on the fifth book, it may be my favorite. The other Percy Jackson books I have certainly enjoyed, but there's something about the style of writing and pop culture references that made it seem very much a flash in the pan type of book and not sustainable over the years. This one, however, surpasses the campy fun of the first three and qualifies, in my opinion, as seriously well-written children's fiction.

The reason I feel is while Riordan still had amusing modernizations of the myths (such as homicidal cheerleaders) he seemed to take them more seriously. There's a reason Greek myths have endured this long and it's always best when writers use that to their advantage. There was far more psychological depth to the characters and their motivations, and I think he was more effectively balancing the humor with the serious. But at the same time it was still an exciting and stirring adventure.

And now for spoilers and horse chickens!

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I was afraid this book would actually be my least favorite because of the love triangle with Percy, Annabeth, and Rachel. I usually hate love triangles (despite having one in my own novel...) Plus, I was originally really dubious of Rachel's character. I didn't like that she introduces herself as Rachel Elizabeth Dare (who does that?!) and they often refer to her by that full name. Plus, in the audio version of The Titan's Curse, her voice was REALLY irritating. But I read this book which I think did a lot to help her character grow on me since her voice was far less irritating in my head. Plus, I firmly believe she turned out to be a good character in the end.

But I'm still a firm Percy/Annabeth shipper.

I was worried about Annabeth's jealousy, but it wasn't too bad because even Annabeth seemed to realize at points that she was being unreasonable and tried to be friendly. That's all I really ask of a person. The other reason I hate love triangles is they often turn good characters into bad ones. I just find it irritating when girls are portrayed (or are in real life) uniformaly jealous and how that often overshadows every other aspect of their personality. But a little jealousy, as long as it's acknowledged and the person does make an effort to fight it, is a perfectly understandable human flaw.

Aside from the romance aspect, I also really enjoyed how Riordan seemed to feel he could finally try to say something important with his fiction. I thought the Sphinx in this book was a great satire on this country's test-obsessed school system "How will I be exceptional without my test scores?!" A little obvious, but still pure gold in my opinion. I had to smile.

The environmental message of the ranch they visited felt a bit heavy-handed to me, but I won't quarrel with the truth of it. I still also LOVED that he had hippalektryons! Horse chickens! Ever since I read as a child that these creatures were only ever found on Greek pottery but never in any stories, I desperately wanted to write a story with them in it. But it never fit into any of my own fiction. So, YAY! Thank you Riordan! You've brought the hippalektryon back to life.

Plus, I thought Pan's death was a very well-done and moving environmental message that we cannot wait for a god to come and fix this.

I also thought that Quintus was Icarus, but for the first time in a Riordan mystery, I was WRONG! Very refreshing. It still wasn't exactly Agatha Christie, but he managed to fake me out.

On a random note, the imagery of when Percy erupts the volcano with the power of his water pressure is amazingly beautiful, and I wish I could draw a picture of how I see it in my head.

So, yeah, if you've been naughty and read the spoilers without reading the book, then I still recommend you read it.

Too many books...

Okay, there can ever really be too many books, but when I read for pleasure, I like to read one book at a time. Sometimes I read quickly and sometimes slowly. It depends on how I feel about the story and not the difficulty. I hate feeling like I have to rush through anything. But I seem to have bitten off more than I can chew and they're all a bit time sensitive. Currently, I'm trying to read:

Because I heard Hank Green review it ages ago and heard good things about it from a friend of mine. Patricia C. Wrede is also a fond and nostalgic memory from my childhood because of Dealing with Dragons. I've actually started this book and quite like it. You can't argue with the elegance of and Austen-esque style. At first the mentions of magic bugged me since they seem out of place, and I'm still not sure how I'll feel about it. A lot of the names: Elizabeth, Charlotte, Fitzwilliam, and Georgina (not exactly like Georgiana but remarkably close), are also stolen striaght from Pride and Prejudice which also threw me off a little at first. At first, I wasn't sure if they meant the same characters or not, though now I'm pretty certain they don't. But I'll withhold judgment on those things until I get a little farther. Anyway, given a choice, I'd probably just continue with this book but there are two others I really need to finish soon as well. Still, this one is also on hold for someone else, so it's due back the 18th.

I've been trying to read the fourth Percy Jackson for months and already got side-tracked by Nation and had to return this to the library (or have my kind sister do it since I was out of town) and check it out all over again. I was listening to the audio but one of the character's voices really annoyed me and she's already an annoying character so I decided to switch to text. I still have a sneaking suspicion it won't be my favorite Percy Jackson book, but I still want to find out what happens. It's due back to the library on the 24th and I also can't renew it.

This book is for the book club I signed up for. I like mystery, but I haven't read any straight mystery for a long time, and this isn't the kind of thing I'd usually choose on my own. Of course, I haven't really started it yet. I'll try to just think of it like a CSI episode. I hope to one day write some mystery stories, so it'll be good to study the genre. But you'll notice this is the only adult book on the list. I read a lot of adult fantasy and sci-fi, sure, but I often have trouble with adult books in other genres. I always feel like they take themselves too seriously. All the same, I have to finish this the soonest since the book club's on the 16th.

The Titan's Curse: Audiobook Review

So, as promised, here's my Titan's Curse review. I am breaking through the over-idle sludge that my brain has become. Anyway, it's funny because reviewing children's audiobooks used to be part of my job. Now I'm just doing it. Not like it wasn't always fun. But reviewing audiobooks is sometimes difficult, because unless the reader or company has done something spectacularly bad or good, there's not much to say other than what you would put in a normal book review. The reader Jesse Bernstien did all right, but I do have a few bones to pick with him.

First, though, the story itself. This will be a NON-spoilers review because I don't think anyone reading my blog has read the books. So, this third book starts a bit in the middle of things, so it took me a bit for me to catch up. But once I did I wasn't too confused. There are several new characters, none of them as likeable as the already established character. Percy has both a new friend and a new rival in the same person, and because you see this rival from Percy's eyes, it's hard to like her as much as Percy. Unless, you didn't like Percy. But I do. He's likeable enough. I did have sympathy for Percy's rival but never a great deal of liking.

The other new characters are still on notice in my opinion. Only one achieved a full story arc, the rest I'm still waiting to see what happens. Once again I guessed the god parent of the two new undertermined half-bloods long before the story revealed it. But I will NOT say who, of course. That would be a spoiler. (Another big sorry to my sister for my initial slip with Percy). However, I will say I didn't get as many clues from the writing this time. It was more a literary hunch that was deepened by a fan picture I saw of one of the characrters. There was nothing obvious in the picture to give it away, but something about the way the character was drawn did it for me. And that's all I'll say. Here's the picture for anyone curious who isn't afraid it might spoil them.

My favorite part of this book was the role Dionysus got to play. A small but integral one. I have to confess, Dionysus, the real Dionysus from Greek myth, is one of my favorite gods. Yep, I've never touched alcohol and my favorite god is the god of wine. Weird I know. But Dionysus is also the god of insanity which I've always found intriguing. Anyway, for most of the Percy Jackson books Dionysus is shafted and portrayed as pretty useless. But he actually got to do something in this book and show why you shouldn't mess with him. So that made me happy.

Once again I felt some things that happened in the real world, particularly toward the end, were too unbelievable for me, but I did think the character development by itself was quite good. I liked Annabeth's family. Probably the major beef I have with this book is that it's unresolved at the end. It's true the series has a running thread which remains unresolved, presuably until the end of the series, but this one was more so. I wouldn't exactly call it a cliff-hanger, but I always feel like stories like this are just interesting space fillers to the next story. They're dependent stories. Whether they're good or not depends on the events of the rest of the series. So I have to withhold judgement about the end of this book.

However, I don't have to withhold judgement on Jesse Bernstien's reading. Mostly it was fine. No qualms with any of the major characters which is the first thing one looks for in an audio version. He also does both genders all right which is another important feature. But I had a huge problem with how he portrayed Dionysus and Luke's voices. Dionysus sounds like Homer Simpson, which almost ruined his moment of glory for me, and Luke sounds like some kind of deranged surfer dude. Bernstien also has some weird fixation with making a lot of periphial characters sound mentally challenged. It might be because I already read the first two books and formulated certain voices in my head, but once again, not all the voices were off. The only other problem I had was Annabeth's step-mothe,r who is described as Asian. But--and this is important-- she is NOT described as having an Asian accent. Just because you look Asian, doesn't mean you sound Asian. Or, more specifically, a non-Asian's impression of Asian. Usually I'm not overly sensitive about these things. Quite the opposite actually. I generally roll my eyes when people make a big deal out of it. I have to admit it's not like it was over-the-top. It just felt unecessary and rubbed me the wrong way.

Well, that's all I have to say about it. Hope it was interesting.

The Sea of Monsters: Book Review

I finished the second Percy Jackson book yesterday. Unemployment is good for catching up on reading at least. So brief non-spoilers summary. Percy starts getting dreams that his friend Grover is in trouble, and he and his friend Annabeth have to find the mythical Sea of Monsters to rescue him. This book is like a contemporary sequel to/highlights version of the Odyssey which I thought was rather clever. I laughed more in this book as well and I started to really love that all the heroes in these books are dyslexic (there's a reason for this which I also find amusing but reasonably credible).

I would highly recommend this book to a parent looking for biliotherapy for a dyslexic child, or to a deslexic child if they might be interested in the subject matter. I'm personally getting to really like the characters even if I find some of the situations less than credible. I'm not talking about the Greek gods either. Once again, I won't give any spoilers, but just some things Percy claimed to have done when he used to think he was normal and some aspects of his mother's personality didn't sit right with me. With crossovers between fantasy and the modern world, I think writers sometimes walk a fine line of credibility. The reason being, the real world, in my opinion, should still feel like the real world, but when some writers mix in fantasy, they think they can get away with the real world seeming less real. Unfortunately, when the real world doesn't follow its own rules, you've just created two fantasy worlds instead of one, and the real world is pretty lame as a fantasy world. I think Riordan sometimes falls into this trap, but not terminally so. Just enough for me to notice from time to time. Still, since this second book took place more in the alternate mythical world, I think it was easier for me to accept all the happenings.

Anyway, to sum things up, it's a good fast read that I highly recommend, but start with the first book The Lightning Thief!

Percy Jackson

I'm currently reading the first book in the Percy Jackson series. I tried to get the second one from one of the five different nearby library systems, but it was not checked in to ANY of them. Usually it wouldn't bother me to wait, but I have to hop on a plane yet again for the 11th time in the past 8 weeks, so I need something before Monday. I might just buy the second book, because I'm almost done reading the first, and I didn't feel that one was a waste of money (I also bought it to read on the plane I took here), so hopefully the second's just as good. I won't do a full review right now since I'm not quite finished, but I think the story's compelling. The style of writing is not as much to my tastes, but it's not bad. It's just clear to me the book is meant to appeal to a slightly younger audience, but it's not dumbed down. I simply think the situation and humor are probably more relatable if you're a younger kid, specifically a young boy. Still, I'm enjoying it, and I'm also looking forward to the movie they're planning to make based on it.

I also managed to check out a digital audiobook of the 3rd Percy Jackson book from the Sacramento Library without leaving my house, but it took me an hour to jump through all the DRM hoops of flame. I feel the service needs to be a bit more user-friendly.