Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

So, I finished Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan a few days ago and I still haven't blogged about it. I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, it was nice to read a fantasy book written for younger kids that remembered it was for younger kids. And it didn't have some of the rebellion issues that I had with Harry Potter. It was sometimes exciting, sometimes funny. Although at times the humor tended to lean juvenile for it's audience (a kind of obvious sarcasm and certain observations that would have been hilarious to me as a twelve-year-old) I really appreciated that Riordan doesn't confuse "juvenile" with "gross."

That said, I'm not reading the next one. A large part of it for me is that I found it fun, but not fascinating enough to want to keep reading. And I think part of it is that the scale of the plot is so large that I found it a little alienating. Yeah, yeah, sure, it's about Greek gods and goddesses, and I realize that emotions/lives are at stake, but on some level it's a personal issue (and the same one I've had with some superhero/action films recently). Percy Jackson gets to a point where both the problems and solutions are so far removed from anything actually possible, that it turns into a sort of bland muddle for me. It's kinda like Star Trek-- I love some Star Trek, but I can only handle so much of it at one time-- after a while, the concocted issues and resolutions start to blur for me.

Finally, I wouldn't give this to a twelve-year-old, I don't think. It is about Greek gods and goddesses and their children, and as such, Greek gods and goddesses seducing/falling in love with mortals is a pretty major part of the story. There aren't any actual seduction scenes (like I said, Riordan keeps it pretty clean in many regards), but it's undeniably a major part of the history for a lot of characters. And for me, anyway, there's a difference between giving a twelve-year-old a story that shows the consequences of adultery/seduction/unmarried sex, and a book that accepts it as "the norm."

I understand some might argue that Percy's quest (and his life, really) are showing consequences-- but I'd disagree. The consequences are for Poseidon breaking his oath to his brothers about not having more kids, not the problem of "sleeping around" itself. All the gods who didn't swear that oath are still having kids with mortals and it's definitely upheld as "the norm."

Like I said, Greek gods and goddesses, I know! You can't walk two feet through a Greek myth and not find somebody sleeping with somebody else. (A swan, Zeus? Really?) But it's one thing to me to present those stories as part of the history of somebody's (false) religion, and another to let twelve-year-olds consume it as a major part of their "leisure" reading.

So, verdict: Don't regret reading, probably won't keep going.

Also, got some new books recently (for Valentine's Day and otherwise), so hopefully getting through a few more this month!

Book: 4