I am SO incredibly excited to announce that I will be part of an amazing celebration this year. Yes, this year we are celebrating the 10 year anniversary of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. This partly makes have such happy feelings and it also makes me feel very old because that means I was 17 years old when these books came out! CRAZY! But I love them and their counterparts and I am excited to be part of the celebration.
That was a really long title haha.
Percy Jackson
The Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series
The Lightning Thief, order The Sea of Monsters, The Titan’s Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, The Last Olympian
The Heroes of Olympus Series
The Lost Hero, The Son of Neptune, The Mark of Athena, The House of Hades, The Blood of Olympus (not yet released)
Rick Riordan
Logan Lerman
I’m going to remind you guys again because I”m still getting complaints. My FCotW’s WILL be spoiler filled. Sorry. I’ve warned you so much time haha.
Percy Jackson is the main character of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, and one of seven important characters in the Heroes of Olympus series. He battles with ADHD and dyslexia his whole life until one day, he discovers that he’s a demigod and that his ADD is to due to his being programmed for battle and being equipped to read Ancient Greek. He is the son of Poseidon and therefore could be the one to fulfill a world changing (perhaps, world ending) prophecy. Together, with his friends Annabeth and Grover, and the rest of the demigods of Camp Half Blood, they must fight to keep Kronos from taking over the world, and throwing it into chaos.
In the Heroes of Olympus, Percy is once again part of a prophecy that involves six other demigods. He has his memory erased, and ends up at a different Camp, where the demigods of the Roman versions of the gods and goddesses live. He helps to bring together the seven of the prophecy so that they can stop Gaea from rising and taking over. (Poor demigods, always fighting big bad guys). In that series, his relationship with Annabeth deepens and he drops into Tartarus with her, and together, they fight their way through to get to the doors, and escape. Now we’re all just waiting patiently for the fifth and final book! AGH!
Can I just talk about the fact that its kind of not okay to have a crush on Percy until..at least The Battle of the Labyrinth haha. I mean, he’s like ten years old. That’s creepy. I think I was one of very few people that didn’t mind that they’d aged him up a bit in the movies. But we won’t talk about those haha.
In the books, we find out that Percy’s fatal flaw is that he is unfailingly loyal and committed to his friends. I think that’s exactly why I like him. He ALWAYS risks his life for them. He crosses oceans and fights gods and Titans and all kinds of creatures to keep them safe. He literally drops into Tartarus to be with Annabeth because he doesn’t want to let her go. Who wouldn’t want a friend, or a boyfriend, like that? Someone that incredibly selfless doesn’t actually exist though because, of course, we all have our degrees of selfishness in us, but its nice to have a massive crush on Percy Jackson anyway.
I also love the obsession with blue food. I love that he loves blue Coke and blue cookies and all that stuff. And its more than just the idea of blue food. Its the fact that the blue food thing is a bond between him and his mom. Even when they are stuck with gross Gabe, Sally Jackson still finds a way to shut him down and that’s with the blue food. It’s something that the two of them always have and I love that it means so much to Percy that when he goes to Camp Half Blood and he thinks she’s gone, the first thing he has is a blue Coke. I love it.
Plus Percy is just so funny. The reason that first series is so popular (amongst a million another reasons) is because the narrator, the main character, Percy, is just SO funny. He’s out there, finding out he’s a demigod and trying to save the world and constantly fighting big bad gods or Titans or monsters, and he does it all with a smile and a joke and he makes me laugh. He has a sarcasm that makes those books so good. I love a funny and sarcastic character.
“I nodded, looking at Rachel with respect. “You hit the Lord of the Titans in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush.”
“Percy: Don’t I get a kiss for luck? It’s kind of a tradition, right?
Annabeth: Come back alive, Seaweed Brain. Then we’ll see.”
“Afterward, I had the last laugh. I made an air bubble at the bottom of the lake. Our friends kept waiting for us to come up, but hey-when you are the son of Poseidon, you don’t have to hurry. And it was pretty much the best underwater kiss of all time.”
“We’re staying together,” he promised. “You’re not getting away from me. Never again.”
All around the Romans, Charleston Harbor erupted like a Las Vegas fountain putting on a show. When the wall of seawater subsided, the three Romans were in the bay, spluttering and frantically trying to stay afloat in their armor. Percy stood on the dock, holding Annabeth’s dagger.
“You dropped this,” he said, totally poker-faced.” (OHMYGOD)
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Well, troche that was a seriously fun title. I kept trying to make it shorter but nothing I did made it sound…right. This was the closest. It got the point across and that’s all that matters.
So do you ever go to a bookstore, pharmacy or read a blog or talk to some friends, buy and there is a book that they just won’t let go, and you just have no desire to read it. You’re reluctant and there’s several reasons you could be. You don’t like the cover. You don’t like the name. You don’t do “zombie books”. Its too popular.
Whatever the reason is, you’re just reluctant to pick up a copy and read it. But for another reason, you finally decide to. Maybe you found a super cheap copy somewhere or your friend just WON’T STOP BUGGING YOU ABOUT IT. And you know what, the book surprises you. And it becomes something that you like, or even a favorite of yours.
That happens to me a lot actually. I’m kind of a book snob. I make fun of my boyfriend all the time for being a movie snob but I’m totally a book snob, and I might even be worse than him. I judge books b y their covers and their names. I tend to stay clear of vampires and romances, fallen angels and ghosts.
So I have trouble a lot when people recommend books. I have to really hear good things about it, or be bugged enough about it to sit down and read it. And sometimes, I’m like, “Okay, well that was a waste of my time.” But more often than not, I’m actually pleasantly surprised.
Here is my top ten of those books.
I know, right? I know! This is one of my absolute favorite series, along with its spin-off, The Heroes of Olympus. I mean, how could I ever be reluctant to read it. I don’t know if I thought it was going to be childish, or I don’t know. I just remember that it took forever for me to sit down and read them, and when I finally did, I remember speeding through all five books, plus the first two of HoO in like, a week and a half because I was just blown away. I know that it got a lot of Harry Potter comparisons in the beginning and that also could have been something that turned me off since there really can only be ONE Harry Potter but its more like, if you like HP, you’ll like PJ. And I definitely agree with that. I absolutely loved these books.
9. 52 Reasons to Hate My Father
I LOVE Jessica Brody and I seriously love everything she writes but I must admit I felt a little skeptical to read this book. The cover (both this and the hardback cover) turned me off a bit and I just wasn’t sure how to feel about it, and it sounded weird, and cliche-ish. But I decided to read it because I got it signed and its Jessica and I absolutely adore her. And I LOVE this book. Its exactly what I thought it was going to be and yet so much more. It surprised me with its realness and its humor and I loved the main character so much that even while she was driving me absolutely insane, I still totally wanted to be her best friend. And the whole 52 jobs in 52 weeks thing actually sounds like it would be fun, inspiring and life-changing.
I hated this title so much. I hate everything about it because it sounded like a fluffy, no substance YA romance novel and it proved me massively wrong. I definitely enjoyed this book immensely but I think the reason I am so glad that I got over my aversion to this book was that it led me to the “sequel”, Lola and the Boy Next Door, which I LOVE so much. I am so in love with Cricket and Lola is just an awesome character. I was pleasantly surprised with how much depth these books had, and that they were so much more than just a fluffy novel. Stephanie Perkins is an absolutely fantastic author and I was surprised and happy that I had read these books.
I purchased this for about 2 or 3 dollars on Kindle about four years ago. It kept popping up as a recommendation and I remember thinking: it looks super fluffy romance AND its self-published so what if it totally sucks. I eventually gave in because I think I had nothing else to read and it was super cheap and I’m so glad I did because she has become one of my absolute favorite authors and a dear friend of mine. This is a four book series and while it has the fun and sexiness of Hollywood (and I totally wish Reid Alexander was real so I could drool all over his washboard abs), there’s all this substance in there. There’s alcohol and drug use and charity work and neglect and abuse and teenage pregnancy and so much coming-of-age-ness. I absolutely love this series, and this author and I’m SO glad I took a chance with this.
6. Unbreakable
The reason I was super reluctant to read this was because I was not a fan of Beautiful Creatures at all. While the premise of this book sounded really awesome, I just didn’t want to be disappointed after BC. I just wasn’t a fan of that book at all. Not my thing, I suppose. But I decided to give this one a chance, based on the recommendation of some fellow bloggers and, again, I’m so very glad that I did. I love this book. Its exactly what I wanted from it based on the description and I think Kami super rocked it. I loved all the myths and legends woven into the story and I love that its kind of like Supernatural, with two hot brothers but its told in the point of view of a girl, who I just know is going to be totally kickass as this series builds. I am counting down the days until book two.
5. Obsidian
I hated the cover, I hated the stupid synopsis on the back. I hate when books don’t even have a real synopsis on the back. Its like “One Girl. One Guy. One Destiny. He’s an alien. She’s a book blogger. Kisses. What will happen next?” Okay, that was so made up right now but you know what I mean. It’s like, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS BOOK ABOUT? And the cover was just, ugh. It only caught my eye because the spine was all pretty and green. Then I met Megan and she convinced me to read it so I went back, bought it and decided to give it a try, and I read the next two super quickly. It’s not super substantial or life changing but its fun and sexy and I love it. Plus it also just introduced me to JLA and I adore her, and I’m massively in love with her Covenant series.
Again, the cover. I’m such a snob. I judge books by their cover and I was like, this one doesn’t look good in the slightest. But someone, I can’t remember who, told me to read it so I did and it really surprised me with the depth that it had. It had sort of a Bachelor meets Hunger Games meets Divergent sort of vibe. It was very dystopian but it also feels kind of like the Bachelor. I thought America was a well thought out character and that her struggle as a girl in the Selection was so real and raw and familiar. Even though I’ve never sat and competed for the hand of a prince with 20 other girls, I could understand her confusion and her constantly waging emotions. Its such a real book, and I can’t wait til the next one comes out, I’m just dying. Kiera Cass really impressed me and I want to meet her and tell her that.
I KNOW. I know right? I can’t even…whatever. (If you missed that as a Mean Girls quote, you don’t deserve to read my blog…haha). I read the first two books in the series about two weeks before Mockingjay came out. Again, I’m kind of a snob and everyone was reading it and it was around the same time as the Twilight outbreak and I was just kind of over reading “trend” books, if you know what I mean. I was just so much “too cool” for that. HA! My sister kept bugging me to try it though so I picked up a copy at Barnes and Noble one night and the begged my sister to let me borrow her Catching Fire because the stores were closed and I needed it RIGHT NOW. I remember buying Mockingjay on my Kindle app so I could download it at midnight and start reading. I can’t believe I ever was like, I’m too cool for this because I don’t know what my life would be without this series.
2. Unspoken
I adore Sarah! However, I had read her Demon’s Lexicon and just wasn’t that impressed. But I really liked her, I liked meeting her so I saw this book and was like, meh, I’ll add it to my TBR. I was interviewing some authors and I interviewed her and she was so sweet and so quick about it and I was so happy, and I was like, I have to read this book. I read this one and its sequel, Untold, in about two days because I LOVE this book. I love the main character, Kami, and all her sassiness and I’m madly in love with Jared Lynburn and his dark sexiness, and I just loved the story. I thought everything about it was so fresh and new, and the characters felt new and yet familiar and I was just so in love with this book. It just sort of reminded me that I shouldn’t give up on an author simply because I may have disliked one book. Another book may completely surprise me.
I don’t do vampire books. I don’t like this cover. I don’t like the title. The girl reminds me of Angelina Jolie and I’m not a fan of hers. There was so much about this that just turned me off. Every time I saw it in the bookstore, I just made a face and turned around. I seriously have to thank Jade and Stephanie for this, for beating me down and making me read it because now I have a VA tattoo. I mean, that’s how much I am so glad I gave these books a chance. I mean, they basically were like “Sara, shut up and read this book” and I did and I am just…I am so glad I did. The title and cover is still not my favorite at all, but I love these books. They don’t even feel like vampire books. They have so much darkness and romance and action and coming-of-age-ness (I keep saying that, I think I made that up) and I just love it all. I love Rose and Lissa and Christian and Dimitri and Adrian (ADRIAN!!!) and I just love it. I’m so massively glad I read these because now I have a molnija mark on my shoulder and its beautiful.
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What are some books that you were reluctant to read but you did and you ended up liking? Share in the comments!
It seems everybody is getting a bit of a makeover lately.
Now, illness when Scholastic announced that they’d be putting out the entire Harry Potter series in new covers, viagra dosage I admit I was wary. However, price Kazu Kibuishi ended up producing some seriously amazing and beautiful covers and now I’m a bit more open to new covers.
That being said, I have exciting news to share!
While all of us Percy Jackson fans are waiting for the final and last book of the Heroes of Olympus series (which hits bookstores in October!), the five books of the original series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians are getting new covers this summer!
Luckily enough for us PJ fans, we don’t have to wait until this summer to see them!
Starting next week, on Monday the 17th, the official Percy Jackson Facebook page will reveal the brand new cover of The Lightning Thief. Then Tuesday, they will reveal the cover of The Sea of Monsters and so on and so forth.
I am SOOOOOOO excited and you know I’ll be sure to be watching the Percy Jackson page to see the covers.
I’ll be sure to post them at the end of the week for all of you to see, but be sure to like the official page by clicking this link to keep up with the reveal!
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I was so excited to read this book, viagra sale and have been waiting so long for it to come out that I decided, what a wonderful idea to start reading it as soon as it downloaded to my Kindle and stay up ALL night reading it. At 3 am, I finally finished reading it, my eyes were bloodshot, and I was exhausted, both physically and emotionally.
But I will tell you this: it was definitely worth, it.
But don’t worry, I realize that its very very early in the release of this book to be posting this review, so its COMPLETELY spoiler free. I mean, this took me a painstakingly long time in order to make sure that I didn’t reveal anything to anyone.
If you DO want to talk about the book, send me a message, post on the forum, or hit me up on Facebook.
For now, enjoy this review!
Good Reads / Amazon / Barnes and Noble / Book Depository
If you’re feeling crazy, you can head to Book Depository to buy a limited edition, signed and numbered copy for 85 dollars!
Genre:
Young adult, Middle Grade, Fantasy, Greek Mythology
Part of a Series?
Yes, the fourth novel in The Heroes of Olympus series
Please keep in mind that while there will NOT be spoilers for HoH, there will be spoilers for any previous novel, including those of Percy Jackson and the Olympians
You May Like if You Liked:
Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan, The Covenant series by Jennifer L. Armentrout, Circle of Magic by Tamora Pierce
Age Recommendation:
12+; I know that a lot of kids will read this book, but I will warn you, this book is a LOT darker than any of the previous books. Be aware of this with your children.
Plot Summary:
From GoodReads:
At the conclusion of The Mark of Athena, Annabeth and Percy tumble into a pit leading straight to the Underworld. The other five demigods have to put aside their grief and follow Percy’s instructions to find the mortal side of the Doors of Death. If they can fight their way through the Gaea’s forces, and Percy and Annabeth can survive the House of Hades, then the Seven will be able to seal the Doors both sides and prevent the giants from raising Gaea. But, Leo wonders, if the Doors are sealed, how will Percy and Annabeth be able to escape?
They have no choice. If the demigods don’t succeed, Gaea’s armies will never die. They have no time. In about a month, the Romans will march on Camp Half-Blood. The stakes are higher than ever in this adventure that dives into the depths of Tartarus.
The Bad:
I wish I could have gotten a little more of Piper. Piper is one of my favorite characters, as you may have seen in my most recent Tuesday Top Ten. I think that she has way more to her than she thinks she does. She does have a moment where she really proves herself, and its seriously awesome. I just wish I could have gotten more of her.
The Good:
The hardest part about doing this particular review is that I have to be spoiler free, since I have finished it before most other people. I started reading at at 10 pm, which was midnight EST, when it released. I finished it at 3 am. Most people couldn’t even go to a store and buy a book to even begin reading it.
So I need to be careful. Its only been out for two days and so I just want to make sure I tell you how much I loved it without spoiling it for anyone.
Bottom line: I LOVED this book, and it was way worth the year that it took to get here. The Mark of Athena leaves off on the most ridiculous cliffhanger EVER, which left me staring at the last page, thinking, “No. No way. There’s NO way he just did that!” Yeah, yeah, he did. And he enjoyed it too. Check out the dedication page of The House of Hades
That made me laugh. I knew I was in for a good ride once I saw that, and you all will be too.
This book is considerably darker than the books that we’ve seen before. We are left with this ridiculous seemingly impossible task: Leo, Hazel, Frank, Piper, Jason and Nico are racing to The House of Hades to get to the door, while Percy and Annabeth fall into Tartarus, with the plan to meet them at the Doors of Death. Both are crazy, dangerous, impossible tasks. Even though our heroes are demigods and they wield powers and weapons that are beyond this world, they are also just kids, and they make mistakes and their world gets hard and complicated. Demigods don’t usually get to live very long.
The journeys that each group takes are both incredible. The twists and turns, the warnings. The help they get along the way, the help that they may or may not be able to trust. The weapons that are used, and the obstacles they must all face. Its incredibly. Every time you think it can’t get any worse, or any better, or any more nerve wracking or entertaining, it does.
And all the characters grow so much in this novel. They are older teens, at the verge of adulthood, and in this book, you see them all grow up a lot. Everyone is faced with so much in this novel, and in different ways. Each character is tested, and the way they handle it is amazing, and you’re literally watching them grow up before your eyes. This is especially notable with Annabeth and Percy, the characters that we’ve known since they were children. I also think the growing up that Leo does in this novel is also HUGE.
I’m starting a thread on my forums, that you can access here, for those you want to discuss the books with spoilers and all that fun stuff. I hope to see you there, because I love this book, and its so hard to write this without wanting to burst out all the spoilers!
Rating:
5 out of 5 Stars. Duh!
Recommended or Not?
Yes. I mean, if you’ve already read the first three in the series, I’m sure you’re dying to read this one. So go out, buy a copy and dive in. It was definitely worth the wait. Now I just need to sit back and wait for the fifth book, The Blood of Olympus, which is set to release sometime in 2014.
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I hope you enjoyed this week’s edition of the Book of the Week, and that you loved The House of Hades just as much as me.
Happy Reading!
