On Thursday's I will be doing Throwback Thursday. This is where I will talk about previous books, in particular series but I will also do standalone books, that I have read. On a Throwback Thursday I might give a mini-review on each book (but not necessary everytime), tell you what my favourite/least favourite parts were and tell you how I came by these books.
So now to my first Throwback Thursday. This week I am going to cover two series because the second leads on from the first, that being Percy Jackson and the Olympians (PJO) and Heroes of Olympus (HOO). I first came across PJO because of the move, The Lightning Thief. I enjoyed the movie and then saw that it was based on a book, so I went out and bought the box set and read all the books in the series. Then I questioned how that could completely ruin the story line of the first book when they turned it into the movie. After falling in love with Percy and his friends in PJO I found out about HOO and then I read them.
I recently took to rereading PJO and the books current released of HOO before I read the latest book out, the Mark of Athena. I will do a full review of Mark of Athena when I have finished reading it, but before then I had the idea to share some of my thoughts on each of the books so far.
Firstly, just a comment about the writing style. In the PJO series the writing is first perspective, with the main voice being Percy (obviously). I am not usually a fan of first perspective writing because I feel like we miss out on other things (for example, The Hunger Games where I feel we miss so much of the action and revolution because it is all written from Katniss' perspective). However, in this series I felt it worked really well because Percy was generally right in the thick of the action and anything else important to the plot that he didn't experience he saw in dreams. In HOO the writing is third perspective and I really like this. It was refreshing to have someone else's point of view and it allowed you to see things important to the story line that the other characters didn't know at that point in time.
I loved Rick Riordan's writing style. I found it so easy to read, but he put enough complexity into the plot so I wasn't certain of what was to come. I really like books where I have to guess what is coming, and the more wilder my theories the better.
So the first book in the PJO series is the Lightning Thief. One thing to say first, if you haven't read this but have seen the film please do not be put off, the book is different in so many ways to the movie, and heaps better. So what did I like about this book? I think the better question would be what didn't I like about the book, which other than the betrayal, which was needed but I didn't have to like it, the answer to that would be nothing. Probably the best thing I liked about this book was the complexity. I spent a lot of my time guessing why someone would do certain things and wondering how Percy was going to get out of each situation. I also really like the monsters. The descriptions were so vivid and imaginative and they could be fairly witty too.
My favourite part about the second book, the Sea of Monsters, would definitely be the humour. There were so many great mental images that I got from some of the scenes, particularly with Grover and his 'love' and also the Party Ponies (sorry about the vagueness but I am trying not to spoil anything if you haven't read it). The introduction of a couple of new characters was well done, each one having a particular part to play and they weren't unnecessary. Even though I liked the humour, it is a serious story and there are plenty of sad/somber parts. There isn't really anything that I didn't like about this book.
This also applies to the third book, the Titan's Curse. This was a great book, possibly the best. Again there was plenty of humour and again there was plenty of sadness. There was also quite a bit of tension and hostility in parts of this book, particularly between the Hunters of Artemis and the demigod's from Camp Half-Blood. I have to say, and I am a little ashamed to admit this, I absolutely love Apollo. His humour was refreshing, but he also showed that he could be serious, particularly if someone was messing with his family. I am pretty sure he is one god that you wouldn't want to mess with.
There were plenty of times in the fourth book, the Battle of the Labyrinth, that I had no idea how Percy and his friends would survive. There was so much suspicion, tension, spite and many near death experiences. It was really fast paced and action filled, although in saying that there was still humour with my favourite part involving a mortal, a blue plastic hairbrush and the king of the titans. I loved how a lot of the story lines were starting to come together before the final book, even though new questions were also posed.
The fifth and final book of the PJO, the Last Olympian, was probably my favourite of the series. It had me sobbing and laughing at different parts. The ending was brilliant, not what I expected to happen, but it was sad. I loved how at the very end Percy stood up to the gods, and made them accountable for their part in the what had happened. The flashbacks intertwined in this book was well done and gave you enough information that you started to piece together what had happened and what was possibly to come. It really was the best way to wrap up the series.
Then along came the HOO. In the Lost Hero, we met Jason, Piper and Leo, along with most of the regular members of Camp Half-Blood, with one major exception. I loved these three together. They all had their flaws but they all just gelled together. There were some major pieces of news in this story, particularly if you were familiar with PJO, which had me reading into the early hours of the morning, wanting to know what was going to happen next. The mixture of old places and new places and old characters and new characters was handled really well by Riordan and you didn't miss previous characters because you learnt to love the new ones. It was an intriguing and brilliant start to the new series.
In the second book, the Son of Neptune, Percy was joined by Frank and Hazel, as well as quite a few new faces. Again the mixture of new and old was handled brilliantly and I loved having the different perspectives. I felt that it was needed more in this book than the previous one because of the different backgrounds of the characters and the different secrets that each character had. Again, I was constantly wondering how on earth the characters were going to survive and achieve their goals in time. It was fast paced and left me wanting to know more. One thing I didn't like was Octavian. Every time he was present in the story I wanted to strangle him, and usually I am a non-violent person. He drove me insane, but his character required that and I think it will be very important for the stories to come.
So now it is time for me to read Mark of Athena, which I have been wanting to read since it came out in October. There are so many questions that need answering, but may or may not be answered in this book, and I am pretty sure a ton more will pop up.
Now my first ever Throwback Thursday is complete and it has been fun. I hope you have enjoyed it and please leave comments bellow on your thoughts about the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series.
Bye for now,
Mel.
Up next: An introduction to what I will be posting and when.
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