Monsters and Gods and Heroes, oh my!

A few years ago I did a brief blog post about the Percy Jackson series.  Read it here.  But I was more just introducing the series, there weren't any real details.  Now that I have a new feature that highlights book series I figured it was time to give each book in the series a little attention.

As my previous post mentioned, in college I minored in history.  As part of that I spent a semester studying abroad in Athens, Greece.  That's probably why I feel a special connection to the gods of Mount Olympus.  Percy Jackson, aside from being a spectacular YA fantasy series that effortlessly weaves in historical legend, is modern myth.  It's awesome!!

Young Percy, well Perseus-but what modern New Yorker would go by that name-has always had weird things happen to him.  He lives with his mom, who is wonderful, and his gross stepdad, who Percy calls Smelly Gabe.  Percy has ADHD and a knack for getting into trouble, which is why he goes to a new school every year-he keeps getting kicked out.

Eventually there is too much weird stuff to ignore and Percy learns the truth.  His dad is a god, like one of the gods of Mount Olympus.  Which makes Percy half god, half mortal-a half blood.  He makes his way to Half-Blood Camp where he finds lots of other demi-gods just like him...well maybe not just like him.  There Percy is trained in swordplay, greek mythology, and all the other things young heroes need to know.  Eventually he gets the chance to prove himself...a quest of his own.

Will he succeed?  Will things ever go back to normal?  Which god is his father?  What are the limits to Percy's new-found powers?  Guess you'll just have to read the book.

Proving yourself...that's kids stuff.