Dive Into Rick Riordan’s Incredibly Crafted Novels

For over 15 years, Rick Riordan has opened the world of Greek mythology to readers in a way that is easy to understand and fun to read. Through his main protagonist, he shows readers how any one can be a hero, regardless of possible setbacks like a disability, because even with having one, you can do great things!

20^th Century Fox has turned the first two volumes of the Percy Jackson series into movies, which released in 2010 and 2013, but most of the fans weren’t happy with the adaptation because they did not stay close to the books. However, I think it does not hurt to watch them. Personally, I have watched them at least a dozen of times and still highly appreciate them!

With that said, Disney announced on May 14th that Percy will get another chance to show us his magical world with a television adaptation on Disney+. So, if you want to refresh your knowledge about Greek gods and the adventures of Percy and his friends, now is the time to do so! Or perhaps if you or someone you know is intrigued, let’s explore the books a little! Be warned however, there are a few spoilers ahead!

Riordan, who wanted to be a guitarist, studied English and History, which led him to be a teacher for eight years. The idea behind his best-selling series came from when Riordan started creating bedtime stories for his older son, who was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. He wanted to show his son that he can be destined for great things and crafted a protagonist with the same disabilities: Percy Jackson.

What is Percy Jackson about?

1. The Lightning Thief (2005)
2. The Sea of Monsters (2006)
3. The Titan’s Curse (2007)
4. The Battle of the Labyrinth (2008)
5. The Last Olympian (2009)

There are five books in the original Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, along with some companion novels such as The Demigod Files and The Demigod Diaries, which give you further inside peeks into the world.

Percy finds out that he is a demigod when he and his mother are on their way to their cabin and have been attacked by a Minotaur in which his mother dies. Percy arrives at Camp Half-Blood where his best friend Grover tells him, that he is a Satyr and that Percy’s father is the Greek god Poseidon. He does not have time to process all the new information because Zeus is after him, accusing him of stealing his lightning bolt. Percy has just a couple of days to prove his innocence and confront Hades, who seems to be the real thief. Percy and Grover are accompanied by Annabeth, daughter of Athena, who just wanted to leave the camp and put her training to the test at first, but soon becomes close friends.

The second book is about saving Thalia’s tree, which holds up the borders of the camp. Percy and his friends have to retrieve the Golden Fleece and cross the sea of monsters to get to it, all the while there is a prophecy looming above his head, saying that the oldest son of the old gods will end the Olympians. Since there is no other child of the three main gods, it must be Percy.

In the third instalment, Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and the rescued and living Thalia go on a rescue mission for the siblings Bianca and Nico, both children of Hades. During their mission, they cross path with the goddess Artemis and their Hunters, who later gets captured by Luke, son of Hermes. She was forced to hold up the sky and take over from Atlas. Percy succeeds in tricking Atlas to do his job again and Thalia becomes one of Artemis’s Huntresses to escape the Prophecy, leaving Percy to be the only child of the big three again.

In The Battle of the Labyrinth, the fourth book in the series, Annabeth, Grover, Percy, and his half-brother Tyson (whom is a cyclops and was introduced in the second book) have to find Daedalus’s workshop and still have to fight against Luke’s army.

In the last book of the series, our beloved heroes prepare themselves for the Battle of Manhattan to defeat Kronos as Luke was able to finally raise him from Tartarus. From the first book on, Luke’s goal is to overthrow the Olympians and make space for his generation to take over, thinking he can do it with Kronos’s help. At the end of the book, the original Prophecy is fulfilled and a new one follows about seven half-bloods who “shall answer the call”.

The new prophecy is what the spin-off series Heroes of Olympus is about. Introducing some new characters while keeping a spot for the already well-known ones, it also introduces you to the Roman opposites, Camp Jupiter, and that the gods we already know are the same for the Roman half-bloods.

1. The Lost Hero (2010)
2. The Son of Neptune (2011)
3. The Mark of Athena (2012)
4. The House of Hades (2013)
5. The Blood of Olympus (2014)

And if you cannot get enough of this world, do not feel blue just yet, because Riordan has written another spin-off, The Trials of Apollo, about the god Apollo who has been thrown out of Olympus to fulfil some quest to prove himself once again.

1. The Hidden Oracle (2016)
2. The Dark Prophecy (2017)
3. The Burning Maze (2018)
4. The Tyrant’s Tomb (2019)
5. The Tower of Nero (upcoming in 2020)

What makes these books so adored by its readers are the perfect imperfect characters for one. For once, readers have a hero who at first does not look like he has it in himself. Perfect is not the norm. We are all imperfect and can achieve great things.

Then, you have a great amount of friendship. You sure can do anything by yourself, but you should not if you are lucky enough to have such good friends as Percy has. This is what made me love these books so much. Mostly you have an epic love story in the centre of a book which is nice, but true friendship is what I really want to read about!

Percy Jackson is a fun read for every age and provides you an easy way into a take on Greek mythology. If the story alone is not enough to convince you to read every single book, then look at all of the gorgeous book covers!

And if you cannot get enough of Riordan, then you can educate yourself about the Egyptian gods in The Kane Chronicles and about the Nordic gods in Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard.

Have you read any of Riordan’s books? Will you be checking them out? Tell us in the comments below!