Apart from its obvious capitalizing on the whole HP franchise
and the market's desire for young-teen lit, it was a pretty good effort. I don't feel compelled to read any further adventures, except maybe to my daughter in a few years, but I have heard that there is now a movie in the works and I think that will be actually very fun. The "updating" of the Gods will work better in a movie than it did in the book, where sometimes a mythical character felt a bit forced or a tad obvious.But for a simply excellent children's book about the Greek Gods, my money is still on D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths
. And for when the kid gets a little older, The King Must Die
by Mary Renault is an excellent portrayal of the Theseus myth, told in real, human terms.
8 comments:
I'm sorry the hook didn't set. I'm a great fan of the Percy books, myself, and they do get better as they go along. The last one came out recently -- haven't had a chance to read it yet, but it's rising to the top of the stacks very quickly. The author, Rick Riordan, also writes mysteries, including the Tres Navarre series. He's the son of an e-friend of mine.
who knows - maybe i'll come back around to them. I have been thinking about the book, so it made an impact. I think Philip Pullman spoiled me - his books were so great. I thought this was a little thin, should have had more of camp half-blood and fewer attempts at teen-speak. We'll see...
Thing is, Rick is (or was) a teacher for quite a number of years, and has two (I think) boys of his own. He also used to read at least the first Percy book in progress aloud to his class. The sense I was getting, from all I read and heard, is that he got the "teenspeak" right; he certainly had good sources. Perhaps teenspeak has changed ... it's not as groovy as it was in my day. ;)
The first book sets up for the series; I wasn't overwhelmed, but I liked it well enough to go on to the next. I thought the books got better as they went along, though.
The niece in question agrees with you on the fact that the author should have gone more in depth on the Camp half-blood. She is a little saddened you did not like the book as much as she hoped you would have. She has read them all and also agrees they get better as they go along. When we went to see HP6 we got a preview of The Lightning Thief where she completely geeked out and tossed her popcorn all over the theatre. She is a huge fan of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series she has not read any of his other works as they are more for an adult audience. She also wished the author would have given more detail in regards to the cabins and demigods. She and her friends spend many hours role playing and would love to include these characters in some of their role plays but without details they would be forced to make up their own details and Z would never take creative license on characters created by someone else. As far as the "teenspeak" goes she feels it was appropriate for the time setting of the book. She says the book is written from Percy's point of view who is a teenager in 21st century America and had the book been written without the teenspeak then you would have been experiencing the authors thoughts rather than Percy's.
Well, now you're all making me want o check out the other books, if they get a bit more in-depth I would be happy. I loved the 3 main kids, but I hold strong with my opinion about slang. It will work better in a movie. And I am definitely looking forward to that to, Z!
Books can be written and sound like kids speaking w/o having to have overt contemporary references (Golden Compass, Harry Potter). I know the author has a son with ADHD, but that was never even explained satisfactorily and it was mentioned way too many times.
I'm probably nitpicking, but that's my prerogative. And Z shouldn't feel bad - I said I enjoyed it - But I am also criticizing it. I wanted more! I also wanted to point her towards the Mary Renault/Theseus books. I think she is probably old enough. It's two books, The King Must Die and The Bull from the Sea, and they are fantastic.
I think they do get deeper. Happy endings for all are not guaranteed, and not all choices are easy. Plus ... have I mentioned part of one of the books takes place right upstairs in the dinosaur hall? Mind you, he gets the topography a tad wrong, but his is, after all, an alternate universe. The mayhem that ensures is quite fun, I thought.
p.s. -- Comparing the Riordans with the Pullmans is a bit misleading, since they're so very different in style and intent. Granted, Pullman's books come across as more literary, but I'm not convinced he is necessarily that much of a better writer overall, if at all.
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