I was expecting myself to enjoy it. I did not expect to love the books as much as I ended up doing. The books were both hilarious and just very good.
POINT 1: WRITING
What I loved is that the book felt “childish” in a good way. Something I’ve seen happen a lot these days with children’s media is that it treats it’s target audience like stupid idiots (I have seen that done to my favorite franchise, How To Train Your Dragon, with the The Nine Realms show). This felt like just a book aimed at a younger audience instead, and that’s probably why I enjoyed it despite my age. How To Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda are some of my favorite movie seriez of all time, and they are aimed at children mainly, but aren’t afraid of actually being genuine and mature at times. This book gave me the same feeling. Really, it just felt great. The humor also felt more like “intended for younger audiences” than childish, and it made me burst out laughing a few times. Really just… funny AND enjoyable.
POINT 2: CONCEPT AND EXECUTION
It was silly, but in a good way. The idea of Greek gods moving to America because of the spirit of civilization was weird but I didn’t find myself finding anything wrong with it. I had no idea I would have liked Echidna as a fat old lady with a chihuahua that can actually bite to match a normal chihuahua’s bark, or Ares rolling around on a harley with a jacket-shield, or Charon being a Brittish dude obsessed with Italian suits, or Blackbeard being a guinea pig on Circe’s island, or the “savage centaurs” being frat boy dude-bros. All of these things sound between silly to just dumb on concept, but when I read them I just loved it.
POINT 3: CHARACTERS
Noone I hated that I wasn’t supposed to. I really love the cast so far.
- Percy: Great main protagonist, his internal monologues are hilarious at certain times and pretty deep at others. Really interesting character, too, rather than a more basic protagonist he’s actually got depth (which is fitting considering he’s the son of a SEA god… cause sees are deep). I didn’t expect myself to actually cheer when he landed a hit on Ares. Idk why, but I imagined him sounding like HTTYD 1’s version of Hiccup.
- Annabeth: Love her, she’s absolutely an amazing supporting character that actually feels like an equal rather than a sidekick. I love me a dorky badass, and I feel like those two words describe Annabeth perfectly. Her playing with Cerberus and actually feeling sad about having to leave the house-sized demon hound actually made me feel bad for both od them. Probably my second favorite character so far. I imagined her sounding a lot like the movie version of Hermione, even though as a character in terms of writing Annabeth blows both the movie AND book versions of Hermione out of the water. Also I loved how she just called the Laestrygonians Canadians, that made me burst out laughing.
- Grover: I like him well enough. Probably my least favorite character, but that’s only because I don’t like him as much as the others. He’s funny and likeable, and I like his friendship with Percy. Again, I like Grover. I just everyone else more. I don’t know if it was because of how I imagined Percy sounding, but I read Grover’s lines in Fishlegs’ voice
- Chiron: I love a good “wise mentor” character. Chiron was immensely endearing in that way, I haven’t liked a mentor figure this much since Uncle Iroh. He was also funny a lot, which is something I swear so many pieces of media today are afraid of doing, letting the wise mentor have silly moments too instead of just brooding stoicism and wisdom Chiron’s also just fun and allowed to have silly moments. And as I mentioned him earlier, yes, I imagined him sounding like Uncle Iroh.
- Mr. D: I loved him since the “gladitorial fights and Pac-Man” line. The idea of the god of booze being put in charge of a children’s camp to sober up was funny, and Dionysus’ detached misery and apathy were a fun contrast to Chiron. It’s why I liked him less in the Sea of Monsters, I feel like Mr. D works best when he has Chiron to bounce off of. Don’t really have a voice in mind when I read his lines yet.
- Clarisse: My favorite character so far. I love her, she’s both badass and absolutely hilarious while at it. The decision of taking a Civil War ship and shooting it’s guns at Charybdis was the definitive moment she became my favorite character across the first two books. I also love how even though she’s a mean bully she actually cares about people and the camp and is loyal and honourable. Her being the one to call the chariot races out of place and saying there should be more focus on camp security instead of personal glory was also a moment that really endeared her to me. Also both the conversation with Ares on the boat and her collapse at the end when she’s breaking down over her conceived failure really humanized her in a tragic way. Instead of some raging brute who attacked the people she blamed for it, she just slumps down on the sidewalk like she’s struggling not to cry because under all the bluster and anger, she’s just a teenage girl afraid of her abusive, misogynistic father and of letting her entire community down by failing to get the Fleece back, and I really just wanted to give her a hug. I was expecting, from her appearance in the first book, for her to be a fairly boring bully character. But the second book made her my definitive favorite so far. She also gave me major “HTTYD 1 Astrid” vibes in the second book, whose voice I began imagining as I read her lines, and I really liked her chemistry with Percy, I dunno why but a part of me wants them to end up together in the later books, I enjoyed their begrudging-respect/hate relationship probably the most.
- Luke: A twist villain done right. He genuinely fooled me. I thought the “betrayed by a friend” thing would come later in the books. Luke’s heel turn at the end of the first one caught me off guard in a good way. Then, in the second book, while he had little “screen time” I loved every bit of it. I like me a good “fallen hero turned psycho villain” character. Idk why, but I imagined him sounding like a younger version of Lord Shen from KFP2.
- Ares: I LOVED Ares in the first book, I thought he was badass and loved every bit of him while he was there. He was exactly what I imagined the god of war to be like in the modern day (aside from the biker bit), and I really loved the idea with his shield being a biker’s leather jacket. Then the second book reached the moment on the ship with Clarisse, and I was sharply reminded that he was in fact a villain/antagonistic evil asshole. A badass one, but still an asshole. His and Percy’s fight was my favorite part of the first book. I imagined him sounding like Sam Witwer’s Darth Maul.
- Tyson: Amazing. All I can really say, amazing. I loved his parts, and his relationship with both Percy and Annabeth. He was incredibly endearing in a way I didn’t expect from a cyclops. He was funny, badass and adorable. I can’t think of a voice for him atm either.
- Hades: Fun. I loved how he just went into a tirade about how the world sucks because he’s got too much to do. It was a fun take on Hades, and for some reason I imagined him sounding like Jim Carrey’s Dr. Eggman.
- Poseidon: I liked him, he seemed nice in comparison to the other gods besides Hermes so far… which given the gods beside Hermes so far have been Hades, Zeus and Ares doesn’t actually say much given how low the bar is, but oh well. I wanna see more of him. I imagined him for some reason sounding like the Rock, Idk why.
- Zeus: I want more of him, he was a great character for the 3 pages he appeared in, and his constant presence through thunderstorms was a cool idea. I imagined him sounding like WWE superstar Roman Reigns for some reason. Olympus… ACKNOWLEDGE ME!
- Hermes: Just a chill postman, I liked him a lot. Not much more I can really say. Idk why, but I imagined him sounding like Adam Sandler.
OVERALL
Loved the books, some of the best I’ve ever read. Gonna take a short break just so I don’t run through the story too fast, gotta pace myself so I don’t read the entire franchise in 2 weeks lol.