Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Percy Jackson and the Olympians (often shortened to just Percy Jackson or PJO) is a pentalogy of fantasy adventure novels written by American author Rick Riordan, and the first book series in the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles. Five supplementary books, along with graphic novel versions of each book in the first series have also been released. More than 69 million copies of the books have been sold in more than 35 countries The development for the series commenced when Rick Riordan began writing stories for his son Haley Riordan, who had at the time been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. His son, Haley, had been studying Greek mythology in second grade and requested that his father tell him bedtime stories based on Greek myths. When Rick Riordan ran out of myths, his son suggested that he would make up new stories using existing mythological characters and new ones. This led Riordan to create the fictional character of Percy Jackson and create the story of how he travels across the United States to recover Zeus' lightning bolt. Haley suggested that he should turn that story into a book, and Riordan wrote the book over the next year despite being busy at that time.

List of Books in the Series

 * 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)

Plot
The series follows Perseus "Percy" Jackson as he discovers he is a demigod and possibly the key to defeating Kronos.

The Lightning Thief
Percy returns home for summer vacation, after which he and his mortal mother Sally Jackson, travel to their cabin in Montauk to take their mind off things and to escape Percy's stepdad, Gabe Ugliano. However, the trip is cut short after a series of harrowing incidents, such as being attacked by the Minotaur, resulting in the death of his mother. Percy finds himself at Camp Half-Blood, a training camp for demigods like him. He discovers that he is a demigod, son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. Percy also learns that his best friend, Grover Underwood, is actually a satyr, a forest spirit with a human torso, horns, and a goat’s lower body and that Zeus is accusing Percy of having stolen his master bolt, the most powerful weapon in the universe. To clear his name, save the world from another war between the Olympian gods, and maybe even save his mother, Percy sets out to retrieve the lightning bolt from Hades, who is suspected of being the real thief. Thus, Percy, Grover, and Annabeth Chase, a daughter of Athena, start on a journey to the underworld, facing numerous mythological monsters on the way. After confronting an innocent Hades, they learn that their friend Luke Castellan, son of Hermes, is the real thief who stole the Lightning Bolt (also called the Master Bolt) to allow Kronos (also spelled Cronos or Cronus), the defeated King of the Titans from the past, a chance to rise again and that Ares, the Greek god of war, helped cover up Luke's crime in order to instigate a war between Olympians.

The Sea of Monsters
Camp Half-Blood is under attack when Thalia's tree, which guards the borders of the camp, is poisoned and slowly begins to die. In order to save the tree and the camp, someone must recover the Golden Fleece, which is somewhere in the Sea of Monsters, the Bermuda Triangle. At the same time, Percy finds out that Grover, who has left on a quest to find the missing god Pan, has been captured by the Cyclops Polyphemus and that the Fleece is on Polyphemus' island. Together with Annabeth and his half-brother Tyson, a cyclops who just arrived at the camp, Percy sets out to rescue Grover, even though Tantalus, who had replaced Chiron, prohibited him from doing so. Meanwhile, Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares, is sent on an official quest by Camp Half-Blood to retrieve the Fleece. The trip to the Sea of Monsters is long and hazardous and along the way the heroes encounter several dangers including Scylla and Charybdis, the sorceress Circe, the Sirens and their former friend Luke Castellan. Percy also learns about a prophecy from the Oracle about a child of one of the three most important gods (Zeus, Poseidon and Hades), also called "the Big Three", playing a vital part in the success or failure of the resurrection of Kronos the Titan-King and saving Olympus. The heroes eventually retrieve the Fleece and restore Thalia's tree but also unknowingly revive Thalia herself, daughter of Zeus, who had been turned into the tree by her father when she sacrificed herself for Annabeth and Luke to get safely to Camp Half-Blood years earlier.

The Titan's Curse
On a mission to rescue the half-bloods Bianca and Nico di Angelo; Percy, Annabeth, Thalia and Grover are attacked by a Manticore and rescued by the goddess Artemis and her Hunters. However, Annabeth falls off a cliff while fighting the manticore and is said to be captured. Later, Artemis is captured by Luke's army while on the hunt for the Ophiotaurus, a cow-serpent monster that was foretold to bring the downfall of Olympus when its entrails are sacrificed to a fire. Her lieutenant Zoë Nightshade, daughter of Atlas and a sister of the Hesperides leads Bianca, Thalia, and Grover on a quest to save her. Percy, who was not invited to join the party, follows them on behalf of Nico di Angelo, promising that he will do his best to protect his sister, Bianca. The others eventually find Percy, and he joins their group.

They become the prey of skeletons, who chase them across the country. Bianca is able to kill one, which leaves the others mystified. Bianca later dies as they make their way across a godly junkyard, and thus, Percy's promise to Nico is effectively broken. They find Annabeth with Luke and Artemis, who is holding up the sky. Percy then takes it from Artemis and they trick Atlas into his original position under the sky. Thalia replaces Zoë, who dies, as Artemis' lieutenant. Thalia's induction as a lieutenant of Artemis ensures that she will become immortal, never aging to 16, thus escaping the Great Prophecy and leaving Percy to fulfill it. They return to camp and Percy informs Nico about Bianca's death during the journey. Nico blames Percy for failing to protect her and runs away, only after causing skeletal warriors that invade the camp to fall into the dark void of the Underworld, thus alerting Percy to the fact that Hades is Nico and Bianca's father.

The Battle of the Labyrinth
Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson go on a quest to find Daedalus's workshop and (maybe) Ariadne's string, which Luke Castellan and his army are looking for too. A swordsman named Quintus is subbing for Mr. D, who is on a mission to get the minor gods to be on the gods' side of the war. The questers go on a journey inside the labyrinth, facing many monsters. Once they find the workshop, they find out that Quintus is actually Daedalus in his 5th body. Daedalus dies and then they go back to camp and have a battle with Luke's army. Casualties include Castor and Lee Fletcher. After the battle, they prepare for the Battle of Manhattan, since Lord Kronos has risen to obliterate Olympus, in the body of Luke Castellan.

The Last Olympian
Percy Jackson learns that Kronos' forces are preparing to attack Olympus. Poseidon, Percy's father, decides that it is time for Percy to now fulfill the Great Prophecy. Seeking a way to defeat Kronos, Nico di Angelo tells Percy his plan, though Percy doesn't like it. Percy bathes in the River Styx, making his body invulnerable except for one small chosen part of his body (the small of his back). Kronos leads a siege of New York City and puts its citizens to sleep. Percy leads the campers, Hunters, nature spirits, and centaurs to protect Mount Olympus from Kronos and his forces. While they protect Olympus, the gods hold down the monster Typhon as he makes his way to New York. Kronos, possessing Luke's body, forces his way into Olympus and battles Percy in Olympus' throne room. Typhon reaches New York but is defeated after the arrival of Poseidon's forces, led by Tyson.

Annabeth is able to make Luke come back to his senses, and Percy gives him Annabeth's knife. Luke stabs himself in his mortal spot, his armpit (as he also was invulnerable from bathing in the River Styx) to destroy Kronos and save Mount Olympus, dying heroically. The gods reward Percy and his friends and offer him immortality. He rejects the offer but instead requests the gods to claim all their children and to have cabins for all the gods, including the minor ones. The Curse of the Oracle was bestowed by Hades when Zeus took his wife, and Rachel Elizabeth Dare becomes the next Oracle and recites the next Great Prophecy. The book finishes with Percy and Annabeth becoming an official couple, and ominous clouds looming over Rachel's next Great Prophecy

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The idea of a boy finding out that he is a demigod, is unique and interesting.
 * 2) The story is pretty great, since there are lots of great plot twists and interesting stories within these books.
 * 3) There are many great characters in the series such as Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Nico Di Angelo, Thalia Grace, Grover Underwood, Tyson, Luke Castellan, Ethan Nakamura, Hades, Poseidon, etc
 * 4) * Percy is a unique main character who is developed throughout the books starting from a scared and struggling kid to The Hero of Olympus
 * 5) * Nico Di Angelo also gets a lot of character development as he grows from a childish kid, to a person who is trying to find out what he’s trying to be.
 * 6) * Grover also gets a lot of character development in book 4 The Battle of the Labyrinth. When he finds out about Pan only for him to fade into dust and die, he spreads the word of what happened.
 * 7) * Luke Castellan is a great and memorable villain turned hero. He has an understandable reason on why he turned evil and started working for Kronos. His backstory is also very tragic and he also has an amazing resolution to his character when he sacrifices himself to save Olympus.
 * 8) * Ethan Nakamura is also a great minor antagonist, as he has an understandable reason on why he went to Kronos's side. His resolution feels incomplete though as he dies from falling off the Empire State Building when he was fighting Kronos.
 * 9) There are tons of memorable quotes in the book such as "The end of the world started when a pegasus landed on the hood of my car. Up until then I was having a great afternoon" or "With great power comes the great need to nap."
 * 10) Poignant moments such as the death of Bianca Di Angelo, Zoe Nightshade, Charles Beckendorf, Selena Beauregard, and Luke's sacrifice as mentioned earlier.
 * 11) There are tons of funny moments in the books like Percy's sassiness and the dam jokes,
 * 12) The pacing for every book is great as it is paced almost perfectly and certain moments aren't too long or too short.
 * 13) The books give each character their own chance in the spotlight. Like when Selena Beauregard disguised as Clarisse La Rue in order to lead the Ares cabin to help in the Titan War, or when Grover saved Percy and Annabeth while they were fighting Medusa.
 * 14) It teaches a great lesson where anyone can be a hero
 * 15) Seaweed Brain
 * 16) The gods are shown as like regular people who do bad things(Only a few did bad things like how Zeus and Hera are rapists). This perspective is unique and it's nice to see how this perspective goes in the story.
 * 17) The books manage to mix both ancient and modern times, it's nice to see how things used in modern times like technology are used in the story. The pop-culture references don't feel forced in and feel natural as well.
 * 18) There's also a great sense of mystery in the books like who stole the lightning bolt or who poisoned Thalia's tree. The endings to the books also add up to the sense of mystery like when you find out that Ares was the one who stole the lightning bolt.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The first to fourth books all follow the same formula, something strange happens, Percy and his friends get a quest and prophecy, they fight monsters and they finish the quest, and they go back to being in peace(until the next book.)
 * 2) Despite the series having multiple great characters there are also some bad or unlikable characters such as;
 * 3) * Gabe Ugalino(Percy's stepfather)
 * 4) * Hera
 * 5) * Zeus
 * 6) * Atlas
 * 7) * Ares(Depending on your opinion)
 * 8) * Dionysus(He's funny but he can be annoying sometimes)
 * 9) * Clarisse La Rue(only in the first book but she got development as time when on)
 * 10) ** The main characters themselves can be flawed like how Percy can be overpowered especially in The Lightning Thief like how he defeated Medusa and Ares who is literally A GOD. Annabeth can be rude to Rachel in the 4th book and she can be rude to Percy as well.
 * 11) The Mythology can be inaccurate at times such as when the books stated Athena has children even though she is said to be The Virgin Goddess.
 * 12) The books can sometimes choose to have more action than story.
 * 13) Kronos is a disappointing villain as he only awakens in the 4th and 5th books. His motivations while understandable seem bland as he just seems like a big doomsday villain.

Reception
The Lightning Thief received mostly positive reviews and won awards including the School Library Journal Best Book of 2005. The New York Times praised The Lightning Thief as “perfectly paced, with electrifying moments chasing each other like heartbeats”.

Like its predecessor, The Sea of Monsters won several prizes and received generally positive reviews as well. It sold over 100,000 copies in hardcover by the time it was released in paperback and reviewers have praised the storyline, themes and the author's style of writing. Matt Berman, of Common Sense Media, praised the book, saying “The Percy Jackson series continues to be pure fun, with the author doing nearly everything right to produce a book that few kids will be able to resist.”[30] Kirkus reviewed The Battle of the Labyrinth as, “This volume can stand alone, but no one will be able to read just one look no further for the next Harry Potter, meet Percy Jackson as legions of fans already have.” As of December 11, 2019, it has been on the New York Times Children's Series Best Seller List for 665 weeks.

Some critics, especially Christian critics of Riordan have disapproved of the emphasis on pagan gods in his books. Riordan responds to these complaints by reminding his readers that first and foremost, "The Lightning Thief explores Greek mythology in a modern setting, but it does so as a humorous work of fantasy. I’m certainly not interested in changing or contradicting anyone’s religious beliefs. Early in the book, the character Chiron makes a distinction between God, capital-G, the creator of the universe, and the Greek gods (lower-case g). Chiron says he doesn’t want to delve into the issue of God, but he has no qualms about discussing the Olympians because they are a 'much smaller matter.'"

Critics such as The Calico Critic have also disagreed with the fusion of Greek mythology and modern American culture. They have stated that it is difficult to believe "the reality of the tale", claiming that "monsters in the St. Louis Arch" and "the entrance to Olympus in New York" were unimaginable, despite Riordan's explanations of why he chose these certain locations.

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