“You mean the Greek gods are here? Like…in America?”
“Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West.”
“The what?”
“Come now, Percy. What you call ‘Western Civilization.’ Do you think it’s just an abstract concept? No, it’s a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years.”
I grew up on Robert Graves‘ translations of Greek mythology. Heracles was a pre-modern superhero, Theseus a tragic hero whose cleverness and bravery could only get him so far, Odysseus proof that intelligence could give a hero the edge when faced with a physically stronger opponent. I enjoyed the morals these stories seemed to contain, alongside fantastical descriptions of minotaurs, gorgons and cyclopses.
Of course later, when I returned to these texts, or read different translations, I realized something – those ancient Greeks were jerks!
Unfortunately Percy Jackson has yet to learn this lesson. An ordinary boy growing up in New York with an unusual habit of getting expelled from schools – he swears that it is never his fault – as well as suffering from dyslexia and ADHD, life has dealt him a pretty poor hand. When he discovers he is also the illegitimate son of the god Poseidon and targeted for assasination by both Hades and Zeus, as part of a growing Olympian civil war, well, it is just not fair really.
Being the son of a god has some advantages though. He gets to escape to the safety of Camp Half-Blood for one, where the marauding furies and minotaurs on his trail are held at bay. What’s more he discovers he has several abilities related to the control of water, which could even help him survive a frontal attack by a monster.
He’ll need every trick to stay alive when he and two friends leave the camp on a quest to discover who has stolen the thunder bolt of Zeus and framed him for it to boot. So it is time for a road trip to the Land of the Dead – Los Angeles.
While Rick Riordan is said to have completed the manuscript in 1994, but it was not actually published until 2005. It therefore does seem likely that segments of the book were rewritten to suit the Pottermania fad. Camp Half-Blood is a Hogwarts filled with the abandoned off-spring of gods and yes Percy is yet another child of destiny.
Where I found the story sticking in my craw a bit was the translation of Greek myth to American culture. I accept that this is the conceit of the book – as the quote featured above states, America is now the ‘seat’, of Western civilization – but it leads to some uncomfortable moments. For example Medusa is described disguised as a Middle Eastern woman. Hades is said to resemble “the terrorist leaders who direct suicide bombers.”
Really Riordan? You went there huh? What’s more, much like the tarnished Greek heroes of my youth, Percy is actually quite a bloodthirsty little punk. I get that his life is at stake, but after the second, or third decapitation I started checking the book for a parental advisory sticker. Through in spouse abuse – his mother has endured a horrible relationship for years, in order to keep Percy hidden – and this becomes an uncomfortable, sickly feeling cynical package.
This is one fantasy series I will not be continuing with.
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March 29, 2011 at 1:35 am
Jason
I wish I could say it gets better–but it doesn’t. With regards to your observations, I mean. Percy Jackson will continue to be the more-action-less-thoughts kind of guy throughout the series.
Though, in latter books, they do bring up how much of a jerk most of the Greek heroes are. And they do have stronger female characters later on as well. But what I really found lacking in the series while reading it was repercussions.
Everything Percy and his team does is for “self-defense” or because it’s in the prophecy. But no one stops to think about what happens to the people and the places they leave behind. Everything is explained away by magic–is that really what you want children to leave with after reading the books?
Granted, I did enjoy the books. But I never really gave them much thought after reading. They were just fun little adventures. But thinking about it now, and seeing how I had seen the books then, I do fear that these “fun little adventures” are giving readers the wrong values.
March 30, 2011 at 10:37 am
Emmet
Hi Jason. There were some things I liked. The notion of Athena’s daughter being an arachnophobe because the descendants of Arachne want revenge was cute. Also Percy is of an age with several Greek heroes, so his antics are somewhat in keeping with the myths.
However, the glaring fact is that this is not a myth and I do not think the author succeeded in transposing the action to the modern day. I sympathise with the many writers whose books were suddenly tarred with the Harry Potter brush in the wake of J.K. Rowling’s phenomenal success. Often this meant the individual qualities of the different works were lost. Riordan’s book does seem awfully similar though.
April 2, 2011 at 2:23 pm
Stacy
All i can say is don’t see the movie adaptation of this book. Very awful.
April 3, 2011 at 7:58 pm
Emmet
I tried to watch it on a plane once. I made it as far as the arrival at the ‘Hogwarts-in-all-but-name’, camp.
I love that they hired Chris Columbus to effectively remaked the first HP movie.
April 4, 2011 at 11:14 am
Stacy
I first saw a piece of it where Uma Thurman made her appearance. Love her, but this film is a waste of her talents and time. Needless to say i could see the limitations of the story right there.
April 4, 2011 at 9:14 pm
Emmet
It did feel like a cash-in film, which is unfortunate.
‘tut tut’….I still regret the mess that was made of The Golden Compass.
April 5, 2011 at 10:46 am
Stacy
Sometimes potential franchise films are completely devoid of substance. There must be a blind belief that fans of Harry Potter will cross over to Percy Jackson and no effort needs to be made.
April 5, 2011 at 1:09 pm
Emmet
You can understand why. It applies to the publishing industry as well. Remember the copycat book covers that followed in the wake of Dan Brown’s the Da Vinci Code? Or the rebranding of classic romance novels with the same style of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight books?
We buy what is familiar to us. Rarely does a consumer want to be challenged, so for commercial purposes it is an effective rule of thumb.
If you’re looking for an interesting read, potentially less so.
April 8, 2011 at 11:45 am
Stacy R. Haynes
Booo to the imitation being the only form of flattery.