The Book Vortex

First of all, I don't know why would anybody rate this less than two ✰, unless you're uptight and conservative. I mean this is a book about a boy named Percy Jackson, who has dyslexia and ADHD and that happens to be because he's the only living half-blood son of a Greek god, Poseidon. Apparently, all half-bloods (half human, half god) suffer from dyslexia because their mind is set on Ancient Greek and ADHD because their senses are overwhelmed. See what I mean? This is a YA book people, it has a lot of Greek mythology in it, resembles with Harry Potter here and there, but it is a well-written, funny and witty book. I would not shelter my children from it like it is the spawn of Satan just because it doesn't meet my conservative ideas. I got a bit pissed off reading one ✰ ratings, needless to say they were ridiculous. 

This is not the best book I've read, it wasn't amazing and that's mainly because I'm 21 years old and I'm a bit old for this book. I would actually go and say that this is a children's book, but a very good considering. Rick Riordan is a good writer, the story was clever, the characters evolved like they should in a novel. It wasn't even cheesy and that's 3 ✰ right there. Actually it wasn't even predictable, I knew they weren't quite on the right track, but when I realized what was coming it was already happening. You know how many GOOD books do that for me? Not a lot. I like that feeling, when your 21 year old brain knows something is not right, but still you cannot figure it out. That's a 4 ✰ book for me. Never mind it's a children's book or that it gives the child/teen/adult a polytheistic view of the world, can't you just enjoy it as the FANTASY FICTION and adventure book that it is?

Now let's see what happens to the sweetest hero of all times, Percy Jackson. 

Spoilers here and there 

Percy's 12 years old, obviously not the brightest student and a victim of our education system. He gets into fights a lot and he has been kicked out of six schools mainly because of his temper. Not quite your typical hero, but everything is about to change for him once he takes a field trip with his class to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where his pre-algebra teacher Mrs. Dodds transforms into a Fury and attacks him. 

Later on, Percy finds out he's more than just a human, he's a demigod and not any kind of demigod - he's the son of one of the three: Zeus, Poseidon and Hades who swore on the river Styx to not ever conceive a baby with a mortal being (and that's because the demigods born were too strong and they affected the fate of mankind too much. See: Hercules). Of course, both Zeus and Poseidon effectively broke this promise by conceiving Thalia and Perseus.

Unfortunately, Thalia dies to protect two of her fellow half-bloods before she gets to Camp Half-Blood - this happens three years before the arrival of Perseus.

What is Camp Half-Blood? Well it's a training facility for our young heroes. Once they become aware of what they are, other monsters can spot and attack them. This training camp shelters and protects them from all evil doers until they are ready for a quest given by their gods. 

So Percy ends up going on a quest to retrieve Zeus's lightning bolt, which was stolen on the day of the winter solstice, to prevent a war between his father, Poseidon and Zeus. A lot of interesting things happen to him and his companions, I will not spoil this mainly because there would be too much to write down. 

If you're into fantasy fiction, you'll probably enjoy reading this book. I recommend it to fantasy fiction lovers and all children and pre-adolescents - you'll like this one!