Persy Jackson and Olympians series - You're welcome!

[marion11111]

Alla wrote:
> I must say though - I highly highly enjoyed the books, it is non stop 
> action, rather likeable main characters, FUN use of Greek mythology, 
> which I know very well and enjoy a story that makes a good use of it.
> 
> BUT BUT BUT, this IS the story that I cannot truly call original, I 
> really cannot.
> 
> I mean, I certainly would not call it Harry Potter rip off, but I 
> certainly see rather big similarities in the set up ( abuse in school) 
> and his choice of friends too.
> 
> I mean, it is one thing to borrow from mythology and make it its own, 
> which I totally do not mind and even allusions to other books I do not 
> mind, but here it is just I do not know, a bit too much for me.
> 
> 

marion11111:
That's interesting, because I consider them one of the more original fantasy series 
BECAUSE of the mythology.  I've never seen that plot device used before - fairy tales, yes, 
but not Greek myths.

The idea of kids who go to a school or in this case, camp, because of their special abilities 
is straight out of Harry Potter.  There are suddenly a lot of these kind of books - Charlie 
Bone is the worst written and biggest rip-off, yet I admit I found even these great fun for 
three or four books before I got tired of the set up.  Of course, JKR took the whole premise 
straight out of Worst Witch - along with several major characters I might add.

I found the story development or Percy Jackson to be more reminiscent of the old-
fashioned adventure/mystery books like Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, Famous 
Five, even Scooby Doo than Harry Potter.  Our young hero and his/her sidekicks go off on 
an adventure to solve a crime or mystery with no adult supervision in sight.  Along the way 
they get into tight spots and get out by luck and smart thinking and sometimes 
foolhardiness.  Even Percy's sidekicks reminded me Nancy Drew's friends.  

I've tried to *sell* these to kids by comparing them to HP and that generally falls flat, but I 
find these sell well to kids who aren't all that wild about Harry.  One student said "yeah, 
Harry Potter is really too silly for me.  I like these because they're more realistic."  I had to 
smile since I certainly don't know any descendents of gods and Grover wearing tennis 
shoes to hide his hooves is very very silly, but I do know what he meant.  This series is 
associated with something familiar, something accepted as history/literature/religion, 
something studied in school.

Oh and by the way, I saw that Chris Columbus is looking into making Lightning Thief into 
a movie.  Hmmm. *cough*

There are two more series I recommend quite often. 

The Artemis Fowl books have been mentioned by others on this board.  Very unusual. 
Some fantasy, some techno sci-fi, lots of tongue-in-cheek humor.  Funny books.  

And Gregor the Overlander which I love.  A world full of characters that I feel I know 
personally.  This series is classic fantasy, no real surprises here but very well done.  These 
books have strong connections to the swashbuckling tradition - they remind me of Star 
Wars or a Dungeons and Dragons game.   

aack - battery low - gotta run