Hermes-I really like George and Martha. Hermes is really funny and is actually one of my favorite deities in the Greek Myths. Nico di Angelo- Oh my gods, Nico. I really love Nico. One of my favorite characters of all time and probably ties with Percy for my favorite male character. He had to go through so much at such a young age. The best part about the series is the intermingling of myth,legend and fresh fiction, woven around new characters. It was almost dark by the time we spotted our target. The Princess Andromeda glowed on the horizon -- a huge cruiseship lit up yellow and white. From a distance, you'd think it was just a party ship, not the headquarters for the Titan lord. Then as you got closer, you might notice the giant masthead -- a dark-haired maiden in a Greek chiton, wrapped in chains with a look of horror on her face, as if she could smell the stench of all the monsters she was being forced to carry. Okay, so I'm not gonna talk about the plot cause then I'll just be spoiling it, but here's something about all the characters:

Add to that the wonderful setting, an urban fantasy based on Greek mythology. That's just box office . And the author used the setting very wisely so much so at times you are kept wondering what is actually mythology and what is inspired. We'd spent a lot of time together this summer. I hadn't exactly planned it that way, but the more serious things got at camp, the more I found myself needing to call up Rachel and get away, just for some breathing room. I needed to remind myself that the mortal world was still out there, away from all the monsters using me as their personal punching bag. Grover Underwood-Grover is an amazing character. I love how his character was developed through the series. He is still pretty klutzy a lot of the time, but if he wasn't he wouldn't be Grover. He may be a scaredy-cat or well scaredy-goat, but he is still really brave if you ask me.

I really wish I’d read this series when I was around twelve and feel a nostalgic connection towards it. Because if I can love it even at twenty three, I know I would’ve just adored it for the intended age. The same with Harry Potter. Honestly, one of the best series ever, wont beat Harry Potter but seriosly, I am now obsessed with Greek mythology! It was a great series the author did a good job with the plot and it was pretty well written. Also, I was a little disappointed that he hadn’t made use of the USA’s actual Mt. Olympus, which I can almost see from the end of my street. That would have been cool, but maybe it wasn’t in his travel guide.)

Only a few issues---Percy rides in a car with a girl in a bathing suit (probably pretty chaste, though) and there's a few "Oh my G's", as well as some monster deaths, and freaky magic---but most of it is bearable. First time I saw this series, I was passing the book section at work and the movie cover caught my eye (I think the movie was out not long after I finished the book). The title and synopsis immediately intrigued me and on a whim I bought it on my next break. Rachel shook her head in disgust. "He's trying to be nice to me, which is almost worse. He wants me to go to Clarion Ladies Academy in the fall." I also felt Riordan’s location-naming became increasingly obsessive, reaching a fever pitch of precision in the final volume The Last Olympian where the battle for Mt Olympus (a fantasy structure, I should note, hovering above the Empire State Building) is catalogued intersection by friggin' intersection!But as I read the rest of the series (one after another, without a break!), I became increasingly impatient. Not so much because the battle themes were repetitive (they were), but as Percy aged towards 16, one volume per year, the female characters in particular became harder to take. Every one of them, even the goddesses, started to act the drama queen, just as Percy became more and more the upstanding resolute hero. OK, I know Riordan is trying to catch the interest of North American teens here, but this is fantasy, and in pandering to his target market’s stereotypes, he really missed an opportunity for some role modelling. Now, I know you're thinking, Wow, that was really irresponsible of him, blah, blah, blah, but Paul knows me pretty well. He's seen me slice up demons and leap out of exploding school buildings, so he probably figured taking a car a few hundred yards wasn't exactly the most dangerous thing I'd ever done. This series is right up there with Harry Potter and Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander series as my top favorite series. Each re-visit is dropping in on some old friends and re-living their adventures/lives. Seeing the ship again twisted my gut into knots. I'd almost died twice on the Princess Andromeda. Now it was heading straight for New York.