Reading Recommendation

So I've been doing a lot of reading lately. I just love getting lost in a good book and when I'm on a roll, I can poweer through a 350-400 page book in about 2 days. So I thought I would drop by and give you a little book recommendation from my reading list.

Title: Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Basic premise: The Gods of Olympus have ruled the world for the last 3,000 years in the 5th Age (the Golden Age), moving across the globe as Western Civilization moves. Currently, Mount Olympus rests atop the Empire State Building in New York City. Enter 12-year-old Percy Jackson. He's just a kid with ADHD and dyslexia until he discovers he's the son of one of the Big Three (Zeus, Posiedon and Hades) and is ushered off to Camp Half-Blood (training ground for all demigods).

Why I like the series: I really love Greek mythology (as those of you who have been following my progress with Euterpe's Song know) so I was interested to see how someone else handled the pantheon in modern times. I saw the film adaptation of The Lightning Thief (book 1) before I read any of the books. The movie was enough to hook me. I immediately went out and bought the first two books in the series and devoured them in three days flat. Books 3 and 4 went the same way last week and book 5 (the last in the series) was gobbled up in less than 24 hours yesterday.

I was drawn in to the world Riordan created and the way he made everything fit. I really enjoyed the fact that Olympus was in New York at the top of the Empire State Building (the 600th floor). The gods and goddesses all have their roles to play as the saga unfolds and I found their portrayals fascinating, especially in comparison to the personas I'd given several of the gods and goddesses in my novel. Certainly there are differences between Riordan's work and my own but knowing that someone else managed to publish a book about the Greek pantheon gives me hope. I also found Percy's voice entertaining, albiet a little repetitive between books. We were constantly reminded who his father was and who his friends were (and who their godly parent(s) were). But I suppose all series have some sort of recap in them at some point.

I will also admit that reading Riordan's sereis gave me some things to mull over for my own books (books 2 and 3 in my trilogy). I hope that my interpretation of these great figures can stand up to his. I would feel veryy honored to share shelf space with him.

Overall rating: * * * *