#He’s only read the lightning thief and watched the show

[ineedmorevat7kinmylife]

I love toa so much, I personally think it’s Rick’s best series. Like, I love pjo and hoo obviously, and magnus chase is amazing, but there’s just something about toa that just makes it better. I don’t know, maybe it’s cause I love a redemption arc or that Meg exists. I just love it so much.

[zoeyslayter]

I need to talk about Luke

So to anyone ONLY watching the show right now and has not read the PJO series, this is a HUGE spoiler for The Last Olympian (Book 5). Proceed with caution.

TW: Inappropriate Age Gap

So I just finished The Last Olympian a few days ago (great series, btw). Loved it, great ending, felt some feels, chef's kiss.

Except one thing:

"Did you love me?"

Luke asks this to Annabeth before he dies.

Like okay, at first I was like, "oh...like a sibling?"

Nah, I wish I could say that I could interpret it that way but the way that Percy describes his reaction when Annabeth says, "You were like a brother to me, Luke. But I didn't love you."

"He nodded, like he'd expected it."

I get Percy and Annabeth are unreliable narrators, but Uncle Rick could have written that in so many different ways to make it obvious Luke meant as a sibling. When we met Luke and Annabeth in The Lightning Thief, they were 19 and 12 respectively. When The Last Olympian ends, Luke is 23 and Annabeth is 16 as of a month prior to the battle.

It gave me the biggest ick and thankfully it has been the only real ick I've had except for certain nit-picks (certain over-done cliches with certain God's, it's literally a me thing), but I hope they don't include that in the show!

[kl125]

I’m a bit tired of the criticism surrounding the Percy Jackson show. Not the fact that criticism exists, because I agree with a lot of what’s being said, but people acting like there’s an intellectual superiority linked to hating the show. This is long, so here’s a “keep reading” for you.

No one said it would be a perfect book to TV adaptation. Even Rick said they would change some stuff, because he was given a chance to go back and reevaluate the original story. Personally, I think Rick’s writing is better suited for books, and doesn’t translate well to a TV show format (referring specifically to his writing for the screenplays), and there’s some jarring pacing issues moving from scene to scene. Not to mention, of the whole series, The Lightning Thief is one of the weaker stories, simply because Rick wrote it early in his career, and he had the chance of slowly improving with each new release. And I agree that simply saying, “Well, Rick approves of this adaptation,” does not excuse it from having flaws.

That being said, I still very much enjoy the show. Walker, Leah, and Aryan are carrying the story fairly well. I like their dynamic, and it gives a new perspective on Percy being an unreliable narrator, seeing as PJO is written in first person, but the show is portrayed in third person. Also, for people saying, “$15 million per episode, but where did it go?” The salaries for the cast and crew, the props, cameras, costumes, makeup, royalties for using certain songs, and some decent CGI, among other things. It adds up more than you think.

Now, if you don’t like the show, that’s fine. If you want to voice your criticisms, that’s fine. But please don’t act like your opinion is the only one that matters, and that anyone who actually enjoys the show is dumb or blind to the problems. People can enjoy things just…because. For me, there are MANY things I like which have TONS of evident problems, but those problems aren’t enough for me to give it up.

Also, “show don’t tell” is a good philosophy to have when telling a story, but we need to remember that this first season has to do a LOT of heavy lifting exposition wise. It has to cover a number of Greek mythology stories and character backstories, and weave them into the plot, in a relatively short amount of time. Yes, we have the benefit of eight episodes, but even then, there’s not enough time to dive deep into ALL of the intricacies of mythology and backstories. I think the episodes could stand to be a bit longer, and I think some scenes need have more breathing room so that the audience has more time to process what’s happening. As for why Percy seems to know everything, it’s stated multiple times outright that Sally told him the Greek mythology stories. They are ingrained in his brain, and Percy is very smart and quick.

Finally, there are a NUMBER of shows that had a pretty disappointing first season, but went on to improve with each new season. We should treat these criticisms as suggestions for improvement, instead of completely writing off the show. It’s not perfect, and that’s to be expected, but it’s still so early. We need to give shows time to grow and improve.

Anyway, if you’ve read all this and still hate the show, that’s fine. No one is stopping you. I fully respect that opinion, and I’m not here to change that. I just think there are more constructive ways of handling things like this than going on TikTok and being like, “Hot take, but the Percy Jackson show is actually garbage.” It’s about open conversation and constructive criticism and the hope that things will improve with time.

P.S. The irony of me writing this whole post portraying myself as intellectually superior is not lost on me. Everybody is entitled to their own opinions, I just hope we can be more productive when sharing them. That’s all.

P.P.S. If you really don’t like the show, and you think it’s objectively terrible, then don’t watch it. No one is forcing you to keep up with it each week.

[mellifluus-mayhem]

i very recently read The Lightning Thief in preparation for the disney+ series (just to get into the percy mood) and i realised that percys narration makes such a huge difference in our consumption of the series. Percy is very famous for being quick witten and snarky, often throwing insults at the monsters hes facing but we also get to see his wit while he narrates to us. He IS a kid after all and when youre a kid you dont tend to realise the trauma that has been inflicted upon you, you realise it when it comes to bite you in the ass as an adult.

While reading the book the trauma that percy goes through doesnt hit as hard because were provided with the cushion of his dry humor and nonchalant narration but in the show the tone for percy jackson is set to clearly, hes just a kid, a child doomed from the moment he was convinced. His existence itself is a flaw. He’s been jumping from one school to the next and hasnt had an opportunity to grow any roots. He has a divine deadbeat father whose only contribution to his life was an ejaculation (assuming demi-god conception obeys the same rules as human conception does). His step father, though not as abusive as the books, is still a nuisance at best. He watched his mother, the only person who trully cared from him and loved him, die at the hands of a monster and is just bombarded with so much information at the camp that is life is turned upside down. He must go on a quest that is fated to end in betrayal and heart break. The kid just cannot catch a break and this is just the first 3 episodes dear god.

All the demi-gods, no matter how devoted to their godly parents, are at their core a steaming hot mess of parental issues and hero complex.

[kikichibee]

PJO EPISODE 6 THOUGHTS (possible spoilers if you’ve only watched the show)

okay so, as a book reader I hadn’t really liked episode 4 and 5 of the PJO series, I was kinda put off by the changes BUT episode 6 quickly fixed all that. We are now off the beaten path and i’m actually really enjoying it??? the pacing in this episode was excellent, Lin actually did amazing as Percy, Grover felt like an actual main character again, Percabeth was percabething, the lightning thief reveal seemed a bit washed out and a lil quick but mmmm we can get past that.

(Percy driving the car and crashing bc he got lost in Annabeths eyes, someone sedate me im gonna lose my mind they’re so cute 😭 also that was so funny omfg right before i started the episode i was saying how i missed how funny the books were and how the show wasn’t as funny. this episode delivered on the jokes for SURE)

i was MAD mad last episode bc Percy didn’t get the pearls BUT i understand now why that decision was made. i like the change, im so curious to see what he’s gonna do with four pearls. im also very curious to see what’s going to happen now that the summer solstice has passed since that was a HUGE reason that they kept going in the book. I like that Percy has made the choice to keep going on his own, he’s not going to give up this quest. He never wanted to be on it in the first place but now he has this new sense of himself, he wants to make his father proud but i think he really just wants to prove to himself that he CAN be good enough.

oh! and the fight with Ares… what’s that going to be about??? If they’re accusing Clarisse of being the thief then is she going to be involved or are they going to just take it out on him? i’m just so excited bc it feels like i’m reading the books again, there’s a NEW twist!! i don’t know what’s going to happen anymore and i think that’s what breathed life back into the show for me.

I’m also very excited to see how Luke is gonna come back into play… the info from book 5 on May too?? that was crazy, i was shocked. I really like that, I feel like Rick is getting to do a lot more foreshadowing now. How is the reveal gonna go??? Are they gonna get to Olympus? Go back to camp? WILL THE PIT SCORPION BE THERE???

anyways, i was losing steam on this show thinking it was becoming a lost cause but i’m finally liking it again.

also the underworld looks SO cool next episode im so excited.

[fandoomrants]

Sooo, just a small comment on some of the things I loved in the finale of PJO.

There are obviously gonna be spoilers here soo...

-The fight between Percy and Ares!!! I loved the wave and now it was a subtle way of showing Poseidon was indeed beside him.

-The scenes between Percy and Luke!!! "Look, you didn't want to be a half-blood...". I loved the addition of these flashbacks of Luke teaching Percy to fight.

-Olympus! Omg, it was so pretty!!!

-Percy immediately being a total little shit with Zeus, I loved that!

-Poseidon showing up to protect Percy!

-Percy understanding only the word for "father" in Ancient Greek. He knows it because of Sally!

-"Ares is a moron."

-Overall the whole exchange between Percy and Poseidon. It really is a big step from him being all bitter and it was a bit corny but I liked it still.

-When Percy reveals Luke is the Lightning thief!

-Luke not fighting Percy at first. I have thoughts about the whole thing but I'll put them later on.

-Luke snapping for a moment and attacking Percy only after he mentions his father.

-Annabeth and her dagger!

-"Wait, your name is Percy!" And later "I don't think so", This was sooo hilarious. Especially when you think about how he initially tried to lie to him he's his dad. I'm pretty sure Dionysus knows his and everyone's name very well, he just likes being a jerk.

-"Some place called Disneyland", tbh, I feel like Annabeth won't be thrilled. I certainly wasn't and I was still am pretty childish as a kid.

-Grover's license!

-Their pact! That was so cute!

-"What did you dream of?" "Grandpa.". For a moment there I was like "What!? Are they tring to make it look like it was all a dream or that they're trying to make it as if Sally doesn't remember!?" but a moment later I was like "Nope, that's Percy Jackson, of course he'd refer to Kronos as his grandpa even tho he's his biggest enemy rn"

-Blue pancakes!

-When Percy and Sally were leaving the apartment, Percy's last narrative and the rain outside!

-The devastating moment when I thought we're not seeing Gabe turned into a statue but juuuust in case skipping the credits (call it a feeling or sth) and...

-GABE TURNING INTO A STATUE!!!! I'm honestly so happy! I'm not even mad Sally didn't do it as it was implied in the books. But she was divorcing him! I know he wasn't portrayed as bad as he was in the books in the TV show but I still believe he was emotionally abusing and he was still a jerk even tho it was toned down. Also, he was such an annoying, whiny bit-$(#..

...

That's all I can think of rn, even tho I believe there were other things too.

Now, I gotta admit I've read the book a looong time ago so I don't remember everything in great details but I noticed lots of the changes in the episode and throughout the whole season. I still enjoyed the show a lot, tho. Most of the changes made sense and like... Come on, it's an adaptation! And Rick Riordan was involved in the process so I believe he knew what he was doing with all these changes.

Tbh, I liked the first two episodes a lot, then idk, the third, maybe fourth too, were a tiiny bit meh to me but overall, I loved it and loved the last couple of episodes! I have mixed feelings for some things like them knowing about Medusa, the Lotus casino and other stuff but again, I trusted the process and it worked! It's only 8 episodes and there was a lot to happen there so I can see why these changes were needed. Figuring all out would have taken them a lot of time. Also, it was as much for new fans as it was for new ones so of course some things had to be made differently. For example, how the whole thing about who would betray Percy was done.

I've been watching lots of videos and posts of new fans who haven't read the books and I was cackling like an old hag at their assumptions how it was gonna be Grover or sth. And you just can't convince me that episode 7 and Annabeth getting caught by one of the roots wasn't with the exact purpose of making people think "Oh, they are friends now, what if it's her?" It was really well-played. And let's not forget how everyone was like "Luke! Babyboy, so precious." Can't wait to see everyone's reactions now... (Luke is still these things, even though he is "bad guy")

Speaking of Luke, again, haven't read the books in a while but I somewhat don't remember him and Percy being that close and being such good buddies. Idk, might need to read them again but even though I didn't mind that dynamic too much, I really thought this is more like how Luke and Annabeth should have been. I feel like we needed more interactions between them. Also, Luke speaks randomly about her twice, first telling Percy about her and calling her "my little sister" and then last episode giving that example with the spiders (nopee, I don't believe itt, she won't crush it, she'll scream and run unless it's a huge spider, then she'll fight it because of her bf) but she barely (if not ever) mentioned him? Yeah, she mentioned Thalia but almost nothing of Luke?? How are you gonna convince me that was her hero!? She should have been broken by his betrayal much more than Percy! Also, they kinda made Luke somewhat of a big softie, I thought it was because then his betrayal would have been more devastating but nope, there wasn't some kind of a 180° turn in his behaviour. Wonder why, to make him more relatable or? I want to see how his further actions are going to play out in this scenario...

Anywayy, all in all, I enjoyed the show a lot and I hope there is a next season. I want to see how the story will proceed on the screen (and I hope the changes we keep getting aren't anything too essential).

[orions-hole]

You're 8 years old. You weren't really big into reading, sure you read a lot in 2nd grade, but it was to make book reports for extra credit.

Your dad has the whole Harry Potter collection and you remember being obssesed with the movies.

Your first language is Spanish, you hate English, your dad has "Charlie and the chocolate factory" in English. But Harry Potter is in Spanish.

You and your dad strike a deal - per every page you read you get .5 cents. You get up snd grab (title was directly translated to give actual effect) "Harry Potter and the philosophical stone"

Just a few pages in and you already wanns kill Dudley. You already hate Mr. Dursley way more than it's healthy to hate. You're 8, but you want to protect Harry.

You know Hagrids gonna help him - you remember it from the movie. It's still spooky when you read it.

And you finish one book. Then another. You lost the 5th and spent days crying before just moving onto the 6th. Learning Sirius died in the 5th is a punch in the gut.

You finish the series, you watch the movies snd you can't help but be sad at the fact Draco is more annoying than silly.

Then you watch a video from "Invisible Cape", she's a silly potterhead. You watch another and another.

One day you walk in on your family watching the Sea of Monsters movie. "What's that?" "Percy Jackson" "It looks fun" "The books are. The first movie was crap.. Apparently the second is, "more similar to the book"." Your don't stay to watch it. Your dad says he'll buy you a bike if you translate the whole Charlie and the chocolate factory book. God you hate Charlie but god you want that bike.

You're 11 when you start talking to your idols in Discord, they love Percy Jackson, your dad pirates the books.

You read the lightning thief a bit but got cringed out by clarisse. But you're intrigued by the myths and start watching this random dude that makes animations about it.

You're into genshin impact, you watch this video with Venti and Nico du Angelo and Hiccup and so many characters you love. You don't know anything about Nico, just that he's gay and you love him.

Now you're 12, or 13, honestly you can't remember and surprisingly you don't care, the newest pjo book is teased. "The sun and the stars", you had no idea, but you made a server for friends and added a "theories" section and your best friend talks about how the book is probably about Will Solace. You think it's a far stretch snd then... oh, would you look at that?.

A few months go by, you've started seeing people geek out about the show, including the dude you watch for mythology videos, you ask your now girlfriend and she's so excited about getting an adaptation that's not the movies.

She gets you to start listening to the books and.. you realize they're actually great. You loved pjo and you move onto hoo and it's even better and gosh darn Nico is so cute and woah. And then you start the Red Pyramid you finish it and- there's no more audiobooks that can be easily downloaded. They're all split into like 150 parts.

But then the PJO show releases and it's everything you've wanted for the last month and it's awesome and

All anyone does is complain. "Too fast paced" so is the book "Not enough action* he's only trained three days "forced representation" okay you aren't even watching the show. "I hate it you don't have to make me like it" well you don't have to make me hate it do you?

[abookishshade]

***Spoilers for Percy Jackson book 1***

Ok, so I reread The Lightning Thief because I have been going gaga over Percy Jackson since the new TV series is released. I have been enjoying it very much, and I have ended up wanting more after each episode.

Anyway, here are my thoughts after my reread, having watched till episode 4, and with no memory of the other books.

1) Percy's relationship with his father in the book seems better than that in the show. He remembers warmth when he thinks of his father. Though he also does resent the fact that his father only claimed him because he needed Percy.

2) Sally's situation in the book seems different from that in the show. In the book, Gabe seems to hold more power over Sally than in the show. I can't imagine the Sally in the show, who could make Gabe say please, flinching from him as the Sally in the book did towards the end.

3) There's more drama in the show and there's more comic in the book, both of which is completely fine by me. I enjoy both drama and comic, and I like how, in this case, they work in the respective mediums.

4) Loved the themes of friendship and loyalty in both the book and the show. Loved the theme of environment in the book. Also loved the exploration of parent-child relationship in both.

5) One thing I did not like in the book was its explicit emphasis on its Western centricity.

6) I also didn't like how most of Percy's antagonists like Nancy, Gabe, etc. were described as "ugly".

Overall it was a fun ride. This was both my first read and reread of 2024.

[captain-peanut110]

Percy Jackson and the Olympians episodes one and two, immediate impressions

Written by someone who absolutely lived those books as a kid and is no less obsessed with them as a grown up.

I will try to avoid spoilers for anything that comes later in the book or in later books in case people who have only watched the show will be reading this, but there might still be unintentional spoilers and there definitely will be spoilers for how the event of the first two episodes went down in the book.

I have been waiting since before the old movies came out, suffered the disappointment of their existence, was part of the collective agreement Lightning Thief had no sequel and am finally ready to see them try again.

I have just finished re-reading the first series and am nearing the end of House of Hades, so all the book stuff is fresh in my mind.

(I also bough the first five and all five Trials of Apollo for only £12 yesterday 🎊🎊🎊 now my tiny London apartment is flooded with books I already have no space for 🤣🤣🤣 so worth it though.)

Episode 1

- seems lovely so far;

- Percy is perfectly himself and the acting is damn decent;

- Little Percy is very cute, but also sort of spooky, make me think of the ocean, no matter what, there is always something eerie about it;

- Nancy is as awful, as she has to be and it is a nice thought that Percy understands she bullies him because of her own issues, yet also acknowledges it is still not okay;

- Brunner is perfect, they nailed his feel and presence 10/10. Why is his horse part not white though? Come on, it doesn’t have to match his skin tone and would have looked super cool, setting him apart from other centaurs like it does in the books;

- The kindly one (what they call Furies in the book) is well done and properly terrifying;

- Sally Jackson is the star, seriously, she is everything;

- Smelly Gabe is authentic enough to smell him trough the screen;

- Super funny that his reward for letting them take the car in the show is a sandwich he never ends up getting at all. At least in the books he got his dips

- BUT!!!!! Wtf with Gabe saying please? And them watching the game together? Why is he suddenly not that terrible??? How could they have decided to give redeeming qualities to this guy??? He is like the definition of awful and there really was no need to make him better in any way.

Initially I did not particularly notice this, because he was disgusting in my eye, yet upon watching for the second time, I replied he repeatedly said please and his conversation with Sally seemed suddenly more like banter than the awful way he treated her in the books. This gives their marriage something to it and makes it feel like there might have been a reason why they got married other than Sally wanting to protect Percy though Gabe's smell. And that is just wrong. Gabe was absolutely the king of awful in the books and he should have stayed that way.

I felt like I had to go back to add this point, because I missed it in my initial watching when I was writing this immediate reaction.

It can be argued that even the worst abusers are not horrible 24/7 and are ofter nice to the people around them from time to time, which makes it even more confusing and hard to leave them. But this does not really fit to the situation here, Gabe had zero redeeming qualities in the book and I can't see why there would be a need to give him any in the show;

- Sally being firmly on Percy’s side is pure gold and absolute parenting goals;

- Blue candy !!!!

- D’Angelo sandwiches though??? Hmmm…

- “Who is Yantsy?” 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Gabe is so dumb, i love it;

- Hades is not satan, they finally got that right! At least I think that’s supposed to be Hades;

- Can’t stress enough how awesome it is that Percy is not an orphan in the books. His relationship with Sally is everything. It is also a whole lot less lazy than just having an orphaned protagonist and also a lot more relatable for the readers;

- I love the scene where Percy is confused and scared, trying to get her to stop, but Sally keeps talking, as if she knows if she does not say it out loud, she will never be able to;

- Sally: “He was a god.” Percy: “You fell in love with Jesus?” 🤣🤣🤣

- Grover is so funny though, I can’t even;

- The Minotaur cgi looks decent;

- And he is wearing underpants!!!

- Bye-bye Gabe’s car;

- Grover is supposed to be unconscious!!! That’s a major point of his later self-torments, the fact that he got knocked out and Percy had to carry him all the way.

I cannot see why he needed to be present for this scene. He doesn’t do much of anything other than having Sully make him swear to protect Percy, although I am not certain what that was emphasised for?

- Sally is badass! Hell yeah for mothers doing mad stuff to protect their babies, super on point and as someone who does have a baby, super realistic;

- Noooo!!! Sally!!! Proper heartbreaking;

- He did not have the sword yet! Or Grover there! And he fought the Minotaur anyways!!!

It was supposed to be the first sing of his endless courage bordering on idiocy and a serious lack in the self preservation department when it comes to people he loves being in danger.

Which ultimately is a super important point in the story. I feel they missed an opportunity to show just how many fucks are absolutely not given when Percy sees somebody dear to him threatened;

- He does still kill him with the horn, not the sword, so I guess I can forgive the sword being there for a brief second. Although it would certainly add more meaning if it wasn’t;

- Show us how he carried Grower to Camp after killing the Minotaur!!! Percy did it all on his own, no help whatsoever! That’s part of what made other campers so interested in him!

- Annabeth!!! My best girl!!!

Episode 2

- Percy’s eyes are so book accurate, a proper proper sea green, I am happy happy happy;

- And Walker is such a perfect fit for the role, it really feels like he is Percy. I can forgive them for not having someone else, who had dark hair, his casting in on par.

Also I feel like nailing his eyes is more important than hair. They are an important part of the character, a reflection of his connection to the ocean.

I can also completely get behind not immediately wanting to dye a child’s hair, so it’s not that important.

I am personally of the opinion, that unless a character’s appearance is a point in the plot, such as relation to a certain someone hinted at trough similarity in looks/belonging to a certain group/coming from a certain place/being singled out positively or negatively because of certain features/etc, changing it doesn’t matter;

A good example is the colour of Percy’s eyes. It needs to be maintained, as they are a reference to his father being Poseidon and him being a child of the sea;

- The same goes for Leah, she has absolute Annabeth energy and is just perfect every step of the way, so the fact that she ain’t blonde doesn’t really matter. It was not a particular plot point in the books and the change will not affect her character in any way;

(If Elle Woods suddenly wasn’t blonde anymore, that would be insane, in Annabeth’s case, it is not that important.)

- Aww, Percy thinks Poseidon is going to be there at camp, that’s heartbreaking :((

- Peter Johnson !!!

- ‘He’s starting with me!’

- For a moment I thought he was gonna say ‘the wine dude Dionysus’ 🤣 that would hardy have ended well;

- ‘Your Highness’ 🤣🤣🤣 Percy is adorable;

- Mister D pretending to be Percy’s dad and trying to get him to fetch a bottle of wine is sooooo funny, I died. Chiron’s face though… 🤣🤣🤣 ‘I could be!’ ‘But are you?!’

And this:

- ‘Son.’

- ‘Dad?’

- ‘Yes Peter!’

- ‘Percy!’

- ‘Exactly’

- And Percy looking at Mr D and thinking: ‘Mom fell in love with and spoke so highly of this guy? He is basically Divine Gabe.’

I will be anything upon first meeting him in the show and hearing the ‘i am your dad’ thing, that is exactly what Percy is thinking. ‘Oh no, my dad is the Less Smelly Gabe?‘

- The Hermes cabin is looking good, the chaos seems very authentic;

- As someone who had been bullied at school for different from other kids, it is a very touching moment, when Percy is sure the Hermes kids are about to start some trouble, but Luke is just so lovely to him instead.

It is honestly every weird kid’s dream to have someone approach them with something kind to say.

And when he says: ‘you are just like everyone else here’, it must have felt so nice for Percy to finally hear something like that, like there is somewhere he can belong as himself;

- Luke, my sweet tragic baby ❤️ i cannot help loving him so damn much;

His underlying wistfulness and hidden pain from not feeling loved by his dad break my heart into a million pieces. And the way he just older-brothers Percy from the beginning is everything ❤️

- But does this show hate blonde people?

Cause Luke isn’t blonde either. 🤣

Once again, great acting, charisma and that feel of Luke’s powerful awesomeness tinted with desolate melancholy was captured brilliantly.

Charles does have that vibe and is great in the role. But I just had to note the ‘nobody is blonde’ thing cause it’s funny;

- More importantly though, WHERE IS LUKE’S SCAR??? That little scrape he’s got on his face is way too small and insignificant to be the unfortunate trophy from a dragon fight.

It looks nowhere near ghastly enough!

The whole point was that Luke was super handsome, but his scar was there like a tear in a beautiful portrait.

Charles is a good looking fella, he could have easily pulled off having a huge scar running across half of his face and still be a ladies’ dream;

- The Dryad with Grover has such sweet motherly vibes;

- Is it me or do Grover’s goat legs appear somewhat skinny?

- ‘Like an old banana’ Damn, Grover. I feel like this nicely reminds everyone Grover is not the human child he appears as;

- I feel like it is more realistic that Percy comes to believe his mother can be saved from the underworld by himself, since it is pretty logical, if the underworld is a place you can go to, you could theoretically bring someone back.

There didn’t really need to be an ominous investigation conducted by Grover for Percy to come upon that idea;

- More creepy ass dreams;

- CLARISSE MUST BE BUFFER!!!

And here I somewhat don’t get it.

Cause Dior looks perfectly buff enough for the part in pictures online, but it almost feels like they made her look smaller on camera, instead of using filming techniques to make her look even bigger.

All I could think while watching those scenes was “Clarisse must be bigger!”. Why does she look so skinny in the show, when the actress has got proper muscles irl?

- Percy being terrible at everything he tries reminds me of Harry trying the wands out and making stuff blow up

- He set the Hephaestus kids’ stuff on fire 🤣🤣🤣 Leo should have been there 😉

- Is there a god of disappointment 🤣🤣🤣

- But you burn the stuff to send a message to the gods, not mortals or dead people. Burnt offerings are only messages to a god they are offered for.

Did Percy misunderstand this or did the makers of the show?

Cause there should be no way for Sally to have actually gotten that message;

- Burning candy and talking to mama hits right home though. Very painful, peak cinema, hurts a lot. Poor little Percy, he just needs a hug;

- Not from a gutter, Clarisse, what the actual?!?!

- Aaaand Supreme Lord of the Bathroom emerges!!!

I just love how good old Jonny outright refuses to harm Percy.

But does this mean Poseidon is the god of toilet water as well 🤣🤣🤣 what about everything that is flushed with it? Would he have power over that as well? Or only clean gutter water?

Also!!! Is Percy immune to ‘the Neptune’s kiss’?

(‘The Neptune’s kiss’ - is an unfortunate occurrence while going number two, when one of them lot falls down into the bowl with a blast and the water splashes back onto your unprotected buttcheeks.)

Cause that would be a seriously cool ability to have indeed;

- Annabeth!!! Always a win for Annabeth!!!

‘i can explain!’ ‘No you can’t!’

Absolutely chemistry

‘Are you stalking me, Annabeth?’ ‘Yes’

- Forbidden kids… hmm.. that’s an interesting way of putting it;

- Annabeth is Sherlock with better social skills? Hell yeah, Percy can be her sword-wielding Watson;

- Their armour looks so good! Like actually pleasant to look at, you can see effort and thought went into the costumes in the show.

Seeing them all dressed up reminds me of the longstanding tradition at Camp Halfblood of running outside wearing a breastplate and underpants when danger strikes in the middle of the night!

I really really hope they show that in this series;

- Percy should appreciate Annabeth standing there silently and waiting for him to get up, since any other classmate from his past would have made fun of his fall and certainly would not have waited for him to get up.

The way Annabeth reacted is decent between two warriors.

She did not mock his fall, waited for him to get up and made no unkind comments about it afterwards.

She did not help him get up, because he does not need assistance with such a minor trouble, which is something Percy will have to learn very soon.

As someone who has been bullied back at school, sometimes standing there silently is the nicest way someone you don’t know very well can react to you embarrassing yourself;

- I love how Annabeth doesn’t flaunt her being better at stuff in Percy’s face, he is the one who says that in a fit of self deprecation.

The writers could have easily had her say something like ‘of course i’m better’, as happens a lot in modern cinema, when characters boast about how awesome they are instead of showing it.

She respectfully listens to his ranting, then simply straightens out his breastplate, which is such an adorable moment between them my heart is going to shatter into a million pieces.

She then proceeds to tell him ‘you don’t even know how you fit into all this’ , basically saying ‘you don’t know how powerful you are’, but Annabeth is being wise.

She knows there is no point in telling Percy how awesome he could be. She believes in him and knows he needs discover his awesomeness on his own.

(I am currently re-reading The House of Hades, about half-ways trough.

Thus seeing cute Percy and Annabeth moments soothes by bleeding heart.

If you know you know, not gonna spoil an ancient book, ahahahha. )

- Yankees’ cap!!! (I know i am way too easily excited to see stuff from the book, but I was a Percy Jackson fan when the first movie came out and i still carry that damage, so cut me so slack)

- Game on! And she absolutely believes in him and never says anything demeaning, that is so awesome.

There is a trend in modern cinema to show characters’ badassness and awesomeness by having them be demeaning and rude to their companions.

This has been around for a while where the guy who was the best at everything was just allowed to be awful to everybody because of it.

Recent it has infected movies with female leads, as if the only way a woman can be portrayed as strong and capable is by being a bully to lesser men around her.

I love what they did with Annabeth here.

She is spectacular, she’s got a great plan, she knows it, she doesn’t have to repeat it.

But she does not need to be compared to Percy to be amazing, she simply is.

She also has faith in Percy and is supportive of him, without being patronising or feeling the need to over-explain.

She is confident he will know what to do when the time comes and believes honestly he will do well.

She does not tell him what to do because she is sure he will know when the time comes and that is a smart way to teach him a lesson about having faith in himself;

- Luke is so awesome, they nailed him! His faith in Annabeth and the way he says ‘Percy’s on it’ with no doubt whatsoever… i am loving it all;

- Percy is authentically adhd, this shit is so relatable 🤣

Petting that lizard is such a banger thing to do, i mean…

- It did not happen in the books like this, but these are such Percy moments, i cannot even 🤣 the main actor was a top choice;

- Closing your eyes and touching leafs or rocks is something I also absolutely love doing, Percy knows what’s on;

- Clarisse’s spear looks nifty as heck.

While I did complain that she needs to be bigger, Dior is perfect in this role. The casting generally is great so far.

She does portray the big bully energy really well;

- I have enjoyed the fight, although wasn’t Percy only supposed to get his power up after he touched the water? (I most honestly don’t remember)

Here it seems the presence of the river so close was enough and I must agree that it does look awesome when he suddenly begins fighting properly;

- And he falls into the water, heals up and is claimed by Poseidon. Precious!

- I am loving the Poseidon cabin vibes, it is just like the ocean. Beautiful and charming, but eerie and mysterious;

- I do not understand why they had to change it from Percy taking the quest immediately with the hidden idea of saving his mother, to his blatantly refusing the quest, only to have Grover tell him Sally can be saved to sway him to go anyways.

I think this was somewhat of a weird choice, but maybe it will matter later on, who knows.

It does fix up the rift between Grover and Percy with the whole Grover lying and getting him expelled situation, but that wasn’t really in the book at all, so…

I guess they wanted to try and not copy the book word for word, but Percy refusing the quest so harshly out of self preservation we have already established he doesn’t have much of seems a little out of character.

Maybe they are trying to emphasise that he would do anything to save his mom, but even without that, Percy would still have agreed to save the world and all, that’s his whole point.

And he did go with the idea of saving his mother in the book, he just didn't Grover to tell him it was possible, he simply refused to accept his mother was dead and was set on getting her back.

He is not a reluctant hero, he marches head first into danger, risks his life to save the world all the time and eats reality shattering prophecies for breakfast. (If you know you know ;)) )

I guess it doesn’t matter all that much.

In the book and the show he agreed to go on a quest in great part because he thought he could to save his mother, it was just presented differently. But I do feel once again they are diminishing Percy’s badassery.

This sweet and wonderful child doesn't need anybody's permission or reassurance, he simply though: 'Wow, there is my opportunity to go to the underworld, my mother must be there, to hell with Hades, I will make him give her back!"

He basically thought she was dead and still planned on getting her back anyways!!!

As we have seem during the duel with the Minotaur, when given proper motivation (or simply when pissed off and/or desperate enough) Percy is absolutely unhinged.

He takes no shits from anyone, god, monster, or whatever else.

It just feels a bit weird to see Percy Jackson yelling ‘no’ to a quest.

And feels like Percy's determination and intelligence are diminished because he did not come upon the idea of saving Sally on his own.

- Also, since when does Percy have a sense of self-preservation, aahahaha he could have really used a bit more of that in the books

Overall 7/10 so far

One point off for the removal of Percy's grand refusal to accept death and his brilliant sneaky plan to attempt bringing his mother back from the underworld while the quest for the Masterbolt provides a valid reason to go there. Seriously, this was perfectly devious in the books. He kept the idea to himself and simply nursed a plan to basically bring his mother back from the dead all on his own.

One point off for Luke’s scar being tiny. Everything else appearance wise is not important cause the actors are great. But not giving Luke the proper huge scar is a cosmetic decision that I do not condone

And one extra point off for Gabe saying please and having redeeming human features, as well as Sally actually wanting to watch the game with him, I could not imagine she would have ever wanted to do anything with Smelly Gabe, no no no no no

All in all, this is great so far, I need more with urgency.

Thank you for reading this much 💚

[livvyofthelake]

ok! sidequest from january complete! i am right now the world's biggest expert on the lightning thief and i will no longer be this person in three days when it all leaves my brain so let's get into it now. i reread the book (have not opened it since eighth grade, also i started it in january made it halfway through and this week had to go back to the beginning because i forgot it all), watched the show (ok. i watched 6 episodes as they came out and then didn't do anything until last week), and rewatched the movie with fresh eyes. and i have to say it's good i didn't finish this in january, that wasn't the right time for this... i was being kind of a hater then. or at least. i wasn't being a forgiver. this time around i feel like i was in the best place imaginable to devote my time to this franchise i ordinarily don't care about. like i was very forgiving and loving and viewing it with a lot of fondness... i didn't even do that back in april when i read the nico book damn. couldn't even extend the fondness to my favorite guy.... that's not even true i think my favorite guy in this franchise is annabeth i just used to think it was nico back in the day because i think after pjo i didn't consider her a real character due to her being so entrenched in the mythos of the series. idk. i was weird about picking favorite characters back then i never thought i could pick a main one. idk. let's not dwell on the trenches of ages 12-15. do not worry about how that line of thinking impacted my relationship with tsc we aren't getting into that weirdness rn

ok so now i'd like to go through everything about the lightning thief (yes, specifically only the lightning thief. i'm not reading the other ones and i'm not watching that second movie...) and talk about which version i liked best and the pros and cos of everything <3 stay tuned if you want to read a longgggg ass post! if not. well gtfo damn

if you can believe it i’m actually about to be a movie hater and a show apologist. i know like. how bad is my life rn that it’s come to this. anyway. let's get into it....

characters:

percy- i'm gonna say the best percy is book percy. i mean naturally he’d be best in the book it’s his book he’s the narrator and protagonist and we all loved him in middle school!! and i think the show version of him definitely stayed truer to a lot of what makes the book charming and loveable, but i also think the movie version kept much of the character’s spirit alive too, just in an older way. i do think his age plays a role in the character and while i don’t think aging everyone up for the movie was a BAD choice i definitely think it was an impactful choice that changed a lot about the nature of the story in many ways we can get into later if we remember

annabeth- show. by like. miles and leagues and lightyears. the way leah sava jeffries DEVOURED that role and left no crumbs is utterly insane. that girl is a future academy award winner. she’s a future egot even. if she wants to do theater. she’s like. a once in a lifetime talent and i really believe this. have you ever heard the ways she can devour the single word “yes”? if not you couldn’t possibly hope to understand how hard she slays. anyway i like show annabeth best because the show diverges from the book and movie’s single perspective and kind of opens it up as an ensemble narrative, so she gets her own scenes that aren’t being seen through percy’s eyes, which REALLY adds nuances and depth to her that she doesn’t always have in this franchise. i know she has povs in heroes of olympus i was there. i am currently talking specifically about the lightning thief though. and the thing about annabeth in the lightning thief is that she is weird... she's such a little weirdo.... she's stalking percy around camp because she wants so desperately for him to be the one that can take her on a quest and she wants sooo bad to go on a quest and prove herself.... the movie gave almost none of her freak tendencies it's a tragedy... the way that girl acted in the movie was NOT a proper display of the qualities that landed her in the timeless video..... and leah i look forward to seeing YOUR freak ass in the 2026 remade timeless video <3

grover- i’m gonna say movie because i think he’s funniest in the movie. but show is a close second because in the show he’s sooooo sweet and adorable and it makes you go awwww groverrrrr… and he has those big brown eyes and big smile and you’re just like ohhh he’s just a baby…. actually i think it’s a tie between movie and show because both of those qualities are equally important to the character

luke- show. there is something about jake abel’s performance in the movie that makes me want to punch him in the face soooo bad. and when i was rereading the book i sort of realized like. wait we actually are supposed to like this guy and sympathize with him without him being an annoying Popular Guy… and charlie bushnell’s performance in the show really gave that in a delightful way i didn’t appreciate when i tried watching the show before rereading the book. the show really does give you a sense of his conflict between really truly caring about the trio and his ultimate moves against them. i think letting annabeth be there at the Reveal that he framed percy for stealing the lightning bolt was a crazy decision that went HARD. like. she’s his sister… he would always be on her side… until he wasn’t…. it was crazy you had to be there i think

chiron- i’m gonna go with movie. because i think in the book he’s forgettable and in the show he’s forgettable (sorry but. i watched it two days ago and i don’t remember a single thing he did or said) and in the movie he was pierce brosnan. as a centaur. what if sam mamma mia was. a centaur….

medusa- i know they want me to love the show version. like ok yes she slayed she ate i enjoyed how they changed the story there it was kinda cool it kinda gave hansel and gretel in the witch’s house. but i HAVE to give it to uma thurman let’s all be fucking real here. also. percy pulling out his ipod touch as a mirror… well that’s cinema. unbeatable.

echidna- was not in the movie because the movie swaps out the st. louis arch for the nashville parthenon. but i am going with show. because that shit was Crazy. i’ll get into it in the Events section of the post

hades- book. the movie makes him The Villain for easy film storytelling reasons which kinda sucks but from a movie adaptation perspective makes sense but still kind of pisses me off. and in the show he felt insanely underwhelming idk

persephone- ONLY appears in the movie. and i’m including her here to complain about something very specific. the reason she was not there in the book or show. is because this story takes place in the weeks before THE SUMMER SOLSTICE. persephone. would not BE. in the UNDERWORLD. on the SUMMER. SOLSTICE. i never even realized this about the movie until this week i’m hardly a greek mythology expert ok i wasn’t thinking about it that much. but now that the book reminded me i’m like. now why did the movie include persephone. on the summer. solstice. like one of her most main things is that she would not be there. probably her most main thing actually. that’s crazy.... like who was on that. who did that....

poseidon- gonna go with. book. show version didn’t Give anything... he was legit just some guy. i think i feel this way about all the gods in the show. except maybe hermes because well crucially that WAS lin manuel miranda… and i don’t like him in the movie because a) that’s literally just owen grey’s anatomy my mortal enemy owen hunt. and b) the movie decided to portray the vibe as like. poseidon wanted to raise percy and stay with his mother but couldn’t? which. well no he did not actually. and trying to make percy this. One Exception to the idea of gods not caring about their kids and making sally the exception to gods not really long term loving the people they have children with. it’s just ridiculous to me. percy isn’t an exception because his dad loved him he’s an exception because his mom is awesome. and sally does not give a fuck that poseidon didn’t like. marry her or whatever. idk. i just don’t care for the way the movie handles that i never have

zeus- gives nothing to me in all versions. peace on earth.

last on the list but first in my heart. the one and only sally jackson- SHOW. by leaps and bounds. i can’t get too into it but she’s SO AWESOME in there… she’s SO COOL. she gave jocelyn fairchild in many ways… she taught percy about greek mythology because he would need to know this someday... she raised him to be ready for the storm....

events:

minotaur- show. this is so tied to how much i loved sally in the show. literally hold fast and brave the storm…. i'm gonna cry again

capture the flag- show. let’s be serious the movie’s version of it was dumb and FILLED with so many bad annabeth moments…. i watch her in the beginning of this movie and i go wow she would not say that! she wanted him on HER team…. she wouldn’t cut him with a sword… also. what i like about the show version is that AFTER they won was when annabeth just. shoved his ass in the water like um sorry has to be done! and it was real

starting the quest- show…. i loved when chiron was like i've assembled all these cool potential kids you could select :) and percy didn't even listen to their names he just said um i want annabeth please! but he wasn't that polite he straight up just said her name no fuss about it he said i want this freak on my team. and my bestie grover <3 and grover wasn't even like an option percy just wanted him on his quest soooo bad... because they're best friends btw if you haven't heard!

medusa- MOVIE. next

st. louis arch- show… the way annabeth volunteers to fight off the chimera and percy does that thing where he pretends to let her and hands her his sword but then uses the sword to pull himself into where she's standing and push her back into the stairs to get out... that was crazy stuff! also i loved the part about them going to the arch not just because annabeth was obsessed with architecture but because the arch was a temple to athena. like i think that gave such a cool opportunity to give annabeth some character moments and showcase her relationship with her mother, the way athena allowed the chimera to attack because she was mad at annabeth for letting percy send medusa's head to olympus... damn these gods are bad parents!

water park- SHOWWWWWW NO QUESTION. i never gave a fuck about the spider shit they did in the book that was all lame but the way they changed it for the show slayed the house downnnn omg.... percy getting trapped in that golden chair so annabeth can get ares' shield, instead of taking the shield back she tries to get him out until hephaestus himself comes out and tries to make her give up...and then her speech to him was sooo excellent it was so ANNABETH it was so thesis statement on her and percy's dynamic it was so good.... "it isn't how it should be! it isn't! eat or be eaten, power and glory and nothing else matters! ares is that way, zeus is that way, my mother is that way.... he isn't that way..." she doesn't want to do this quest the gods way! she wants to save her friends! god guys it was so fucking good....

lotus casino- just going with book here. underdog pick i know. i just don’t want to involve myself in the discourse that WAS happening in january. i was there on tiktok it was annoying as hell i’m removing myself from the narrative. i will say that in a sense, levitating by dua lipa is kind of the poker face of our time. in a sense.

underworld- book. we are at a point in this post where i don't care enough to really write a paragraph on the parts that don't interest me as much. so. yeah

the pearls- ok. the thing the movie did with the pearls was make them the whole plot. they went to medusa’s place and the nashville parthenon and the lotus casino to get the pearls to escape the underworld. but the whole deal with the movie is that there wasn’t a Quest like the books they were going rogue to save percy’s mom. so why did they never question that they were looking for three pearls to ultimately get four people out of the underworld? like. come on guys you’re not this stupid… and in the book and show the pearls were given to percy by that water lady. but in the show she gave him 4 and then they lost one which i thought was stupid like couldn’t we have just done it how it happened in the book where he was only given three and had to leave his mom behind trusting that once he found hades helm he’d let her go? anyway. whatever. book

fight with ares- pretty much all the same. only notable difference between the book and the show is that the book leaned way more into the “percy is a fugitive” thing than the show ever did so the fight had spectators in the book. which worked for the book but i do think in the show would have gotten too complicated in many ways

olympus- book. actually idk. all versions are kinda the same deal who cares

luke betrayal- show! in the book he just takes percy out to the forest and sets a monster scorpion on him… lame! in the show he pulls out a sword and fights him himself… which i decided was better than the movie ONLY because i liked show luke better than movie luke. but the final fight in the movie is sick too

ending- i think. they are equally good. the movie doesn’t conclude at the end of summer like the others so it’s ending is more. not ambiguous. but like. less conclusive? the movie ends after they return the lightning bolt not at the end of the summer so it never has the part where percy has to decide to stay at camp or live with his mom. but the movie does lowkey imply he's staying at camp. which is crazy i mean he loves his mom.... anyway. it's still a good movie ending. between the book and the show there's not much difference actually.

in conclusion, i don't have a favorite but i will say i'm probably not gonna read the book again while i might rewatch the show. and i have already seen the movie many times. so if you wanna evaluate based on that metric there it is. i don't have an opinion on which is the Best because adaptations are complicated and these are three different mediums. i think it's a great middle grade book, a good 2010 ass movie, and a sort of middling tv show. i know i favored the show for a lot of things up there but ultimately it's just not a great tv show. it's a streaming service original that gave the author of the book and his most annoying and rabid fans too much say in the adaptation process. it's a really faithful adaptation. and we got a bunch of really good tiktok edits out of it. but is it a good television show? no.... i mean if you want to feel like you're watching the book it's good for that but it you want to watch a great tv show it's not the vibe. you understand!

i'll leave you with this sick edit for right now <3

[nikki-is-a-nerd]

Since The Percy Jackson s1 is done, i can now write my overall experience with it. Mind you i only read the first book of PJO because I couldn’t afford the books and because goddamn borrowing it from the university library was like a pack of coyotes seeing a slab of meat after 15 years of starvation.

(Side note: i once got scratched in the face by a girl who wanted to read Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, when i was gonna borrow the book for a second time. I learned it was better to just buy the books one by one per year.)

So i fully enjoyed the series. Regardless of how a lot of people have been calling it shit or a disgrace to the books. Like I appreciate how Uncle Rick managed to retell his own story, see it come to life, in a way that he wants. I appreciate Sally Jackson having a bigger impact to how Percy is as a person and as a character.

Yes, i too was shocked with the grover snitch scene in ep 1, then I thought about it, it made sense. Grover is my favorite character and i would like to say that the movie version of Grover made me feel uneasy but this version of grover, he made me long for that kind of friendship. I also love how Grover unlike in the movies, isn’t comic relief. You see his emotional struggles. You see him grow from “we have to keep the peace, let’s all be kind” to then showing us that he’s more than that. He is smart, cunning, manipulative if need be. He is also brave and he carries so much emotional baggage. The fact that he expresses rage about certain things, makes him feel more human to me. By giving him so much depth, by casting Aryan Simhadri, his depiction of grover would make book grover very proud.

Annabeth is also really really amazing in my eyes. Seeing a child give off an air of “i know things that you don’t” like an adult is so cool. Seeing her grow from “the gods are just and they have their reasons” to “The gods have flaws and they make mistakes, but i will be better than that” is very tear jerking. It helped me see Annabeth in those moments as a child who didn’t get to experience a proper childhood finally see what its like to be loved without having to give anything in return. Leah Sava Jeffries, shows emotions so well. Her posture changes depending on how she feels. She slouches a bit when she’s dejected or upset and is more poised when she’s feeling the most confident. Her eyes carry so much emotion in scenes where she doesn’t speak. She’s a lovely actress.

Percy, gods where do i even begin. Walker first off, played this character so well! You see how he’s feeling through his eyes, his face is so expressive and i love it. Percy also gets my mom approval card (which means my mom also loves his character). The way they show him to be loyal, caring, empathetic but also he’s just a child so you understand why he acts the way he acts. People complained about how percy wasn’t fighting like a pro, but i think that’s what makes it great. Percy is new, he’s learning as he goes, when we finally see Walker Portray the Percy that we all know, we can look back at s1 and we’ll see that truly, Percy has grown in skill. Also im always gonna sob over the fact that his scenes where he chooses to sacrifice himself for his friends, he always implies how he isn’t enough, we see how he sees himself and that hurts. Percy’s sass and humor though are also such highlights. I would love to see more of walker’s percy too.

Now honorable mention to my favorite backstabbing, pretty boy, luke. I love how he is such a good actor. Watching him play luke kinda immersed me in the moment, i forgot that this kind ,young man is the antagonist. Because when he played luke when we first saw him, i too wouldn’t be able to think that this guy, he can be cruel. But he delivers so much rage, so much resentment in his scene with percy in the finale. The way charlie acted in that scene, gods, i was shocked. I truly believe watching him and his character’s descent to something more is gonna be a rollercoaster ride of emotions.

The show in itself is really really good. Yes there are odd sudden black screens, but I don’t mind them. I don’t mind the changes, i just think that the episodes could be a bit longer. The story is captivating even with those changes, i love how Uncle Rick got the chance to give us an adaptation that isn’t an exact copy of the book, because i believe that a good adaptation doesn’t need to be a scene per scene copy, because if that’s what y’all wanted, listen to an audio book where people act out the scenes. Think of it this way, the book and the show are just two separate universes. Like how we have the MCU and the Marvel Comics. Same characters but different continuums.

People tend to find the negatives before they see the positives, its how we’re mostly wired. If we look past them, you’ll see that there are things that are better.

I would definitely be excited for a s2

[violencewithwings]

January 2024 reading wrap-up

If you’ll notice, I read very few books this month (especially compared to December, but even compared to my usual 6 books minimum a month). I am currently in the throes and insanity of first love, so I might not read much for the first few months of this year. I do miss reading, but how am I supposed to fall in love with book men when I have a gorgeous, sweet man right in front of me?

Books read ˋ°•*⁀➷ 4

Books DNFed ˋ°•*⁀➷ 0

Five-star books ˋ°•*⁀➷ 4

Fourth Wing (reread) - Rebecca Yarros

January 11th, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I’ve been anticipating this reread for a while. I couldn’t wait to be re-immersed in the world and see how differently the book read after reading Iron Flame. I was not disappointed, and in fact, I gave this book a higher star rating than I did on my first read. This world is very easy to get obsessed with and immersed in, and I still love Violet’s character so much. Rereading this book also made me appreciate Xaden’s intimidating front so much more than I did originally. I was able to fully sink into the present in the book instead of worry about what was coming, and I really enjoyed it.

Rereading the end of this book made me realize that most of the issues people complain about “popping up” in the second book (aka Violet and Xaden arguing) actually started at the end of the first book pretty much as soon as they got into a relationship. This shifted my perspective of the second book quite a bit, honestly. This was also the first book I tabbed as I read as well, so it was a new and fun experience for me. I can’t wait to read the next book.

The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan

January 21st, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

So, fun fact: this was my best friend’s favorite series when we were in elementary and middle school, but I had serious anxiety as a kid and couldn’t read anything more tense than Amelia Bedilia until I was about thirteen. I tried reading this series about four years ago but it kind of bored me? Reading it now, I’m completely unsure why, but I digress. Me and my brothers are watching the show, and being in my reading era, I decided I wanted to read the books too, and now the four of us are reading the books together as well 😆

This book was so much fun. Percy’s inner monologue took a little bit of time to get used to since I’m used to reading books from the perspective of teenage girls and adult women, but he was a very fun character to follow. I’ve always loved Greek Mythology, so getting to read a modern book with the gods was very intriguing. I thought the world was very immersive and the characters were fun. I can’t wait to see how this story progresses over the next few books.

On a side note: I can’t imagine Percy as anything other than Walker with his curly blond hair and blue eyes. Annabeth was a bit harder since Percy describes her so often in the books, but she’s kind of just a blurry haze in my head 😂

The Sea of Monsters - Rick Riordan

January 24th, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you’d told me I was going to be eating up a middle grade book series this year, I’d have laughed in your face. This book was so good. Tyson has to be my favorite character in the whole series so far. He’s so adorable 😭

This book, like most middle grade books, was slightly predictable. It doesn’t help that I’ve gotten probably at least one spoiler for each book, but that didn’t make the reading of it any less fun. Percy and Annabeth’s relationship is progressing a bit, and I love to see it. They trust each other a bit more in each book.

One thing I really loved about this book is that it was only 280 pages 😆 I needed a short read tonight that I could wrap up before I went to bed, and this delivered! I’m chomping at the bit to read the next book, but alas, it’s still on hold at the library. I’ll get my hands on it soon enough…

Destroy the Day - Brigid Kenmerer

January 29th, ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book was everything and more I wanted out of a final book in this series…I mean…COME ON! For one, I LOVE Harristan, and we got a whole lot more of him in this book. I was eating those chapters UP!

Corrick and Lochlan had a lovely bonding in this book after being at odds with each other for the entire series, so that was nice! I really appreciate that they were able to get over their hatred for each other eventually and become really close friends 😭 the last chapter with them at the end is so near and dear to my heart, you don’t understand.

I won’t get into the nitty gritty of this plot because that was on the back burner in this story. What I LOVED about this book was the romance Harristan got. He and the person he ended up with were two characters I had been hoping something would happen between for a while and then out of nowhere - it happened! I squealed when they kissed for the first time. I’m so glad they got their happily ever after because that is truly all I ever wanted for them <3

I love this book. Read this series, I promise it’s good.

[the-pjo-analyst]

The Lightning Thief Summary

Here I was thinking I'd finish editing this today and still have plenty of time before the show airs and then they release the episodes early sjkdfhsdkfh

Anyway over a year later and it's done! Thank you for everyone who's been patient with my posts despite taking so long to finish. I'll put a pause on my book analyses so I can focus on reading the Trials of Apollo (I never finished the series,,,,,) so I can finally read all the new content we got this year! Maybe I'll make live posts as I read 👀 I kinda want to make posts about the tv show when it airs too.... we'll see :D

Until then, here's a summary of the first book:

Themes

The concept of home In terms of a physical place, Camp Half-Blood is the biggest example of this, as a sanctuary for demigods who struggle to survive and fit in in the regular world. I find it interesting how in every book something threatens the existence of CHB as a safe place. In this case it's something small, the hellhound that Luke brought in. Luke even says he did it so Chiron would believe camp wasn't safe and send Percy off on a quest. Each threat progressively gets worse, which forces the demigods to go on quests to either directly or indirectly save/help their home. There's also people as a place to call home, like how Sally is to Percy. Funny enough the motif of demigods going on quests to protect their home also applies to here because Percy doesn't accept his quest to save CHB, he does it to save his mom, the only person at that point he felt at home with. Because brain is hardwired to think about percabeth all the time I'll put this out in the open: Percy and Annabeth stand on opposite ends of the "what is home" spectrum at the beginning, Percy's being a person and Annabeth's being a place, and then they kinda switch with Percy finding a home at CHB and Annabeth learning to call her mortal family home. But haha psyche it's actually them growing to call each other home. Like when Percy is on the fence whether to stay at camp for the year or not, a major reason he decides against it is bc Annabeth won't be there. And then Annabeth would never have considered living with her dad again is Percy didn't encourage her.

Supporting others and having support from loved ones This pops up a lot in the book and it's an important driving force for a lot of the characters: Percy having a loving mother, the trio having each other's backs throughout their quest, the trio supporting each other's goals, even Poseidon watching over Percy. When they're at their lowest, when they think about giving up, they all had someone who picked them back up, someone who eased the pain a little, and that helped them keep going and lift them up. On the topic of Percy vs Luke, this is a major point that distinguishes the two as heroes. Percy has a support system that he can fall back to when he makes mistakes or bad things happen to him while Luke doesn't, not really. Although it's hard to tell from Percy's pov whether Luke had any close friends or not, it doesn't seem like he had anyone to confide in (at least after Thalia). He's left to stew in his negative emotions, another reason why he was so easy to be manipulated.

Identity Maybe too early to really talk about this, but the first book introduces this idea of how characters identify themselves, and especially who they identify with. Demigods being categorized demigods by their godly parent and also them choosing whether to identify by that or not. On the flip side, demigods feeling lost or not seen when they either aren't claimed or don't have a cabin to truly call theirs. There's also Annabeth who practically grew up in this system and internalized it, and came to find there's more to the world than just who your godly parent is. And Percy on the opposite side again lmao, who considers himself Sally Jackson's son first and foremost, and then learns to accept Poseidon in his life in whatever form it entails.

Worship of the gods and broken systems Probably the most important theme to the plot line of the series. I talked a lot about this in terms of Percy vs Luke for my ch 21 and 22 posts, essentially how demigods' over-reliance on the gods breeds a flawed and defective system. A subtheme for this is the gods and responsibility: who gets blamed for the actions of the gods? are the gods obligated to claim and acknowledge their children? I think what makes Percy the perfect Child of the Prophecy is that he has never relied on the gods as omniscient and almighty beings to give him what he needs, he instead relies on his own power, and that allows him to work with the gods to create change in future books. He never had a moment where he worshiped the gods and also never had a moment of disillusionment bc he was immediately thrust into a situation that revealed out broken the system was as soon as he was brought into the world of immortals. He sees the gods and their world as they are, both the good and the bad.

Characters

Percy: I'll just summarize his core qualities since I talk too much about this kid 😂: Percy is strong-minded and doesn’t back down easily, he has high integrity, he’s incredibly loyal to his friends and stands up for them, he heavily relies on his instincts and is impulsive, he's also very street-smart! he's impertinent lol and doesn't take well to authority if he feels it isn’t deserving or fair, he loves loves loves his mom, he always fights to protect, he has an incredibly low self-esteem and desires others to see beyond the trouble that follows him, he doesn't like "bothering" people with his problems. His sass and spite probably formed as a defense mechanism against his low self-esteem and the abusive environment he grew up in. It's interesting reading the book while fully looking at Percy's characteristics in terms of how growing up with Gabe affected him. For example, if he had a stable home, would his self esteem be as low as it is?

This pops up at the end and becomes hugely important in the later books, but Percy tends to take on responsibilities way too personally and they tend to become fixations. After Luke's betrayal, Percy is like I have to go find him and I can't just sit around while Luke is planning to destroy the world. He's like,,,, proactive to a fault.

Traits he probably gets as a child of Poseidon bc I love discussions that try to pinpoint this: the inability regulate strong emotions, like his temper; his brooding expression that gives him the air of a troublemaker and loose canon; his difficultly in following the rules; obv his love of beaches too.

Annabeth: As I've said before, Annabeth makes a good foil for Percy as the logical and book-smart person to Percy's heavy emotions and instincts. She's introduced as someone who's opposing to Percy in almost every way: someone who's entire world is her godly parent and the immortal world, who relies on her brain first before anything else, who's a bit manipulative, who's very confident in her abilities. But they also have some similarities: where Annabeth has faced lots of abandonment and Percy has faced a lot of rejection, and from these experiences they both have come to desire acknowledgement of their worth and the good in them. And they come to find these things in each other. It's also important to note how they learn from one another on their quest, like Percy starting to form strategies in his battles and Annabeth finding that the immortal world isn't everything.

Annabeth's aspirations and fatal flaw are very much tied together, since she's learned growing up that she can only rely on herself to do things right, plus having incredible pride as a child of Athena, led to her developing hubris. And it goes hand-in-hand with her desire for something permanent since she's never had something stable prior to arriving at camp. Her dream to be an architect allows her to both create something that will last eternity and make her stamp on the world.

Grover: The growth for Grover is a little less prominent compared to Percy and Annabeth. He's introduced as being meek with low-confidence but he has Big Dreams for that Tiny Body. It's really because he has Percy and Annabeth that he's able to grow and gain more confidence in himself, without them his aspirations would just be a pipe dream (I'm sorry I made an accidental pun lol). Grover rises to the occasion because he has people who believe in him and frequently tell him so and he also wants to meet those expectations. And that support takes physical form at the end of the book, both with Grover gaining his searcher license and him getting a growth spurt. You can see with your eyes how much he's matured, filling into the shoes of the person he wants to be in a literal sense.

Luke: Whereas Annabeth is different from Percy in every way but the ones that really matter, Luke is similar to Percy in every aspect except ones that really matter. He's a very caring and supportive person, so much so that he takes Percy under his wing when no one else does when Percy arrives at camp. He sees a broken system in the immortal world and wants something better for demigods. And yet he's also incredibly selfish, he leans more into putting himself and his desires first before anything else. He had relied too much on the gods to fix and provide everything and becomes bitter when that doesn't happen. Despite being a source of support for others, he doesn't have that for himself. And because of these differences, Luke is way more susceptible to Kronos' influence than Percy is. Kronos can offer glory and power and self gratification, and where Percy would refuse because it goes against his morals and who he is (someone who thinks about others before himself), Luke is more likely to be swayed.

Honestly Luke seems like a "what if" in comparison to Percy. What if Percy lost his mom? What if he was left at camp when he was younger? What if Percy never found a support system? All the examples I'm thinking of boil down to Percy having a parental figure that guides him and teaches him important lessons, while Luke doesn't lmao.

There's two sides in Luke, love vs anger, kindness vs selfishness, gods vs titans, celestial bronze vs steel, and this conflict appears frequently throughout the series. I want to see what moments this conflict shows itself in the later books!

Other things to keep in mind for the series when I continue reading and other notes:

Does Percy have claustrophobia? Or does it only show up at St Louis lol

The parallels between Percy and Luke

Ways Percy and Annabeth get closer and learn from one another

[B2 Summary]

[femmesandhoney]

Hey, I saw you mentioned the Thalia casting for the pjo show. I’ve never seen anyone else on radblr mention pjo, so I was very excited to see I’m not the only one who likes it! I’m more of a crypto/lurker here, but I thought I’d say hi anyway!

I think they cast a great Thalia, and I’m excited to see what Tamara Smart will bring to the character, especially when they get to season three. Idk about you, but I think the casting thus far for most of the characters has been spot on, and specifically the main trio are phenomenal and perfect for their roles! But I think the writers made so many mistakes with things they changed in season one, so I’m not super optimistic I’ll be thrilled with any plot changes they make to season two.

Sorry if this is a bit awkward, but I just wanted to say hi and get your thoughts about the show and pjo in general, because I’ve never seen anyone else in this corner of tumblr mention it before :)

The casting for the show is hands down the best part of it, every character nails their roles. In particular, me and my best friend agreed Grover (Aryan) was actually the standout of the main trio so far. So excited to see how Tamara portrays Thalia next especially, since shes so important. Absolutely fantastic performances all around tho! I think about Clarisse in episode two when she screams after Percy breaks her lance all the time, it was soooo freaking chilling, just small things that show the entire cast is making up for any weaknesses the writing had in season one lol. There were def things they changed or left out that weren't my fav, but still held enough spirit of pjo for me to relax and hold out hope for future seasons. I believe I read that the writers took note of the season one critiques, so fingers crossed some of the pacing is fixed and hopefully (major hope) more episodes or longer episode lengths for the next season pleasssseeeee that would fix most of the issues people had!

But I won't lie the show adding some new scenes was super fun and fresh of them, like the chair in the tunnel of love where Walker and Leah acted their butts off and had me and my best friend in complete shock as we watched. Or the scenes w Ares and Grover! That was so freaking fun and a cool way to develop Grovers char more. So I do like the changes the writers have made, but sometimes their lack of inclusion of stuff is where it gets tricky and upsetting for future plot points.

I've been a pjo fan since it was the book series that actually made me fall in love w reading as a kid. Fun fact, i borrowed my friends sea of monsters book while he read the lightning thief, and I loved it so much that i devoured the next four books, and ended up reading the lightning thief last! its just that good of a series lol, so fun and engaging especially as a young kid diving into the world. so its super nostalgic for me, but admittedly my bestie is the one who remembers the books far better than me. she'd be like oh this is that monster or oh they left this out and i was like what 💀?? oh right! i gotta do a speed reread or something lmao, but im glad the show was well received and hopefully inspires more kids to pick up the books and enjoy reading.

I read all the classic YA books as a kid so truly I have an opinion on mostly all of them except a select few, but I also read these things in like middle school so they're not as fresh in my mind so if you want more specific opinions you can ask lol, but hopefully this was an enjoyable ramble

[theamazingmaddyas]

I'm writing one of the companion fics for This Family Makes Me Want to Murder People and the fact that The Lightning Thief Musical exists in this fic universe came up again (the first time being karaoke of course, with Austin's reindition of Another Terrible Day) which makes me think of the implication that the book series (or at least The Lightning Thief) must exist in order for the musical adaptation to, in turn, exist. So, this is my little headcanon on how this works:

Percy is, obvious, the author of the first five books. He wrote them during the school year following the adventure (ex:// TLT was written during 7th grade, SOM during first half of 8th, TTC during second half of 8th etc etc.) with help from Sally, and later on, Paul (one of whom is an author and the second of whom is an English teacher, so it works). If you read Rick Riordan's author notes, he's described as the senior scribe of CHB and later CJ when Greeks and Romans are aware of the other's existance, so it would make sense that he would get the manuscript and publish it as a work of fiction. If Percy had published it under his own name, that could, in theory, serve as a problem for camp and the integrity of it. So, it makes sense to put a name with no attachments on the front (however, if we take Rick as a senior scribe, then he must visit camp often enough and just cut himself out from the script, or tell Percy to pretend he doesn't know him, to keep this "fictional" facade up). (This does leave the implication that Rick, in this universe, is a demigod or legacy, because while Rachel has gone to camp as a mortal, it is described as too uncommon) (My bet is one of the muses' kids—my guess would be Calliope)

Heroes of Olympus, in this in-universe hc, is written in 3rd person POV because the Seven, Nico, and Reyna collectively decided it would be easier to comprehend then leaving the readers trying to grasp and remember which character is the "I" at that part. However, it would be possible that each character wrote their entire POV out in first person, and let Rick change the POVs and cut and paste sections in. The only way I can think that this would be able to be published in a timely manner is if each character had a diary that they wrote in consistantly so they didn't fall behind (however, Percy and Annabeth probably wrote their HOH bit post-Tartarus because obviously)

Trials of Apollo is obviously written by Apollo, given to Rick to polish up and publish.

As for TKC and MCGA, Rick would have to be somehow connected to the Magicians, maybe Becky here is blood of the pharoahs, and Annabeth could've asked for Magnus.

I'd like to say the movie's don't exist for my sanity, but also it would be so funny if they did, and the demigods watch it to make fun of it.

And the TV show exists too, of course.

As for timeline? If Rick doesn't have a cohesive timeline, I don't either. So there we have it!

[alexalessandro]

I’ve been re-reading The Lightning Thief and I just gotta say it somewhere before I explode.

I think the series is going to be 10 times BETTER than the book.

There is so much that is irking me on a re-read that was fixed or better in the TV series.

I hate Grover’s wet cat characterization, it feels trope-y and weird and bad and if TV Grover acted like the book Grover in the first chapters of the lightning thief I’m pretty sure we would effin hate him.

I hate Sally’s characterization in the book, it makes no sense. “I’m sorry Percy I was selfish, I just wanted to keep you with me for as long as possible instead of sending you to camp”

Huh?

Girly this guy spent most of his life in boarding school after boarding school, you rarely see his ass what are we talking about? Also how tf was smelly Gabe supposed to cover him all the way out at Yancy??? Is his smell Bluetooth compatible?

I love the new characterization of Sally AND Gabe, the only reason why Gabe was at all “scary” in the book is because Sally is a wet cat and I hate that characterization of her, it doesn’t solicit any empathy in me especially since her actions don’t make sense. How am I supposed to empathize when I can’t even understand her and when I can poke immediate blaring holes in the stuff the book is selling me?

I also hate Mr.D in the book, I know we’re trying to show that the gods are assholes but I think the way the tv series is doing it by having them be detached distanced assholes that only care about their kids when they can do shit for them is 100% more compelling. I’m sorry but in the first few chapters, Mr. D is even worse than Gabe.

I also hate the exposition in the book about how “the Gods follow the western flame” Oh okay American exceptionalism stfu, I think it’s way better to leave it as a soft unspoken “eh it was written by Americans” than what the books give us.

5 chapters in and I keep thinking “damn I wish I was watching the series instead”, “this is so much better in the tv series”, “damn I hate x character's characterization it’s way better in the TV series”

Another thing that I’m silently grateful for in the TV series is how disability isn’t a smokescreen for great mythological powers anymore.

Grover’s legs are covered by the mist, he’s a healthy satyr so he appears a healthy human (like I’m sorry you’re telling me the mist can erase the existence of an entire person, Mrs. Dodds, from everyone’s minds but satyr's legs are too much?), and Chiron has a brace in his Centaur form as well making him disabled instead of making his wheelchair “a container”.

So yeah, I think the TV series is 100% better than the book so far and all the changes they made make me excited or glad because they made me cringe in the original on a re-read, didn’t make sense to me, or made me care less about characters we’re supposed to care about to drive the story forward.