martawork

Overall, this book was decent because it was a quick read and the overarching plot was enough to keep me interested. But generally I wouldn't decribe it as anything better than "alright". I can see how the age group it's aimed at could enjoy it a lot more than I did, but it's not a series that I would say (so far) can bridge the gap between younger and older audiences. To me, it leans much more heavily to kids. There's only two characters I can say I really appreciated which are Percy and Grover. I respect the fact that Percy had a lot of relatable qualities to him. I haven't read younger literature in a while so maybe it's become a much more common theme since when I was middle school aged but having a hero with learning disabilities and behavioral problems wins points with me. Even though the rationalizing behind his dyslexia is sketchy (that he's hardwired for reading Greek? IDK it doesn't really add up to me), I think it's a nice touch because I think it's a fantasy for kids who have problems in school. To think that their problems are really symptoms of having Super Powers and being demigods. I could see kids making a fun game of that and being able to pretend that the "normal" kids just aren't as special as them. Not to mention, I can think of specific kids I've worked with who have behavioral problems who ALREADY think of their teachers as monsters who are out get them. And then there's Grover who's just adorable. The most amusing line of the whole novel is probably "'This is for Uncle Ferdinand!'" His comic relief was pretty funny most of the time and I thought he was cute. Unfortunately, I can't say I found any of the other characters all that interesting. They seemed pretty flat and predictable most of the time. I know that it's a short book and there's not much time to build up characters as much when action is more of the focus but I think you can still make the reader at least WANT to know more about the lesser characters. It's possible there's more to their stories that comes in later books that will add depth but I would be more excited for it if there were hints of it in this one. And I hope they do because I'm sure there's a lot that can be done with people like Chiron and Annabeth. Well, and the Gods, of course. Percy's mother felt more like an archetype than a real well-rounded character. The bad guys/monsters especially left a lot to be desired, IMO. I mean, I'm not really into action usually but the opponents Percy went up against were very straight forward "Grr I'm mean and I'm gonna eat you" villains. And you could see them coming MILES away. I guess argumentatively, you could say that's the way a lot of monsters probably were in the original myths, though. Some flavor to their personalities would have been nice though. I get that this series isn't meant to be especially deep or meaningful. The tone of it is clearly lighthearted most of the time. It's fun and kind of goofy. Which I certainly have nothing against! I don't mind fun dialogue and goofy moments but the lack of a deeper message with the story left me feeling there was something missing. There certainly are themes and messages like trying to get along with estranged parents and such. But they were minor parts of the story without much emphasis or inclusion in the big picture. There's also a grander sort of element missing. Everything was very casual and I guess I would have preferred more of an epic feeling. A lot was at stake but you don't really feel the weight of it. I've read a review on Amazon of someone complaining that Percy's perspective was to blame for this, and I partially agree. His POV was appropriate for a pubescent boy and was good for some humor but I would be willing to sacrafice that in favor of more eloquent descriptions and better immersion into the world. In the better side of my experience with this book, I have to say that I like the general concept of the book. The idea of making Half-bloods of Gods the main characters of a series is a clever idea for youth fiction. And I can't help but think Camp Half-blood is a great premise for an RPG. It probably has been made into game somewhere at some point! It's really fun to try and think of creative ways of using the Gods' personalities/powers but interpreting it in your own way in an OC. It's a great idea, Riordan just didn't do much with it in this first book. The minor events that occurred between the major scenes were really very bland and just felt like pointless filler. You could literally cut almost all of them out and not have it affect the main plot nor any of what little character development there is. I feel bad that I don't have much good to say about this book since I know so many people love it. Basically, it was a promising idea but the author was dry on clever ways of using it. I thought I might actually try to continue with it out of curiosity but I think I'll just move on unless someone could promise me it gets a lot better. I would, however, recommend it to the middle school kids I used to work with.

2022-10-11 15:09