Book of the week - The Sea of Monsters
Sometimes my kids have really good book suggestions. My 12-year-old said I should read the two books (so far) in Rick Riordan's series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and I had a great time with them. It's fantasy very much in the Harry Potter mode -- young boy discovers he has magical powers, goes to special place to learn how to use them -- but the books are brisker and more action-packed, and Riordan has his own sneaky sense of humor.
The pantheon of Greek gods, goddesses, along with the monsters, centaurs and fauns, are still alive in the 21st century, and in keeping with the ancient legends, occasionally they fall in love with a human and produce semidivine offspring. Such is the situation of young Percy Jackson, whose ADHD and behavior problems have caused him to be bumped from school to school. After his teacher turns into a dragon and tries to kill him, he learns that his learning problems are not unusual among his kind - demigods, that is. In the first book, The Lightning Thief, he finds his way to the gods' summer camp on Long Island, Camp Half-Breed, where he learns the basics of archery, swordsmanship and chariot-racing, and goes on a quest to find Zeus' stolen lightning bolt. I just finished the second book, The Sea of Monsters, in which the only way to save the camp is to find the Golden Fleece, on an island in the Bermuda Triangle, guarded by a cyclops.
Riordan has a lot of fun with Greek myths, and his portrayals of gods cleverly manage to be archtypal yet modern (I especially like his leather-clad, motorcycle-riding Ares, god of war). If you're trying to find some good fantasy until the next Potter, or you've found Rowling to have too much bloat, then check these out.
Comments
I enjoyed your review, it was a fun read. But what was very cool was (1) your son telling you that you should read a book he had just read, and (2) the fact that you actually did. Very impressive.
A question for you. When Percy Jackson's teacher was turned into a dragon that later tried to kill him, how did that imagery come across to you re the fact that it was his teacher? Did it signal anything particularly disturbing for kids to make that kind of an association when a teacher is normally (and hopefully) trying to help their students?
Just a thought.
boomr
Boomr,
Well, the scene has a tongue-in-cheek flavor, and also has a good teacher who steps in and helps save the day, so I don't think it's particularly disturbing or anti-teacher. But judge for yourself - here's an excerpt from a publisher's website:
From Chapter One - I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher
Tongue-in-cheek is always good. BTW, your excerpt link appears to have been . . . vaporized.
boomr
Try this link:
Chapter one