Rick Riordan

[Mynxae]

Do you like his books? Aka the Percy Jackson Series and the relatively recent series 'Heroes of Olympus' (which I'm currently working through)?

Please, put spoiler tags on anything that could give away the -slightest- bit of a book. I'd hate to have a book ruined for me, so please be considerate of others.

Discuss. :3

Heroes of Olympus Spoiler!
I could not -believe- Piper was a daughter of Aphrodite xD

[Xondoure]

I very much enjoyed the Percy Jackson books, Kane chronicles haven't grabbed me as much, and haven't heard much one way or another about Heroes of Olympus.

[Das Platyvark]

Percy Jackson was awesome. The two new series just seem like he's found something that sells, and is trying to cash in on it for as long as he bloody can. Heroes of Olympus was alright, but it didn't grab me enough to make me want to keep reading. Kane chronicles-really not that good. I almost regret picking up the book in the first place.

[The Underlord]

Personally, the second book in Heroes of Olympus was a lot better than the first.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Personally, the second book in Heroes of Olympus was a lot better than the first.

Yeah. Jason's pretty flat. Hazel and Frank from the second are better. Piper's okay. Leo's great. But Jason? Riordan really messed up Jason. Jason just does whatever you expect a hero to do, and typically had no motivation other than "it's the right thing". You could put it down to amnesia, but Percy retained his full personality.

Heroes of Olympus is worth reading.

I tried Kane Chronicles. Finished the first book, but by the second book, I wasn't feeling it, and just started reading Garfield whenever I was at the bookstore instead.

[Othesemo]

I'd be more impressed with his work if he actually knew squat about Greek Mythology (beyond what you can learn with a children's book). Seriously, the numerous errors in his books wouldn't exist if he had checked Wikipedia, let alone done any serious research.

That said, I enjoyed the Percy Jackson series. He's a good writer, and I enjoyed the one liners sprinkled throughout the books. He's got decent characterization, and his plots are pretty interesting on average (the first book was great- the others not so much). All in all, though I respect him as a good writer, he is far, far away from being by favorite. I'm a bit confused by how popular the PJ series became.

[Hiro Protagonest]

I'd be more impressed with his work if he actually knew squat about Greek Mythology (beyond what you can learn with a children's book). Seriously, the numerous errors in his books wouldn't exist if he had checked Wikipedia, let alone done any serious research.

He did his research. Trust me, I have a book on Greek Mythology. It's probably about the reading level of 6th graders. It doesn't have half of this stuff. He did make a fundamental mistake about two very powerful beings though.

[Grue Bait]

I enjoy the books. P.J. and the Olympians was a great series, but he kinda dropped the ball with Heroes of Olympus. He left out any strong characterization, as each character only had one reason for anything. Jason- "It's morally right." Piper- "So daddy loves me." So on and so forth. However, the story's good, which really makes it worthwhile. And Othesmo, I know a little about Greek Mythology, but I don't see what was inaccurate. What was wrong with it?

[Hiro Protagonest]

I enjoy the books. P.J. and the Olympians was a great series, but he kinda dropped the ball with Heroes of Olympus. He left out any strong characterization, as each character only had one reason for anything. Jason- "It's morally right." Piper- "So daddy loves me." So on and so forth. However, the story's good, which really makes it worthwhile. And Othesmo, I know a little about Greek Mythology, but I don't see what was inaccurate. What was wrong with it?

Like I said, he made a fundamental mistake with two very powerful beings.
Khronos (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronos)
Kronus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cronus)

[Grue Bait]

He's not the only one to do that, though. In fact, I've even seen some Roman versions of these tales use Khronos and Kronus as one being, especially during the later years of the empire.

[Hiro Protagonest]

He also called a sickle a scythe, although he at least got the shape of the weapon right.

Other than that, I don't know.

He's not very good at subtlety though. It's pretty obvious that
Frank's going to die. His life depends on what is, by the end of book 2, a very small piece of wood. And Mars tell him that he's important to the seven because Percy is unwilling to let his friends go. There's a good chance of Hazel dying too.

[Spacewolf]

Yea i like the books i care alot more for the characters than i do for some in other books. I think the Series get better as they go on with TLO being the best Percy book and the HO books are getting better as they pick up pacce as well so im expecting the third one in that series to be good

[Terry576]

TLO? Best?

No. Not in a million years. After dropping all that foreshadowing and implications that Annabeth was going to die - "You shall betrayed by one who calls you friend/you shall fail to save what matters most - in the end" (Book 1) "Oh! We haven't had a good romantic tragedy in ages!" (Book 3), and all the implications in Books 1 & 2 that Percy and Thalia were going to end up together ("You would have been best friends or worst enemies" is repeated multiple times,) I had a hard time not throwing the book down in disgust.

Annabeth should have died instead of Luke. Annabeth's death meant so much more, and kept with his Greek Mythology theme (Tragic story), instead of making me able to predict Jason's plot perfectly without even owning the books.

Jason will meet a girl in a faraway, dangerous land. The girl will betray her family for him. Then he will betray her.

Perseus is the only Greek hero with a happy ending - PJ had lampshaded that Percy would have a Downer Ending for entire books (And with Book 3s Darker and Edgier plotline, and the slow escalation of Dark in Book 4...)

The title itself implies that the ending had to be changed to cater to his audience (Children/Young Adult) - the Last Olympian. Sure it's Hestia, but whether or not she was an Olympian depends on who you ask. The real Last Olympian was probably supposed to be Percy after Annabeth sacrificed herself to save the world from Kronos. Percy would have gone into grief/shock or whatever and become an Olympian to get away from the pain of having friends die.

I might read Son of Neptune. Is it in First Person, or is it in third like HoO?

EDIT: At the Kronos debate - I'm more annoyed that Kronos didn't control time, but every other aspect of his legend is right in Riordan's books. What the hell man.

[Grue Bait]

Third person, unfortunately. I preferred first person, but it was still decent.

[Xondoure]

My problem with it was just how incredibly anti climactic the whole thing was. I don't know about Anabeth dyeing, but almost anything other than what we were given would have been better. Heck, most of the character's more impressive feats happen in the last book.

[Calliope121]

I have mostly enjoyed all of his books to varying degrees. I think that the transition of Percy fom first to third person was very distracting, as I had a hard time lining up the Percy from the first books with the Percy in the second. I also think that it was a little bit odd that Percy remembered Annabeth considering the fact that Jason didn't remember anything. Overall, I think that heroes of Olympus was the best, but the overs aren't horrible.

[Hiro Protagonest]

I have mostly enjoyed all of his books to varying degrees. I think that the transition of Percy fom first to third person was very distracting, as I had a hard time lining up the Percy from the first books with the Percy in the second. I also think that it was a little bit odd that Percy remembered Annabeth considering the fact that Jason didn't remember anything. Overall, I think that heroes of Olympus was the best, but the overs aren't horrible.

Er, Heroes of Olympus is the latest two books, not one book.

Do you mean The Lost Hero? Because I don't see it. Leo was the only character in that book better with better than mediocre characterization.

[Othesemo]

He also merged Morpheus and Hypno into one god. Though at least he had the decency to address the whole Apollo/Helios thing after two books of inaccuracy.

You know, I think I have a list somewhere. If I find it, I'll post what it says.

[Hiro Protagonest]

He also merged Morpheus and Hypno into one god.

No, he didn't. Read The Lost Hero.

[Othesemo]

I've read the Percy Jackson series a few times- I haven't started on Heroes of Olympus. I refer to the point at which Morpheus is referred to as 'The God of Sleep" in the last installment of the PJ series, a position typically help by Hypnos. If it matters that much, I could get the book out and give you a page number.

[Hiro Protagonest]

I've read the Percy Jackson series a few times- I haven't started on Heroes of Olympus. I refer to the point at which Morpheus is referred to as 'The God of Sleep" in the last installment of the PJ series, a position typically help by Hypnos. If it matters that much, I could get the book out and give you a page number.

There's a lot of overlap in powers, that's not just in the books. Aeolus and Zeus both control the winds, and Poseidon can control hurricanes. Poseidon creates earthquakes, but so does Hades, the lord of the earth and all that's in it. Thanatos and Hades both have to do with death, and both do their best to maintain the Underworld.

[Othesemo]

Point taken. Nonetheless, I do feel that he was writing from the perspective of and author, and not the perspective of a historian. I appreciate that this isn't an issue for most people, but I tend to get pretty hung up on inconsistencies and factual inaccuracies, no matter how small- particularly if it's something that I could notice off of the top of my head while reading. Generally speaking, if a work of fiction is intended to operate within a historical (or at least established) setting, I like it to operate entirely within that setting, not just in the important bits that everyone can recognize.

[Spacewolf]

I have mostly enjoyed all of his books to varying degrees. I think that the transition of Percy fom first to third person was very distracting, as I had a hard time lining up the Percy from the first books with the Percy in the second. I also think that it was a little bit odd that Percy remembered Annabeth considering the fact that Jason didn't remember anything. Overall, I think that heroes of Olympus was the best, but the overs aren't horrible.

I always assumed that was the Curse of Achilles since annabeth was the reason he didnt die in the Styx

[Mynxae]

Poseidon creates earthquakes, but so does Hades, the lord of the earth and all that's in it.

Since when did Hades become 'lord of the earth' and able to cause earthquakes? He was God of the Underworld, never earth. It was always Poseidon, God of the Sea, Natural Disasters and horses (guess that could include ponies..) xD

[Hiro Protagonest]

Since when did Hades become 'lord of the earth' and able to cause earthquakes? He was God of the Underworld, never earth. It was always Poseidon, God of the Sea, Natural Disasters and horses (guess that could include ponies..) xD

Zeus got the air, Poseidon got the seas, and Hades got under the earth. They drew straws for it. He didn't get the surface, and Gaea's still a separate entity, so I guess I exaggerated when I said lord of the earth, but he's still got some good control over it.

[Spacewolf]

He got the underworld and the riches in it the earth was actually the domain of all three where they had equal say

[Hazzardevil]

I have remad all of Riordan's novels and frankly the Percy Jackson novels seem like they were all written for teenagers and were then edited for younger children. I also didn't like how the title of the last Olympian was fitted in, it just seemed like a rather random title they had to fit in somewhere.

The personality of Jason did seem rather flat and also seemed nothing like the Romans in Camp Jupitar, he also didn't seem like a leader with the other heroes, just someone the others expected to order them about, which seemed rather uncharacteristic compared to the Percy Jackson novels.