We all have at least one childhood book series/media franchise that stuck with us forever. One we secretly (or not-so-secretly; my parents once made me a Hogwarts letter for christmas during the peak of my Harry Potter obsession) yearned to be a part of, and ran to in order to live magical adventures vicariously through the characters, (escapism much?) with fleshed out worlds on foundations of lessons we carry now as flower crowns, or tattoos on our skin, the ink seeping deep to be carried by the capillaries in our hearts, whether we know it or not.

If you grew up in the late 2000's, chances are "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" is one yours. Unless, of course, you're like me and never heard of this modern take on Greek mythology until you were older than its target demographic (or maybe you just weren't into it.)

However, with the first season of the TV show on Disney Plus, and a second one on its way , the book series has been making waves again (get it? If not, you will very soon), and the name of this young demigod is EVERYWHERE online, (plus the memes, which are hilarious) despite the original series having ended in 2009.

As a huge Disney fan, the show caught my attention, and (to my surprise) I fell in love with the story a few minutes in. This motivated me to embark on my own quest among ancient deities, epic battles, and road trips across the US by reading PJO by Rick Riordan, so I can appreciate the show a little better (and to "finally be cultured," as my friends kindly put it.)

Then I thought, why stop there? Rick Riordan has crafted a tapestry worthy of Athena, weaving in Greek tales, as well as Norse and Egyptian mythology (which has fascinated me ever since I was a little kid), so I am making it my mission to document my journey along the exciting albeit complex threads of the "Riordanverse."

Welcome to "The Riordanverse Chronicles"!

To Start With...

Like I said, my history with Percy Jackson isn't very long, but it's worth telling in order to begin somewhere. I first heard of its existence through a friend in 8th grade, who made her own Camp Half-Blood shirt and cosplayed as Annabeth Chase whenever she could. My knowledge of the whole series was comprised of 3 facts: Annabeth was the child of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and war, this "Half-Blood" camp made people wear orange shirts (enticing selling point, since it's my favorite color) and the main character was allegedly THE dream guy of many middle school girls at the time.

Those are the facts I carried with me to highschool, where my best friends had also read the series, but since they were middle grade books, I wasn't interested in them beyond the "Harry Potter vs Percy Jackson" debate (now beginning this journey I am a bit tired of the nonstop comparisons, but I am excited to delve into my thoughts on the issue later on.)

In retrospect, it's kind of insane I never retained that PJO was about Greek mythology, which was a hyperfixation of mine as a pre-teen, despite being told probably multiple times, having seen the first movie (which barely had an impact on me, but did have some interesting moments and provided me with *some* context in conversations), and being named a child of Apollo by one of my closest friends.

All this to say I was more clueless than [spoiler alert] Percy about his feelings for Annabeth, which tells me Percy and I would totally get along.

Then the new adaptation reaches Disney+, I watch the first episode, and just like that I am hooked and need to know if this sweet, humorous child that has been gaslit and lied to his entire life will be okay, and what the deal with his dad is. (Who is a god. A literal Greek god, but like, no big deal.)

Now, for the most part, when it comes to adaptations, I don't mind indulging in them before I read the books, as long as it is considered a decent adaptation, so I don't end up disliking the story before giving it a fair shot. To my knowledge, Rick Riordan was very involved in the creation of this series (which cannot be said for the movies, though at the time I did think the first one was fine), so I watched 5 episodes of the PJO TV show before taking the plunge into the books. Spoilers weren't a big deal to me, since I already knew the first plot twist and some information here and there of the upcoming books; I still wanted to experience the story.

So, here we are! Reading Percy Jackson as a 17 year old. I will also delve into Riordan's ("Uncle Rick"?) other series in the book timeline order as best as I can. Feel free to read along, or just check out my thoughts on this beloved universe!

Book reviews

PJO #1: "The Lightning Thief" By Rick Riordan

There will be spoiler warnings ahead of time, in case you haven't read it yet :)

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