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seattlesea · 3 years

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Why Percabeth Isn’t a Good Ship (Sorry 2x)

I’m definitely getting cancelled-

1. Annabeth is physically abusive. The fandom makes this point seem controversial and debatable, but it’s really not. The definition of abuse is hitting someone. Annabeth hit Percy. Therefore, Annabeth abused Percy. Is that really that hard to understand? Annabeth hit Percy for the first time in The Titan’s Curse when she, Percy, and Thalia were looking for the di Angelo siblings. She punched him in the gut when he asked her who he should ask to dance with him. Annabeth knows that Percy can be oblivious at times...but punishes him when it benefits her? The second time was in The Mark of Athena, when she judo-flipped him because she missed him. That’s...what?? Usually when people are worried about someone else, they hug or kiss them, not flip them over their shoulder. And yes Annabeth kissed him first, but the judo-flip was completely unnecessary. Annabeth punished Percy for ‘leaving’ her despite him being kidnapped and his memory wiped. And everyone’s like ‘But Percy didn’t feel any pain!!11!!1!’ The chapter wasn’t in his point of view, so that claim is a guess. Just cause he didn’t say ‘Ow’ doesn’t mean he wasn’t in pain. Also- Annabeth slammed him on a stone pavement on his back. That definitely hurts, even if Percy is a demigod, physically strong, and has gotten hurt a lot. There’s a difference between ‘playful hitting’ and actually hurting someone. Yes they trained a lot, but this isn’t training. This is Annabeth punishing Percy for being traumatized with yet another life-threatening quest and being kidnapped. I don’t remember Percy judo-flipping Annabeth after he saw her again when she got kidnapped in TTC. Besides, the Romans were about to take out their weapons when they saw Annabeth attack Percy, so if all of them thought it was an attack...it was most likely an attack. Even Annabeth said herself “I only attack my boyfriend like that”. The thing is, if it was Percy who flipped Annabeth over his shoulder and slammed her on her back or punched her in the gut, all the fans immediately would’ve freaked out and cancelled him, calling him a horrible and abusive boyfriend, but because it’s the girl hitting the guy, it’s fine apparently. Nothing wrong with it, right? And then Riordan (and the fandom) had the audacity to romanticize that abuse. Abuse isn’t a sweet, romantic gesture. Stop making it seem like it is. That’s disgusting.

2. Annabeth is also verbally abusive and toxic. Annabeth canonically lowered Percy’s self-esteem, constantly insulted him and his intelligence despite knowing he was insecure about it and always getting kicked out of schools and getting bad grades (even with her so-called ‘endearing’ name for him ‘Seaweed Brain’), and the overall idea of Percabeth is a super smart, pretty girl making a guy with below average intelligence feel insecure about himself. Percy’s self-esteem has plummeted since he met Annabeth and her behavior is never called out or even noticed, which implies some manipulation going on. Annabeth is shown to be extremely capable of manipulating her enemies and anyone else she pleases, and there are quite a few signs she’s using it against Percy (his feelings of obligation, fear, and guilt of and over her, questioning himself, having strings attached, always only thinking of her and no one else in his life, etc.), especially since Percy begins to gradually stop noticing Annabeth’s wrong and toxic behavior as the story progresses.

3. Annabeth only likes Percy cause he’s the chosen one. Annabeth only hung around Percy since The Lightning Thief cause she thought he was ‘the one’ and so she could finally go on a quest. She literally used Percy to go out to the mortal world and ‘prove herself’ cause really, all she cares about is glory, which is shown multiple times throughout the series with all her pride and ambitions. Plus the fact that Chiron made Annabeth swear on the River Styx that she would keep Percy from danger is a pretty clear sign she didn’t stick around him just cause she wanted to, but because she felt obligated to and cause it would benefit her. Take all of this and it’s kind of obvious Annabeth only hung around Percy cause he was the chosen one of the prophecy, a son of one of the Big Three, and was destined to go on multiple quests and play a big part in the mythological world, which is what she always wanted since book one.

4. It was forced. Since the beginning of book one, it was so obvious that Percy and Annabeth were going to get together that their relationship ended up being boring, dull, and flat. Riordan made it so obvious they were going to be a couple that nothing that happened to their relationship really mattered, cause everyone knew it would work out in the end (which is probably why everyone *wrongly* hated on Rachel) so what happened in between didn’t matter. Their relationship was the typical ‘male lead and female lead’, ‘bad boy trouble-maker skater and nerdy good girl’ power couple that was way too clear. And Riordan made it worse by pushing their relationship and shoving it into the readers’ faces way too much. In MoA Annabeth states that she’s always had a crush on Percy (since they were twelve) which immediately rips all the development their relationship (which was supposedly ‘friends to lovers’, but not anymore) had away. Riordan made up a bunch of honestly dumb scenarios that were legit cringe to make Percabeth seem like ‘OTP’ that really didn’t make sense.

5. It ruined their characters. Percy and Annabeth would’ve been way better off as just friends. After they got together in HoO, all their personality and everything else that made them independent was destroyed to make room for more ‘Percabeth’. All of Annabeth’s skills, bravery, intelligence, pride, ferocity, judgmentalism, and all the other traits and flaws that made her a well-written character were never utilized or even mentioned. All she thought about was Percy, and the same goes for him. His loyalty, sarcasm, humor, obliviousness, etc. disappeared to make room for arrogant Annabeth fanboy. In PJO, they were amazingly well-written and great role models for younger readers (especially Annabeth), but in HoO their characters were exclusively ‘Annabeth’s boyfriend’ and ‘Percy’s girlfriend’. Their characters were completely dependent on each other, and they were way better off as just friends.

6. Annabeth is way too possessive. And creepy. It’s fine and honestly normal for people to get jealous when another person likes someone they do, but Annabeth’s jealousy was downright creepy. Not only did she not know if her feelings for Percy were reciprocated or not, but she also didn’t know if Percy and Rachel liked each other, either. The very first time she met Rachel she immediately hated her. That’s not ‘I’m jealous cause this girl likes the guy I do’, that’s ‘I’m jealous cause the guy I like has another female friend’. She had no reason to believe that Rachel and Percy liked each other and has no say in who they can like, either. She thought that she and Percy absolutely had to be in a relationship and that he couldn’t even have friends with different genitals than him. And remember when Annabeth literally stalked Percy in The Sea of Monsters? Like when she creeped by his window, constantly watched him, and kept tabs on him just cause she ‘couldn’t find the right time’ to tell him something cause he was ‘never alone’ despite him being alone multiple times and despite the fact that she literally could’ve just knocked on his door like a normal person instead of creeping around his cabin and staring at him through the windows? Again- switch the roles. If it was Percy who was stalking Annabeth, everyone would’ve immediately called him a creep. If- according to Tumblr and almost everyone who read Twilight- Edward is a creep for stalking Bella, then Annabeth is a creep for stalking Percy.

7. It’s mostly fan love. Honestly, the fandom is the only thing that fuels Percabeth. Riordan just destroys it. He shoved it down the readers’ throats, forced it way too much with really dumb and honestly unrealistic scenarios, and made it abusive and toxic. On its own, Percabeth freaking sucks. The fandom’s version of Percabeth is 1000x better than whatever the hell Riordan was doing, but even that version is toxic. Like, I’ve seen way too many jokes about Annabeth hitting Percy (as if abuse is hilarious and amazing meme fuel and not an extremely sensitive topic that triggers multiple people who actually went through it). Half the time, the fandom fixes Percabeth and the other half of the time they over-glorify and ruin it. The fandom over exaggerates and over glorifies it way too much. It’s not that great of a relationship, to be honest. Most of y’all only like it in the first place cause Riordan made it canon.

8. It was cringey. Like I said above, Riordan wrote some really dumb scenes for Percabeth. I mean- the matching gray streaks in their hair despite Atlas and Artemis not getting any? Percy’s tie to the mortal world while bathing in the River Styx being Annabeth and not his mom, Grover, etc.? Percy only remembering Annabeth, the girl he’s only known for four years and not his mom, the only woman who actually cared for and took care of him or Grover, his best friend who protected and continuously cared about him? Percy turning down immortality only for Annabeth and not even bothering to mention the pain of leaving behind his life, friends, family, memories, etc. behind if he accepted it? The romanticized judo-flip? The whole ‘dark-haired rebellious bad boy/nerdy blonde good girl who can be bad’ trope? Even the boring predictability of Percabeth is cringe.

9. It’s a bad influence on younger readers. Basically the lesson of Percabeth is ‘Once you get a love interest nothing else in your life matters’. Besides that one single scene that took like three lines in The Son of Neptune, Percy never even thought of his own mom, nor did he think about any of his friends or passed allies like his dad, Rachel, Grover, Paul, Silena, Luke, Ethan, Bob/Iapetus, Tyson, Calypso, Charles, Michael (whose death he accidentally caused), Bianca, Zoë, etc. Even when in Tartarus with the curse of the Arai being forced to remember all the people he forgot and feeling guilty about abandoning Bob and Calypso, all he thought about was Annabeth. Even when faced with the man who broke the heart of the girl who sacrificed herself for him, Percy didn’t even think of her, only his jealousy of Jason. Same thing with Annabeth. She never thought about her mom, Luke, Thalia, her step-mom or step-brothers, etc. It was all about Percy. Cause yes, Riordan, that’s exactly the lesson you should teach your younger readers- forget everyone you ever knew the moment you get a partner. Besides that, it also teaches readers that being rude to people who like the same person as you is completely okay cause no one will care and once you start being rude, bitter, and possessive you’ll get exactly what you want (that’s literally what happened, with Annabeth and with Calypso, too). He also teaches that after you get a partner, everything that makes you you will disappear and you’ll be completely dependent on them and nothing in your life will matter, even your own independent life and personality.

10. The fandom tries to excuse and explain Annabeth’s behavior??? What??? Since when does explaining and excusing hitting people put you in the right again? And the excuses aren’t even good, too! Percabeth fans use- Annabeth was full of emotions/mad and doesn’t know how to deal with emotions. Annabeth really loved Percy. It was only one time. Annabeth was worried about Percy and mad that she left him. Annabeth didn’t mean to hurt him. Annabeth didn’t know what she was doing cause she was full of emotions. ??? Annabeth was full of emotions/mad and doesn’t know how to deal with emotions- Annabeth was seventeen years old, the daughter of the wisdom goddess, and is supposedly the smartest character in the series who is shown to be extremely good at reading people and their emotions. And y’all are really trying to say she doesn’t know how to deal with her emotions? Annabeth really loved Percy- SO? A mother might really love her child, does that excuse her for hitting them for dumb reasons? It was only one time- actually, it was twice, and so what? If someone was slapped across the face ‘only one time’, does that mean they weren’t abused? ‘Abuse’ doesn’t mean ‘hit constantly’, it means ‘hit’. If someone was hit, they were abused. Is that really not a known fact in this fandom? Annabeth was worried about Percy and mad that she left him- last time I checked, people didn’t hit others when they were worried about them. If I was worried that my friend was going to get hurt, I wouldn’t hurt them myself. That literally makes no sense. And again- Percy didn’t leave Annabeth. He was kidnapped. Do y’all not know the definition of that, either? Annabeth didn’t mean to hurt him- yes, cause that’s why she decided to flip him over her shoulder, slam him on a stone pavement on his back, and punish him for ‘leaving her’. Annabeth didn’t know what she was doing cause she was full of emotions- Annabeth??? the daughter of the wisdom goddess??? not knowing what she’s doing??? huh??? I mean, would any of you really, legitimately try to use any of these dumb excuses to excuse a man from hitting his wife? Hopefully not. And if you did, you would immediately get hated on and legit cancelled. So what makes this any different? Also- I see the excuse ‘Annabeth didn’t know Percy lost his Achilles Heel and thought he was still invincible’. Under different circumstances I’d accept that, but Annabeth knew that Percy’s Achilles Heel was on the small of his back...BUT SHE SLAMMED HIM ON HIS BACK. If Percy hadn’t lost the Achilles Heel, Annabeth literally would’ve killed him. Abusive enough for y’all? Or is attempted murder excusable and still ‘OTP’?

11. They had no chemistry whatsoever. Was I the only one who felt...absolutely no chemistry between Percy and Annabeth? Like some of their moments were cute, their friendship was really good, and they had a lot of potential, but they didn’t feel right for each other. Remember- opposites don’t attract (they just argue, and no one has ‘another half’ that needs to ‘complete them’, everyone is their own person), they cancel each other out. I mean, Reyna and Annabeth had more chemistry in that one chapter of the New Rome tour in MoA than Percy and Annabeth had in 12+ books. They’re just...not right for each other, I guess.

I’m definitely getting cancelled-

Edit 2: Sorry if I offended anyone with that last note. Just wanted to let y’all know that I am not here to start any drama, hurt anyone, or disrespect any Percabeth shippers. I respect your opinions 100% and only ask you do the same for me. Like I literally only wrote this at 12 am when I was bored and had nothing else to do and couldn’t sleep (same goes for pretty much everything else I write about PJ). Besides, why argue and start drama over dumb stuff like that when we can just find something we agree on? Don’t like Piper McLean? Let’s talk about that. Think Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano is a queen? Let’s talk about that. Think Nico di Angelo is freaking amazing? Let’s talk about that. Think Theyna would be adorable? Let’s talk about that. Want someone to vent to about writer’s block? Why the hell not? Want random writing advice and tips for writer’s block? Sure, I got plenty. Instead of arguing and starting beef over trivial fictional ships.

#sorry #not really but whatever #percabeth isn't that great #stop acting like it is #it aint otp #percabeth is toxic #percy jackson #annabeth chase #annabeth sucks #ship #ships #heroes of olympus #demigods #anti-percabeth

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inlovewithfictionals · 4 years

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Just Like Us, In A Way. (Jason Todd x Reader)

A/N: Yep, i’m writing for Jaybird. So I got this prompt from my friend and I was going to write it about Dick, but then I remember that Jason loves to read. So I thought this would fit more with Jason. Oh and there’s a spoiler for “The House of Hades” book, so if you want to read it, might wanna skip. Unless you’re fine with spoilers. And there’s a Harry Potter reference in this, so I’ll just let you know that ‘Y/H/H’ means ‘Your Hogwarts House’. Ok bye! Enjoy, loves!

Prompt: “What if you wrote about person B on the house, reading. And they’re in the middle of the feels, and then person A enters the room and was like ‘What’re you doing?’ Then person B explains and person A’s just like ‘that sounds like us’.”

Warnings: Fluff (it feels weird to write a fluff for Jason), a couple of curse words, a small drop of angst (and I meant really small).

Word Count: 1580

It’s a calm night at Gotham. The night sky is pretty clear, a slight cold breeze in the air, not much noise outside nor inside Y/N’s and Jason’s apartment.

Y/N is sitting on the couch alone, reading a book called ‘The House of Hades’ while munching on some potato chips. She was supposed to go on a patrol with Jason and the rest of the Batfam tonight, but because of last week’s event, she had to stay at home and rest.

Basically, Bruce had told Dick, Jason, and Tim to go on a mission, while Damian and Y/N had to stay. Much to their dismay. Apparently, the mission was ‘dangerous’. Which is why Jason didn’t want her to come. “It’s too risky, Y/N.” he had said. As for Damian, he was sick but he still protested that his father didn’t allowed him to go. He finally gave up in the end, being too tired to argue.

But Y/N? She didn’t gave up. Like the stubborn girl she is, she decided that she’s a big girl and that she can handle this ‘dangerous’ mission. Besides, maybe they need an extra help. And how bad can it be?

Long story short, she ended up having a sprain on her left ankle, a bullet wound on her shoulder and a pissed off, overprotective boyfriend. Thus, she had to stay at home for a couple of weeks and rest.

Now, here she is. On the couch, alone, emotionally invested in a book. As usual.

Jason and Y/N both loves to read. Whether it’s about science, thriller, fantasy, or an old classical books, they’d read them. That’s kind of the reason why they clicked. It’s the similarities between them.

Sometimes, they would read together before bed. Y/N’s head on Jason’s shoulder and his’ on top of her head, reading along. He’ll complain out loud if one of the characters did something stupid or embarrassing and he’ll comfort Y/N when she’s crying over a characters death. Or he’ll laugh at her for crying over a characters death.

“He’s just a fictional character, doll.” Jason chuckled.

“He’s much more than that and you fucking know it.” She cried.

This time, she’s all alone. Therefore, no one can comment anything about her being emotional because of a book. Unfortunately for her, that didn’t last long.

Y/N was too deep into the story when Jason arrived. He enters through the bedroom window, expecting to see her curled up on their bed, asleep. But confused when he sees no one in the room. He checked the bathroom, but no one was there as well. Taking his helmet and domino mask off, Jason starts to worry.

I swear, if she goes on a patrol without me knowing-

His thoughts was stopped once he saw Y/N on the couch, with blanket covering her shoulders, slightly shaking, and whimpering softly while muttering “oh my god, I love them.”

Never mind, then.

He peeked from the back of the couch to see that she’s reading a book. He forgets about his previous worried feeling and almost giggled on the sight of his girlfriend in the middle of what she often called “feels”.

Jason takes off his gloves and shoes, and went closer to Y/N’s oblivious self. When he got closer, he looked at her from the behind the couch, right beside her left shoulder. “What are you reading?”

Y/N was jumped. She screamed and on instinct, she hits him with the book. Jason falls back, groaning in pain. As soon as she heard him groan, she immediately realizes that it’s just Jason.

“Jason! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to smack you!” She exclaimed, while giving Jason a hand.

“For a paperback, fuck, that kind of hurts.” He groaned, holding his forehead above his right eyebrow where she accidently hits him.

“Well, next time, announce your arrival first, Todd.” Y/N laughed.

Jason laughed, grabbing her hand and stands up. He jumps over and sitting beside Y/N that already has the blanket around her again.

“So, how was patrol?” Y/N asks him while flipping the page.

He shrugs, putting his head on her lap. “Not much happened. In fact,” he paused to laugh. “Your book-attack was the hardest hit I got tonight.”

“Must’ve been a slow night then?”

Jason hummed in agreement. “Hey, you haven’t answered my question. What’re you reading?” He asked again, looking at the cover.

“The House of Hades.”

“Rick Riordan?”

“Yeah.” Y/N answered shortly, eyes are still on the book.

“I thought the series was about demigod and stuff.” Jason said, his tone was a little confused but interested, in a way.

“It is. Why?” She asked, suspicious. Jason smirked, looking at the ceiling.

“Before you hit me, you were in the midst of ‘feels’. Emotionally attached to fictional characters again, Y/L/N?”

Y/N groaned in annoyance before putting her bookmark and shutting the book. She hugs her book tightly as if she’s defending it and herself. “I can’t help it, Jason! They’re so perfect and I love them so much!” She whisper-yelled at him.

“But what exactly happened, though? Cliché stuff and all that or…?” Jason chuckled.

Despite him acting like he was only making fun of her, he was actually curious to what happened. He loves listening to her rambling about the story on and on. Sure, sometimes she spoiled the story for him. But sometimes, he didn’t mind.

“Well, two of the main characters, which just so happens to be my OTP, falls into Tartarus. Also known by mortals as Hell. That happens because one of them didn’t want to let go when the other falls and in results, both of them falls.” Y/N stopped to take a deep breath as she placed the book on the coffee table.

“And now they’re suffering on this hellhole, surrounded by monsters. Each second there could kill them and they have to find a way out. While doing so, they fight through hell, literal hell, alongside of each other. No matter how tough things gets, they don’t leave each other and I just got so emotional by this. So, no, it’s technically not a cliché thing.”

Y/N’s eyes was glossy the moment she finished, but she managed to let out a small chuckle. She’s sad, angry at the author for putting these characters into this situation, and last but not least, she felt embarrassed. Even she herself thinks that it’s quite embarrassing to cry over a fictional story.

She covers her face with her hands as she cries softly. Jason who was now laughing, sat up and embrace her tightly. He’s careful not to hurt her ankle or her shoulder. When he calmed down, he removed her hands from her face, and wiped her tears away.

“Hey, it’s okay. They’re two of the main characters, after all. I’m sure they would be fine.” Though Jason, also being someone who loves to read, knows that not all main characters on any kind of story, survived. He of all people would know that.

“You’re just saying that to make me feel better.” She noted, her voice still shaking. However, her voice was laced with a hint of playfulness.

“You are correct, TEN POINTS FOR Y/H/H!” He playfully announced, still holding her on his arms. She started to cackle at him.

“You know, these people are just like us, in a way.”

“Really?” Y/N questioned him. She had calmed down from her emotional state.

“Yeah. I mean, we also suffered on a hellhole called ‘real world’ and we always fight together. No matter what.” Jason smiled, giving her a kiss on the temple.

“And we would, stupidly, hurt ourselves for each other.” He says while glancing at her and her injuries, back and forth.

“Oh you mean…” she lifts her ankle, wincing slightly. “…this?”

Jason sighed, his face full of concern and signs of protectiveness. “You shouldn’t have attacked that goon. Look where that put you.”

“The guy was about to attack you. I couldn’t let that happen.” She told him.

“I could handle him, that way you wouldn’t be the one getting hurt. It should’ve been me!” Jason argued.

“Jason, it’s just a sprain and a bullet wound. I’m fine. The point is that you and I are alive, and that’s what matters.” Y/N puts her hands on his cheek and gave him a reassuring smile. A smile that could calm anyone down. A smile that he absolutely adores.

Jason smiled back, giving her a quick peck on the lips before placing his nose on hers. “How did I find myself a girl that could be so reckless on a mission and yet cried over a book?”

“You’ve found yourself a treasure, babe. Don’t waste it.” Y/N smirked.

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” He placed a passionate kiss on her lips.

They stayed like that for a few more seconds before they pull apart. Y/N puts her head on top of his chest and sighed calmly. The room was filled with a comfortable silence, until Jason broke it.

“So, are we going to read that book tonight?” He says, referring to the book she was reading.

“It’s the fourth book on the series. You sure you won’t mind?”

Jason thought about it for a moment and then he just shrugs. “I don’t mind.”

Y/N tidy up the living room first before grabbing the book and her blanket and went to the bedroom, with Jason trailing behind.

“Jason, you might want to change your outfit first.”

#jason todd #jason todd x reader #jason todd x you #jason todd imagine #batfam x reader #dc #jason todd fluff #fanfic #x reader #red hood x reader #red hood imagine #red hood x you #red hood x y/n

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lifeofroos · 3 years

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Part 49. Lets be real, things that are free taste ever so slightly better.

In short: Nico gets therapy from Dionysus. In this chapter, Nico tries to find Christmas gifts people he cares about with Will. The rest can be found on AO3 and FanFiction.net! And also in Tumblr tags like Dionysus, Nico di Angelo, therapy etc.

This Might Be Crazy: Chapter 49: Free chocolate milk

‘And then suddenly it’s Christmas.’ I looked around. New York looked like the Christmas elves had dropped a bag of joy over it.

Will looked at me. ‘Not to scare you, but the city has been looking like this since Halloween.’

‘I try to ignore that.’

Will sighed and laughed at the same time. ‘Sure. Come now, you needed to buy Christmas presents, we should get to buying them.’

‘Yes, of course... hey!’ He grabbed my arm and pulled me along, further into the heart of New York.

‘They really were just too lazy to name these streets.’

Will sighed. ‘No.’ He looked at his phone. ‘It is way easier to find out where the streets are. You just follow the number.’

‘I guess. Which street are we on now?’ I looked around, but I didn’t see a number anywhere. Will narrowed his eyes, while still looking at his phone. ‘If I am correct, we are on thirty-third.’

‘Ah.’ I took a step back when two screaming children ran past me, followed by a tired looking mother. ‘We need to go to Jackson village, too. I don’t mean Sally Jacksons’ place, but the actual, physical part of town.’

‘And why is that?’

‘Free drinks at Denny’s.’

Will grinned. ‘Those are always welcome. Also, Google Maps gave me the directions I asked for. Let’s go.’

I had to give Will some credit, he chose his boring chocolates rather quickly. Why he had to go to all the way to New York for them was beyond me, though.

Will handed me a tiny felt box. ‘Alright. We should go with the subway, then maybe we can actually reach Jackson village before Christmas. Here, eat.’ I opened the box. It had two heart-shaped chocolates in them.

‘Will, that is kinda sappy.’ I put the bonbon into my mouth. ‘And I like sappy sometimes. Alright. Can we get out of the subway a few stops earlier than necessary? I am not entirely sure what to get people, so I want to see a few shops.’

‘I mean, I was thinking of going to a dollar store to buy things for the Camp gift exchange, and we could go to an outlet if you wanted something for Reyna, Hazel or Percy…’

‘Hm. For camp a dollar store is good, and maybe I can even find some fun things for my friends as well. For Hazel I already bought a knitted raccoon hat, though. And I will not buy your present while you are standing right next to me.’

‘Anything else?’

‘Perhaps.’

‘Alright. Come, I see a subway station over there.’

Even though they are probably the grossest and busiest places in New York, I kind of liked the undergrounds. Kind of stupid, but well, they were under the ground.

We got out and went up to street level again. Lo and behold, there was a dollar store right across the street.

‘I always wonder how they can stuff even more garbage into stores like those then they can into IKEA,’ I thought out loud, while we crossed the street. Will shrugged.

‘Talent, I guess.’

‘Talent? Oh, what. At least I will be able to find something Percy will go absolutely insane for that costs me nothing more than a measly dollar.’

‘Last time I was in the dollar store, they had dolphin shaped candy boxes.’

‘If they have those again, I’ll take two. Otherwise Percy will complain that his dolphin-shaped candy box is lonely.’

Maybe it was all trash, but it was easy trash. Packed with presents for almost everyone we cared a little or slightly more than a little about, we got out of the dollar store.

‘So, that was quite productive,’ Will mentioned. He was carrying the plastic bag with our stuff.

‘Yes.’ I looked around, at the other stores. Somewhere, they were bound to have something.

‘What I did not say before is that I am actually looking for something for Dionysus. I do not know if he celebrates Christmas, but I do know it is his birthday.’

‘The 25th of December?’

‘Yes.’

‘So, basically, Jesus just took over his birthday?’

‘Yes. I don’t know how he feels about it.’ Maybe I’ll ask.

Will hummed. ‘I think it is pretty difficult to find something for a god, though. That being said, I do think Dionysus will be happy no matter what.’

‘Maybe...’

‘Oh, here is a thrift store!’ Will pointed . We stopped walking. ‘Do you mind if we go there for a second? I need something they might have there.’

‘Are you entirely sure what that thing is?’

‘You never do with thrift-stores.’ I sighed.

‘Yeah, true.’ I wrapped my arm around his waist while we went in.

It was a pretty big thrift store and it clearly didn’t just sell regular mortal junk. I wandered off, while Will searched through the old books.

I ended up in the jewelry section. It looked as if both an old grandma and her six year old granddaughter had just given away all of their jewelry. All I saw was ancient-looking pearl necklaces and pink fairy rings.

I looked in a few drawers of an old cupboard. It was all clearly not worth much, otherwise it would not be laying out in the open, but it sure looked shiny.

In one of the drawers, I found an earring. I could not find its better half, but it did look a lot like something Will had shown me that he wanted to buy but could not find anywhere.

I let it roll from one hand into the other. Was it dangerous to gift your boyfriend jewelry from a thrift store that radiated weird energy? Maybe. But the earring itself did not do so.

I dug slightly deeper, looking around for more stuff the people who were worth more than dollar store gifts would appreciate. Now that I took a good look at it, the jewelry cabinet was kind of a goldmine, no pun intended. I even found a small, gold necklace for Reyna (Probably fake-golden, otherwise it would not be lying around in a random cabinet-drawer, but still).

Eventually, I looked up and saw a small glass cabinet. There was a brooch on display that made me unable to stop looking at it. I did not recognise the gemstone they used, if it was even a real gemstone, but it was a deep purple. The brooch was shaped like, vines running past and over each other.

The thing cost only five dollars. It was as if the universe was pushing me to get it (But I could have imagined that).

In the background, I heard Will say something to the seller (Who did not sound entirely like human to me). Slowly, I walked past the shelves, hoping I could somehow buy what I wanted without Will noticing.

After a few seconds, I felt a tap on my shoulders. I turned around. There was a second not-entirely-human seller standing behind me.

‘You want what you are currently holding and the purple brooch without your boyfriend over there noticing , is that right?’ He asked, in a coarse voice.

‘Eh, yes,’ I whispered.

The seller grinned. ‘I get it, youngling. You saw the prices. Twenty dollars and it is all yours.’

I had no idea whether those were the actual prices, but twenty dollars was not super expensive, so I handed it to him. He unlocked the glass cabinet, got out the brooch, I put everything into the pocket of my coat and joined Will again.

The seller, who Will was just done with, looked exactly like the seller I had spoken to had. Will grabbed my hand and we walked out. I looked over my shoulder as Will opened the door. The seller winked at me.

‘Sad that you did not find anything ,’ Will said, while we made our way over to Denny’s.

‘Oh well,’ I answered, while I squeezed his hand.

‘Nico!’ Mary smiled widely when she looked at us. ‘Is that your boyfriend?’

‘Yes!’

‘Well, he is adorable.’ She winked and gave us two free hot chocolates. ‘As promised.’

I was not above getting free hot chocolate, so I thanked her and we sat down one booth further from the booth I usually sat with Dionysus. The Denny’s was busier around this time.

Will looked around. ‘There is a Dionysus-vibe here.’

I nodded and took a sip. ‘Oh yes. There always is.’

Will smiled and pulled his legs onto the couch. ‘I think that was a productive day, Nico. I think I’ve got almost everything I need. ’

‘Me too.’ I grinned, which left Will eyeing me suspiciously.

A/N: Fun Fact: there are barely any subways in the Netherlands. We have busses, trains and trams (In some cities), but no subways.

It has never been academically proven that the 25th is Dionysus birthday. There is no proof whatsover. Don’t go around quoting me on that, because it is a Tumblr thing, NOT PROVEN!

Aside from maybe a little general magic, the jewelry is not cursed. Just calming you down there.

Tell me how do you all see Dionysus? Because during writing I have constantly had the young, mythological version in my head. Long black hair, purple eyes, frail, basically not what Rick Riordan described. That is why I have been calling him Dionysus and not Mr. D, because that ain’t him to me.

This isn't really a therapy chapter but shhh it shows Nico is healing.

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garecc · 5 years

Link

Thargelia

Summary: Apollo is still mortal when the 25th of May rolls around. He's still mortal when he turns 4613. This is the first birthday he's spent without Artemis and Leto in millennia. He doesn't have any presents.

Artemis is still stuck on Olympus 7th of Thargelion rolls around. She is alone when she turns 4613. This is the first birthday she's spent without Apollo in millennia. None of this is fair.

Thanks to @flightfoot for betaing!

If someone had asked Apollo why he didn't mention it was his birthday, he would have said that he hadn't realized. That between mortals using the wrong calendar, and the quest and everything, he had lost track of time and didn't realize that he turned 4613. He would have said it didn't bother him, and that he had had so many birthdays over the years they truly didn't matter anymore. What was another year in eternity?

But, if he were being truthful he would admit he didn't want to think about what day it is. That it hurt to know that he was spending it alone and mortal. Without Artemis, the one he shared the day with. Or Hermes to somehow mess up the party, or a grand ambrosia cake. Or any sort of celebrations.

That for millennia, the world had celebrated and cheered for his existence. For his brilliance. For him.

He had been counting the days for months. Hoping against all odds that maybe, just maybe Zeus would make an exception and possibly allow Artemis to visit him. Allow him that comfort.

But nothing was sent. No sisters magically appeared in front of him with party streamers and smiles. No gifts. No party. Nothing.

This was his first birthday for millennia he was spending without Artemis.

The first birthday for millennia he was spending without Leto, his mother.

Without Hermes. His best friend.

Without even the muses, some of his closest friends though forever.

This was the first birthday in many, many years where he felt truly, truly alone on.

Even his past birthdays as a mortal he hadn't spent like this. Way back when he was in Laomedon's service he and Poseidon had celebrated it, and the time after that Admetus had given him several lavish gifts.

And it wasn't as if they could stop and celebrate or anything, he would have been selfish for expecting that. This quest took focus, and there wasn't time to throw a party, or get gifts, or anything really.

But it still hurt to know that under any other circumstances he would be on Delos with a grand celebration in his and Artemis's names. To their continued existence.

When Apollo woke up on May 25th, the first thing he thought was that it was his birthday.

The entire day, he just wanted to point out "hey it's my birthday let me do what I want."

But he didn't. That would be rude, and might lead to them asking why he didn't say anything.

It was around halfway through the day he slipped up and spilled the tea. He had accidentally mentioned that it was his birthday. Offhandedly, he hadn’t exactly been thinking about what he had been saying. But, as he had expected, questions he had hoped to avoid were thrown at him.

So much for that hope.

But, most distressingly, Meg walked away without a word.

Apollo hadn't known what to think, was not informing her of his birthday that much of an offense?

From what he remembered of bad mortal movies, maybe it was.

Not long later she came back with a bag, smiling like she had just won the lottery. And knowing Meg, she just might have.

"Close your eyes," she demanded, and of course, Apollo had no choice but to obey.

"Okay, open them!"

Meg held a small cake with golden frosting. Number candles spelling out 4613 on it.

Apollo's mouth was dry, and he had no idea what to say.

He hadn't expected this.

He hadn't expected anything.

But, as he stared down at the small cake in Meg's hands, Apollo tried not to cry.

Eventually, he managed to speak. "Thank you, Meg." His voice sounded choked up even to him.

He didn't deserve it, but he was truly grateful.

And well, who was he to turn down cake?

~0~

Elsewhere, far away on Olympus above New York, Artemis felt miserable.

It was her birthday, and nothing was going well. She was forbidden to leave, forbidden to send gifts, forbidden to send even the simplest message. Not even an easy "Happy Birthday, I love you." Nothing.

It wasn't fair! None of this was!

His punishment was far too severe for his supposed 'crime.'

Prophecies don't bring the future! only predict it!

It was so impossibly idiotic to punish him for that reason.

And now she was alone on her birthday.

Alone on their birthday.

Hermes had come earlier, sat next to her and cut a cake with her. Silver and decorated with intricate deer and a pattern of arrows on the side. They had talked of all manner of things, but his work called and he had to leave.

Having company was nice, but watching Apollo miserable on their birthday hurt in an indescribable way.

A deep piercing ache that felt wrong.

She had enough of this.

He deserved a cake, at least. Just something nice to commemorate so many years alive.

She watched as Meg walked out.

Artemis was the goddess of young maidens, so it wasn't exactly difficult to guide Meg to a cake store. And, it wasn't truly interfering. Meg is part of her domain, and she was entirely in her right to lead her there.

Artemis watched with as much of a smile as she could manage as Meg bought a small golden frosted chocolate cake. She seemed to deliberate over the candles, but eventually selected the correct numbers thanks to only a little divine intervention.

Apollo's smile when he saw the cake was worth any theoretical punishment she may receive for interfering.

And later, when a piece of the cake appeared on the altar in her room, sacrificed to her, she felt happy.

While the frosting was too thick and not nearly sweet enough, and while the cake was a tad too crumbly, it was almost like eating it with him.

#Apollo pjo #artemis pjo #trials of apollo fanfic #toa fanfic #toa #trials of apollo #my fic #my writing

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sofiahahaaa · 5 years

Text

Demigod Delinquents | Pt. 1 | A New Quest

| MASTERLIST |

Summary: Percy and Annabeth’s calm summer together gets interrupted when Chiron calls in with a quest for him.

Rating: Not really anything... I mean– kissing? Fluff? Lots of Percy and Annabeth being in love. You might die of cuteness?

A/N: Okay so big disclaimer– this blog is not, and will not, become a fanfiction blog, but I was reading some fanfiction and I felt inspired to post this story that I’ve been working on for a while now.

I got the idea for this fanfiction from this post that you may or may not have seen about the trio of guys (Percy, Jason, Leo) where they go on a quest and are undercover in a prison. There’s really no time frame in which this could’ve happened, but we’re going to pretend there was. :p. Otherwise, could be in canon.

I feel like this goes without saying, but I don’t own any of the Rick Riordan characters or the concept of Camp Half-Blood. You know that... okay. Let's start the story, no?

~~~

Percy’s POV ~

I looked in the mirror, admiring the new outfit Argus had gotten me. Orange jumpsuit, hair messy as ever– and, of course, that grin that everyone said made me look like a criminal. Fitting, for this quest.

Oh yeah, a quest.

This was a pretty mild quest, just based on the past– you know... saving the world, defeating Kronos and Gaea, all that schist. But it was still a quest, and the boys needed some time alone. Pipes and Annabeth already had their turn, going down to defeat that giant, unleashing Phobos and Deimos. But the war was over, and I had not had any ‘chill time’ with the bros. You could call it bro-withdrawal. (I had to use a thesaurus for withdrawal, but it impressed Annabeth) I mean, sure, it’s a quest, and quests are not typically ‘lax, but I had a feeling this one would, at least for the most part.

How bad could being a delinquent be? I practically am one… Actually, when I was twelve, my former evil Step-dad, Gabe, made sure to announce it on National TV.

But he’s dead now. Whoops!

I flicked some dust off of my shoulder. I would be starting college at the end of the summer, so I couldn’t get myself killed or Annabeth would kill me.

… You get the point.

Annabeth and I had decided to stay at Camp Half-Blood for the summer, kind of like a break from reality and school. Leo had come back from the dead and everything with Calypso– something I still don’t understand– and Jason was here because he hadn’t started school yet.

It was only a week ago when I had sent off Magnus Chase, Annabeth’s cuz, to stop Ragnarok. Or rather, the end of the world. Fun!

He was a weirdo. All this stuff about Norse gods– it gave me a headache. And the fact that the Egyptian gods exist as well– I just couldn’t get my head around it.

Anyways– I got off-topic.

Um… oh, right. About a week ago, I got a call from Chiron. I was babysitting Estelle, my adorable, cutie-pie little sister, (half-sister, whatever) since my parents were out of town. They were in Orlando, Florida, having fun at the beach. Paul was excited because he got a bonus and... they totally needed time away from Estelle. Just for a little bit. It was kind of nice to have alone time with my little sister, especially because Annabeth was there, too.

It was late into the night when Chiron called me about a quest– something about monsters being put into prison, like real people… causing havoc… etc, etc. Pretty basic. He thought that I could go with the boys, Jason and Leo. It was sort of awkward timing because Annabeth was there and I was supposed to be babysitting Estelle, but long story short, I said yes. I hung up and put my phone in my pocket.

Estelle was napping, so it was silent.

I kissed Annabeth’s forehead and she rested her head on my shoulder. Annabeth looked up at me. “Who called?”

“Chiron. It’s a quest." I said. She looked a little pouty.

"It’s supposed to be our vacation.”

"I’m sorry, it’s just a small quest– it won’t take long.” I murmured sheepishly.

“What about Estelle? Don’t you have to babysit her?”

“Oh. Oh yeah… Oh no.” I started freaking out. I hadn’t thought it through. I fished my phone out of my pocket to call Chiron and go back on my plans– but Annabeth touched her hand to mine.

"It’s okay. I’ve got it covered.”

“Really?" I looked at her gratefully and she kissed my cheek. I put my phone back in my pocket, relieved.

“Yeah. Really, Percy.” She smiled up at me, her beautiful gray eyes sparkling. “Let me check on her.” She got up and went to my parents' room, where Estelle was sleeping.

She came out with a peaceful looking baby and sat next to me. Estelle yawned and Annabeth cooed. She twirled Estelle’s wispy hairs gently and I had to smile. Annabeth would be a great mother. I thought, and then kind of sat in shock.

“Percy?”

“Huh? What?” She laughed quietly.

“You’re supposed to be the babysitter.”

“Yeah… but... you’re so good with children." I shut my mouth in surprise.

“What?”

“Nothing. Sorry. Nevermind.” I let a small breath out, my throat hitching at the thought of my very own children.

“Here, take her for a moment." I let Annabeth give me Estelle, and she left the room. I couldn’t stop the thought from coming back. Of children. I love them, and Annabeth is so cute with Estelle…

We could have children.

The thought startled me.

I tickled Estelle’s chin. She looked like me– like my mom– but some of her features reminded me of Paul. Her lips were thin and rosy, and drool bubbled out of her mouth. I kissed her forehead. The apartment was silent.

I thought about Carter and Sadie Kane. I had thought about them a lot, recently. Maybe it was because of the sudden influx of deities that I wish didn’t exist. Greek came first. I got used to it. Then, all of a sudden, bam, my memory is gone and I’m shoved into a Roman reality of the world. And when I finally got used to that, I met Carter and Sadie, two magicians who kept the Egyptian gods in check. And without further warning, I met Magnus, Annabeth’s weird cousin. Now my mind was whirring, and I didn’t understand anything. Sadie… she had also made me think of children, and the thought hadn’t left my head yet. I stroked Estelle’s plump little cheek, hoping that she wouldn’t get involved in the craziness of my world. Maybe she would be immune to the gods like almost all other mortals.

Annabeth returned to the living room with a small package in her hand. It looked hastily wrapped, brown butcher paper crinkled around it in an odd shape, and a simple yellow string tied around it. “What’s in the package?”

“Birthday present,” Annabeth stated. I blushed. Had I forgotten my birthday again? I didn’t think it was already August… Annabeth seemed to read my face. “Don’t worry. It’s early. I just couldn’t wait– and I guess you might be away this year on the quest.” She handed me the package. I bounced Estelle on my knee, my left hand cradling her tiny head, and looked at the package.

To Seaweed Brain

From Annabeth

I love you.

I smiled. Annabeth played with a strand of her hair. I pulled the string, and the paper came loose. Inside of it was… pictures. I smiled wider as I flipped through them. Each one was of either Annabeth, me, or both of us. I wondered how she got so many. “Annabeth…" I gasped as I saw the last picture. It was the picture of her she had sent me, of her in front of the Lincoln Memorial, bandana around her forehead, looking pleased, as if she had designed the place herself. “You found this one?”

"I sent it by email, Seaweed Brain.” She smirked. As a 13-year-old kid, I had kept a picture– this picture, in my binder, to remind me that Camp Half-Blood was real, and not a dream. I wondered if Annabeth knew that. She locked eyes with me, a knowing smile playing at her lips. She probably knew.

“Thanks.”

“You’re very welcome, Perseus Jackson." I wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her. Then my eyes traveled to baby Estelle. She was so peaceful, sleeping there.

But, as if I had jinxed it, her eyelids fluttered open and she sniffled, starting to cry. “Oh no, what happened, cutie?” Annabeth took Estelle from my arms, leaning against me. Her hair tickled my neck. I snaked my arm over her shoulder, holding her hand, and I put my other arm on Estelle’s belly. Estelle calmed down, her big brown eyes staring up at Annabeth, and I recognized the look. It was the look Annabeth gave my mom. Like another mother. Annabeth had told me. That was so cute, I felt my head throbbing like it was about to explode–

I snapped back to attention as a knock came from the door. “Percy? Let me in! I’ve been knocking for a while… you’re worrying me!" I frowned and rushed to open the door. Annabeth put her hands on her hips. " I came straight from archery. You should’ve been at the sword arena!” She paused, tucking a strand of her hair into her ponytail. She seemed to take in my ensemble. “What took you so long? And what’s with the outfit?” She looked a little disgusted with the fashion choice, to say the least.

"I was daydreaming.” She gave me a Look™. “And the outfit is for the quest. I think I look pretty awesome.”

"I don’t.” I moved to kiss her, but she planted her hand on my face. “Not in that outfit, Seaweed Brain.” I laughed and backed away playfully.

“Why’d you come?”

"I guess to see you off before you go on that quest… but maybe also to make sure you don’t get any ideas on the quest.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“Like staying, you weirdo.” She kissed me softly. I pulled away, raising an eyebrow.

“What, you’re not proud of the essence I have? I’m practically a natural delinquent, don’t you think?”

“No. I don't.” She tugged on my collar. I gave up. I wanted to pick her up and tickle her, but I knew she would not appreciate that. She looked at me pointedly. I glanced at her, making sure not to catch her eye, and ran a hand through my hair. "I don’t think I want to know what’s going through your mind right now, Perseus Jackson.”

“Probably not.”

“Oh?” She teased. I tried to change the topic.

“Where’s Pipes?" I said with a moment of hesitation.

“Oh, she’s doing some serious renovation to the Aphrodite Cabin.” Annabeth scrunched up her nose. It made her look cuter if that was possible. I chuckled.

“What, trying to remove the permanent glitter Drew let loose while she was a counselor?" I tried to snake my arm around her waist, but she grabbed my arm. “Alright, fine.” I raised my hands over my head in submission. Annabeth pushed my shoulder and walked past me into my cabin, sitting down on my bed.

“That wasn’t as funny as you tried to make it. Don’t push yourself." I rolled my eyes. She pretended not to notice me, and instead eyed my untidy and unkempt room. “When was the last time you cleaned?” She asked, already starting to clean.

“Erm… about two weeks ago.”

“Disgusting. I don't understand how you can do this to yourself. And your cabin is so dark. When is Tyson visiting?”

“Come on, Annabeth. I’ll be leaving for the quest in…" I checked my watch. “Two hours. Tyson will visit sometime.” Annabeth glared at me. “And it’s not that dark.”

“You couldn’t even possibly read in here.”

"I don’t read.” She rolled her eyes, but a smile might’ve tugged at the corner of her mouth. The smile disappeared when she looked at the floor. Annabeth picked up a dirty pair of boxer shorts with one finger, holding her nose.

“Really?”

“Sorry, that was a mistake. I didn't remember those were there." I blushed.

“Uh-huh. Yuck.” She dropped them in the laundry pile, gagging audibly. “You are going to clean your room before you leave.” She commanded, and I looked at her, trying to do the puppy eyes. “Not going to work, Percy." I tried a different approach. I kissed her on the temple and then moved to kiss her on the mouth. She sighed and gave in, but when she pulled away, she still looked like she meant business.

“Fine. I’ll do it.”

“Thank you.” She shut the door behind her, and I sat on my bed. I hadn't gone on a quest without Annabeth in ages, but I was a little excited, too. Like maybe she could use a break from me, too. I knew I would miss her, but then again, I wanted her to have free time. And Estelle. She would get to be with Estelle. Maybe it wasn’t so bad.

I started by opening the shades to windows I forgot existed. My cabin was pretty outdated, built a century or two ago, and the all-blue walls made Annabeth cringe, but I still thought it was homey.

The floor had been replaced by Tyson– once ugly faux-tiles, Tyson had gone hay while I was gone and replaced it with dark, hardwood flooring. I couldn't see the floor right now, due to the trash littering it, but it was beautiful when it showed.

The light flooding from the newfound windows made the cabin brighter than I thought possible, especially since there were no light fixtures besides my reading lamp in the whole room. (I did mention that it was built two centuries ago, right? So no fixtures. And not many people had occupied it since, so there had never been a change.)

I started to pick up candy wrappers and dirty clothing. Annabeth was right. These were not great living conditions. The difference was that I didn’t live with anyone, and therefore had no one to complain. (Besides Annabeth, but she didn’t technically live with me.)

I made my bed and put all of the dirty laundry (a lot) into a big bag. Maybe I could take it to the communal laundromat. I hadn’t cleaned my laundry since I got here three or four weeks ago.

I took a broom out from a small closet in the back of the cabin. Finally, when the trash had been cleared, you could see the floor. And the cabin looked nice– like it did when I arrived at camp.

Every time Tyson came to camp, he would spruce up the cabin just a little bit more. Rainbows reflected off of the hippocampi dangling from the ceiling.

A new fixture on the wall was now noticeable, thanks to the light flooding through the windows. I hadn’t noticed it before.

A scene made of metal showed the Argo II, swooping through the sky. I noticed a knob on the far side of the piece. When I turned it, the oars on the Argo II rotated slowly, and the birds flew through the sky. It was beautiful.

I was really impressed with what Tyson had been working on. One of his prized swords hung over his bed, glittering, and the fountain had been fixed. (I had destroyed it a while ago, but that’s another story.) My cabin actually looked partially habitable.

Yay!

I moved to where my desk was and looked up to the pictures on the wall. I lightly touched the one of Annabeth and I, laughing in a canoe on the Canoe Lake.

I shook my shoulders, loosening up, and walked outside.

I passed by some people on my way to the tree– Calypso was upset again, claiming she hadn’t come to the real world to hear about a stupid nymphs’ problems and not get paid. She was ranting to Piper especially, who just sat and listened– a trait of Pipers’ I appreciated myself.

“Hey Lester!" I said to Apollo. (Who was in mortal form, thanks to Zeus) He scowled at me, trying to look intimidating, but it looked more like he was trying not to cry with his new pimply, no longer chiseled face. He had not yet mastered facial expressions. I felt a twinge of guilt. But only a twinge. "I’m sorry, I meant Apollo." I tried not to laugh.

“Bah.” He walked away, annoyed. Nyssa came out of the woods looking baffled. I decided not to get involved. Lou Ellen was cursing at a statue, for a reason unknown to me. Leo was nowhere to be seen, and the same for Jason. I wondered if they were already at the tree, waiting for the no-show. With that thought, I picked up my pace and ran to the top of Half-Blood Hill.

~~~

A/N: Oh dude I hope everyone likes the story... I’ll admit the wording feels a bit rushed and all over the place, but I hope it gets better! I’m going to upload the second part like... right now. :) I know I said this wouldn’t turn into a fanfiction blog, but please send me asks if you want to see something specific written. AHHH! Love y’all.

edit: grammar and sPeLLing

#percabeth #pjo #hoo #jiper #caleo #percy #percy jackson #leo valdez #jason grace #oc #pjo fanficton #fanfic #percy jackson fanfic #demigod delinquents

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moononmyfloor · 5 years

Text

Review: The Tyrant's Tomb by Rick Riordan

Thoughts on The Cover

Well, if you've seen my previous posts by now you'd know that I'm not a big fan of loud and action-packed covers. I prefer classy, if not always subtle. But you might like it! See, Reyna is owning the bigger portion of it, which is a nice change. :-)

Ok to Low Points

Halfway through the book, I was STILL unable to "get" into the story

Literally, not much was going on for 2/3 of the whole book, which is very surprising considering:

The time between the release dates of The Tyrant's Tomb and The Burning Maze is the longest as of yet. Whereas other books within a series have come out within twelve months of each other, these two books will be released within eighteen months of each other.

.....and that even the most boring books by Uncle Rick had some silver linings here and there to keep you engaged. Even The Dark Prophecy had the gang arrive and settle in Indianapolis, visit the zoo and free Griffins and REVISIT the emperor. Here? Apollo and Co. escorted Jason's hearse into Camp Jupiter in a frankly insulting manner(more about that later), Apollo got sick, we see that the noble prophecies are being tattooed on Tyson's back, Apollo and Co. went on a lil' trial quest and returned, Apollo got more sick.🤷‍♀️ I was so confused I opened the previous books to see how far those stories had progressed by midpoint.

It got slightly better later on, but it doesn't change the fact throughout the 1st half of the book I just kept on turning pages SIMPLY because I wanted it to get it on with and finish the story. Sad.

2. The so-called Tyrant

I didn't see much tyranny, like...only 3 pages were spent in the Tyrant's Tomb and his company, bad old Commodus and Caligula had more appearances than Tarquin who re-appeared in the very last chapters only to get immediately vanquished courtesy of Diana.....yeah. That's that.

3. How Jason's final voyage was depicted

Uncle Rick doesn't write emotional crying scenes well.

People talk about peeing and pop chewing gum bubbles while delivering the hearses of valued, honored characters.

And I seriously wonder in what position and condition poor Jason's body was after all the drama his coffin underwent.

And based on the spoilery lines(which sadly turned out to be not spoilers at all) we saw in the Magnus Chase series I thought we'd at least get a Percy-Annabeth cameo in this, that Jason will have more of his closest comrades mourning and sending him off. Nah. Nada. Not even a mention of Annabeth. Then why did Uncle Rick mention things like Annabeth and Percy being at California and even Magnus joining them at their time of crisis? Utter puzzlement. And we were also robbed of Nico's reaction to Jason's demise, considering how much Nico valued Jason as a brother-in-arms and a friend. Let's not even talk about Thalia. Why, Uncle Rick? :-(

Which brings us to...

4. Plot Inconsistencies

Why do I have to talk about this in each and every book? :-( Seriously, why would you write about Percy and Annabeth going to New Rome to attend college and being broken hearted over Jason DURING the period of Demigod communication malfunction, only to have us know they have YET to travel across the country and when we meet them again it would still be at New York? And now the communication is working, proving that Uncle Rick conveniently forgot about the clues he conveniently dropped.

AT LEAST I'm glad one thing is consistent in the Trials of Apollo series, that when Zeus decided they'll stop meddling too much in demigod affairs at the end of Heroes of Olympus, he meant it and now it's super duper hard to seek a god even for dire needs, no matter how wonderfully (ill)timed that decision was, costing lives of valued heroes.

5. The Haiku-titles weren't amusing at all this time.

I found one fun haiku .

O, blood moon rising

Take a rain check on doomsday

I’m stuck in traffic

6. The whole Apollo-Reyna debacle.

I would say Uncle Rick pulled a clever twist by turning fan theories on their heads here, but it too way more plot space than needed and when he got to the "Gotcha!" part, I was not feeling it. For YEARS now, we heard abut this no-mortal-no-demigod thing over and over, and fans predicted it might mean Apollo's the one for Reyna. And when it initially seemed like it was the route that Uncle Rick was indeed taking, the only thought that circulated inside my head was; "Reyna doesn't need this completely random and unwanted baggage! Give the girl a dam break!!" But then he was like; "Lol nooo. You kids are wrong", but STILL I was not happy...well, for obvious reasons.

What's the point of this whole plotline? So unnecessary. I mean, the fans always wondered WHY exactly would Reyna think she needs a partner in her life, but now I see Reyna might not have had time to contemplate her personal life logically like WE had what's with her dramatic life. Of course the shallow gods would think her heart was something to be "cured" and Reyna never stopped to think that it's quite the opposite till Apollo provided her with a breather and reason. And to answer why din't she choose to join Amazons instead of Hunters is probably that she wanted to be her own person and not be under her sis the Queen once again. She'd indeed have the freedom, calm and few friends so she wouldn't feel lonely and bored with the Hunt. She might even choose to leave Hunters after she found herself in her own time. I get it. But the way it was dragged and executed was meh.

If Uncle Rick intended this plotline of Reyna to be empowering for female readers, in my opinion it was not. Yes, even a badass girl could have weaknesses, not enough self-confidence and wobbly life choices, but Reyna took too much time with her "Eureka!" moment.

It was funny while it lasted, at least.

“Lester.” Reyna sighed. “What in Tartarus are you saying? I’m not in the mood for riddles.”

“That maybe I’m the answer,” I blurted. “To healing your heart. I could…you know, be your boyfriend. As Lester. If you wanted. You and me. You know, like…yeah.”

HAHAHAHA. That Totally came from the left field Lester, even for you.

“Your girlfriend was pregnant when you had her killed?” Reyna launched another kick at my face. I managed to dodge it, since I’d had a lot of practice cowering, but it hurt to know that this time she hadn’t been aiming at an incoming raven. Oh, no. She wanted to knock my teeth in.

“You suck,” Meg agreed.

I mean, if THIS is not the ultimate deal breaker then what is? Apollo might have changed for better by now, but it doesn't mean we can overlook what he did. I for one certainly don't need a loveline for him in this series. I'm glad Uncle Rick drew(or at least seemed to have) a clear line here.

High Points

It took half the page count even for Uncle Rick's special brand of snark to return. Nonetheless I managed to find some good ones. Which is what matters, right?

“So,” I said, making a second attempt at nonchalance, “are you and Thalia, er…?”

Reyna raised an eyebrow. “Involved romantically?”

“Well, I just…I mean…Um…”

Oh, very smooth, Apollo. Have I mentioned I was once the god of poetry?

Reyna rolled her eyes. “If I had a denarius for every time I got that question…Aside from the fact that Thalia is in the Hunters, and thus sworn to celibacy…Why does a strong friendship always have to progress to romance?"

Preach, sister. But then again I would have to ask did YOU have to swear to celibacy to prove your independence....which is sort of the point🙄..

Even when I was a god and could speak any language I wanted, I’d never sung well in Italian. I kept mixing it up with Latin, so I came off sounding like Julius Caesar with a head cold.

LOL

It was time to be helpful. I needed to be repulsive for my friends!

Which you're most of the time...the latter sentence I mean.

4. Don't we all relate? 😂

“O protector of Rome!” I read aloud. “O insert name here!”

5. And one more.

I bet Gregorix was wishing he’d pursued that business degree his mom always wanted him to get. Being a barbarian bodyguard was mentally exhausting.

Heartrending quotes.

This was the source of all our communications troubles—one sad, angry, forgotten little god.

2. This was the wisest quote I saw in the book. The simple indescribable deepness of letting go.

“Good-bye, Apollo,” said the Sibyl’s voice, clearer now. “I forgive you. Not because you deserve it. Not for your sake at all. But because I will not go into oblivion carrying hate when I can carry love.”

Even if I could’ve spoken, I wouldn’t have known what to say. I was in shock. Her tone asked for no reply, no apology. She didn’t need or want anything from me. It was almost as if I were the one being erased.

3. I was saddened to learn about Julia's untimely loss, but I'm sure everybody had a meltdown moment at the following scene.

The old god’s face hardened a bit more, which shouldn’t have been possible for stone. “I see. Well. I’ve concentrated the last bits of my power here, around Julia. They may destroy New Rome, but they will not harm this girl!”

“Or this statue!” said Julia.

4. Honestly? I too forgot until Apollo pointed it out and then I had *shivers*! They're one immediate family, grieving over one loss that affects all of them in various ways, and having mixed reactions about each others the members who survived!

I shivered. How easy it was to forget that this young woman was also my sister. And Jason was my brother. At one time, I would have discounted that connection. They’re just demigods, I would have said. Not really family.

Overall Conclusion

This is the most bored-outta-my-mind I felt after reading a PJO universe book. Am I finally growing out of the Percy Jackson and the Heroes of Olympus fandom? Oh dear, I hope not. I can't imagine living without it and I'm SO not happy with this new development. Just as I feared, Uncle Rick couldn't keep it up after the excellent Burning Maze and now.....please, for your fans' sake who had been loyal for years, I hope at least the final book delivers. Just so we could at least part ways/go dormant with pleasant sentiments and a content heart.🙆‍♀️

#rick riordan #trials of apollo #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #the tyrants tomb #book reviews.#reviews #pjo

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lake-lyn · 5 years

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ET’s exclusive excerpt of The Tyrant’s Tomb by Rick Riordan (1/2)

Chapter 1

There is no food here

Meg ate all the Swedish fish

Please get off my hearse

I believe in returning dead bodies.

It seems like a simple courtesy, doesn’t it? A warrior dies, you should do what you can to get their body back to their people for funerary rites. Maybe I’m old-fashioned. I am over four thousand years old. But I find it rude not to properly dispose of corpses.

Achilles during the Trojan War, for instance. Total pig. He chariot-dragged the body of the Trojan champion Hector around the walls of the city for days. Finally I convinced Zeus to pressure the big bully into returning Hector’s body to his parents so he could have a decent burial. I mean, come on. Have a little respect for the people you slaughter.

Then there was Oliver Cromwell’s corpse. I wasn’t a fan of the man, but please. First, the English bury him with honors. Then they decide they hate him, so they dig him up and “execute” his body. Then his head falls off the pike where it’s been impaled for decades and gets passed around from collector to collector for almost three centuries like a disgusting souvenir snow globe. Finally, in 1960, I whispered in the ears of some influential people, Enough, already. I am the god Apollo, and I order you to bury that thing. You’re grossing me out.

When it came to Jason Grace, my fallen friend and half bropppther, I wasn’t going to leave anything to chance. I would personally escort his coffin to Camp Jupiter and see him off with full honors.

That turned out to be a good call. What with the ghouls attacking us and everything.

Sunset turned San Francisco Bay into a cauldron of molten copper as our private plane landed at Oakland Airport. I say our private plane. The chartered trip was actually a parting gift from our friend Piper McLean and her movie star father. (Everyone should have at least one friend with a movie star parent.)

Waiting for us beside the runway was another surprise the McLeans must have arranged: a gleaming black hearse. Meg McCaffrey and I stretched our legs on the tarmac while the ground crew somberly removed Jason’s coffin from the Cessna’s storage bay. The polished mahogany box seemed to glow in the evening light. Its brass fixtures glinted red. I hated how beautiful it was. Death shouldn’t be beautiful.

The crew loaded it into the hearse, then transferred our luggage to the backseat. We didn’t have much: Meg’s back- pack and mine (courtesy of Marco’s Military Madness), my bow and quiver and ukulele, and a couple of sketchbooks and a poster-board diorama we’d inherited from Jason.

I signed some paperwork, accepted the flight crew’s condolences, then shook hands with a nice undertaker who handed me the keys to the hearse and walked away.

I stared at the keys, then at Meg McCaffrey, who was chewing the head off a Swedish fish. The plane had been stocked with half a dozen tins of the squishy red candy. Not anymore. Meg had single-handedly brought the Swedish sh ecosystem to the brink of collapse.

“I’m supposed to drive?” I wondered. “Is this a rental hearse?”

Meg shrugged. During our flight, she’d insisted on sprawling on the Cessna’s sofa, so her dark pageboy haircut was flattened against the side of her head. One rhinestone-studded point of her cat-eye glasses poked through her hair like a disco shark n.

The rest of her out t was equally disreputable: floppy red high-tops, threadbare yellow leggings, and the well-loved knee-length green frock she’d gotten from Percy Jackson’s mother. By well-loved, I mean the frock had been through so many battles, washed and mended so many times, it looked less like a piece of clothing and more like a deflated hot-air balloon. Around Meg’s waist was the pièce de résistance: her multi-pocketed gardening belt, because children of Demeter never leave home without one.

“I don’t have a driver’s license,” she said, as if I needed a reminder that my life was presently being controlled by a twelve-year-old. “I call shotgun.”

“Calling shotgun” didn’t seem appropriate for a hearse. Nevertheless, Meg skipped to the passenger’s side and climbed in. I got behind the wheel. Soon we were out of the airport and cruising north on I-880 in our rented black grief-mobile.

Ah, the Bay Area . . . I’d spent some happy times here. The vast misshapen geographic bowl was jam-packed with interesting people and places. I loved the green-and-golden hills, the fog-swept coastline, the glowing lacework of bridges and the crazy zigzag of neighborhoods shouldered up against one another like subway passengers at rush hour.

Back in the 1950s, I played with Dizzy Gillespie at Bop City in the Fillmore. During the Summer of Love, I hosted an impromptu jam session in Golden Gate Park with the Grateful Dead. (Lovely bunch of guys, but did they really need those fteen-minute-long solos?) In the 1980s, I hung out in Oakland with Stan Burrell—otherwise known as MC Hammer—as he pioneered pop rap. I can’t claim credit for Stan’s music, but I did advise him on his fashion choices. Those gold lamé parachute pants? My idea. You’re welcome, fashionistas.

Most of the Bay Area brought back good memories. But as I drove, I couldn’t help glancing to the northwest—toward Marin County and the dark peak of Mount Tamalpais. We gods knew the place as Mount Othrys, seat of the Titans. Even though our ancient enemies had been cast down, their palace destroyed, I could still feel the evil pull of the place—like a magnet trying to extract the iron from my now-mortal blood.

I did my best to shake the feeling. We had other problems to deal with. Besides, we were going to Camp Jupiter—friendly territory on this side of the bay. I had Meg for backup. I was driving a hearse. What could possibly go wrong?

The Nimitz Freeway snaked through the East Bay flatlands, past warehouses and docklands, strip malls and rows of dilapidated bungalows. To our right rose downtown Oakland, its small cluster of high-rises facing off against its cooler neighbor San Francisco across the Bay as if to proclaim We are Oakland! We exist, too!

Meg reclined in her seat, propped her red high-tops up on the dashboard, and cracked open her window.

“I like this place,” she decided.

“We just got here,” I said. “What is it you like? The abandoned warehouses? That sign for Bo’s Chicken ’N’ Waffles?”

“Nature.”

“Concrete counts as nature?”

“There’s trees, too. Plants flowering. Moisture in the air. The eucalyptus smells good. It’s not like . . .”

She didn’t need to finish her sentence. Our time in Southern California had been marked by scorching temperatures, extreme drought, and raging wild res—all thanks to the magical Burning Maze controlled by Caligula and his hate-crazed sorceress bestie, Medea. The Bay Area wasn’t experiencing any of those problems. Not at the moment, anyway.

We’d killed Medea. We’d extinguished the Burning Maze. We’d freed the Erythraean Sibyl and brought relief to the mortals and withering nature spirits of Southern California.

But Caligula was still very much alive. He and his co- emperors in the Triumvirate were still intent on controlling all means of prophecy, taking over the world, and writing the future in their own sadistic image. Right now, Caligula’s fleet of evil luxury yachts was making its way toward San Francisco to attack Camp Jupiter. I could only imagine what sort of hellish destruction the emperor would rain down on Oakland and Bo’s Chicken ’N’ Waffles.

Even if we somehow managed to defeat the Triumvirate, there was still that greatest Oracle, Delphi, under the control of my old nemesis Python. How I could defeat him in my present form as a sixteen-year-old weakling, I had no idea.

But, hey. Except for that, everything was fine. The eucalyptus smelled nice.

Traf c slowed at the I-580 interchange. Apparently, California drivers didn’t follow that custom of yielding to hearses out of respect. Perhaps they gured at least one of our passengers was already dead, so we weren’t in a hurry.

Meg toyed with her window controls, raising and lower- ing the glass. Reeee. Reeee. Reeee.

“You know how to get to Camp Jupiter?” she asked.

“Of course.”

“ ’Cause you said that about Camp Half-Blood.”

“We got there! Eventually.”

“Frozen and half-dead.”

“Look, the entrance to camp is right over there.” I waved vaguely at the Oakland Hills. “There’s a secret passage in the Caldecott Tunnel or something.”

“Or something?”

“Well, I haven’t actually ever driven to Camp Jupiter,” I admitted. “Usually I descend from the heavens in my glorious sun chariot. But I know the Caldecott Tunnel is the main entrance. There’s probably a sign. Perhaps a Demigods Only lane.”

Meg peered at me over the top of her glasses. “You’re the dumbest god ever.” She raised her window with a final Reeee. SHLOOMP!—a sound that reminded me uncomfortably of a guillotine blade.

We turned west onto Highway 24. The congestion eased as the hills loomed closer. The elevated lanes soared past neighborhoods of winding streets and tall conifers, white stucco houses clinging to the sides of grassy ravines.

A road sign promised CALDECOTT TUNNEL ENTRANCE, 2 MI. That should have comforted me. Soon, we’d pass through the borders of Camp Jupiter into a heavily guarded, magically camouflaged valley where an entire Roman legion could shield me from my worries, at least for a while.

Why, then, were the hairs on the back of my neck quivering like sea worms?

Something was wrong. It dawned on me that the uneas- iness I’d felt since we landed might not be the distant threat of Caligula, or the old Titan base on Mount Tamalpais, but something more immediate . . . something malevolent, and getting closer.

I glanced in the rearview mirror. Through the back window’s gauzy curtains, I saw nothing but traffic. But then, in the polished surface of Jason’s coffin lid, I caught the reflection of movement from a dark shape outside—as if a human-size object had just own past the side of the hearse.

“Oh. Meg?” I tried to keep my voice even. “Do you see anything unusual behind us?”

“Unusual like what?”

THUMP.

The hearse lurched as if we’d been hitched to a trailer full of scrap metal. Above my head, two foot-shaped impressions appeared in the upholstered ceiling.

“Something just landed on the roof,” Meg deduced.

“Thank you, Sherlock McCaffrey! Can you get it off?”

“Me? How?”

That was an annoyingly fair question. Meg could turn the rings on her middle fingers into wicked gold swords, but if she summoned them in close quarters, like the interior of the hearse, she a) wouldn’t have room to wield them, and b) might end up impaling me and/or herself.

CREAK. CREAK. The footprint impressions deepened as the thing adjusted its weight like a surfer on a board. It must have been immensely heavy to sink into the metal roof.

A whimper bubbled in my throat. My hands trembled on the steering wheel. I yearned for my bow and quiver in the backseat, but I couldn’t have used them. DWSPW, driving while shooting projectile weapons, is a big no-no, kids.

“Maybe you can open the window,” I said to Meg. “Lean out and tell it to go away.”

“Um, no.” (Gods, she was stubborn.) “What if you try to shake it off?”

Before I could explain that this was a terrible idea while traveling fifty miles an hour on a highway, I heard a sound like a pop-top aluminum can opening—the crisp pneumatic hiss of air through metal. A claw punctured the ceiling—a grimy white talon the size of a drill bit. Then another. And another. And another, until the upholstery was studded with ten pointy white spikes—just the right number for two very large hands.

“Meg?” I yelped. “Could you—?”

I don’t know how I might have finished that sentence. Protect me? Kill that thing? Check in the back to see if I have any spare undies?

I was rudely interrupted by the creature ripping open our roof like we were a birthday present.

Staring down at me through the ragged hole was a withered, ghoulish humanoid, its blue-black hide glistening like the skin of a house y, its eyes filmy white orbs, its bared teeth dripping saliva. Around its torso uttered a loincloth of greasy black feathers. The smell coming off it was more putrid than any dumpster—and believe me, I’d fallen into a few.

“FOOD!” it howled.

“Kill it!” I yelled at Meg.

“Swerve!” she countered.

One of the many annoying things about being incarcerated in my puny mortal body: I was Meg McCaffrey’s servant. I was bound to obey her direct commands. So when she yelled “swerve,” I yanked the steering wheel hard to the right. The hearse handled beautifully. It careened across three lanes of traffic, barreled straight through the guardrail, and plummeted into the canyon below.

#ttt #the tyrants tomb #the tyrant’s tomb #rick riordan #meg mccaffrey

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mikaey43 · 7 years

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#15 Percy Jackson & the Olympians:

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

Rating: 4.5/5

Pages: 381 (with a brief excerpt from the first book of Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero)

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion Books (an imprint of Disney Book Group)

I'm glad to say that this story is definitely one of those you hope won't end. Let's start with the part where I needed to savor the ending as long as I could. I forcefully read this book in about five days—about 1.5 to 2 hours a day—because I didn’t want to finish it too quickly. I forcefully stopped myself reading. And wow. Just wow. I am posting this review so late in the year because I wanted to take time to really think about this last book. (Okay, I have been very busy and lost this file a few times.) I'm going to try and put all this information as best I can on paper. I've been trying to mull this last piece of Percy Jackson over in my mind. I tried to let my thoughts settle as much as possible but only one word comes to mind to describe this adventure: wow. Of course, I'm talking about the fifth and final book in the series: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan.

(WARNING: Reader discretion is advised. Spoilers up ahead of PJO.)

My journey into the world of Percy Jackson started the day I saw the teaser trailer for The Lightning Thief during the previews of the latest Harry Potter movie. At that time I didn't know it was a book. I began to wonder where I had seen that title before. Only until I became a bit more interested did I begin to see the dull glow of the burnt orange of the cyclops's eye following me around; the havoc of the lightning storm of the first installment as I passed it by heading to the saturated table of Harry Potter merchandise. But I never reached for it. That is until the oldest of my twin brothers became interested in reading this series. That helped me to finally read it a full five years after they both finished reading the series plus Heroes of Olympus.

As I said in my review of The Battle of the Labyrinth I wasn't expecting anything extraordinary, just a satisfying conclusion to this great series. But wow, did Riordan deliver beyond my meager expectations. He saved the best adventure for last. There isn't much to the plot that won't give something away. We're already five books immersed into this story so everything said is a spoiler. (I have my disclaimer at the beginning, if you haven't been spoiled already.)

Although this series has been compared to Harry Potter, it shouldn't be. They do have similarities, such as: their middle grade audience (yet most adults enjoy it too). The magical elements. They can be classified under the urban fantasy subgenre. And of course, the ultimate evil; but, that can be said for any book in the fantasy genre. That is mostly where the similarities end. What makes Percy Jackson different is in the most obvious details: the use of mythology with the participation of the Greek pantheon, where there is nothing of the sort in Harry Potter. The gods mate and leave it all to the mortal parents (male or female). The half-bloods educations is also different, it is a camp. The story is told during the summer months (and one winter) as opposed to the whole year around. Yes, there is a “trio,” but one is a satyr, another the daughter of Athena who is born out of (one can only hope) her mother's forehead. The most glaring difference is, of course, the characters themselves who make up this world. And while you may have similar “stock characters” in each story, just as with real people, it's the experiences of each one that makes them uniquely different from the other. These are just a few points I think are pretty obvious that show the comparison of both stories is unnecessary to them and the authors. It is very apple and oranges.

This adventure is a fast-paced read with an immense amount of action as the previous installments. The setting of this story takes place in New York City as Kronos's forces close in on Mount Olympus (located on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building). This is a strong point of the series: the sheer amount of traveling, exploration and “world building” in each book of the mythological world of the gods and the real world. Amazingly, we still travel before the major battles. Percy goes to a few places before returning to NYC. First, we travel to Long Island on a secret mission out on the Hudson River, then dive into the depths of the ocean and then back to camp Half-Blood. There's a pit stop in Connecticut (to visit Luke's mother) and then we journey to Percy's home for a blessing. Unbeknownst of Nico's intentions, we travel to the underworld and finally to the battleground. Lots of traveling until the very end. Even through dreams Percy travels with Rachel to her vacation on a Caribbean island. I like it. Exhausting at time, but really like it.

Usually when the reader is taken on an adventure there is a period of at least a chapter or so where he or she is reacquainted with the story and the world. In this adventure Percy takes off from the get-go without really taking a moment to breathe. Technically, he did since he had about a “year” to rest. But the reader—especially if you binge read the series—doesn't have time to take that figurative breath before diving headfirst into the story. There might be a tiny breath but that's about it until you come up for air during the moments of exposition.

Most of the characters mentioned in my previous reviews (The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters) where either mortal or half-bloods. I would like to focus on the reason theses adventures have taken place. Although there are other gods mentioned, to me these stood out for their involvement in the overall scheme of the “prophecy” of this tale. On the outskirts of Connecticut we meet Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, who proclaims herself to be the “last Olympian.” We find out that she has been present at Camp Half-Blood in the form of a girl as the sons and daughters of the pantheon offer up the best portions of their meals to their respective mothers and fathers before they eat. There is Percy's father, the god of the sea, Poseidon. He can be considered the middle child in his importance and demeanor in more ways than just the order of birth of the “big three.” He is more relaxed than his older brother Zeus but less rebellious than his younger brother, Hades. Speaking of Hades, we know that he is Nico's father and god of the underworld. He is ironically linked to the self-fulling prophecy because he cursed the oracle when she reveals that his children's fates (Nico and Bianca) are involved in the prophecy. And finally there is Hermes. Besides being messenger of the gods, we know that he is Luke's father and was May's lover. He carries with him the burden of knowing the destiny of May and Luke and the knowledge of what was to come.

I like that this book was dramatic (like ancient Greek literature) and not melodramatic (like a soap opera) filled with endless unnecessary theatrics of cat fights just for the sake of causing a commotion. Although, in my opinion, Annabeth was being too catty at times for my taste. As highbrow as it may sound, the loves stories between characters in classics seldom have over-the-top obstacles and have legitimate concerns. And when it comes to “love triangles” it also has relatable choices with reasons why the protagonist would choose either the love interest or the “obstacle.” Rarely did any of the protagonists lead the “obstacle” on. If there was a pair, the “obstacle” could pine (if they wanted) but the protagonist would not play with anyone's emotions for the sake of drama (unless it was a “coquettish” drama and even those had consequences for doing so). Romance (in today's definition and not the early 19th century artistic movement) are novels with melodrama (again changed from their early definition). Melodrama now is a work that has sensational and an exaggerated plot with sensational and exaggerated characters. It's what, I believe can be compared with soap operas. For some, these are considered “guilty pleasures” for stress relief and enjoyment, but for me, as good stories go, I like that the “romance” of this series is the minutest of details because there is so much more then the attraction between Annabeth and Percy. So much more. There were hints of the budding romance and it wasn't spoken of or made concrete until the end of this series. I think that gives young readers a great message: everything in due course.

Another thing that I like very much is the parting of Rachel and Percy. It ended not because they didn't share a mutual attraction, it just wasn't in the cards. And that's fine. They have different paths in life. There is no reason to lead someone on or have this incessant drama of an unnecessary “love triangle.” I really liked the importance Riordan gives Rachel. I applaud how Riordan handled the relationship between them. I like that Rachel is given a bigger role in the story and not just seen as an obstacle. I'm glad Riordan gave her something more than the role of an obstacle to the main romantic pair—if you want to call them that. And that's more to the relationship Rachel is given a bigger overall arc in the story and Percy is a gateway rather than the object. One downside is Annabeth's coldness and cattiness towards Rachel. It was a bit unnerving at times throughout the series. It was annoying how it melted once she saw that Rachel wasn’t a “threat” anymore. I remembered back in the The Battle of the Labyrinth Annabeth treated Rachel as if she was stupid or unimportant because she was a mortal girl who might have the slightest interest in Percy. I don't think Riordan was successful there.

Speaking of battles, which may be the climax of adventures series, but for me, reading them is always a challenge. They make better visual than they do written experiences. So much happens during that moment that I feel that written storytelling can be a bit restrictive because I don’t think that it can envelope all the chaos. It may be written with short sentences to make it fast paced; or with longer, more detailed sentences to make it slow paced and perhaps focus on a scene or a moment. These things make combat scenes a miss for me since I get apathetic or too zealous and I don't absorb the necessary details of something important. I am either overflowing with too much information or none at all. However, these battle scenes made me feel as everyone else. I was low in spirits, high on adrenaline and yet emotionally exhausted as the battles raged past the “climatic” fight of one moment/day. And bonus: I was always worried about the characters I cared about, hoping they wouldn’t die. I'm glad Tyson didn't. (phew!) Riordan did what few authors have done (and usually the setting is historical battle.) Wow.

Another downside is that I didn't find Silena's reason to become a spy for Kronos justifiable. I understand why she stayed a spy. I mean, once you're in a clandestine organization it's hard to get out and that was the consequence. For Silena to make things right again she had to sacrifice herself wether she lived or died. It seemed too much of a “shock value” factor. It appeared awkward, forced, and seemed to me used for the sole purpose to have Kronos be one step ahead. It appeared very much like a “deus ex machina” as Silena then becomes the “hero” as she usurps Clarisse's place to have all of Ares's children go to battle. It could be seen a hundred miles away.

I gave this last book a 4.5 out of 5 stars. This has been a great book and definitely a great series. I am immensely happy that I finally read it and discovered this awesome world of mythology come to life. There were times when I have questioned that half star. But the couple of points I mentioned had me take away half of that 5th star. I appreciated Riordan's imagination and the work it took to bring all of this world to us. Hopefully soon, we can get a series or reboot of the movies because it's a shame that this series has not been optioned again. I would love to see it as a live-action anything. On any screen. (Maybe Netflix!) I am going to miss it very much. I plan on reading the follow-up series Heroes of Olympus soon. Until next time.

Thanks for reading!

#Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Last Olympian #Rick Riordan #Percy Jackson #Annabeth Chase #Rachel Dare #Grover Underwood #Hestia #Poseidon #Zeus #Hades #Kronos #Hermes #Luke

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aka-queen-bitch-blog · 7 years

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Alexandra Fray and the Olympians

English isn’t my first language, so please don’t focus too much on my spelling/grammar, I’m still learning!

Also, I only write fanfics because I need something to keep myself busy, otherwise I start feeling bored and lonely.

I love PJO and I really like to fantasize/write fanfics about this. I write this fanfic because I like doing it, and no other reason (though, I hope you like it, too).

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters or the Olympians Universe by Rick Riordan and Disney.

At last, any feedback is welcome and yiu can ask me anything! xxx

CHAPTER 7

Nico concluded that Rachel Dare could be absolutely terrifying. Not only because she was a badass mortal girl, but because she was also the Oracle of Delphi.

Right now, Rachel was the Oracle. Her eyes were glowing and green fog surrounded her as she spoke.

“Stirring from the Depths a Danger rises To fight those who have fought before To his revenge a hero must fall To be destroyed by the Child of All Only to survive ten days of cold sunrises To be never seen once more Time will end and an era will start To be sealed with a frozen heart.”

She collapsed on the ground and watched the three demigods in horror. “I… I don’t…” she muttered before she fainted.

Will quickly sat beside her, checking her pulse. “She is okay, but I am guessing that profecy drained her energy,” he said knitting his eyebrows.

“We need to take her to the infirmary,” Nico said. Percy nodded. “And we have to tell Chiron about this profecy, although I didn’t understand anything from it. This was the most cryptic profecy I’ve ever heard.”

***

Rachel didn’t have to stay in the infirmary for too long. As Will had said, the profecy had drained her energy and after she came to, she admitted she hadn’t gotten the chance to eat today. While she ate the PB&J Will made her, she answered the questions Chiron and Dionysus fired at her.

“The Depts of Danger obviously refers to Tartarus,” Chiron thought. “And those who’ve fought before, that is basically anyone at Camp,” Mr D grunted.

But Rachel shook her head. “I think it is more specific than that,” she eyed Percy warily. “I have had… visions. I saw most of the Seven, and those who’ve helped them. They were fighting in a snowy landscape… I don’t know if it is part of the profecy, but I do think the line ‘fight those who have fought before’ refers to the Seven, and especially Percy, Nico and Annabeth, since they were also involved in Kronos’s defeat.”

Percy sighed. He had accepted that his life was determined by impossible profecies, but that didn’t mean he liked it. And he was definitely not cheering for another death profecy.

“To his revenge a hero must fall…” Mr D muttered. He looked at Percy. “So, if it really is about Kronos who is appearantly stirring again, then it seems that your life is on the line once more, Peter.”

“My name is Percy,” Percy corrected the wine god, despite knowing it was pointless. “Whatever,” Dionysus sighed.

Chiron frowned. “The profecy says that to his revenge a hero must fall, it literally could be any hero, so we shouldn’t overthink it too much.” Percy thought that statement was a bit heartless since at least somebody was supposed to die. But Chiron had seen many heroes die in his long life, so he was probably used to it.

“I can’t sense anyone dying, though,” Nico said assuringly. It didn’t make Percy feel much better.

Chiron shook his head. “That’s probably because the timing is wrong. It is now mid summer, the solstice was three days ago, and if we must believe Miss Dare’s visions about a snowy landscape, I assume the profecy unfolds in the winter.”

“That makes sense,” Nico agreed. “Especially with the line of surviving ten days of cold sunrises.”

“That’s around mid winter,” Will nodded. “In some places up north, the sun dissapears in the winter, but it can cast a dim twilight. My dad once said that the glow of a sunrise, but without the actual sun, is called a cold sunrise.”

Dionysus sighed. “If that’s true, it means that the profecy doesn’t only unfolds around mid winter, but also in a place so far north you can’t see the sun? Last time I checked, that’s either Northern Canada or Alaska, but anyway a Land beyond the Gods.”

Percy’s stomach twisted. He had been there before and he hadn’t planned on returning.

Nico frowned. “So we guess that the Seven, and everyone who directly opposed Kronos before, are the fighters mentioned in the profecy, which will take place mid winter in probably the Lands beyond the Gods?”

Everyone nodded grimly while the son of Hades summarized their thoughts. Rachel looked confused.

“But that still doesn’t explain the Child of All, or that part about ending time and starting a new era with a frozen heart,” she said.

Chiron frowned. “I have no clue. I’ve never heard about a Child of All, and as the case is often with profecies, the frozen heart could be either literal or figuratively…”

“Ending Time could also have a double meaning,” Will said. “You know, with Kronos being able to manipulate time.” “It could also mean ending an era and starting a new one, like, maybe an era without Gods,” Nico suggested.

Dionysus made a face. “Watch it, boy. We Olympians have been present during every era. We have defeated Kronos before, we will do so again.” Nico shrugged, it had only been an idea.

“We shouldn’t worry too much about cryptic lines in a profecy. I think we should warn the Gods and Head Councelors, and wait until winter. We can only train and prepare ourselves for the worst,” Chiron decided.

Great, Percy thought. Prepare for the worst. You are part of another Death Profecy in your senior year. If he would go on a quest again, he was certain his mom or his girlfriend would kill him if he couldn’t finish his school with good grades. He had promised Annabeth to go to college with her, and now he had to tell her about this profecy.

Sometimes, his life really sucked.

#pjo #percy jackson #percy jackson and the olympians #will solace #nico di angelo #chiron #dionysus #mr d #rachel dare #annabeth chase #fanfic #alexandra fray #hoo #camp halfblood #chb #oracle of delphi

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jordanthatblondegirl · 5 years

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Jo’s Notes: The Lost Hero

”It’s a big sky. I supposed there's room for Hercules and hedgehogs.”

The Gods are not happy. More specifically Zeus is not happy. He’s closed off Olympus from the mortal world just in time for trouble more ancient than Kronos to rise to the Earth’s surface. Lucky for us, we have a new hero...who happens to forget everything about who he was before waking up on a bus bound for the Grand Canyon.

We left Percy Jackson and the Olympians with Percy using his gift from Zeus to ensure that all demigod children would be claimed. It’s a promise that would definitely help a lot of their kids to, you know, not die. However, Zeus does not promise anything more than that. So, while there’s the added benefit of all demigods knowing their parentage, they are now at a disadvantage by not having any support from anyone’s godly parent. This is a huge withdraw, especially when you look at someone like Percy who seems to communicate more than average with Poseidon. However, it feels a little more like the ancient myths where the gods would only sometimes intervene in behalf of their offspring.

Like I said in my review of PJO, Riordan takes care to intentionally write characters of color into his stories. It stems from his beliefs that kids deserve to read stories about themselves. There are some critics to his efforts, though I wonder what they would think of Riordan introducing a more colorful main trio in The Lost Hero. More than that, their identities are going deeper this time. Their race becomes more influential to their personality like with Leo’s relationship with his Tia who’s not his Tia and Piper’s experiences with being Native American. It’s something I picked up on in this first book, but want to discuss the full scope of it in my series review, so let’s put a pin in it.

While Riordan continued to expand the kinds of kids who present as demigods, he also fleshed out some of his previous characters. I was particularly pleased with Aphrodite. We saw how she has a bit of strategy locked in her brain, but Riordan didn’t sacrifice any of the shallowness that we expect of someone who is a goddess of beauty. I also enjoyed meeting Hephaestus. All the other gods we had previously met seemed to be pretty confident in themselves, but then Hephaestus get nervous talking to his own, mortal son. I also think meeting his dad was really important to Leo’s own growing confidence.

Out of the main trio, I think Leo was my favorite. I think it’s because he seemed to have the most complex thoughts and world view. I’ve spoken with a few of my friends who have read the series and they found Leo’s humor grating. I can admit it was over the top, but I’ve got a soft spot for the jokester with a tragic past. Besides, I was 100% more interested in Leo’s struggle with losing his mom to the Dirt Lady than Jason’s amnesia. Mostly because Jason never seemed out of place enough to make recovering his memory worthwhile.

As much as I loved Leo, I can see why Jason is the main character in this tale. He has that sort of hero charisma that Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, and Katniss Everdeen have. Though he might not have remembered it, there was veiled notions that Jason was a leader of some kind back wherever he was from. Add on the fact that he’s been specially chosen by Hera, Queen of the Gods, as she’s been trapped (and maybe even before that) and you got the makings of a boy wonder. There were a few times throughout the book that alluded to Jason’s last name being “Grace”. Which can’t be a coincidence that Thalia’s last name was also Grace. Though, if they were to be siblings then it would throw the whole “don’t apply DNA to the Gods” thing for some kind of loop. It would be interesting to see how the two consider themselves related if they technically have the same parents.

Towards the end, there was this epic scene where Jason rattled off his accomplishments and uses his literal god-given powers to intimidate the giant that was working to entrap Hera. While this was impressive, I didn’t quite love it as much as I usually do with these scenes. I think it’s because Jason never seems to doubt himself; he never seemed unsure, just that he was collecting intel and waiting for a moment to strike. However, the scene was important, not because Jason learns something concrete about who he was prior to his amnesia, but because it sets Jason up to being just as important as Percy was in PJO.

The Lost Hero was a good setup for the new world Riordan was trying to introduce. It wasn’t so different from PJO that readers had to waste time learning an entirely new mythology and method. The story itself wasn’t all that impressive, but I understand it was all necessary as a means of introducing a new world and new characters. It existed in the world of the original series, but, like the characters, I think the story has grown up. I’d be hesitant to dismiss it as a simple Middle Grade book.

Rating: 3/5

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#The Lost Hero #heroes of olympus #rick riordan #Book review #Book #BOOKS #Review #Percy Jackson #Jo's Notes #Jo Post

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seattlesea · 3 years

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Perachel Is Not a Bad Ship

It’s really not. It’s actually one of the best-written relationships (romantic-wise and platonic) in any of the series, way better than Percabeth in my opinion (obviously you can think differently). But why does the fandom hate it so much? Because it ‘got in the way of Percabeth’? And yet you go on and ship Percy with Nico, Jason, Artemis, Athena, etc.? Doesn’t that ‘get in the way of Percabeth’ too? I don’t see any of you mercilessly hating on those ships. Honestly, most of the fans only hate Perachel because the fandom and Riordan told them they should and because hating on Perachel is ‘popular’. Guys- it’s 2021. You can stop acting like they weren’t cute.

But anyways, here’s my reasoning-

1. Rachel treats Percy good. Has Rachel ever hit Percy? Or insulted him? Or made him feel like shit about himself? Or canonically lowered his self-esteem? Or turn all possessive and jealous when someone else likes him despite not even being in a relationship with him? It’s even shown that Percy is a lot more himself when he’s around Rachel. He’s more funny, reckless, wild, laid-back, and carefree, while around Annabeth all he thinks about is the right thing to say. It’s pretty clear he’s more comfortable around Rachel cause she doesn’t overwork his mind or treat him badly, and she even makes him feel good about himself.

2. Percy likes Rachel (more than Annabeth). This is most obvious in the first chapter of The Last Olympian, when Percy and Rachel were driving out to the beach. Percy thinks “We'd spent a lot of time together this summer. I hadn't exactly planned it that way, but the more serious things got at camp, the more I found myself needing to call up Rachel and get away, just for some breathing room. I needed to remind myself that the mortal world was still out there, away from all the monsters using me as their personal punching bag”. When Percy was stressed, he called Rachel, not Annabeth. If you find yourself calling up someone to help you relax and take care of yourself, you clearly like them better than someone you don’t. And not only that, but Percy and Rachel probably spent more time together than Percy did with Annabeth. Percy and Annabeth only saw each other during quests- which isn’t exactly a better way to bond with someone versus actually talking to and hanging out with them- and he even said that they spent a lot of time together, plus they go to the same school. Which means Percy only sees Annabeth two months out of the full year but sees Rachel all year round. After The Last Olympian, Percy and Annabeth have known each other for four years. Two months of four years is eight months total. Percy and Rachel have known each other for two years. Every month (plus every single day at school) plus sometimes in the summer is about twenty-four months. That’s triple the time Percy and Annabeth spent with each other, so they obviously know each other better. Another thought from Percy is “I can't pretend I hadn't thought about Rachel. She was so much easier to be around than...well, than some other girls I knew. I didn't have to work hard, or watch what I said, or rack my brain trying to figure out what she was thinking. Rachel didn't hide much. She let you know how she felt.” That alone should be a huge sign that Percy likes Rachel more than Annabeth. He’s more comfortable around her and he’s scared of Annabeth. You shouldn’t be scared of your partner, that’s a clear sign that something is wrong (aka a toxic relationship). If someone has to ‘work hard’ aka stress themself or ‘watch what they say’ around someone, they are obviously not comfortable around them. Percy even states that Rachel is easier to talk to than Annabeth, and he likes talking to Rachel more.

3. Rachel isn’t possessive. The moment Rachel found out that Annabeth liked Percy, she let her have him, cause she (unlike Annabeth) didn’t care about what she wanted, she cared about what Percy wanted and his own happiness. Rachel didn’t disallow Percy to have other female friends and allowed him to do what he wanted, and she didn’t insult and hate on Annabeth just for liking Percy (and yet the fandom roots for Annabeth, the rude, prejudiced one?).

4. Perachel wasn’t rushed or forced. Percy and Annabeth were just the 'male lead and female lead get together' that was predicted to happen since the moment they saw each other, so their entire relationship was just those two being forced together by both Riordan and the fandom. It was too obvious that it was going to happen, so nothing that happened between them before they became an official couple really mattered since everyone knew that they were going to get together anyways. There was no real tension since everyone knew what was going to happen in the end. As for Rachel, she was a sudden twist that wasn't really expected. She met Percy at the Hoover Dam, helped him despite not knowing or believing him, and then they went to school with each other, helped each other on quests, and grew feelings for each other. Percy and Rachel have a lot of chemistry- way more than Percy and Annabeth- and their relationship didn't happen too fast. In The Mark of Athena, it was said that Annabeth had a crush on Percy since she first knew him. I mean- gaining a crush on someone at twelve years old? That doesn't mean anything. It's just a flimsy middle school crush. Percy and Rachel, though, met each other in The Titan’s Curse- when they were fourteen- and started gaining feelings for each other in The Battle of the Labyrinth- when they were fifteen. Fifteen year-olds can definitely start gaining feelings that aren't just sexual attraction and flimsy crushes, so Percy and Rachel's relationship is a lot more plausible than Percy and Annabeth's. Besides, Percy and Rachel's relationship was a more relaxed 'going with the flow' type of relationship that seemed to naturally flow off the pages while Percy and Annabeth's was too forced with too many forced scenes and moments. Percy and Rachel's relationship seemed a lot more natural and content.

5. Percy and Rachel aren’t opposites. Despite the popular saying ‘Opposites attract’, opposites don’t attract, opposites cancel each other out. Besides, that saying is similar to the saying ‘Your other/better half’, but people don’t have a ‘better half’ that needs to ‘complete them’. The thing between similars and opposites is that people who are too opposite will become enemies (like Percy and Annabeth) but people who are too similar will also become enemies (like Percy and Thalia or Percy and Jason), so people have to find someone who’s in between. Percy and Rachel are just like that. They share similar personality traits, like the same things, and would be able to agree on most things while Percy and Annabeth would realistically argue about everything. Besides, y’all can’t act like the artistic painter mortal and the son of Poseidon skater-boy isn’t a cute-ass concept.

6. It’s not just fan love. Honestly, it seems like Riordan was going to make Perachel happen but after seeing how much hate it got, changed his mind to Percabeth (which is why he made Rachel become the Oracle of Delphi and randomly made up the rule that the Oracle can’t date out of nowhere without any reasoning behind it). I mean- did any of you notice that all romantic Percabeth moments only happened after The Titan’s Curse and after Rachel was introduced? Perachel was actually introduced first, not Percabeth. It would explain why Riordan randomly added in a bunch of unrealistic Percabeth scenarios that were on the brink of cringey (Percy seeing Annabeth in the River Styx and not his mom or Grover, Percy only remembering Annabeth and not his mom, Percy and Annabeth falling into Tartarus- which wasn’t that bad as the fans make it, by the way, they over-exaggerated that a lot- Percy turning down immortality only for Annabeth and not his mom, life, friends, etc.) Percabeth came out too forced because Riordan was only writing what the fans wanted. And the fact that the toxic Percabeth fans who hate on, insult, curse, yell at, or even threaten anyone who so much as says ‘Perachel’ take up the majority of the fandom further proves this. It’s fine to think that someone’s opinion sucks and is absolutely repulsive, but hating them because of it? That just makes you the asshole.

Perachel is actually a really great and healthy relationship and the fandom should stop hating on it just because others told them to or because it ‘got in the way of Percabeth’. You can multi-ship, you know, and you can also stop being a toxic person who hates on people for what they like just like homophobes do.

#perachel #perachel isn't bad stop acting like it is #percabeth is toxic #percy jackson #annabeth chase #rachel dare #rachel elizabeth dare #stop the rachel hate

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danithebookaholic-blog · 7 years

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A Book You Picked Solely Because of the Cover

The Fallen: The Fallen and Leviathan

by Thomas E. Sniegoski

This week’s suggestion on the Pinterest Reading Challenge is to pick a book solely based on its cover. So, I looked through my collection of books that I’ve gathered up through the years and thought to myself, “Hum… what looks good?”

With this week’s suggestion, I didn’t have the full pleasure of “judging a book based on its cover”—because I am trying to go through the hundreds of books that I already have—I’ve read all the synopses on their covers before. But I did make myself pick through a selection of books based on a few guidelines: the book couldn’t be a movie or TV show, it couldn’t be a classic that everyone knows the gist of the story line, and it couldn’t be one that I’ve been itching to get my hands on. I made myself look through the ones that I haven’t looked at for a while, the ones that were bought on a whim, written by someone I’ve never heard of before, or given to me from someone who reads genres that I’m not that into. This week I was going to make sure it was something different for me… Or so I thought.

Looking solely at the covers of the books I had collected—a couple fantasy, several YA and children’s chapter books (I don’t know why I gravitate to these so much!), a mystery, and a memoir—I kept coming back to the same one over and over. A black and white photograph of a lone figure with the title written in red. The lighting in the photograph had the lone figure highlighted in all the right places—the contours of his face and muscular arm—this alone will have you thinking to yourself that this must be some kind of romance novel, a spinoff of a harlequin perhaps and this will catch the females of the audience and make them want to pick it up. But romance novels are not my thing, so that is not what caught my attention. It was the dark angelic wing protruding from his back, and with a title of The Fallen, I couldn’t help myself but to pick it.

Some History:

The Fallen: The Fallen and Leviathan is a Young Adult read. It was originally published in 2003 and reprinted in 2010 with the new above picture on the cover. It is book one of five in The Fallen series, and it turns out it was also made into an ABC Family movie, Fallen, in 2006. (Oops! So much for those guidelines I made for myself!)

The Synopsis:

***SPOILER ALERT***

I wrote this review a little different than usual. I’m not sure why, other than this is how it came out, and I apologize that it 1) reads a bit like a school book report, and 2) does give away some of the ending.

Aaron Corbet is a child of the foster care system and has finally found a foster family who he regards as his mom, dad and his brother, Stevie. On his eighteenth birthday he can suddenly understand and speak languages of all kinds even though he’s had no education in them. On top of that, he comes across a “homeless” man who begins following Aaron, telling him about his troubled past and the future that is to come: Aaron is Nephilim—the son of a mortal and an angel—and he has been chosen to redeem the Fallen.

The angel Verchiel is the master of the Powers and a Messenger of God. His duty is to cleanse the earth of the filth that the Fallen have produced upon the earth: Nephilim. Using his human hounds and divine senses he tracks down Nephilim and purges them from the earth. The Nephilim he’s currently hunting is Aaron Corbet.

With the help of Zeke, the Grigori, Camael of the Fallen, and his best friend Gabriel, Aaron transforms into the Nephilim he is, and not a minute too late: Verchiel has finally found him and is ready to purge his filth from the earth. A battle ensues and Aaron turns out to be more powerful than Verchiel originally thought. Aaron injures Verchiel, who flees, taking Stevie with him. Now Aaron must not only fulfil the prophecy, but find his brother before Verchiel turns him into one of his human hounds.

Aaron and his posse begin a road trip in search of Stevie, with a powerful pull toward Blythe, Maine. Along the way they encounter a group of Orishas, another product the Fallen have created. However, the Orishas are ruled by Verchiel, who has bestowed the mission of killing Aaron upon them, but they don’t succeed. Only one Orishas remains, and before fleeing it gets a small revenge and bites Gabriel.

Arriving in Blythe, they find Gabriel a doctor to treat the infected Orishas bite, but the townsfolk here are a little strange: they look suspicious of everyone and act as if they’re being controlled. That is everyone but Dr. Katie McGovern, who later tells Aaron that she, too, is an outsider, new to town. She came to town because her ex-boyfriend, Dr. Kevin Wessell, had e-mailed her with a strange request that she visit, but when she got to town he was missing and hadn’t been in to see his patients for days.

Katie enlists the help of Aaron around the office until Kevin hopefully returns, but after finding several strangely mutated animals in Kevin’s freezer, she begins to think that Kevin may have dug up some dirt on the town that someone didn’t want him finding out. Katie and Aaron agree that they need to find out what’s going on around the town and try to find Kevin, but the mission is doomed from the beginning when Katie turns up missing herself. Aaron begins the mission alone, only to find himself in the lair of Leviathan, “that spark of uncertainty in the Creator’s thoughts as He forged the world—that brief moment of chaos—before Genesis.”

Leviathan, a great sea monster, entraps its victims by making their mind’s eye see whatever paradise it wishes to see, then swallows them whole and lives off the life force stored inside them. Aaron finds that both Camael and Gabriel are in Leviathan’s stomachs, and knows that in order to save them he must overcome his fear of letting the Nephilim power within him out and do the one thing the Archangel Gabriel could not: destroy Leviathan.

Aaron defeats Leviathan and frees all those within Leviathan’s stomachs including his friends and the Archangel Gabriel. Aaron then fulfills the prophecy and forgives the Fallen who are found within Leviathan’s many stomachs and sends them to their Heavenly home. But before The Archangel Gabriel ascends he gives Aaron another hint about the prophecy he is fulfilling and a wink of information about who his real father is.

The Fallen concludes with the townspeople of Blythe, Maine being released from their captor’s control, Katie and Kevin reunited, and Aaron with a lot of questions: Who is his real father? What does his father have to do with the prophecy? And where is Stevie?

The Review:

The Pros:

Of course, I liked The Fallen, it’s right up my alley (so much for breaking out of my habits and trying something new!) First, it’s a YA read, so you know I’m hooked there.

Second, it’s a present-day mythology just like the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan or The Mortal Instruments and Shadowhunter series by Cassandra Clare, both of which I’m a big fan of. To take a myth—and I use this word to group together the whole, so please you Christians out there don’t hate on me for using this word, I’m a Christian, too! —but to take a myth such as angels or Greek gods and to create a new story for them is awesome! You’re taking those classics that a lot of people don’t read any more because they find them boring or too difficult to understand and are making them readily available to today’s societies so that Genesis, Matthew, Luke, Homer and Sophocles are getting a new—and usually younger—generation to ignite and share their stories again.

Third, something that I found that set The Fallen apart from most YA books was the language. I, myself, don’t have the best vocabulary by any means (I should have listened to my mother and studied for those vocabulary tests!), but I have grown my knowledge and understanding over the years, and this book still had me looking up words in the dictionary (or rather dictionary.com, yay technology!) I like that about a book! I like that while I’m reading for pleasure I’m still learning things. I don’t think that everything should be dumbed down so everyone in the general population can understand it. I think you should always be learning something and improving on yourself, and if that means you must get a dictionary out to understand what’s happening in the storyline then that’s great! You learned something in the process; you made yourself better and had a better experience because of it!

The Cons:

Aaron Corbet is a little fake. He’s too good and not moody enough to be a teenage boy and a child of the foster system who has just found out that he’s this mythological creature. In the beginning, you’re told that he has a troubled past, that he was moved from foster home to foster home, but the person sitting in front of you is polite, never causes a stir, and when he does have an emotional outbreak of some kind its abbreviated and almost void of emotion. Almost like his outburst were an afterthought, like Thomas Sniegoski’s editor said, “Hey, don’t you think he would be a little upset that this is happening?” The lack of emotion he shows when someone he loves is hurt or killed is the biggest one for me. He doesn’t cry, he doesn’t get angry and yell, he just tells himself that he can’t believe that they are hurt or dead. I understand shellshock, but I think this is a bit more than just that. Aaron is not fleshed out enough to be a real person, but then again, I guess he really isn’t, after all he is Nephilim.

My other qualm with The Fallen is defeat is too easy. With each battle scene—if you can really call them that—the fight was ended really before it began. These are some big monsters he’s going up against, and yet I saw how the end of each battle was going to play out from the moment they started. There was no adrenaline rush of “is he going to make it?” in any of the battle scenes. From the beginning, you knew he was going to be just fine and good would prevail over evil once again.

The Wrap-Up:

Overall, I enjoyed The Fallen. I thought it was a great storyline with a good mystery: I want to know who Aaron’s father is myself! Who is this—as Camael puts it— “angel of formidable power to have sired one like [Aaron]?" ? And does he ever find Stevie? All the questions Aaron has at the end of the book are questions I have too, which is a sign of a good story. The author has you hooked to make you want to pick up that next book. Which I plan on doing just that!

From one wine-loving bookaholic to another, I hope I’ve helped you find your next fix. —Dani

Love this book? Check out The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare or one of her many other Shadowhunter series.

Pair it with: Lost Angel’s 2016 Mischief—Fruit-forward and jammy, with hints of cocoa.

Not all good wines are expensive, and this one is just that: good, easy on the wallet and fits with the trouble that Aaron gets himself into.

Start a conversation: What book have you chosen based solely on its cover and why? Was it worth the gamble?

Have a book you’d like to suggest or one you’d like me to review? Please feel free to leave your comments down below.

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ultrageekydesigner · 7 years

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Harry Potter Vs. Percy Jackson, What is in a Hero?

Harry Potter Vs. Percy Jackson What is in a Hero?

Heroes are all around us, whether it be a celebrity like Daniel Radcliffe, or Emma Watson, or a fire fighter, or policeman, or just everyday heroes, they are everywhere people look, but most prominently in Young Adult Literature. Everyone has heard about the great literary heroics of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, but have you ever stopped to think about what makes them a hero? Why do children and young adults consider them heroes even though they are just words on the page of a popular novel? Both characters exhibit certain character traits that you need in order to be a hero but Harry Potter’s lack of patience is a detracting factor and seems to be less of a hero than Percy Jackson.

Webster’s dictionary defines a Hero as: “a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities.” (Merriam-Webster) According to Inc.com truly heroic individuals must possess some if not all of the following Qualities: Courage, Selflessness, Humility, Patience and Caring. (Murphy Jr.) This paper will examine each trait’s definition and qualities and apply it to sections of text in each Hero Character’s book to prove their worthiness to be a hero, it will prove that both characters have these qualities but only Percy Jackson has all of the qualities needed to be a truly heroic leader.

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Wizarding World universe is loved by one and all, young and old. It spans generations. Several children grew up reading the adventures of Harry, Ron and Hermione at a time where some of them were scared young children, not sure about what was going to happen because their parents had just gotten divorced. Parents might realize how much their children loved reading the books and might start reading them for themselves and in turn would fall in love with the world and the story. In Winifred Radigan’s article,Connecting the Generations: Memory, Magic, and Harry Potter, she talks about how she used to make up stories about her reading the Harry Potter books just for an article so she could explain away her reading the books because she truly enjoyed them. (Radigan 694) This alone shows that the Harry Potter books are influencing and being enjoyed by more than just the children they were intended for and it is this reason that J.K. Rowling’s has been chosen the as the first hero this paper will examine.

Harry Potter comes from humble beginnings. In the beginning of the series his parents are viciously murdered by the Dark Wizard, Voldemort. He is taken by a half Giant named Hagrid to his Aunt and Uncle’s house. While living with the Dursleys, Harry is treated as little better than a slave and is constantly tortured by his cousin, Dudley. When Harry finally get his letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry he is always grateful for what he is given and always gives to his friends what they do not have.

Rick Riordan has a way of telling a story that sucks you into that world and makes you feel like you are a part of it. In the Percy Jackson series he uses common pop culture references in order to make the characters relate to his young adult audience. In his Percy Jackson spin-off series, Heroes of Olympus, he breaks the story down into the different heroes’ perspective. Alice James says in her review of The Son of Neptune, the second book in the series, that: “no character has a particularly strong or distinctive voice and consequently it makes little difference to the overall plot or construction of character.” (James) While that may be true it feels as if the readers got to know more about the characters’ personality because in his writings Riordan puts the character’s inner most thoughts. Young adults pick up the Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson Series when they are still clinging to their child hood and the adventures of Percy Jackson and the other heroes in Camp Half-Blood can help those young adults through the first years of adulthood by teaching them that no matter what trials you come across in your life you can always preserver through them. That is the reason why Percy Jackson was chosen to compare against Harry Potter.

Percy Jackson grew up as a child with a single parent. He never knew his father and was tormented by his stepfather, Gabe. He loved his mother very much and tried to protect her whenever Gabe treated her wrongly. Percy has Dyslexia and ADHD and has struggled in school because of it. He had been kicked out of six schools before he found a teacher that was willing to work with him. When he was sixteen years old he was attacked at school by a Fury and his best friend/protector helped him escape to Camp Half-blood but not until after he lost his mother to the hands of a Minotaur. Percy discovers at the camp that he is a Demi-god, particularly the son of Poseidon. He then sneaks out of the camp with his friends Grover and Annabeth to journey to Hades to find his mom.

The first trait that will be examined is Courage. Webster’s dictionary defines Courage as “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.” (Merriam-Webster) “It's difficult to achieve anything truly heroic unless you're up against daunting odds.” (Murphy Jr.) says Inc.com. When you think of heroes you think about them doing truly monumental things like saving their friends or maybe people they do not even know. Heroes have to stand up against insurmountable odds even if they are petrified with fear of the situation they are in. If an individual does not have Courage than they cannot be a hero.

Harry Potter shows multiple times in his series of books that he has Courage in the face of danger. There are really too many to accounts of him exhibiting Courage and “Brave(ry) at Heart,” (Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, 118) as the sorting hat says of Gryffindor students. The one act of Courage that was the most memorable is the encounter with the mountain troll in Sorcerer’s Stone. The text reads: “Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid: He took a great running leap and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind.” (Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 176) Harry showed bravery and Courage in that passage by attacking the troll head on without any though of self preservation. It says that Harry was both “very brave and very stupid” and sometimes stupidity is needed in order to have the Courage to protect your friends.

Percy Jackson’s first act of Courage came when his mother was taken by the minotaur and disolved in a flash of light. Percy said: “Anger Replaced my Fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs- the same rush of energy I’d gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.” (Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief 46) In seeing his mother taken away Percy got a rush of adrinaline which fueled him to attack the Minotaur: “I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light, and rage filled my like high octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backwards with all my might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then – snap!” (Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief 47)Percy’s demi-god instincts kicked in, brought on by the grief of losing his mother, the only parent he had left and he was able to defeat the Minotaur: “Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage.” (Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief 47). Percy showed true Courage by facing the miontaur when he thought his mother was killed. He allowed the pain and grief to turn into the Courage he needed to defeat the Minotaur and get himself safely to Camp Hald-Blood.

The second trait to examine in this paper is “Selflessness.” Inc.com has this to say about Selflessness: “True (Heroes) always puts others first. Ironically, that kind of Selflessness can often be strategic, because focusing on others' needs often winds up helping you achieve your own goals.” (Murphy Jr.) Whether or not our two heroes are being Stratiegic about their Selflessness is not the point here. The point is that they do selfless things for the ones they care about or even people they do not even know. Webster’s Dictionary defines Selfless as: “having no concern for self “ (Merriam-Webster) Heroes are charged with safeguarding the lives of others, they can not afford to think of their needs and wants when there is people who need their attention more.

One instance that Harry Potter’s Selflessness really stuck out was in the last book where he saved his mortal enemies from death even at the risk of his own life. The passage in the Deathly Hallows says this: “Malfoy saw him coming, and raised one arm, but even as Harry grasped it he knew at once that it was no good: Goyle was too heavy and Malfoy’s hand covered in sweat, slid instantly out of Harry’s- ‘IF WE DIE FOR THEM, I’LL KILL YOU, HARRY!’ roared Ron’s voice . . . he and Hermione dragged Goyle on to their broom and rose, . . . “ (Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 633). Harry risked his life for people who didn’t even like him. His own best friend, Ronald Weasley didn’t even want to save Malfoy and Goyle. Harry made a selfless decision to save another person’s life, no matter who they were.

Percy Jackson showed Selflessness in deciding to leave the safety of the camp in order to save his mother from the hands of Hades even though he did not have Zeus’ lightning bolt like Hades thought he did. Even though it meant certain death to go to the Underworld without the bolt Percy knew he had to do what ever it took to save his mom. Despite many difficulties and trials, Percy works determinedly to rescue his mother--at great personal cost and risk to himself. The whole book of the Lightning Thief is all about how Percy has countless times faces danger all for the sake of saving his mother.

The next trait to be examined is Humility. Webster’s dictionary defines Humility as: “the quality or state of not thinking you are better than other people.” (Merriam-Webster) Inc.com says that “True heroism can amaze us, but it also often contains a component of modesty.” (Murphy Jr.) in reference to Humility. Nothing makes a hero seem like less of a hero than wanting credit for his or her deeds. True heroes do not ask for recognition and oftentimes do not want it. No one asks to be a hero, it just sort of happens.

Harry Potter grew up with practically nothing to his name. For the first eleven years of his life he lived in a cupboard under the stairs and waited on the Dursleys hand and foot. His glassed were broken and his hair unkempt. His cousin, Dudley, bullied him all the time and got treated much better than he was and the Dursleys lied about how his parents died and bad mouthed them until the day he went to Hogwarts. All of this keeps Harry Potter humble, when he finds out he has a fortune in wizard money the first thing he does on the Hogwarts express is buy him and his newfound friend Ron, who was less fortunate, a bunch of sweets to share: “Go on, have a pasty.” said Harry, who had never had anyone to share with before, or indeed share it with. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through Harry’s cakes and candies.” (Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 102) Harry showed Humility by sharing his sweets with someone he barely knew anything about except for the fact that he didn’t have any money.

Percy Jackson is so humble in many ways, he always talks down about himself, thinking that others are better than him when really he is talented at many things as the books go on. The first instance was when he had first arrived at camp and couldn’t find many activities he was good at and he was hard on himself because of it. “The only thing I really excelled at was canoeing, and that wasn't the kind of heroic skill people expected to see from the kid who had beaten the Minotaur.” (Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief 108) In this sentence he seems to feel as if other people are looking at him as if he was supposed to do great things by just breathing. He shows Humility by not letting the defeat of the minotaur his first day into this new and exciting world go to his head. He sees himself as a failure and that is the most humble attitude of all.

The fourth character to look at is Patience. Mr. Murphy from Inc.com says that: “While heroism often requires quick thinking and decisiveness, truly heroic leaders often also display an impressive amount of Patience.” (Murphy Jr.) Heroes must be patient especially when faced with impossible odds. “The ability to remain calm and not become annoyed when dealing with problems or with difficult people” (Merriam-Webster) is how Webster’s dictionary describes Patience and I believe that Patience is an important part of becoming a hero.

As Harry Potter was grew into a teenage boy he had a big problem with Patience. In his fifth year of school he often lost his temper and acted like the whole world was against him, even his mentor and friend, Albus Dumbledore. Here is just one example of when Harry lost his Patience in that year. “I DON'T CARE!" Harry yelled at them, snatching up a lunascope and throwing it into the fireplace. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH, I'VE SEEN ENOUGH, I WANT OUT, I WANT IT TO END, I DON'T CARE ANYMORE!” "You do care," said Dumbledore. He had not flinched or made a single move to stop Harry demolishing his office. His expression was calm, almost detached. "You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.” (Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 824) If you look at things from Harry’s prospective you could understand why he lost his Patience in this scene. He had just lost his godfather, the only family he really had, in the department of mysteries and had spent the year under a hellish woman who had tormented him all year, but he should not have shouted at the Headmaster of Hogwarts and he should not try to “destroy his office” as Rowling put it. That does not seem like how a hero should act. As he grows older and more mature however, the Patience comes to him.

Percy Jackson, however, displays a large amount of Patience through out the books even through the hellish ordeals he has to deal with throughout the books, especially when it comes to the “non-existent” relationship between him and his father. At the end of the Lightning Thief, Percy comes face to face with his father for the first time. His father told him that his mother was safe at home and Percy got his first taste of how seperated he is from Poseidon. “I wanted to ask if Poseidon would come with me to see her to see her, but then I realized that was ridiculous. I imagined loading the God of the Sea into a taxi and taking him to the Upper East Side. If he wanted to see my mom all these years, he would have.” (Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief 345) It is later explained that it is Zeus’ law that keeps his father away, not because he doesn’t love him and his mother. He shows real Patience and understanding in realizing that he can’t have a normal relationship with his godly father.

The fifth and final trait to examine is the trait of Caring for someone or a group of people. Webster’s dictionary defines carrying as: “feeling or showing concern for other people.” (Merriam-Webster) This one for last because it is the most important trait for a hero to have. If you cannot care for the people closest to you how can you hope to care for people you don’t even know and be the hero they need. Murphy says in his article on Inc.com that Caring “can often manifest itself in strong but gentle actions intended to improve the lives of others.” (Murphy Jr.) Sometimes that can be doing little things for the community or someone you are close to and sometimes it can be big grandious things that can change a person’s life.

Harry Potter shows many acts of Caring throughout the books but it is what the other characters say of him that makes all the difference. In the same passage of the last trait Dumbledore says something about Harry that is very profound and is so true to Harry’s character: "You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.” (Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 824). That small little quote that counteracted Harry’s grief and impatienceat losing his godfather speaks volumes about what Dumbledore thinks of Harry. It says that even though Harry says he does not care he truly does in his heart.

Percy Jackson shows his Caring by the way he takes care of his friend/girlfriend, Annabeth Chase, even though he knows she doesn’t need it. One example comes in the Last Olympian when Annabeth gets stabbed with a poison knife and is sick and Percy worries about her: “Once she was gone, I knelt next to Annabeth and felt her forehead. She was still burning up. "You're cute when you're worried," she muttered. "Your eyebrows get all scrunched together." "You are not going to die while I owe you a favor," I said. "Why did you take that knife?" "You would've done the same for me." It was true. I guess we both knew it. Still, I felt like somebody was poking my heart with a cold metal rod.” (Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian 199-200) Percy was scared that he was going to lose Annabeth because at that point he was secretly in love with her. He cared about her so deeply that it hurt his heart to see her sick.

Both Harry Potter and Percy Jackson possess enough of the Heroic traits laid out by Murphy in his article on Inc.com. Harry has proven himself to be Courageous, Selfless, and humble. The people around him see him as a very Caring person who wears his heart on his sleeve. It took him a while to get the Patience part down and some of his impatiencecan be chalked up to just being a teenager, however his impatiencein the face of real challenges shows that he is not the ideal hero. Percy proved himself to be worthy of all the traits laid out by Murphy. In conclusion, people that children and young adults consider heroes may not possess all of the traits that people traditionally see in modern day heroes but they can still do great things, however, heroes who have the patience in adversity are the true heroes that children and young adults should look up to, like Percy Jackson.

Works Cited

James, Alice. "The Son of Neptune." Literacy Learning in the Middle Years (2014): 70. Review.

Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary. n.d. Definition.

Murphy Jr., Bill. 5 Qualities of Incredibly Heroic Leaders. 30 April 2014. Article. 27 November 2016.

Radigan, Winifred. "Connecting the Generations: Memory, Magic, and Harry Potter." Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (2001): 694.

Riordan, Rick. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian. New York: Disney Hyperion, 2009.

—. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. New York: Disney Hyperion, 2005.

Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. New York: Scholastic Press., 2007.

—. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. New York: Scholastic Press, 2003.

—. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Scholastic Press, 1997. Novel.

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