As mentioned previously I am away for the holiday period. I came away with my stepmum on the holiday that my dad had booked for the two of them. I was supposed to be joining them for part of the time anyway but ended up with me here for the whole holiday. Normally when I go away for just two weeks my suitcase is nearly all books but luckily for a joint birthday and christmas present my stepmum got me a kindle. I didn’t bring any physical books with me but I have done a lot of reading this holiday. I reread a few old favourites at the start of the holiday, plus a couple of trashy christmas themed romance type chicklit, and then fr christmas I got some amazon vouchers. So I decided to buy the Percy Jackson books; I’ve been hearing good things about them and they’ve been on my radar for quite a while , so decided to bite the bullet and give them a go. I downloaded (thanks to my nice 3G connection) all 5 books and started reading. Liked them so much that i went in search of more and found that Mr Riordan was doing a follow on/spin-off series and the first two books were already out, so I bought those too……..but I now have the dilemma of a cliffhanger ending and having to wait until October for the third book in the new series. Aaargh!!
The Percy Jackson books are well written, entertaining, fast-paced and completely addictive. They are also quite educational full of historical facts (ok myths and legends but still). If you love stories abot Greek Gods, and ancient stories generally you will love these books. I read all seven in less than seven days and am seriously considering re-reading them immediately. For me that is the key test of a good book, will I re-read it? If the answer is yes, then it had something that caught me, when the answe is yes, immediately then it really impressed me. The Percy Jackson books make you think, I want to read them again now while they’re already fresh in my mind so I can find the parts that I might have missed on first reading, so I can look for clues to the things I know will happen.
Hopefully young readers will read these books and because of the way they are written will find a love of books and of reading. These are not just great stories they are an invite into a world of magic, myth and heroes; a place to escape to when you feel the need.
Well done Mr Riordan…………………….And please could we have the next installment sooner???
