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Aug. 26th, 2010 12:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsI enjoyed The Lightning Thief, but I wasn't in-love-blown-away, although I kept hearing that later books got successively awesomer. And now I have read The Sea of Monsters and The Titan's Curse and, indeed, they do get successively awesomer! I am now pretty excited to read the last two.
Reasons that The Sea of Monsters and The Titan's Curse are awesomer than the first book:
1. Proliferation of ladies! The Titan's Curse, especially, is great for this - Annabeth is awesome, but I really like the variety of female characters and female heroism represented by the third book. I was wary of the handling of Artemis and her ladies when they first showed up, but I actually very much appreciate how they've been represented so far - even though teenaged boy Percy obviously doesn't get the appeal of joining an immortal celibate girl's club, the girls who do make that choice are treated with dignity by the narrative and their reasons presented as valid. Artemis herself probably gets the most respectful and wholly positive treatment of any of the gods we've yet seen. So that's pretty cool. I am also a fan of the treatment of Clarisse, who is still totally a bully, and also AWESOME.
2. The presentation of family, and the importance and difficulty of family bonds. I mean, there's always going to be an over-the-top element when you're talking about a camp full of kids whose parents are gods, but between Percy's relationship with [SPOILER], Annabeth's changing dynamic with her father and step-family, and the various ways that the characters deal with the attention - or lack thereof - of their deity-parents, there's a lot of really interesting stuff going on there.
3. The complication of the plot, in general. I am actually really interested to see what ends up happening in the end, because it's clear that Luke and assorted villains have reasons for what they're doing, and Rick Riordan recognizes that the gods-and-heroes system of Olympus is seriously flawed - he's been doing a lot in these books with questioning the heroic myth. But on the other hand the Titans probably won't be any better, and possibly worse.
4. Okay, this is a little thing, but I find the explanation that fast-food chains are actually hydras - cut off one head and seven more spring up! - so totally hilarious that I am 100% more willing to buy into Riordan's mythology. (And while the whole 'western civilization' thing is still problematic, it is less talked about in the later books and therefore I am better able to ignore it.)
I really, really liked the fact that at the end of The Titan's Curse, Percy's heroic act was not rushing out and kicking ass - it was taking on someone else's crushing burden so that they could rush out and kick ass. I find that just really satisfying; it's a kind of heroism I find a lot more appealing than your standard variety, and something you don't often see from a protagonist in the climax of a story.
I also STRONGLY SUSPECT, by the way, just based on ambiguous wording (and no corpse!), that Bianca is totally not dead.
Reasons that The Sea of Monsters and The Titan's Curse are awesomer than the first book:
1. Proliferation of ladies! The Titan's Curse, especially, is great for this - Annabeth is awesome, but I really like the variety of female characters and female heroism represented by the third book. I was wary of the handling of Artemis and her ladies when they first showed up, but I actually very much appreciate how they've been represented so far - even though teenaged boy Percy obviously doesn't get the appeal of joining an immortal celibate girl's club, the girls who do make that choice are treated with dignity by the narrative and their reasons presented as valid. Artemis herself probably gets the most respectful and wholly positive treatment of any of the gods we've yet seen. So that's pretty cool. I am also a fan of the treatment of Clarisse, who is still totally a bully, and also AWESOME.
2. The presentation of family, and the importance and difficulty of family bonds. I mean, there's always going to be an over-the-top element when you're talking about a camp full of kids whose parents are gods, but between Percy's relationship with [SPOILER], Annabeth's changing dynamic with her father and step-family, and the various ways that the characters deal with the attention - or lack thereof - of their deity-parents, there's a lot of really interesting stuff going on there.
3. The complication of the plot, in general. I am actually really interested to see what ends up happening in the end, because it's clear that Luke and assorted villains have reasons for what they're doing, and Rick Riordan recognizes that the gods-and-heroes system of Olympus is seriously flawed - he's been doing a lot in these books with questioning the heroic myth. But on the other hand the Titans probably won't be any better, and possibly worse.
4. Okay, this is a little thing, but I find the explanation that fast-food chains are actually hydras - cut off one head and seven more spring up! - so totally hilarious that I am 100% more willing to buy into Riordan's mythology. (And while the whole 'western civilization' thing is still problematic, it is less talked about in the later books and therefore I am better able to ignore it.)
I really, really liked the fact that at the end of The Titan's Curse, Percy's heroic act was not rushing out and kicking ass - it was taking on someone else's crushing burden so that they could rush out and kick ass. I find that just really satisfying; it's a kind of heroism I find a lot more appealing than your standard variety, and something you don't often see from a protagonist in the climax of a story.
I also STRONGLY SUSPECT, by the way, just based on ambiguous wording (and no corpse!), that Bianca is totally not dead.
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Date: 2010-08-26 04:54 pm (UTC)I also think the movie adaptation of The Lightning Thief was done well, which isn`t something I say about adaptations frequently.
(Also! Unrelated, but I am never forgiving you for convincing me to watch Capital Scandal. Ever. T____T)
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Date: 2010-08-26 05:24 pm (UTC)(. . . . did you finish? >.>)
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Date: 2010-08-26 05:30 pm (UTC)(And YES. I am pretty much in denial about the last episode and a half, fyi.)
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Date: 2010-08-26 05:34 pm (UTC)(I KNOW. I saw it a year and a half ago and I am STILL NOT OVER IT
b-but having the enormous love in my heart that I do for Cha Song Joo makes it sort of worth it?)
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Date: 2010-08-26 06:29 pm (UTC)(T___T Being worth it does not lessen the PAIN in my heart! I swear, I was crying for forever after that. Just... Why always my favorite ladies?!)
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Date: 2010-08-26 07:05 pm (UTC)(I knooooooow. ;_; IN MY HEART, SHE LIVES. She faked her own death . . . somehow . . . and is RUNNING THE REVOLUTION FROM RUSSIA.)
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Date: 2010-08-26 08:46 pm (UTC)(MY HEART AGREES WITH YOURS. In my version of the world, nobody (I like) dies and they all get a happy ending! And there are no angsty couple flashbacks set to sad, dramatic music to make me cry! HOWEVER, THERE IS SWINGDANCING. LOTS OF IT.)
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Date: 2010-08-26 09:58 pm (UTC)(I ENDORSE THIS VERSION OF THE WORLD.)
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Date: 2010-08-26 05:34 pm (UTC)I also recommend his newest book The Red Pyramid, which is centered on Egyptian mythology and a brother and sister who are awesome.
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Date: 2010-08-26 05:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-26 05:39 pm (UTC)Sometimes I found his choices odd, but not bad, I could see where he was getting them and they worked.
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Date: 2010-08-26 05:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-26 05:49 pm (UTC)Just sometimes I had moments when I'd think about the Milliways' versions and go, I like that choice better.
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Date: 2010-08-26 07:10 pm (UTC)They do get successively awesomer! I think Titan's Curse and The Battle of the Labyrinth might be my favorites, though the last one had me going :O :O :O ALL THE WAY THROUGH and is definitely up there. And in general, I heart the world that's been set up.
(Also, while I'm here: 's your tag on OOMery, when you have time. THE PLOT THICKENS.)
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Date: 2010-08-26 07:15 pm (UTC)(Thanks for the heads-up! :D I can't tag now, because I am at work and I have drawn a tenuous moral line about RPing at the office, but I will when I get home tonight after volunteering. I AM EXCITED FOR THE PLOT THICKENING.)
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Date: 2010-08-26 08:28 pm (UTC)(Can't blame you for that! Just thought I'd pass the word on. I TOO AM EXCITED.)
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Date: 2010-08-26 09:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-26 10:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-26 10:15 pm (UTC)Avoid the movie.
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Date: 2010-08-26 10:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-26 10:18 pm (UTC)SHE'S LIKE A LITTLE THIRTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL WITH FOOT-LONG KNIVES. HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THAT.
Also let's not forget Thalia completely owning the floor with Luke. Seriously Rick Riordan knows how to write a great battle scene.
It's interesting that you mention the family dynamic but don't bring in the whole surrogate family bit that the campers form with each other. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are a unit. Thalia, Luke, and Annabeth were a unit. And there are others in the last two books who are just so amazing and owijefweiojfoweifew YEAH.
Bianca is definitely dead. She was, sadly, stuffed in Nico's fridge. :(
Oh man I am SO EXCITED YOU'RE FINALLY READING THESE. And you know there's a new series starting in October set a few years later and it already looks like it's going to be EPIC. YOU CAN READ ALONG WITH ME AS IT COMES OUT.
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Date: 2010-08-26 10:27 pm (UTC)That is also an excellent thing to bring up! I really do love the Thalia-Luke-Annabeth family unit and how those bonds play out over the course of the story. And Percy-Annabeth-Grover too, though I wish we got to see more of the three of them all together after the first book.
Awww, man. But - but why would use the wording "be lost" instead of "die" in a prophecy if you're not going to play with that? Ambiguous prophecy fail, Riordan!
- oh man, really? HAHAHA EXCELLENT. (Is it following the same characters, or?)
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Date: 2010-08-26 10:39 pm (UTC)Yeah, TTC prophecy was pretty lacking in ambiguity. It was so obvious Zoe was going to bite it once we learned she'd been one of the Hesperides (ngl, I legit bawled when Artemis elevated her to the heavens). Bianca is the one really weak point in Riordan's otherwise amazing treatment of female characters, since she...mostly only exists to trigger Nico's character development.
No, it's about three new characters, BUT in the first chapter that they put online as a preview, we find out that Percy's been kidnapped. Which is. Pretty incredible, considering what happens in later books. And Annabeth's out of her mind with worry. And meanwhile the fandom thinks the new kid may legit be a son of Jupiter, as in, the Roman god, because he keeps using the Latin names for things instead of the Greek names. IT'S ALL VERY AWESOME AND SUSPENSEFUL.
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Date: 2010-08-26 10:44 pm (UTC)It helps that Percy so far has not yet resorted to speaking in ALLCAPS under stress, although I guess there is still time!
Yeah, really. :/ I mean, it was kind of obvious that something was going to happen to Bianca on the quest from the moment Nico made Percy promise to look after her, but I was really hoping that that would end up subverted. (And my one big complaint about Titan's Curse, which was awesome in a whole lot of other ways, is that both of the Huntresses on the quest bit it.)
. . . okay, is it wrong that I'm already cracking up at Percy being damseled? Because I totally am. I mean, Grover and Annabeth both had their turns to be held hostage, SO I guess it's Percy's turn to complete the set!
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Date: 2010-08-27 07:23 am (UTC)My reading schedule is pretty full at the moment and I'm going to rather busy lately anyway, so it probably take me time before I can read the books.
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Date: 2010-08-27 02:22 pm (UTC)(Hah, I actually kind of love my half-hour subway commute. Because without it I would have no time to reeeeead. So what I'm saying is, I sympathize!)