Percy Jackson & The Olympians is a series of adventure and fantasy books by Rick Riordan. Set in the contemporary United States, the series is based prominently on Greek mythology and Roman mythology, although some creative license is taken.
| The Lightning Thief The Sea of Monsters The Titan's Curse The Battle of the Labyrinth The Last Olympian | |
| Author | Rick Riordan |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy novels |
| Publisher | Miramax Books |
| Published | 2005-present |
| Media type | Print (Hardback and Paperback) |
The protagonist is a 12 year-old boy named Percy Jackson who discovers that he is the son of Poseidon, god of the sea. He learns that the legendary beings of Greek mythology still exist, including cyclopes, empousai, Titans, and of course the Olympians (Greek gods) themselves. Monsters frequently attack him because he is a child of the "Big Three" (the sons of Kronos: Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades). Percy meets many other young demigods, both friendly and hostile, who are also in the process of discovering their heritage and powers. One of the children is prophesied to play an important role in a coming war between the gods, and it may be Percy.
Four books have been published thus far in the series, with one more still to come:
- The Lightning Thief (June 28, 2005)
- The Sea of Monsters (April 1, 2006)
- The Titan's Curse (May 1, 2007).
- The Battle of the Labyrinth (May 6, 2008).
- The Last Olympian (May 5, 2009).
Main Characters
| Character | Books (edit) | Alliance and Friends | Undertakes Quests | Parents | Siblings | Cousins (Direct) | Race |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percy Jackson | ALL | Olympians | In all books | Poseidon and Sally Jackson (stepfathers Gabe Ugliano and Paul Blofis) | Cyclopes and Poseidon's other children | Thalia, Nico and Bianca | Demigod |
| Annabeth Chase | ALL | Olympians | In all books | Athena and Dr. Chase | Campers of Cabin 8 (H) | Demigod | |
| Grover Underwood | ALL | Olympians | In all books | Father disappeared searching for Pan, mother not mentioned | Unknown | Unknown | Satyr |
| Luke Castellan | ALL | Olympians (before his quest) Titans (after his quest) |
Before the series (retold in Book 1) | Hermes and Ms. Castellan (her identity will be revealed during The Last Olympian) | Some campers of Cabin 11 (H) | Unknown | Demigod traitor |
| Tyson | 2, 3, 4 & 5 | Olympians, Rainbow & 100 Hundred-Handed-Ones | In books 2 & 4 | Poseidon and a nature spirit | Percy (H) | Thalia, Nico, and Bianca (D) | Cyclops |
| Thalia | 2 (at end), 3 | Olympians, later The Hunters | In book 3 | Zeus and Unnamed Eighties Starlet (D) | Zeus's Ancient Greek Children/Heroes | Percy, Nico, and Bianca | Demigod |
| Clarisse La Rue | ALL | Olympians | In book 2 (another Quest mentioned in book 4) | Ares and Jerry | Campers of Cabin 5 (H), Phobos & Deimos | Annabeth and Campers of Cabin 6 | Demigod |
| Bianca Di Angelo (D) | 3 & 4 | The Hunters | In book 3 | Hades and Unknown rich woman (D) | Nico Di Angelo | Percy, Thalia & Tyson | Demigod |
| Nico di Angelo | 3, 4, & 5 | Percy and friends, Hades, Servants of Death (not Olympians because they dislike Hades and his children) | In book 3, reappearances in books 4 & 5 | Hades and unknown rich woman (D) | Bianca Di Angelo (D) | Percy, Thalia & Tyson | Demigod |
| Zoë Nightshade (D) | 3 | The Hunters | In book 3 | Atlas and Pleione | Hesperides & Calypso (H) | Unknown | Ex-Hesperides |
| Rachel Elizabeth Dare | 3, 4, & 5 | Mortals & Olympians | In book 3 (Hoover Dam), parts of 4 & 5 | Mr. and Mrs. Dare | Unknown | Unknown | Mortal with vision that can see through the Mist |
| Juniper | 4 & 5 | Nymphs, Olympians, and Satyrs | 0 | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Nymph |
- (D) = Dead
- (H) = Half brother/sister
The Lightning Thief
Percy Jackson is a 12 year old boy, diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. Because of this and other strange things he doesn't know the truth about, he has been kicked repeatedly out of schools and tends to get in trouble frequently. While on a trip to a local museum with his school, his friend from school, Grover, who is revealed to be a satyr (lower body is that of a goat). As they are driving in Percy's mom's car, it catches fire, and they are attacked by the minotaur. The minotaur grabs Percy's mom, who dissolves into a blue fountain of mist, and then comes for Grover and Percy. He wakes up later in a cabin while being fed ambrosia, the food of the gods, by Annabeth Chase. He later finds out that he has arrived in Camp Half-blood, a secretive training ground and year-round camp where he trained to be a hero. Half-bloods tend to have ADHD because they have quick reflexes to help them in a fight, and dyslexia because their brains are hard-wired for ancient Greek.
After he is introduced to the the fellow half-bloods, Percy is moved into the Hermes cabin. The Hermes cabin takes all new campers until their Olympians parent claims them, which doesn't always happen. During a game of Capture the Flag, Percy is beaten up by Ares half-bloods for making a fool of Clarisse. He stays in the creek and the water heals him and makes him stronger, and he is revealed to be the son of the Sea God, Poseidon. Poseidon had broken a pact that he made with Zeus and Hades after World War II. They would not have any more half-blood children due to a the prophecy give to Chiron that one of the next demigod children of Zeus, Poseidon or Hades will either save or destroy Olympus when they turn 16 (Zeus was was mad although he had broken the pact too). Percy then is granted a quest that he has to find Zeus' master lightning bolt which was stolen. Because Zeus finds out that Poseidon has broken his pact, he believes Poseidon had Percy steal his master bolt. For his quest, Percy has 10 days to find it before the winter solstice, while the campers he has befriended, Grover Underwood (a satyr) and Annabeth Chase (a half-blood daughter of Athena) accompany him.
On the quest, Percy meets the Chimera in the St. Louis Arch, is lured into a hotel where time moves extremely fast (he meets a boy who says the current year is 1977, for example) and that is designed to make you not want to leave, Medusa in a burger joint that nearly turned him into a statue, and Ares, god of war, whom also gives Percy and Annabeth new clothing and backpacks to replace the tattered garments they are currently wearing. Percy goes to the Underworld entrance in L.A. (Los Angeles) to confront Hades, where he finds out that his mother was not actually killed, but taken hostage by Hades himself because he also believes Percy has taken his helm of darkness for Poseidon to make Hades and Zeus angry with each other. When they approach Tartarus, a pit in which the Olympian gods threw the Titan Lord Kronos into, Grover is nearly sucked in when a pair of winged shoes Luke gave to Percy when they were leaving camp tries to pull him down (the shoes were meant for Percy, but he gave them to Grover because he should not take to the sky when Zeus is angry at him). The backpack is weighted down by the Master Bolt, which Ares had secretly put in the backpack.
Although Percy is a child of Poseidon who has made Zeus angry already, he trusts that Zeus will not blast him from the sky when Percy enters his realm on plane to return the Master Bolt in the Empire State Building, where Olympus is located. Zeus accepts the lightning bolt, but not before warning Percy he may never enter the sky again.
When Percy arrives back at camp, he goes on a picnic with Luke. But instead this is a deadly trap, Luke brings a scorpion from the underground that is meant to kill Percy, Luke admitting that Percy has become a better swordsman, and also that the shoes were meant to drag him into Tartarus because Luke works for Kronos, the Titan father of the Elder gods, and the Lord of Time. Luke escapes, and while Percy wishes to stay for training at camp, his mother finds him another school he can attend. Luke was actually the real thief. Percy decides to attend the school, although he's sure he'll be kicked out.
The Sea of Monsters
Percy has surprisingly made it to his last day of school without being expelled. Tyson, a new friend of his, is being bullied by Matt Sloan. Gym class starts and Percy is stuck playing dodge ball against rather large seventh graders. They turn out to be Laistrygonians (cannibals), and attempt to kill Percy. Percy is protected by Tyson, who is somehow unharmed by the monsters' fireballs. Annabeth saves Percy by stabbing the last Laistrygonian. She leads Percy and Tyson from the school, and gets a ride from the Gray Sisters.
After their arrival at Camp Half-Blood, the trio finds the camp under attack. When danger passes, Percy finds out Thalia's tree, which protects the camp, has been poisoned by an unknown intruder, so consequently the camp is constantly being attacked by monsters. Chiron, the centaur assistant director, has been fired because he is suspected of poisoning the tree, and is replaced by Tantalus, a spirit from the Fields of Punishment that is not allowed to eat or drink. During dinner, Tyson is claimed by Poseidon, therefore becoming Percy's half-brother and upsetting Percy. Later, Annabeth and Percy ask Tantalus to send somebody on a quest to find the Golden Fleece. Under pressure from the whole camp, Clarisse accepts.
Percy, upset from not getting the quest, sneaks out to the beach at night. He meets up with a jogger, who turns out to be Hermes, god of thieves and travelers. Hermes asks Percy to try to convince Luke that he has always loved him, despite neglecting him, and gives Percy gifts to help him along the way. Harpies arrive to eat them, but they sneak onto a passing cruise ship, the Princess Andromeda, which is soon revealed to be owned by Luke. Percy, Tyson, and Annabeth are captured, and they learn that Luke is trying to revive Kronos. They manage to escape. They are saved by Clarisse, who has a boat of her own, given to her by her father, but the boat is destroyed on entering the Sea of Monsters and the adventurers are separated.
They reach an island resort, belonging to Circe, an evil sorceress that temporarily turns Percy into a guinea pig, and steals a pirate ship belonging to Blackbeard, a son of Ares that had also been turned into a guinea pig. On the way to the island where the Golden Fleece awaits, Annabeth is tempted by the Sirens. She nearly dies, and afterward Annabeth tells Percy that her fatal flaw is her pride, and that every hero has one. They soon reach the island of the Cyclops, and save Grover, with the help of Tyson and Clarisse. They recover the Fleece and make their way to Florida. Percy sends Clarisse to camp, with the Fleece, on an airplane.
Soon after, Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson are captured by Luke. Percy manages to contact camp with an Iris-message, tricking Luke into admitting he poisoned Thalia's tree. In a fight with Luke, Percy is nearly killed, only saved by Chiron and his family of wild centaurs. Chiron is re-hired after being proven not guilty, and the Fleece cures Thalia's tree of its poison.
Soon after, they find out that the Golden Fleece also brought Thalia (Zeus's daughter) back to life, thus giving Kronos another chance to control the prophecy of the fate of Olympus.
The Titan's Curse
When the goddess of the hunt, Artemis, goes missing, she is believed to have been kidnapped, it's up to Percy and his friends to find out what happened. Percy's friend Annabeth has also disappeared, and he is anxious to find her before she is harmed. Who is powerful enough to kidnap a goddess? They must find Artemis before the winter solstice, when her influence on the Olympian Council could swing an important vote on the war with the Titans. On the journey, they go with Thalia, daughter of Zeus and encounters many monsters, like Dr. Thorn, and encounters with an annoying human girl-Rachel Elizabeth Dare-whom Percy tried to kill when she blew her nose. Not only that, but first Percy will have to solve the mystery of a rare monster that Artemis was hunting when she disappeared -- a monster rumored to be so powerful it could destroy Olympus forever.
ISBN 0141382899 (British version, hardback)
The Battle of the Labyrinth
The Battle of the Labyrinth is the penultimate book of the series. After being attacked by cheerleaders at his new school, Goode, Percy returns to camp Half-Blood and learns about "The Labyrinth" that is in Greek Myths created by Daedalus. With Luke's army drawing nearer and nearer, Camp Half-Blood must defend themselves against it... and the only solution to the entire problem is the labyrinth.To get into the Labyrinth, Percy has to find the Delta Symbol:Δ.
The Last Olympian
The Last Olympian is the fifth and final book in the Percy Jackson series. It is scheduled to be released on May 5, 2009.
In this book, Percy Jackson and his friends will fight in a war resembling the original war between the Greek gods and the Titans. and in a final battle with the powerful Titan, Lord Kronos.[1] The prophecy surrounding the sixteenth birthday of Percy Jackson, the protagonist of the series, will be revealed.[1]
Movie
Chris Columbus has signed to direct and produce The Lightning Thief for 20th Century Fox through 1492 Pictures. The planned release dates are: Belgium 2010-02-10, Netherlands 2010-02-11, USA 2010-02-12, Australia 2010-04-01, Finland 2010-06-02.[2][3] The casting for Percy Jackson is Logan Lerman and Grover Underwood is Brandon T. Jackson.
Fatal Flaw
Percy's fatal flaw is personal loyalty, as revealed by Athena in Book 3. Athena tells Percy, based on the people he saved from his adventures from books 1-3, that if he can't cut his losses he could doom the world for one person. In the Sea of Monsters, he asks Annabeth what his fatal flaw is but she didn't know. However, she said every hero has one. Annabeth's fatal flaw is 'hubris' (thinking you can do things better than everyone else). Percy catches a glimpse of what Sirens were singing to her at Siren Bay, where he sees Annabeth, her dad, Athena, and Luke. She had remodeled Manhattan. Nico di Angelo, a son of Hades finds out in book 4 from his passed sister that all of Hades kids fatal flaw is holding grudges.
Romance
It is shown in the Titan's Curse (book 3) that Percy has feelings for Annabeth. Aphrodite (Goddess of Love) convinces him that he could be falling in love with Annabeth. In the Battle Of The Labyrinth (book 4) Annabeth kisses Percy. Rachel Elizabeth Dare gave some hints to Percy about Annabeth's jealousy, but he didn't get it. Romance has been hinted between Percy and Annabeth throughout the series. In the fourth book, Percy was washed up on an island, where he fell in love with Calypso but had to leave her.In an excerpt from the Last Olympian, Rachel kisses Percy. Percy is pretty much clueless when it comes to romance throughout the series. He's not sure about his emotions toward Rachel and Annabeth and the fact that both of them have kissed him by the end of the last book only confuses him further. Though notably by book 5 Percy can take more of a hint, as Beckendorf says he might tell Annabeth about Rachel kissing him. Percy's response to which is threatening him. In the battle of the labyrinth, Percy seem disappointed that Annabeth's prophecy turned out to be about Luke (implying that she loves Luke) and not about him like she had thought. Percy foreshadows to have been trying to tell Annabeth about his feelings but is not able to.
Reference
- ^ a b "The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series #5)". Barnes & Noble. Barnesandnoble.com llc. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
- ^ Claude Brodesser (2004-06-23). "'Lightning Thief' strikes Maverick". Variety. Retrieved 2008-07-30.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Peter Gilstrap (2007-04-17). "Columbus struck by 'Lightning'". Variety. Retrieved 2008-07-30.
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