The Lightning Thief and The Sea of Monsters

I'm sure most of you have seen the movie Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. I thought the movie was adorable and it got me thinking about the books. Of course, books vary from the movies and are either good, bad or mediocre. When you take the book and the movie, you find that there's a LOT of stuff that's been altered between the movie and the book. Where the book has this, the movie has something entirely different. Does it make the movie bad, in my opinion, no. It makes it it's own movie, that differs from the book and yet, is just as good.

I've now read book 1 and 2 of the Percy Jackson series. They're middle grade books with more of a High School violence level, which is interesting. I enjoyed both books greatly and plan to read the rest of the series in due time.

Percy is no where near your average teenager. He's been kicked out of every school he's ever been in, he finds trouble where ever he goes and for some reason, there is an abundance of creepy people who want to kill him. Average teenager? Hardly. Then Percy is taken to Camp Half-Blood, a camp for demi-gods. This is where Percy learns that he's not an ordinary teenager but the son of Poseidon, one of the Big Three.

In both books, Percy goes out on Quests, although the quest in the second book isn't given to him directly. He fights monsters and scrapes by with his life barely in-tact in several occasions. Whether it's fighting crazy ugly winged old ladies or a fully grown Cyclops, the adventures never seem to end. Even as something dark and ominous looms over the heads of the Gods and Demi-Gods. As well as every other mythical being in the known and unknown world.

I give both books a 4 of 5 as they both had me either happy, sad or sitting on the edge of my seat praying to the gods that Percy lives to fight another fight. (Well duh, he's the main character and there's 5 books.... But that's besides the point!)

I haven't seen many bad reviews, so I'm guessing most readers enjoyed travelling along with Percy as he embarks on adventures that every kid wishes they could have and succeed at.