About a week ago, Disney+ released the trailer for the new “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” television series. It’s not the first time there’s been an attempt to convert “Percy Jackson” to live action with two movies in the 2010s released to middling reviews. But I’m not here to talk about any on-screen adaptations. I’m here to talk about the source material.
Rick Riordan is no stranger to book series, with over 50 works to his name. For my money, the “Percy Jackson” pentalogy isn’t just his best work — it’s one of the best series ever written. It’s easily my number one.
Sports editor Maddie Bimonte, FCRH ’24, would be quick to interject that I have never read “The Hunger Games.” In light of this, I’d like to take this time to apologize for the immense disappointment I have caused my friends and family, and for my lack of a well-lived childhood in general, but we trudge on.
I’ve read my fair share of young adult series in the course of my life. Every single “Harry Potter” book, every single “Chronicles of Narnia” book and even a large chunk of “The Secret Series” by Pseudonymous Bosch, which is in its own right a hilarious and awesome read. None of them, however, have quite captured my utter enjoyment the way the “Percy Jackson” series did.
In lieu of prepping for my SATs, I decided to reread the series in high school, just to see if it was still as captivating as I found it when I was a kid. I was not surprised in the slightest — but nonetheless thrilled — to find that it does indeed hold up.
Young adult fiction that appeals to an adult audience is probably not an easy line to walk, but it’s one that Riordan does exceptionally well. Riordan trusts his young audience with mature themes, but doesn’t let it bog down the tone of the story. We’re confronted with death, hopelessness and the seemingly inevitable nature of fate. Yet he tells it all through the lens of his main characters, who are young children similar in age to the kids that represent his target audience.
The end result is a distinct tone that’s hard to replicate. With a fitting combination of authentic humor and captivating drama, we get a genuinely enthralling story embedded with hilarity. Without ever cheapening the emotional resonance of the most raw and dramatic moments, there’s a haze of levity that keeps the story true to its roots. Sometimes, you get tender and emotional exchanges between Percy and Annabeth. Sometimes Percy calls a William H. Seward statue “Bill.” And when it’s all said and done, it just works.
I’ve been trying to pinpoint exactly how Riordan creates a vibe that I haven’t found in anything else. Not to take away from the scholarly points that I’ve so eloquently laid out, but I really think it comes down to one simple thing: Riordan writes the series in the first person and Percy is, for lack of a better word, an idiot. To clarify, it’s not that he’s not smart, but rather that a good majority of his jokes and thoughts are delightfully dumb. This is perfect because we, the audience, get the absolute pleasure of being privy to all of the thoughts and quips that he has. It made him incredibly relatable as a kid, and I have no issue saying that I still find him relatable now. For all of his heroic triumphs, Percy is really just a sarcastic and sassy little guy.
It had been a little while since I’d thought about “Percy Jackson.” Then I saw the Disney+ trailer and I was reminded of my childhood and how much I enjoyed reading this series. I can only hope that the show does justice to my unreasonably high expectations.
Naturally, upon seeing the trailer, I quickly hopped into a groupchat to express my excitement. Everyone echoed my joy — except for one troubled soul. This pitiful individual couldn’t care less about “Percy Jackson,” and decided to rain on our parade. To out this person would be sentencing him to a life of ridicule, so let’s just call him Brian Rabacs, GSB ’24. You don’t want to be like Brian Rabacs.
The “Percy Jackson” books are great. If you haven’t read them yet, give it a try. If you have read them, there’s no harm in reading every book again. And finally, a word of advice. If someone asks you if you’ve read “The Hunger Games” series, just lie and tell them that “Catching Fire” was a true masterpiece.
