Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes (2015 original; edició 2015)

Just got the american version of this book. I had bought it in italian, but we don't get the pictures... Some of them are really pretty and they get you to read much more because you want to KNOW more about it all and the drawings themselves. I think it would help kids as well to focus more :) ( )

Medea, la original Amy Dunne :v ( )

I love Rick Riordan's writing style and characterization. I have always enjoyed mythology and he does a great job of bring any and all mytholgy to life in a fresh and new way. I find the characters to be engaging and to feel really real. His characters feel fresh and diverse without feeling like he makes them diverse just to have diversity. He does not belabor the point of their diversity it just is a fact of who they are and yet anyone who reads his books can feel included in representation. I love how he weaves the mythology into modern times so you feel like you are learning something as you are being entertained. ( )

Trigger Warnings: Mild inappropriate references (only if understood), violence, gore.


Hero Preferences:
1. Atalanta
2. Cyrene
3. Orphues
4. Jason
5. Otrera
6. Daedalus
7. Theseus
8. Hercules
9. Perseus
10. Bellerophon
11. Psyche
12. Phaethon


Again, it's hard choosing favourites but I feel as I must and therefore force myself to. Hercules is low because his story was just too long..................................................................... After that it was just "This hero is cooler than this one" or "I laughed more here than there" or "This guy was dumber than that guy".

Who better to tell us the tales of the Greek Heroes and demigods then a hero and demigod himself? Percy Jackson gives us a funny, in-depth description of the lives of some the most famous Greek heroes like Atalanta (not Atlanta), the Queen of the Amazons, Jason, and Al/Hercules.

I do have to admit: this book is large and long. It takes a while to read. The paperbacks are somewhere around 700 pages when I saw them in the store (and I don't remember seeing any of Ricco's illustrations there to bump up the page total). So hunker down, this book is a long, adventurous ride into the lore behind Rick Riorden's books.

First off, props to Mr. Riordan for making all the questionable content child-friendly. That takes real skill. I think narrating it all from Percy Jackson's point of view was a great idea. I liked the little tidbits for people who have actually read Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Percy Jackson and the Heroes of Olympus. It makes it feel as if the world continues even when the books are not. It also makes Percy feel like a real human. He has witty writing style that mirrors his personality in the book series perfectly. It makes the whole experience much more enjoyable.

Not to mention the kick-ass females. While there were not as many as the male heroes, this book made sure they got their fair share. There were only two female heroes, yet I feel like they were very present. Their stories were great, by far my favorites.

Last but not least John Ricco did an excellent job at providing illustrations to this book. It brought the characters to life and helps readers to imagine a word they will never live in. ( )

This book was on my friend's 11-year-old's summer reading list and she was having a really hard time getting through it, so I offered to read it with her. First of all, I cannot believe this is required reading for that age group! Most of us know that the Greek myths are extremely messed-up with tons of rape and gory killing and gods cavorting and hey did I mention RAPE? Yeah, so, Riordan kind of glosses over the rapey parts of the myths and I'm not sure that makes it better. As a narrator, Percy acknowledges how extremely messed-up all of this is, and it must have been quite an effort for Riordan to present this material in a way that even approaches appropriateness, but that's not actually even possible. Once I informed my friend of this, she told her daughter she didn't have to finish the book and I believe she even went to the school about it.
NOT RECOMMENDED ( )