Book Review Monday- Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan| It'sCarenzaB

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Today I am going to be reviewing the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. I recently read this and I really enjoyed it. I will confess that I had owned the first book for around 2 years before I picked up the series. I will be doing a review for the whole series rather than reviewing each book as individuals, but if you would like me to review the books as individuals, let me know.
The layout out of this is going to be the same as my other reviews: Non-spoiler thoughts, cover review, plot overview, character chat and opinions.

Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan- Contains Spoilers

Non-Spoiler Thoughts

I really enjoyed this series! I know I say this in every review I do, but I wouldn't post something on here I didn't like unless I wanted to discuss it with other people. Even though this series is defiantly aimed at younger people than myself, I really liked it. I actually learned quite a bit about Greek mythology from reading it and it has sparked an interest in discovering more about Greek mythology. I found myself relating to the characters in their every day lives (once they had grown up, this series takes place over 5 years). I had heard pretty much nothing but good stuff about this series and thought it was high time I picked it up. Although I had been spoiled about some characters, I still found myself being shocked by some things.

Cover Review

From left to right:
Lightning Thief,
Sea of Monsters,
Titan's Curse,
Battle of the Labyrinth,
Last Olympian 

  I am personally not a fan of these editions of Percy Jackson. I think they look a bit cheesy and generic. I do plan on getting the box set were the spine make up a picture to replace these at some point as I love that box set so much!

Plot Overview

The plot of the series is that there is a boy called Percy Jackson, who around his 12th birthday discovers he is the son of the Greek God Poseidon. He then spends his summers at Camp Half Blood, a safe place for Demigods. He goes on quests with his friends Annabeth and Grover and more often than not ends up in some sort of trouble on the way. As the series progresses, we see our beloved characters grow up and mature. We see their relationships change and the world they live in become more and more dangerous as they are threatened by monsters and fellow Demigods. 

I'm going to do a quick breakdown of each book now:

Book 1- Percy discovers he's a demigod, he's accused of stealing Zeus' master bolt and has to go on a quest to return it. It turns out that fellow camper Luke, a son of Hermes, has the bolt and wants a war between the Gods. In this book, Percy is 12 years old.

Book 2- Percy goes on a quest to save Grover, who has been captured by a Cyclops but is pretending to be its bride. Percy and Annabeth travel to save Grover, discovering that Percy has a half cyclops brother called Tyson. On the way they discover that Luke is trying to resurrect Kronos. They find the Golden Fleece and save Grover. They take it back to camp and use it to heal the tree that guards them, the tree turns into Zeus' daughter, Thalia. In this book, Percy is 13 years old.

Book 3- Percy's friend Annabeth has been captured by a Titan, a long with the Goddess of the Hunt, Artemis. Percy, the Hunters of Artemis and Grover travel to save Annabeth. They find some new Demigods, Bianca becomes a Hunter and dies, Nico is too young to travel but becomes angry when he learns of his sisters' death. They save Annabeth and Artemis, but the Hunter Zoe dies, Luke also falls to his death. In this book, Percy is 14 years old.

Book 4- Percy is battling his old enemy Luke and his army of demigods, who have been entering Camp Half Blood through Daedalus' labyrinth. Percy and Annabeth must find him before Luke does. On the way, Annabeth angers Hera and Percy and Annabeth are separated from Tyson and Grover. They discover that Nico is trying to make an army of the dead to avenge his sisters death. They find Daedalus and he helps them fight Luke, who has merged with Kronos. Daedalus sacrifices himself, giving his laptop to Annabeth so she can build his inventions. A Titan who has been locked away in a mountain breaks free. Also in this book, Percy makes himself able to survive being hurt like Achilles. In this book, Percy is 15 years old.

Book 5- Percy battles Luke/Kronos. Many of the Demigods die in the battle. Meanwhile, the Gods fight the escaped Titan. Kronos casts a spell on New York to make everyone sleep. They fight the battle and Percy nearly dies. Annabeth is wounded, but survives. It is Annabeth who saves the day by imploring to the bit of Luke left in Kronos and Luke/Kronos dies. The demigods celebrate their win but mourn the loss of their friends. Percy and Annabeth realise they have feelings for each other and become a couple. In this book, Percy is 16 years old.

       

Character Chat

In this section I am going to talk about 2characters; Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase

Percy Jackson

Percy is our protagonist in the series. He starts of as a normal boy. Percy often demonstrates his lack of knowledge of the world he lives in as he knows very little about Greek mythology. He does often use references from pop culture, which is something I really liked about him. He was very loyal to his friends, which is his fatal flaw. We also see that Percy often does stuff without thinking and his decisions are very rash. He is lucky to have amazing friends.

Annabeth Chase

Annabeth is our main female character and probably my favourite character in the series. I would defiantly compare her to Hermione from Harry Potter. I love how Annabeth has to fight against the stereotype of being blond, it's something I feel a lot of people can relate to. I love her and Percy's relationship, they call each other cute nicknames. I just love her being an intelligent character and showing young people it's okay to be smart.

Opinions

Like I said at the start of my review, I really enjoyed this series. I loved learning about Greek mythology in a fun way. The first half of the series was quite slow and it took me a while to get into, but by the second half of the series I was in love. It was nice getting to meet so many diverse characters and getting to experience this fun world that Rick Riordan has created. I'm half way through the Heroes of Olympus series and plan on finishing it by the end of the year. I hope that soon I can read all of Rick Riordan's work as I'm really looking forward to reading his Norse mythology series. 

So that was my review of the Percy Jackson series, I hope you guys liked it. Let me know what you thought of Percy Jackson and if you liked my review. Next week on here, starting on the 24th, it is spooky week and I will be posting a post everyday in the lead up to Halloween.

Love,

Carenza x

 

Book Haul 2016| It's Carenza B

Hello!

So while I was on holiday over the Christmas Break, there were lots of sales in lots of book shops and this means I spent more money on more books. Its got to the point were I have had to ban myself from buying any new books for a while because my bookshelf is full. This is going to be so hard as there are loads of new books coming out that I am going to have to get myself, but anyway I bought too many books and I thought I'd share it with you.

The first series I picked up is the Percy Jackson series which consists of 5 books but as I already had the first book I plan to give the brand new copy to a charity shop at some point. I loved the first book and have had it for about 2 years. The series follows a boy called Percy Jackson who has had a troubled upbringing. When his maths teacher attacks him and turns into a strange creature it is revealed that he is the son of Poseidon Greek God of the Sea. The series follows his various adventures and dangers he encounters with his friends. This set should have cost me £34.95 from the Works but in their sale it cost me £10.00!   

The next series I picked up from the Works is a series I had never heard of but it had a sticker on saying perfect for fans of Divergent and the Hunger Games. It is the Legend series by Marie Lu, the series follows a boy called Day and a girl called June. Day is 15 years old and is the country's most wanted criminal and June is a prodigy who scored a perfect 1500 on the Trial to see who can enter the army. June's first mission is to track down Day after he killed her brother. I got this as part of a 2 for £10 deal at the Works.

The next Series I picked up was The Maze Runner series, now if you have read my Birthday Book Haul, which you can read here, you will know that I already have the first book in this series but when I saw that the series had been reduced from £31.96 to £9.99 I couldn't resist. Now many of you will probably have seen the movies but this is what I have gathered the series is about. The series follows a boy called Thomas who wakes up in a mysterious place called The Glade with no memory other than his name, he then meets some other people in this mysterious place and they have to try and escape. I want to read the series before I see the movies so this series is very high on my growing TBR pile.

The next series I got was The Wolves of Mercy Falls series by by Maggie Stiefvater. The series follows two people. a human girl called Grace and a wolf boy called Sam. After Sam saves Grace from the Wolves, Grace begins to watch out for "Her Wolf". One day Sam turns up at Grace's house after being shot. Grace nurses him back to health and allows him to stay in her room. The two soon fall in love and begin to search for a cure for Sam. I got this as part of a 2 for £10 deal along with the Legend Series from the Works.

The next two books I got are Harry Potter themed. I saw both of these in WH Smiths and bought one and waited to get the other.

The first book I got was the official Harry Potter Colouring Book. After seeing this book all over Bookstagram, I knew I had to pick it up. You guys know I love Harry Potter so this book was a self explanatory purchase.

The other book I got was the new Illustrated Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Holy crap, these illustrations are amazing. I posted on my Instagram that I love this book and included a snippet of some of the images. I got this on Amazon after seeing that it would cost half the amount that they were selling it in WH Smiths.

The next two books were books that I got for Christmas from my parents.

The first book I got was called Street Photography Now. If you haven't read my Best of Bits'n'Bobs 2015, which you can read here, then you won't know that I have been loving Photography. I have been enjoying picking this up and flicking through it. I love taking quirky photos and this has really opened my eye.

The next book I got is a book I have got every year for the last 10 years, and this is the Doctor Who annual. I come from a family of Doctor Who lovers and am not gonna deny that I love the show. I have a huge section of my bookshelves but to be honest I don't mind as I love the show so much. My favourite Doctor (from the revival) is David Tennant and my favourite companion is Catherine Tate who played Donna Noble.

Finally the last two books I got are from the Throne of Glass Series.

The first book is the 4th book in the series and is called Queen of Shadows. As I plan to review the series in my new feature called Book Review Monday, I will not be going in to detail about the series. My Throne of Glass Review should be going up on the 22nd January, so keep your eyes peeled.

The next book is the prequel to the series and is a series of novellas. It is called The Assassins Blade and features 5 stories pre- Throne of Glass. I am really looking forward to it and have been informed that I will cry while reading it. I love the cover for this series and can't wait for the other two books to come out.

I would also like to add that I got Girl Online On Tour by Zoe Sugg (aka Zoella) and I posted a photo of it on my Instagram, but when I was getting it down to move some books near it I damaged it. It isn't major but it is annoying as I have only had it for 5 days. But hey ho, I can still read it. If you would like me to review it please let me know.

So those were the books I got at the end of last year/ the beginning of this year. If you enjoyed this post, let me know by leaving me a comment. In case you hadn't noticed I am moving away from beauty blogging to book blogging. I will still be posting beauty related posts but from now on expect more book themed posts. Don't forget to follow my blog by clicking the follow button and you can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram @itscarenzab. If you have any post requests or business based questions, please feel free to email me at itscarenzab@gmail.com.

Carenza x