Review: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Ultimate Guide by Mary-Jane Knight
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Ultimate Guide
by Mary-Jane Knight
A guide to all things Percy Jackson, this little blue book contains everything a fan of the series needs: short descriptions of the Olympian gods, brief biographies of major characters, a bestiary containing the many creatures from Greek mythology, and more.
The fact that this book was not, in fact, written by Rick Riordan ought to be enough to warn readers away, but this fact is not readily apparent as no alternative author name appears on the cover. Upon opening the book (which does have a nifty magnetic closure) the first thing you see is a collection of paper Olympian cards. Are they meant to be traded? That seems weird. Are they a game? I don’t see any rules. What the heck are the cards for?
Chapters are just recaps of events from the books in the series. There is no new or original material in this book. It’s puzzling. If a kid is already a fan of the series, he knows this stuff. If someone has never read the books, why would they want an ultimate guide to the series in the first place? My best guess is that this book was meant to help generate excitement for the first Percy Jackson movie, which was released in 2010 and captured the original story so poorly that viewers probably wanted a guide like this to help make sense of what they’d watched.
There’s some cool illustrations of various mythological beasties, but this book is such a gimmicky cash-grab that it’s embarrassing. Don’t waste your money on it.
1 out of 5 stars
To read more about Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Ultimate Guide, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2013: Exposure by Kim Askew & Amy Helmes
2012: Zombie Copy by Jeff Mariotte & Syzmon Kudranski
2011: Cynical Orange Vol. 1 by Yun JiUn
2010: Beatrice & Virgil by Yann Martel
2009: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford
by Mary-Jane Knight
A guide to all things Percy Jackson, this little blue book contains everything a fan of the series needs: short descriptions of the Olympian gods, brief biographies of major characters, a bestiary containing the many creatures from Greek mythology, and more.
The fact that this book was not, in fact, written by Rick Riordan ought to be enough to warn readers away, but this fact is not readily apparent as no alternative author name appears on the cover. Upon opening the book (which does have a nifty magnetic closure) the first thing you see is a collection of paper Olympian cards. Are they meant to be traded? That seems weird. Are they a game? I don’t see any rules. What the heck are the cards for?
Chapters are just recaps of events from the books in the series. There is no new or original material in this book. It’s puzzling. If a kid is already a fan of the series, he knows this stuff. If someone has never read the books, why would they want an ultimate guide to the series in the first place? My best guess is that this book was meant to help generate excitement for the first Percy Jackson movie, which was released in 2010 and captured the original story so poorly that viewers probably wanted a guide like this to help make sense of what they’d watched.
There’s some cool illustrations of various mythological beasties, but this book is such a gimmicky cash-grab that it’s embarrassing. Don’t waste your money on it.
1 out of 5 stars
To read more about Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Ultimate Guide, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2013: Exposure by Kim Askew & Amy Helmes
2012: Zombie Copy by Jeff Mariotte & Syzmon Kudranski
2011: Cynical Orange Vol. 1 by Yun JiUn
2010: Beatrice & Virgil by Yann Martel
2009: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford