(no subject)
I've been listening to the audiobooks for Rick Riordan's second series about the demigods. I enjoyed the first series a lot, but definitely got the "This was written for kids" vibe from it. A lot of the things in that series were predictable to my adult-who's-loved-reading-Greek-and-Roman-Mythology-since-she-was-old-enough-to-watch-"Clash-Of-The-Titans" brain. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, though, and I gave the series to one of my nieces last year for Christmas. For some reason, though, I was kinda reluctant to seek out the other books by the author. I think it was because while I enjoyed the story, I wasn't totally invested in it. It was just a diversion.
Anyway, I finally finished reading the last book of the Vorkosigan Saga (mini non-spoilerish review: AAARRGGHH!!! HOW CAN YOU DO THAT TO US!) and was looking for something new to sink my teeth into, and the Riordan books sounded the most appealing... partially because I needed something more lighthearted. So, I queued up the "The Lost Hero" and started listening.
I was immediately grabbed by the characters in this story. I mean, I know the basics of Jason and the Argonauts, and I assumed that since the main character was Jason, this would sort of be a play on that story... but it's not. It's a completely new story. Yeah, it's got bits and pieces pulled from all of the old tales, but the way they're woven together is completely different, and even though there were parts of the story that I figured out within the first chapter, there were other parts that left me scratching my head until the end of the book, when it all of a sudden made complete sense.
And then I started the second book, and I realized... these books aren't written for children. I mean, they still lean towards the Young Adult side of things, but the writing style is much more mature, the story is MUCH more involved, and the tension in the story is much more pronounced. I'm still 95% sure that all of the main characters are going to survive to fight tomorrow... it's just that type of story... but I don't know HOW they're going to survive. Especially the ones from this 2nd story, who just seem so much more doomed. (I've still got another hour or two in the audiobook, so I'm not done. For those who've read it-- Death has just informed the questors exactly what has to be done to break his chains. It was one of those things that I KNEW as soon as I saw how he was chained, but watching Hazel and Frank's reaction to it is just heartbreaking!)
I'm not as fond of Frank and Hazel as I am of Leo and Piper (considering their "upbringing", I would expect both Frank and Hazel to be a little more ... confident? Assertive? Arrogant? Just something more appropriate to their training. But Leo and Piper are actually the ones with complete confidence in their abilities, despite less (and less strict) training.), but it's hard for me to choose between Jason and Percy.
I really thought that Riordan did a great job in the first book, though, focusing on new characters while still keeping it grounded in the world we were familiar with by sprinkling the story with the secondary characters that we already knew... and then in the second book, it feels like returning to the people we love and adding another layer to them-- Even though Percy's the only one who's returning. Odd. I guess it's because the mystery isn't there-- it's just a story about how Percy deals with his new surroundings. Anyway, the first book had to set up this new danger, and Jason's story is the mystery throughout the whole thing. We're in familiar territory, but the character is wrong, and the whole time we're wondering who he IS, and where he come from. Once we find out more about his story, then we switch over and see this whole new world through the eyes of someone who is familiar to us, and I think it's a fascinating way to set up the differences.
Anyway, I highly recommend these books, especially if you enjoyed the original Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I was under the impression that this was a new series set in the same world (so the characters wouldn't overlap, other than maybe a mention of Our Heroes or the battle they fought as a distant memory) but it's actually very much a continuation of the story, with a new danger and new characters and new myths woven into the world that we already know.
And the humor cracks me up.
And then queenofthorns posted a link to the new trailer for "The Hunger Games" movie:
I can't believe how much I'm fighting tears after watching that trailer. I gave a review of my thoughts on the story over here, but in a nutshell, the themes of the story disturbed me, and while the story engrossed me, I was drained at the end of it (or, really, about 2/3 of the way through it...) and a lot of that emotion came washing back over me as I was watching that trailer. I'm not enamored with the casting, but I'm willing to give it a shot, and the trailer is still enough to make me catch my breath and want to see the movie.
Anyway, I finally finished reading the last book of the Vorkosigan Saga (mini non-spoilerish review: AAARRGGHH!!! HOW CAN YOU DO THAT TO US!) and was looking for something new to sink my teeth into, and the Riordan books sounded the most appealing... partially because I needed something more lighthearted. So, I queued up the "The Lost Hero" and started listening.
I was immediately grabbed by the characters in this story. I mean, I know the basics of Jason and the Argonauts, and I assumed that since the main character was Jason, this would sort of be a play on that story... but it's not. It's a completely new story. Yeah, it's got bits and pieces pulled from all of the old tales, but the way they're woven together is completely different, and even though there were parts of the story that I figured out within the first chapter, there were other parts that left me scratching my head until the end of the book, when it all of a sudden made complete sense.
And then I started the second book, and I realized... these books aren't written for children. I mean, they still lean towards the Young Adult side of things, but the writing style is much more mature, the story is MUCH more involved, and the tension in the story is much more pronounced. I'm still 95% sure that all of the main characters are going to survive to fight tomorrow... it's just that type of story... but I don't know HOW they're going to survive. Especially the ones from this 2nd story, who just seem so much more doomed. (I've still got another hour or two in the audiobook, so I'm not done. For those who've read it-- Death has just informed the questors exactly what has to be done to break his chains. It was one of those things that I KNEW as soon as I saw how he was chained, but watching Hazel and Frank's reaction to it is just heartbreaking!)
I'm not as fond of Frank and Hazel as I am of Leo and Piper (considering their "upbringing", I would expect both Frank and Hazel to be a little more ... confident? Assertive? Arrogant? Just something more appropriate to their training. But Leo and Piper are actually the ones with complete confidence in their abilities, despite less (and less strict) training.), but it's hard for me to choose between Jason and Percy.
I really thought that Riordan did a great job in the first book, though, focusing on new characters while still keeping it grounded in the world we were familiar with by sprinkling the story with the secondary characters that we already knew... and then in the second book, it feels like returning to the people we love and adding another layer to them-- Even though Percy's the only one who's returning. Odd. I guess it's because the mystery isn't there-- it's just a story about how Percy deals with his new surroundings. Anyway, the first book had to set up this new danger, and Jason's story is the mystery throughout the whole thing. We're in familiar territory, but the character is wrong, and the whole time we're wondering who he IS, and where he come from. Once we find out more about his story, then we switch over and see this whole new world through the eyes of someone who is familiar to us, and I think it's a fascinating way to set up the differences.
Anyway, I highly recommend these books, especially if you enjoyed the original Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I was under the impression that this was a new series set in the same world (so the characters wouldn't overlap, other than maybe a mention of Our Heroes or the battle they fought as a distant memory) but it's actually very much a continuation of the story, with a new danger and new characters and new myths woven into the world that we already know.
And the humor cracks me up.
And then queenofthorns posted a link to the new trailer for "The Hunger Games" movie:
Click to viewI can't believe how much I'm fighting tears after watching that trailer. I gave a review of my thoughts on the story over here, but in a nutshell, the themes of the story disturbed me, and while the story engrossed me, I was drained at the end of it (or, really, about 2/3 of the way through it...) and a lot of that emotion came washing back over me as I was watching that trailer. I'm not enamored with the casting, but I'm willing to give it a shot, and the trailer is still enough to make me catch my breath and want to see the movie.