Comments | vovat: Heading for Paradise, or Basingstoke, or Reading

vovat

Heading for Paradise, or Basingstoke, or Reading

Jun 19, 2009 12:05

So, I finished Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series yesterday. Yeah, that was pretty quick, wasn't it? But they were definitely good books, full of adventure, humor, and all that good stuff. And Riordan definitely did his research on Greek mythology, working a lot of characters and references into a modern setting. I think part ( Read more... )

percy jackson, books, albums, quiz results, mythology

Comments 8

goldenmoonbear June 19 2009, 16:25:59 UTC

Robyn is the best.

vovat June 19 2009, 18:46:03 UTC

Yes, I'm certainly starting to get that impression!

revme June 19 2009, 22:56:57 UTC

Indeed! And I think I'm with you in preferring his earlier stuff, but, really most of his stuff is pretty dang good. Particularly the ones you pointed out.

countblastula June 19 2009, 16:59:45 UTC

Thanks for the birthday wishes. Yes, indeed Robyn is the best.

vovat June 19 2009, 18:46:23 UTC

You're welcome.

rockinlibrarian June 19 2009, 17:40:16 UTC

I came up Philip Pullman, too, but shockingly I scored way more "cynical" than you did! (21! 80th percentile!) I don't know, I LOVVVVVE Golden Compass, but spent most of Amber Spyglass yelling at him to get his facts straight before skewering the church. Heh, I guess that is fairly cynical of me anyway.

vovat June 19 2009, 18:56:58 UTC

I think The Golden Compass was the most creative of the three, with the other two not quite living up to it in that respect. I did enjoy the Judeo-Christian mythological aspects to The Amber Spyglass, though. To me, it seemed less like an attack on religion in particular as an alternate take on religious themes (i.e., within the context of the series, God was real, but on the wrong side). But then, one of the things I like about fantasy is that it can provide social commentary without being totally blunt. I guess Pullman falls somewhat on the blunt side, but it's still fiction, and he's skewering his own take on the God of the Bible more than actual religion. Yes, he's ALSO criticizing aspects of real religion, but it's a somewhat indirect attack. To me, that makes stories that explore real-life themes through fiction somewhat more intelligent and less heavy-handed than straight-up allegory.

doktor_x June 19 2009, 21:40:00 UTC

We're awesome! ^_^