Authors You Should Read – Riordan

Rick Riordan

I started reading Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson books because I was working with a young vet tech who was horrified that I hadn’t read them.

They follow kids who are the children of Greek gods and humans in the modern world. They are attacked by monsters and have adventures. Every time a new book came out, she’d tell me. We’d get it and read it. In 2012 I moved away. I saw a sign at Barnes and Noble announcing the newest book. I messaged her to complain that I had not been informed by her that a new one was coming out. I got it and read it. It ended on a huge cliffhanger. She was furious. She wanted the next book right away. She needed to know what happened. Then she died in a car accident.

It never really felt right to keep reading the series after that so I haven’t. I have watched the movie adaptations and I feel like that was punishment enough. There have been two horrible movies. Do not watch them. That’s my life advice to you. You have been warned.

However, in 2024 a new series adaptation came out that is good.

This series is on Disney Plus and is worth watching even if you’ve never read the books. The first season covers the first book. My only qualm is that the people who made the CGI centaur had obviously never seen a horse before. They made the horse part so anatomically awkward that I hope he never has to run. But I’m a vet and a horse person so that stuff jumps out at me like it probably wouldn’t at normal humans.

Rick Riordan has other series too. The Kane Chronicles follows a family dealing with the Egyptian gods. I read that trilogy and really enjoyed it. There is a series about Norse gods too that I haven’t read.