It's clear from reading my reviews that I enjoyed the series :) Yes, there were weaker books, but there were also better books. As a whole, there's only one word to describe this series: GREAT. LOL, okay, there are many words: awesome, enjoyable and fun :P Especially fun. It's really no surprised the kids have enjoyed it so much, and so did the adults.
To me, it all started with the original idea of combining our modern world with the greek mythology. Seriously, this was a great idea for a world building, because Mr Riordan doesn't have to invent everything from scratch. It's really a win-win situation as well: young readers discover the greek mythology while older readers go ahhh and ohhh, remembering facts that were tucked away in their brain. I mean, while reading this series, I realized that I've picked up a lot about greek mythology over the years through tv, books and other media... and it was simply fun to go ahhh, I know this! and recognizing what myths Mr Riordan brought in. It was also the perfect blending between modern world and mythology and all the modern spins were quite humorous :)
Then, there's the plot which was very interesting and well supported by a very solid world building. The only storyline I found weak was the one of The Sea of Monsters. Aside from it, every book had interesting and complete storyline. The most surprising is that everyone of them contributed to the overall plot of the series. While reading the series, you never questioned why the author was taking this direction with this storyline or think that the series could do without this or that book. There was a gradual build-up throughout the series to the climax and every detail and every character seems to be playing a role in it. The action was great, engrossing and made the readers want to continue reading as fast as possible, but the best was definitively the twists and surprises :D They are many of them and they made the storylines so unpredictable, which you really need to keep the readers hooked and wanting to read more.
Finally, there's the characters. I liked Percy a lot, but I didn't love him and I think this is a good thing. I feel like Mr Riordan wrote Percy the way he wanted, not a character to please the readers :) For example, Percy is not lovable in a sweet, sweet way. Instead, he has a lot of personality, good and bad qualities and that really made him realistic. It's really the same with Annabeth. She's strong and interesting and I like her, but don't love her. All the other secondary characters added substances to the series and were mostly fun to read about. Nico in particular was very interesting and as I said, I love Tyson :) The gods here were important to the storylines, but most of the time, were there to lighten up the mood :P What I really liked about Percy and Annabeth in this series was watching them grow, their maturation process. How they went to being 12 years old half-bloods to 16 years old half-bloods. How they dealt with their emotions and how growing up changed their relationships and their interactions with other characters.
So as you can see, Percy Jackson and the Olympians series was great to read, enjoyable and a lot of fun. I'd say all that is due to the care of Mr Riordan in balancing everything :) The only thing I found strange in this series was the gods relationships... and this is not due to Mr Riordan's writing. I'm a romance reader at the core, right? I love when my characters are faithful to each other and you know, I guess I'm traditional. It's just that the relationships between the gods, well it's weird ^_^; I mean, many of them are siblings, but they don't act that way. Many are parents/children, but they don't act that way. Many are spouses, but they don't act that way ^_^; So it's just a bit weird. I understand that's greek mythology and also immortality... However, when you see the gods having so many half-bloods by so many different mortal parents, well... Also, I think I would have enjoyed seeing older half-bloods, adult ones. Ah well, maybe in the sequel?
So yes, I loved this series. It was great fun and I recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy :) Yes, this is a young adult series, but it has great plots and world building and likable characters. Plus, Mr Riordan doesn't play the moral, preaching card... so this is pure entertainment :D
