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＊✿❀ Maki ❀✿＊ (7 KP) rated The Lightning Thief in Books

May 3, 2018

The Lightning Thief

Rick Riordan | 2005 | Children, Fiction & Poetry

8.6

(100 Ratings)

Book Rating

Percy Jackson is a series that I've been meaning to get around to for ages. Pretty much everybody I know who have read the books absolutely adore them.

So, when I needed a few quick reads to play catch up on my reading challenge, I decided that it was a good enough time to give the series a go.

...and it's not too bad.

There was a lot about The Lightning Thief that I enjoyed. The premise was a lot of fun. I liked the humor - especially the chapter titles. I liked the translation of Olympus from ancient European culture to modern American culture. I loved that this is a kids' series that rewards children for knowing mythology - if you're familiar with Greek myths at all, you'll know almost from the start of each encounter what Percy and the group are up against.

That's also kind where I started having problems, though.

The book is essentially non-stop action. Which isn't, in itself, a bad thing. But the action plays out like a series of video game encounters. Percy and his friends will travel so far in their quest, run into someone/a monster who will (sometimes accidentally) help them get to the next step of their quest, where they'll travel a certain distance again before running into something else. Repeat throughout the entire book. There are small moments of character building, but they're squeezed in where they'll fit between action scenes.

I'm more than willing to admit that that's just me, though. I'm not exactly the book's intended audience, and I can completely see how the pacing and whatnot would appeal to kids. I did enjoy it enough to continue on in the series, though.

Kudos

Roxanne (13 KP) rated Paranormal Cornwall in Books

Nov 14, 2018

<b>3 Stars</b>

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/sXx2zjN.gif"; width="200" height="160"/>

There is just so much information packed into this gem, I was entertained, I was interested and I was definitely fascinated...to an extent.

I love to read about the paranormal, especially when it's to do with where I'm from and have lived all of my life; Cornwall really is a beautiful and mysterious place.

This book features many different locations in Cornwall which are thought to be haunted as well as different types of myths and legends. One of the locations I have visited myself, which is Pengersick Castle, is where I have personally experienced some paranormal activity. I would definitely like to return for a second visit so if you get the chance to go it is definitely worth it.

On first glance this book is beautifully presented with a thought provoking front cover and glossy pages which are a pleasure to read.

<b>Then why 3 stars you ask?</b>

When I was reading this book I came across many spelling and grammar errors, I know that's probably really fussy of me but when you encounter these errors constantly then it does effect the enjoyment of a book. The layout didn't turn out too great either in my opinion. On one hand the photographs are great, however, they weren't very well positioned within the book...I was reading about one location but underneath there was a photo about something completely different, this became quite confusing after a while.

I removed 2 stars instead of 1 as due to errors and image misplacement I ended up not enjoying this book, however, I believe it's worth reading for some of the information.

Kudos

ClareR (5831 KP) rated Heroes (Stephen Fry’s Great Mythology Volume 2 in Books

Oct 24, 2019

Heroes (Stephen Fry’s Great Mythology Volume 2

Stephen Fry | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics

10.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Greek mythology’s greatest heroes!

I loved this retelling of the heroes of the Greek myths. I knew I would. I enjoyed the first one (Mythos), and I had umpteen hours of Stephen Fry’s voice to look forward to (I listened on Audible). I could happily listen to him reading the back of a cereal packet, to be quite honest (but I do prefer books). He has a voice that you want to listen to: he brings these stories to life, and tells them in such a modern, engaging way. I have proof. My 15 year old son (Seb) would turn his headphones off in the car to listen along when I played this on our journey down to Devon from Cheshire (a six hour journey). And not one comment from him (anything Marvel or DC, he always has endless comments to make and often spoils the film - drives me mad!).

So, Stephen tells us about Heracles, Perseus, Jason and others that I wasn’t as familiar with, like Oedipus and Bellerophon. Honestly, this book is bursting with heroes, and whilst this sounds like a ridiculous thing to say, what I actually mean is that I didn’t feel as though they were short changed in their space. All of the heroes were given their moments of glory again: their stories were told with care, with humour and with feeling. I’m hoping more will come out of this ‘Great Mythology’ series, because I am well up for listening to more. I’ll even pick up my Audible subscription again. I just need to get through the long list of Audible books that I have first...

Anyway, I would highly recommend this book and Mythos as well, and if you can, definitely listen to the audiobook version. You won’t regret it!