Percy and I

He's my Valentine's date. And he's a demigod.

I haven't seen the film yet. For reasons too complicated to explain, I decided to forego watching it with friends yesterday and instead spent the rest of last night finishing the first book. I just spent the past few hours including dinner on the second book of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and I can say I have mixed thoughts on how it is going so far.

The plot: Perseus Jackson is a young boy who's the son of one of Big Three Greek gods to a mortal woman. Dyslexic and with ADHD, he goes around having summer adventures with fellow demigod Annabeth and the satyr Grover while for the most part of the year, he goes to school and lives a relatively normal life with his mom or what can pass for as normal for one sired by Poseidon. I am not yet sure if there'll be a twist in the next three books but so far, the story leads to a final confrontation with the titan Kronos and his plan to destroy the West. (I'd like to think that it is beating imperialism to a pulp but then again, it is presented as an "evil" design so probably it is not the same.)

On one hand, it does interest me to read about how one can fight a god, or gods for that matter. Throw in a modern-day setting – with US playing host to rampaging 'gods' – and it further piques my curiosity. Throw in further a magical pen that becomes the sword Riptide, a clash with Medusa affectionately called Aunty Em, and Hades' domain just in the underbelly of Los Angeles – it does arouse the fantasy-buff in me.

However, so far, I cannot say that it is at par with The Sword of Truth, The Belgariad or the Shannara series as fantasy epics go. Or even Harry Potter for that matter. Sometimes the fusion of Greek mythology to the modern adventure is too much. For someone to whom Greek mythology is, well, Greek, I lose the thread of the story when a new character is introduced and keeps me wondering if it was really how the Greek myths put it. It does help from time to time when the writer creatively put a narration to explain what has happened or about to happen but it takes a while to get me back on track.

Still, I will finish reading the series. It still has good moments enough to while away time.

I'm reserving my final judgment until I read the last book. Like my thoughts on Valentine's Day, it is still under process.