a review on rick riordan's percy jackson's greek gods

 

mythology.

what we call mythology today is what the people in the past used to explain things before we have science to do the job. from solar and lunar movements, the cause of sea wave, earthquakes, the origin of lightning, rainbows, etc. we humans are curious beings. we want to know and be able to explain all the things we see and experience, and that is one thing (of many things) that makes us what we are. and we made myths for that very purpose. myths are the easiest yet satisfactory explanations for things we didn't (yet) understand.

percy jackson's greek gods is a spin-off of rick riordan's percy jackson series about greek gods. the book is not directly related to the series so you can read it without prior reading of the series. the book is not a mythology book, but a simplified version (kids story telling) of the greek mythology. it tells about the olympian gods (and goddesses) as well as some other gods, such as persephone and hades. the book also tells times before gods and goddesses, the titans era where all things (according to ancient greek beliefs) began.

this book tells you who is who in greek mythology, as well as their essential stories. for example, why hermes is the god of thievery, how athena got so angry about a girl who disrespected her, how poseidon created the horses, why zeus had so many side chicks, etc.  the book is very easy to read. very consumable, since it is written for children. riordan's style of story telling like a 12 years-old boy is a plus, with some jokes and humor. it makes a fun story telling, not some kind of boring mythology lectures. each greek god is told in a short 20ish pages chapter. it's a page-turner! you simply cannot put the book down once you have read it. one more page. one more page...

on the other hand, the book tends to oversimplify things. like, the story of titans which should have been longer is confiscated to fit into one or two chapters. again. it's a kids' book. you would not expect an "accurate" greek mythology. but you still can get the essential parts with ease and fun.

to summarize, you have to read percy jackson's greek gods. it's light, entertaining, as well as informative. if you are interested in greek mythology, i think it's a good start. of course you will not get the full stories but you will not miss important stuffs.

the book is 5/5 for me.

happy reading.

surabaya, 6 october 2021

30 minutes writing.