The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Chapter 14: I Become a Known Fugitive

There isn’t much to discuss in this chapter. This is another transitional/information chapter used to push the trio, and the plot, in a certain direction and explain Percy’s powers a bit more.

Continue Reading

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Chapter 13: I Plunge to My Death

This is the chapter I keep mixing-and-matching with the previous one. In my defense, having two back-to-back chapters with a toy dog as the central character will lead to me misremembering things, especially when the last chapter was more of a transitional chapter used to show how the trio could possibly make it to California and back within the allotted time and to further expand the characters. This chapter has a monster encounter and a cliffhanger, which makes it more memorable.

Continue Reading

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Chapter 12: We Get Advice from a Poodle

Chapter twelve is a short chapter about Grover and the ominous big bad of the series that I keep mistaking for the Echidna chapter later on, because I keep thinking Chimera is disguised as a poodle when he’s not. I don’t know why.

Continue Reading

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Chapter 11: We Get Advice from a Poodle

Chapter eleven sets the precedent for this series and the next’s plot pattern and showcases the biggest problem with using Greek myths.

Random monster encounters, while good for providing action, showing off how well your characters can work together (or even not work together), how they’re getting better at whatever trait is necessary for getting out of the dangerous situation, and padding, is a bit of a staple for quests. However, instead of just running into stock monsters, our protagonists get to run into notable monsters of myth as well, like Medusa.

Now, the problem with using Greek myths in anything is that there are rarely any singular myths. Many myths have variations, some of which are minuscule and ultimately unimportant differences.

Continue Reading