"He carries the Charles Atlas seal of approval."

The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan was the first book that I read this summer. It's the third book in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series which is aimed at young adults. Romeo was my suitemate last year and his younger brother is the owner of these books. I saw Romeo and his girlfriend reading the last few books of the series and the freed up copies of the first three and decided to steal one and try it out. I've been interested in Greek mythology since I first discovered it around age ten or so. I think I thought it was really cool that there were so many different gods and that they were all in charge of different things and that they supposedly interacted with the people. Today, I think that the thing I like most about the Greek gods is how human they were made to be. I like the idea of these deities who mess around and fall in love and fuck up. But I am getting further away from this modern story. The main character, Percy, is a half-god, the son of Poseidon and a mortal woman. The books tell of his adventures at Camp Half Blood, encounters with gods and other mythological creatures, and how it's always up to him and his friends to save the world. For the most part, the books are pretty simple and straightforward. There is a lot of situational comedy that I can see would be funny for younger kids, but I think the book is at it's best when the characters are behaving as typical thirteen year old kids despite all of the craziness around them. This particular book was probably my least favorite out of the three I have read of the five total. I guess that's what happens to the middle book in a series. Isn't that book usually stuck with setting up the events for the later half of the series? Like The Goblet of Fire. Is that really anyone's favorite Harry Potter book? It marks a major turning point in the tone of the series, with the death of Cedric, but as a book itself? Anyway, I haven't finished this series, yet, so I cannot comment of whether or not some of the events in this book were necessary or not. But if you like Greek mythology and are looking for an easy, entertaining read, then I would suggest this series to you. Just keep in mind that it was written for children.

Note: The sump pump in our basement broke last weekend. My room smells extra musty right now. Luckily, I do not plan on entertaining anyone in here in the near future. Or ever.