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Showing posts from September, 2013

The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #3) by Rick Riordan * * * *

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I couldn't put this down. Literally, almost. I read the whole book in a day. The adventure just swept me along. The story started in a school again. It's sort of a pattern, that the book always has to start with Percy in a school. Though this time, it's not a school he actually goes to. He was also not alone, but with his two friends. They were there on a mission. From then on, it was non-stop action. I think we meet the most amount of gods in this book, that we actually see Percy talking to on a personal level. It's also the most tragic book so far, and I did find myself crying a little at one point. Okay, maybe two. Percy is becoming a real teen boy now, and there are some mentions of love too. How he gradually changes in that respect is interesting to see. He doesn't just suddenly become interested in the opposite sex, as in some cases that I've seen. I feel I am really a witness to his maturing through the series. While the previous two books had mostly male...

The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #2) by Rick Riordan * * * *

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I think I found this book more interesting than the previous one for some reason. Maybe because there were less explanations needed. I also watched the movie, the review for that I'll post on my general reviews page. I talked about the world in my review of the previous book. This time it gets a bit more expanded, but not a lot. The story is mostly a modern version of the Odyssey, with some modern twists and Percy's friends added in. I did love the modern changes this time as much as I did previously. The whole story seemed to pick up its stride. One thing I have to mention that I loved a lot was the Ironclad. It's a piece of history that I love, and even did a presentation on in high school. I was excited about mentally travelling on it. Percy was slowly coming to his own. He's only thirteen still, but feels more confident, and more of a leader. He had matured during his previous adventure. Annabeth was a more prominent character in this story. She was more in the bac...

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013) * * * *

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The movie is an alternate version of the book. That is what I have to state first of all. I've read the book, and while the two do have similarities, there are major differences as well. As I've talked about it in a previous review , it's important for me that the movie can be watched by people who haven't read the book, more so, than how true they were to the original plot line. For anyone who had seen the first movie, which I hope they did, since without it this movie doesn't make a lot of sense, the obvious difference was that they were four years older. This of course gave the whole story a different dimension, since they were a lot more adult, and there was also some of the usual teen looks they were giving each other. I have to confess, I felt that this was a good change. The adventures were a bit too much for thirteen-year-olds. The story was very different as well. That was apparent from the first scene, though a movie is always pressed for time, and the...

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1) by Rick Riordan * * *

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More like 3.5 stars. I had a difficult time deciding between the two, but the story is more fun, and a bit too simple to deserve 4 stars. Of course, it's more for a younger demographic, still, it was a good light read. The story itself is clever, but not too inventive. It can be recommended to young people as an introduction to the Greek pantheon. In a way it's very educational, and having always been a fan of Greek mythology, I can appreciate that aspect. It also does a good job of making it interesting for contemporary people. However, since most of the mythology is not invented by the author, I deducted points for it. The story itself has a good pace. The language is easy to read, not overly descriptive, but still gives a good sense of the places and the people. It focuses on adventure, and since I'm not a fan of overly flowery language, I appreciated the simplicity. I gobbled up the whole thing in a few days. It's also educational in that it often stresses the visib...

Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns (The Devil Wears Prada #2) by Lauren Weisberger *

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I really don't have much to say about this book, as I only got to 11%. Let me try to gather my thoughts. This book is obviously a money-making attempt. The latest books of Lauren Weisberger probably didn't sell as well as The Devil Wears Prada . I wasn't that keen on that book either, but you can read my review of it as well. The point is, the movie was a lot better. The real reason why that book sold was not the main character, which I believe is Lauren herself. If that's how she really is, I'm sorry, I'd never like to be her friend. She's whiny and often hopeless. Now it has been a while since I read the previous book, and I don't intend to repeat the experience. I do remember that the job was tough. So are most first jobs. However, how awful it must have been to take part in a party at the Met, which I remember her hating. Overall, if you don't care for fashion, don't get a job at a fashion magazine. The only redeeming factor of that ...