Today in Kal's Not Necessarily Necessary Opinions, I wish to talk about... Percy Jackson. (apparently this has become my "unpopular opinions" section?) This might get long, y'all, I've got a lot of thoughts.
So I first got into Percy Jackson a few years ago after The Silmaril Awards. I think Annabeth Chase had been nominated for Most Epic Heroine, and I was like, "wait so there actually is someone who has my name/spelling?" (for those who didn't know, my non-pseudonym is Annabeth) I've had people in the past ask me, "Are you named after that girl from Percy Jackson?" No, I'm not.
Anyways, naming choices aside, I saw that, and I thought, "Huh, okay, let's at least see what we think of this. I've heard it's the modern Harry Potter in the USA, or something?" Aaaaand I read The Lightning Thief.
It was... okay. That was basically my reaction the whole series until the fourth one, which I loved, and then it was just, meh. Interesting. A fun read, but below my usual interests and not really my style.
Then I heard about some of his other series, like the Heroes of Olympus, and the Trials of Apollo, and one other I don't remember which right now. So I decided to check them out.
Aaaaand that's where I think it started going a bit downhill?
(SPOILERS AHEAD MOST LIKELY) My biggest issue with Heroes of Olympus for a while was that Rick Riordan made it all too complicated too quickly. He wanted it to be, like, one quest with seven demi-gods. Okay, cool, dewit. No problems there, I do that all the time, just usually zjacknarsions or something instead of halfbloods. But the thing was he introduced all seven and their problems in the very first book (first two, I suppose...) and then resolved it all immediately.
Jason's and Percy's issue at first was that neither had enough memories of who they were, but they were strange enough that everyone knew they were special. HEH. Middle/near end of the book(s) that got resolved. That one was probably the least problematic, in my opinion, because it could have gotten annoying to go on a quest with two dangerous amnesiacs having no idea what they were doing (oh wait, that happens anyways, just without the amnesia....)
I haven't read The Lost Hero in a while, so I don't remember Piper's and Leo's problems as much, but I think it was basically they were trying to figure out their powers and who they wanted to be? I really don't know, that book didn't stick AT ALL. Because whatever their problems were, they didn't worry about it the entire rest of the time. (actually, I think Piper's was she was worried about her dad being held hostage and whether or not she and Jason were actually a Thing...)
Hazel and Frank, the only ones I truly loved. But...but that was because they were great in the later books? I think Hazel's issue was that she was still living in her past, and Frank's was that he was trying to figure out how to be an interesting demi-god. ONCE AGAIN. Resolved in the middle of Son of Neptune.
And so, the entire rest of the series was either reviving these already resolved issues, or creating new ones that I just... didn't find compelling.
But all that aside, what really threw me off was in the middle of House of Hades. DEFINITE SPOILERS HERE, NOT THAT I CARE. To cut to the chase, Nico di Angelo reveals that he's had a cruch on Percy for the past like four years, not Annabeth, like everyone (readers and characters) thought, and like how Riordan presented it in Battle of the Labyrinth. There was NEVER any Nico-Percy. And the fact that Riordan decided to add that, possibly just to be able to market as LGBTabc+ whatever, makes me mad.
Percy Jackson was already wobbling along okay-not okay because of the Greek gods and everything that lets the demi-gods *ahem* happen, I guess, but I could look at it as a fantasy story and let it just be the "meh" factor. When Riordan pulled all that into the mess, it was just... nope. I can't fully figure out how to explain what about this particular instance of LGTB mess made me so upset, since it's everywhere by now, it just, felt like too much.
And yet, because I still had terrible judgement and am way to quick to give authors second chances, I decided to read the Trials of Apollo.
I read the first book, and then quit the whole series.
Someone who's read, was there actually anyone in there who wasn't in a gay relationship? (rhetorical, i knew there were a few, but like, maybe two.) I don't want to get into all that, but still, same thing as the Nico-Percy, except it just existed normally, and it's not normal.
Aaaaaand then there's the issue of Nero that fully pushed it over.
So, like I've said, there's always been an issue with the "greek gods are real!" mindset, but this made that issue a little stronger in my opinion.
If you don't know who Emperor Nero is, he was a Roman emperor who strongly persecuted Christians in the Colosseum. I think he may have been the one who had Paul beheaded, but don't take my word for it.
Anyways, he showed up again. Because, HA Greek mythology brings people back from the dead. Hades, amiright?
But that's not the point, people come back from the dead everywhere, I'm not gonna scream about it. What did make me really REALLY upset was realizing, "hold up, this is the guy who persecuted Christians because they refused to believe the Greek/Roman gods were real, and they refused to worship the emperor as a god...."
See where I'm going with this?
Just like that, one guy brought back from the dead and elevated to god status, Riordan just flushed every single Christian who died under Nero down the drain. And no. Nope. Nup. Not-- no. Just no.
Anyways, that made me realize that it wasn't just Trials of Apollo who had that, but all of Percy Jackson would have that same issue of "HEY THE FALSE GODS ARE REAL" and I just didn't want to read that anymore.
I don't know what about Percy Jackson and the Riordanverse makes me so mad, because I still really enjoy Epic: the musical and it's the same Greek gods and everything, and I'm still planning to read the Iliad/Odyssey, but yeah.
Anyways, I have ranted about this for way too long now, and I've probably burned your eyes off. Sorry not sorry if I just ruined Percy Jackson for you. Thank you for reading today!
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