The Lightning Thief discussion

I have met quite a few PJO haters, and I never quite understand why they hate it. I'll list some arguments I've heard here and refute them.

"It's just stupid."

I've heard this so many times before it kind of sickens me. This is a freaking opinion. Saying something's stupid is not a legitimate reason for hating a book.

"It rips off Harry Potter."

No it doesn't. A lot of people use the same stereotypes Rowling does. The sidekick, the know it all, the outcast heroes are archetypes. They were not created by Rowling. And besides, Annabeth, Grover and Percy develop in far different ways than Hermione, Harry and Ron do. They have different personalities, different pasts, different flaws. That is NOT a ripoff.

As for the world-building, I still don't see that. Camp Half-Blood was made for survival purposes. Hogwarts is not. Capture the flag is also used to teach survival skills, and Quidditch is more like an Olympic game people do for fun. I'll admit that separating them into houses is a bit of copying, but seriously, who cares? It's not like Rowling is terribly original either. If PJO is a HP ripoff, than HP is also a Lord of the Rings ripoff. Seriously.

"The plot is repeated over and over again."

Maybe the bare skeleton of it does. Step one, something weird happens, step two, they go to camp, step three, they go on a quest whether Chiron likes it or not. Yet there is so much more. THere are new twists on Greek mythology, new conflicts, new characters. And what I find weird about this is that a lot of HP fans criticize PJO for repeating the plot over and over again. HP does so as well. Make no mistake, I am also a huge HP fan, but it disturbs me how shallow the reasons for hating PJO are.

"Percy Jackson is a Gary Stu."

I really never got that argument. He does have flaws. He has strengths. He has a personality He's likable. How is he a Gary Stu? He's not perfect. He still rushes into things without really thinking it over about how it will affect the entire world, which just makes it more powerful because the entire fate of the world hinges on a single decision of his. That's the worst flaw you could have in that situation. How is he a Gary Stu?

So yeah. Feel free to comment and add your thoughts. And if you can, please explain to me why Percy Jackson sucks. It's okay if you don't like it, but don't spout all these stupid reasons I listed up there for disliking it.

PJO is the best! It taught me alot about Greek mythology and now it's one of my favourite subjects>.<

I wonder if the haters have actually read the book or just are speculating?

WHAT!?!?! PJO haters!!! Oooo they better hope they dont cross me on a dark street...

Melanie wrote: "PJO is the best! It taught me alot about Greek mythology and now it's one of my favourite subjects>.<"

Same for me \(^.^)/!!!!

People hate because they can't give credit where credit is due.

I LOVE the Percy Jacksons! The characters, the plots, everything. I have to admit though when I started reading the first book I got irritated at points, because I felt like Percy came across as thinking of himself as really badass, and I was thinking- Seriously? You're like 12! But once you get past that the books are flawless :)

What? WHAT? How could ANYONE in their right mind hate this?!

Brooke wrote: "What? WHAT? How could ANYONE in their right mind hate this?!"

Back at you

Oh. My. Gosh. We actually AGREE on something...
And I agree with Kate, when she asked about people actually reading the books. I have tried over and over and over again to get one of my friends to read Harry Potter for the past two years. She kept insisting that it was stupid and boring, blah, blah, blah. Then she FINALLY started them, and she LOVES them! I'm like "You're welcome!".

I think people hate PJ for the same reasons that people hate Harry Potter.

Some people just aren't into anything 'magic'

Another biggie is becase it deals with gods and not God, so they see it as pagen

People look at it like he's a Gary Sue, I think mainly because they don't understand how/why the book was written. All the books are basicly modern versions of Greek hero myths, all that was take out were things not appropriate for kids.

Once people hear its about mythology (aka history) their brain shuts down and autmaticly think it's boring.

Plus a lot of people who don't like it aren't even in the target audience. The book was written for kids (mainly boys) 8-12 and I like to think people in general who like greek/roman mythology.

Maybe you're right. However, the reasons you listed are also quite biased (I'm not saying you are biased in favor of hating it, you rated it five stars after all, just to clarify) Most people don't acknowledge that they are not the target audience, or that they personally don't like Greek mythology. They just say it's stupid. Haha yeah, I guess they immediately think it's boring once they hear it's based on Greek mythology, though I have met quite a few people who hated Greek mythology then ended up loving it as a result from reading PJO.

This is slightly off topic, but whatever:) I always liked how PJO does not have a violent fan base like Twilight or Harry Potter. There might possibly be a few, but itdoesnt have a rep for being violent. That way I can say that I love PJO without being embarrassed. When people ask me if I'm an HP fan (which I am) I just kind of stammer "uh...I guess...so...sure." this has nothing to do with my liking of the series, btw, I would never hate/love something simply based on the reactions of other people.

@ Tracy

Yes, we do! Amazing, huh? We had a very nice little spat over HG, and now were both practically fangirling over PJO. :) it is my favorite series though, and it will always be, because this is the series that really sucked me in to the genre of fantasy.

Personally, I find the choice of words is often repetitive and that bugs me, especially when I have them in audioformat instead of paperback. I LOVE the stories, and I'll always buy the next installation but there are only so many times you can listen to a man say "Annabeth chided", before you start to wish she scorned or frowned or did anything except CHIDED instead. That's just one example, and a lot of writers are guilty for repetition, I'm probably one of them, but that's my two jots worth.

Jocelyn wrote: "@ Tracy

Yes, we do! Amazing, huh? We had a very nice little spat over HG, and now were both practically fangirling over PJO. :) it is my favorite series though, and it will always be, because thi..."

Yes, fangirling over Percy Jackson is one of my favorite things!
Have you seen who plays him in the movies?

Kelly wrote: "Personally, I find the choice of words is often repetitive and that bugs me, especially when I have them in audioformat instead of paperback. I LOVE the stories, and I'll always buy the next instal..."

Hey, you're right. I'd never noticed that, I guess I was too wallowed up in the stories for me to see the Annabeth chided thing. I do agree that Riordan's overuse of speech tag alternatives to "said" can be a bit amateurish and annoying. He uses the speech tag "yelled" like four times in a row in the Last Olympian in the scene when Clarisse is dragging around the drakon in her chariot.

Tracy wrote: "Jocelyn wrote: "@ Tracy

Yes, we do! Amazing, huh? We had a very nice little spat over HG, and now were both practically fangirling over PJO. :) it is my favorite series though, and it will always..."

Yeah, I've seen him who plays in the movies. Some people think Logan Lerman's "hotness" makes up for the horribleness of the movie, but I don't think it does. I mean, dude, if they could find eleven-year-old Daniel Radcliffe for Harry Potter, why not an eleven-year-old for Percy Jackson? The directors are the same too. Makes no sense.

I know! I was thinking, he started the movie series when he was eighteen, and when he finishes it, he'll be like, twenty-six! He was supposed to be twelve years old!
However, in likeliness to what Percy would look like, Logan looks exactly like I would've imagined...

Tracy wrote: "I know! I was thinking, he started the movie series when he was eighteen, and when he finishes it, he'll be like, twenty-six! He was supposed to be twelve years old!
However, in likeliness to what..."

I'm not sure that was grammatically correct....sorry!

I never really liked PJO. The first was by far the best, I only got as far as the fourth(?) book as I found that I didn't care for them all that much. I hate it when people develop such an utter hate against something, and then preach about it like pompous nibs. I don't like the books, but I never go further than simply saying, "Oh, yeah. I read a few of those books. Didn't really like them." And that's it! You don't need to say more than that. If you do, it's just plain old rude.

I, personally, never cared for the books for a few reasons. I found Percy a little annoying and the scale of the immortals daunting and uncomfortable to read about. Some of the content was a bit annoying, but the reason I kept with the books as long as I did was because they were sometimes very hilarious. I can see why people like them, but they are simply not in my favored genre. Everyone has their opinions, and I don't see why PJO haters (AND lovers) should go around shoving each others words into their faces like pie. What's the point of being an individual if you aren't allowed to have your own opinions without being smashed to the ground by others?

Yeah, I can see what you mean. Just to clarify(in case, Im not sure exactly what you think of this post) I am perfectly okay with PJO dislikers. I'm just not okay with them saying it's stupid and then blathering about how much they hate it. The world would be a boring place if everyone thought the same thing, though, so of course I don't care if people don't like them too much.

Oh I'm fine with the post! I'm just generally neutral. C:

But ya, I totally get what you mean.

I LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE PJ BOOKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I DIDN'T KNOW THERE WERE ANYY PJO HATERS AT ALLL!!!!!

Selena wrote: "Melanie wrote: "PJO is the best! It taught me alot about Greek mythology and now it's one of my favourite subjects>.

Same for me \(^.^)/!!!!"

Me 3! Ditto!!

people hate Percy Jackson?

who knew

Oh wow! People hate Percy Jackson? Who knew! I know one person who won't try it, but his sister told me it was because he wasn't really into mythology. There was another girl in this book discussion who was talking about how it probably won't be as good as Harry Potter, and hey, it isn't, I don't think. But it's still awesome!

It's sort of like the Twilight series, it kind of became cool to hate the series. At first i didnt think i'd like it, even if i already liked greek mythology, i thought it was going to be a really stupid adaptation. But now that i have it a chance im addicted. people just judge it at first when they hear that the plots really out there.

i think a big factor of why people hate Percy Jackson is because they have never been bothered to read it and they just dismiss it with 'no it's stupid'. This annoys me as it is such a great series and it teaches people alot throughout it as well

Percy jackson is a cool hero and people who compare the PJ series with the HP ones are seriousely,Stupendously nuts.
i'm a fan of HP though the PJ books are not so bad. they rock too.
every adventure lover will simply fall for them, i assure you.
and the greek setback is more than halfway credit earning.
so way to go PJ, i in my right sense will never ever tell you're a hardcase!

HATORADE! I have new favorite word!

There are always going to be haters for everything, including Percy Jackson. I think there are people who are going to dislike things for reasons they can't come up with, so they make up arguments that collapse under pressure.

As for the reasons you've given, I completely agree with you that the points other people have made aren't reliable and don't hold up to serious scrutiny.

Either way, I think that the lovers (opposite of haters, whatever that is) definitely outweigh the haters. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that a book that's spent over five years as a best seller probably is extremely well loved by its fans.

nobody should hate PJO it is the best book in the world

I LOVE THIS BOOK :) No-one i know hates it :) I think its impossible its such a great book <3

Aurora wrote: "There are always going to be haters for everything, including Percy Jackson. I think there are people who are going to dislike things for reasons they can't come up with, so they make up arguments ..."

You're right. I guess it's just my luck I happen to have met a lot of PJO haters. Seriously, half my friends hate PJO with a flaming passion. I understand disliking it, but I don't understand preaching to everyone about how stupid it is.

Apparently few people other than me has gone through the same experience. But yes, I understand there are haters for everything.

Yeah, but like I said in my post, those are archetypes. They were not created by Rowling. They have been used by others. The same combo, the same archetypes. That's not a ripoff.

what kind of fucker hates Percy Jackson, I dont think thats even possible, I really try to respect people's opinions but if you hate Percy Jackson, I'm sorry to say i have no respect for you, actually i'm not even sorry.

Well, that does not surprise me.

There are people who absolutely hate myths and magic, for whatever their reasons.

If I'm being polite about it I call it being arrogant and "narrow minded", not so nice it's ignorant idiot or stuck, as in, stuck in tar/mud hoping those like that to be extinct soon. Or, worse for them in their opinion, stuck long enough for me to tell them what they ought to have known all along.

I'm not very possessive of authors, as, well, some of my favorite books were written by not-so-very-nice-people who did or believed things I find make me ill.

However, there are heroes, and role-models and we all need something/someone to aspire to.

Just because Harry Potter was written before Percy Jackson doesn't make it a copy, lots of things Rowling did were copied/borrowed right out of the myths. Or books published before 1997-1999.

http://io9.com/5683905/everything-har...

What? I didnt even know that was possible. These are incredible characters and books. Love them!

Ah! Yes! I just read a comment where someone gave a legit reason for not liking the PJ series. That was all that I was looking for!!
I love the PJ series, but uh, the lovers of PJ shouldn't shove their loving opinions of what they think of the book into people who dislike the book, even if that person dislikes it for a stupid reason. Everyone does have their own entitlement to their opinions, stupid or not, and if they want to blab about it like idiots you can tell them they sound like it or say everyone has their own opinions so go share yours with your own kind. (People who hate PJ for some unseen reason/ people who talk about PJ too much and how awesome it is)
Also, I have not read HP so I generally don't know what everyone is talking about, but HP sounds very similar to PJ. It could be the reason that quite a few people hate PJ is because it sounds too similar to HP, so that's understandable. But PJ and HP do have their differences like character growth, the setting, and the plot in general. PJ is about Greek myths in modern times and well, I don't know what HP is about, but I'm sure it's different enough if thousands of people can say they love HP while they still love PJ. That's just my opinion.
Finally, I have to be honest. I have never heard of a PJ hater until this moment. I just thought that everyone would love it or come to love it over time. I have never once, heard a bad review or anything close to that to Riordan's books. They do capture the attention of a lot of ages for a reason. But like I said, everyone does have entitlements to their own opinions so no grudges here.

You're right, Janelle. Just to clarify though, I am perfectly okay with PJO haters/dislikers. It's just my luck that a lot of people at my school preach on. and on. and on. and ON!!! about how much they hate PJO and give literally no reason whatsoever to hate it except that "it's stupid." I have respect for people who can state their opinions without hurling insults. I don't have any respect for someone who blathers continuously about how stupid it is. The point of this post was not to bash any PJO haters' opinions, though.

Lucky you, Janelle. :) It's just my luck that I know so many PJO haters.

ugh, i feel so bad to you. i think people like that should preach to each other and not ruin everyone's day by opening their mouths. like you said, i love people who state their opinion whether they like something or not, but i would hate to be at your school every time someone mentions the name percy jackson.

Jocelyn wrote: "You're right, Janelle. Just to clarify though, I am perfectly okay with PJO haters/dislikers. It's just my luck that a lot of people at my school preach on. and on. and on. and ON!!! about how much..."

oh, now that i reread my comment, it does seem like i'm bashing on the percy dislikers/haters. no, i fully support people who dislike percy if they have a good reason too. i guess my bias side came out when i was talking about PJ.

*cries and bawls*

There are an equal number of PJO fans to balance it out, though, so it helps. And they're actually a lot more respectful of people's opinions than the haters.

btw to anyone else reading this, I am not stereotyping anyone, if you hate Percy Jackson that doesn't mean you're a rude brat with no taste in literature. Please don't take offense.

Janelle wrote: "Jocelyn wrote: "You're right, Janelle. Just to clarify though, I am perfectly okay with PJO haters/dislikers. It's just my luck that a lot of people at my school preach on. and on. and on. and ON!!..."

No, it didn't. It was kind of neutral. I wasn't sure and I didn't want to offend you so I decided to clarify anyway.

oh no, don't worry about offendin me, i take nuthin personally unless it's known that its personal ^.6

Savanha wrote: "WHAT!?!?! PJO haters!!! Oooo they better hope they dont cross me on a dark street..."

Of course there are people who hate Percy Jackson. For every person that likes it there is probably another that hates it, as there is for every book. Its just personal preference. In my opinion, even though I enjoyed Percy Jackson, they were a little juvenile, but at the same time, they showed real reactions and weren't forced.

Savanha wrote: "WHAT!?!?! PJO haters!!! Oooo they better hope they dont cross me on a dark street..."

lol!

What I HATE is that my best friend is one of them.
We try to stay off the topic. Her reason: "I read ten pages of the 3rd one once and hated it" That's all she ever says. Never comes up with any other reasoning.

Kinda annoying.

Lynette wrote: "What I HATE is that my best friend is one of them.
We try to stay off the topic. Her reason: "I read ten pages of the 3rd one once and hated it" That's all she ever says. Never comes up with any ot..."

REALLY??!!!? what is her problem?? she didn't even read the first book and she's judgin the entire series based on 10 pages? like what the- fug. what the fug. someone needs to redesign her brain molecules because somethins messed up in there.

Well, everyone IS subject to their own opinion, and sometimes people make biased judgements because of other things (such as a really bad Greek Mythology teacher)...

BUT, as someone earlier said, the PJO lovers really outweigh the haters, so, we're in the majority!