The "The End"

Thank you to everyone who has read my blog and a big thanks to those who have commented (especially Gay). While I've enjoyed writing for this blog and I've learned a lot in the process, I've decided I would like to start focussing on other writing excercises. This will be my last post.

Enjoy your reading!
Nate

“The Last Olympian”, written by Rick Riordan as the conclusion to the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series is an excellent capstone for the story.

Some of my previous frustrations remain and some new ones have risen. The attitudes and lack of maturity of the gods still bothered me in this book, but they were consistent with the rest of the series. Several places throughout the book it becomes clear that certain groups were not going to be willing to work together and this was very frustrating, but it did serve the needs of the book.

I didn’t really like the way Percy’s character grew in this final book, as I prefer heroes who learn humility and the advantage/necessity of working with and depending on others. There were some elements of this as Percy progressed to become the hero, but he didn’t have to grow in this way as much as I would prefer. Also along these line, the “advantage” he takes upon himself to help in battles, while intriguing, is less interesting than if he could have facilitated the ending without the “advantage”.

Still, “The Last Olympian” is definitely worth reading. This final book had a consistent theme of sacrifice and collaboration which made it enjoyable to read. I felt that all of the characters grew and that the ending was believable. I thought the “blessing” that Clarisse received from her father was pretty cool. I liked how the story played out, and I felt the author’s choices of characters and themes in the ending were excellent.

“This Last Olympian” by Rick Riordan is definitely worth reading, and the resolution of the plot is enjoyable enough to make this entire easy-read series one that I’d say is worth the time spent.

“The Battle of the Labyrinth”, book four in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, is another enjoyable adventure rich in Greek mythology, with exciting new characters, places, plot twists and abilities being discovered by Percy and his friends.

I’m getting way too far behind in my “book reports”, I’m so going to limit my focus on this book to one thing in order to save time. The introduction of the tame and loveable hellhound, Mrs. O’Leary stood out to me. I dislike it when fantasy stories create “evil” species or races, and so the addition of a “good” version of a typically evil and frightening hell hound brought depth to the Olympian world that had been lacking. This is a good example of how this book grew and matured the series in preparation for the final addition, “The Last Olympian”.

I enjoyed Rick Riordan’s third book in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, “The Titan’s Curse”, but it was riddled with some dissatisfying elements. A favorite character is mostly absent in this book. A death of a major character is assumed and is integral to the plot of the series, but the death is not actually confirmed until the next book (and even then the revelation lacks the drama and power that the suspense has built). Annabeth’s stories of her family seem to be shown to be untrue, but no clear reason for the fabrications is ever presented. Also, it becomes clear that there are two storyline threads in this book; One with pieces that will need to be addressed before the end of the book and one with pieces that aren’t intended to be addressed until a “different” book (an unfortunate but common occurrence in stories that are intended to span several volumes). Elements such as these detract from what makes the novel good, but the novel maintains interest and is enjoyable despite these frustrating additions.

All negative opinions aside, “The Titan’s Curse” was a pleasant, easy read that moved the series forward nicely. Riordan does a good job of introducing new elements of mythology and intertwining them with the existing story, and the result is another exciting adventure enriched with elements from Greek mythology.

“The Sea of Monsters”, book two in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series by Rick Riordan, significantly improves upon the original. With this book Riordan begins to draw on the rich mythological histories behind his characters and the depth that these histories bring to the story makes it much more interesting and enjoyable. The introduction of Tyson begins the process of changing Percy from an annoying, self-centered narrator to a likeable hero, and Tyson ends up being not only a key part of this book, but also a key-factor in the value and enjoyment of the series (I would argue that the character of Tyson is the most important in the series, because of the effect he has on Percy). Riordan makes use of existing mysteries and places (such as the Bermuda Triangle) in this book, thereby successfully inserting the reader into the story. The ending of “The Sea of Monsters” is surprising and unexpected, and Riordan does an excellent job of misdirection while revealing his ending, keeping it exciting and changing right up to the end. This book should win an award for “Most Improved Sequel”.

“The Sea of Monsters” still falls a bit short of being great, mainly because the gods and monsters throughout the book do not act as though they’ve been around for thousands of years, but it is definitely a book worth reading. Anyone who made it through the first book should at least reward their effort by reading the second.

“The Lightning Thief”, the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan is not an outstanding book, but it is the first book in an otherwise good series.

I didn’t enjoy the way this book was written. First person and rude (very reminiscent of “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Slinger) is a writing style that I don’t really enjoy, especially since frequently some things I like are referred to as being a great torture.

The story itself is flat. Some of the places visited are real, some are not; some are from mythology, and some places are just made up, but all of the places seem to lack history. The highlights came from mythological elements being presented, like when Percy learns that being the son of Poseidon means he can communicate with equine-ish animals, but these elements are not used frequently enough. In fact the greatest strength this book has is that it is a good idea, that the gods (and other things) from Greek Mythology are real and some of us are their children, but the idea just isn’t exploited enough in this book.

Probably my least favorite part of this book is that in the end a murder is committed and is written as though it should be funny. It is a tasteless ending that further diminishes the value of the story.

Sadly, I probably prefer the movie to the book (they are significantly different) and I’m not that fond of the movie. Still, it is worth reading “The Lightning Thief” so that you can read the rest of the series.

War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy

“War and Peace”, the four volume epic by Leo Tolstoy, is told as a story that is enhanced (for the most part) with historical commentary; the time period being in the early 1800’s in Russia during the wars fought alongside and against Napoleon. This book has a great deal of positive and negative characteristics, and most valuably serves as an introduction to the history, pride and culture of the Russian people.

I’ll begin with some comments on the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, published by Alfred A. Knope, as it is excellent. Everything Russian has been translated to English, and everything not appears in its original language with the translation in the footnotes. This made the transition between the languages relatively painless (although the translators had much more confidence in my ability to remember previously translated phrases than was warranted). Historical endnotes are scattered throughout to improve the understanding of certain colloquialisms and references. Having begun and failed to finish other translations of Tolstoy’s masterpiece, I highly recommend that anyone wanting to read this book seek out this version in particular (even if you are fluent in French and German). Pevear and Volokhonsky should be congratulated for putting a difficult novel in a very accessible form.

Tolstoy’s format of mixing historical commentary, personal beliefs and fiction for presenting his story is fantastic when it works and painful when it doesn’t. In the first two volumes, the historical commentary serves as a nice enhancement that only rarely detracts from moving the story forward. In the third volume, the historical commentary almost brings the story to a halt, and it is laborious to get through the slow pace of the commentary on the different perspectives and politics of different battles in the French-Russian war of 1812. The fourth volume improves upon moving the story forward, until you reach the epilogue.

The epilogue has several chapters of story that tie up the novel nicely. Unfortunately, this story is surrounded by hundreds of pages (small type) of Leo Tolstoy’s essay on determinism. Similar to Ayn Rands endless essay on objectivism in part 3 of “Altas Shrugged”, this essay feels awkwardly placed in the epilogue and makes finishing the book tedious, because even once the story has been completed there are 50 pages of essay to get through. This essay serves for nothing other than to show that Tolstoy is very strong proponent of determinism. While this essay is well written, it detracts from an otherwise enjoyable novel.

The story itself is enjoyable, with a vast number of characters that represent very different personalities and very accessible main characters that grow and make mistakes and become mature adults as we read. In fact this is initially the hardest thing about reading the book: getting used to all the Russian sounding names ( I’m still not positive I have all the Maryas straight). I do, however, take some exception to how some characters seem to be abandoned by Tolstoy. For Example, Sonya, the loveable and loyal orphaned niece of the Rostovs, is a character that endears herself early in the book, but by the end her story goes nowhere and the story ends without any sort of resolution to her affairs. It’s as though Tolstoy just couldn’t find a way to give her a good ending, so he just gave up on her and moved her to the background. The greatest achievement of this work, however, is it’s endearment of the Russian culture.

I loved how this novel pulled me into Russian culture and revealed a side of the people to which I’ve never been exposed. Like Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner” which presents a rich and lovely view of Afghanistan before the Taliban, “War and Peace” presents a pleasant and homey view of Russian life in the early 19th century that makes it seem as though Russia would be a nice place to live, and like Charles Dickens’ in “David Copperfield”, Tolstoy’s writing style makes you feel like you are pleasantly moving along with the lives of the characters, with no huge climaxes or lulls, but just a consistent narrative of the interesting parts of their daily lives.
Perhaps the greatest value of this book was exposed when I was watching the Olympics in February. Being a child who grew up at the end of the “Cold War” between the USSR and the United States, I have almost always looked on the Russian people with a tinge of fear and a feeling of pride (the bad, you-lost-we-won, gloating kind of pride). After reading this book I was watching the opening ceremonies for the Vancouver Olympics, and when the Russian athletes appeared I saw a people I loved and felt a connection with; a people with whom I would like to spend time and become friends. There is probably no greater value in a work of literature than to bridge a gap between “opposing” cultures in this way.