Customer Reviews

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Ultimate Guide

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Percy Jackson & The Olympians "Ultimate Guide" is a book any fan of the series or any budding demigod should be without. Don't let the size of this book fool you. At 146 pages, it is filled to the brim with information on Camp Half-Blood, Greek mythology and the Percy Jackson book series.

The cover itself is fantastic - hardbound with hologram images and a magnetic clasp. On the surface, it looks almost like a journal or diary. Open the book and you'll find richly illustrated, glossy pages filled with tons of Percy Jackson/Greek Mythology info. The book is broken down into 8 sections as follows:

1 - Percy Jackson - all about Percy, including his family and his childhood
2 - Life at Camp - map of Camp Half Blood, 10 signs that you may be a half-blood, a cool full color photo/drawing of the cabins, introduction to the campers and other camp characters, and various camp info/trivia
3 - Gods & Spirits - Kronos, the Olympian Gods, minor gods and spirits
4 - Percy Jackson's Bestiary - the various beasts and monsters that Percy and his friends meet in the books
5 - The Labyrinth - the different encounters from the Labyrinth (nice reference for book 4)
6 - The Underworld - all about Hades and his domain
7 - The Storehouse of the Gods - the various artifacts and curiosities from the books
8 - Compendium - the mortals we meet in the books, other characters

I should also add that interspersed within this book are lots of color photographs or drawings of people, places, creatures and things. Also within this book are the various prophecies that lead to the quests that Percy and his friends go on in the 5 books. It's hard to pick a favorite part or section.

I bought this book for my son, who is a huge Percy Jackson fan. He has read all 5 books at least twice over and absolutely loves this book. I've actually "borrowed" the book a few times myself. The Bestiary, for example, is very helpful in providing visuals to some of the creatures from the books. I'm re-reading "The Titan's Curse" and just looked up a picture of the manticore in the guide. For those who are not as familiar with Greek mythology, this is a great orientation to the various gods, goddesses, titans, Greek stories/heroes, beasts and creatures that are covered or introduced in the 5 books. I should also add that this isn't an "all inclusive" guide or a who's who in Greek mythology. For that you will need an encyclopedia or a combination of books on the subject. However, if you want a handy, useful guide on the various characters, locations, beasts/monsters and objects from the 5 books, then you will want a copy of this book.

This is an excellent book for any fan of the Percy Jackson series (kids and adults alike). My son and I highly recommend it. It is a definite "must have" for any demigod/half-blood that can be enjoyed even long after you've finished reading the series.

This book is intended as an companion to the "Percy Jackson & the Olympians" series. My 11-year-old son just began reading this series. He has only finished "The Lightning Thief," but plans to read more. I ordered this book for him because it looked "cool" and he LOVES it! He said that the story was sometimes confusing, and this book has helped him understand things better. We were at someone's house the other night. Their oldest daughter, who has read the entire series (also 11) a LOVED this book, as well. She was It has really cool holographs on the cover. All four images change! There are also character cards on the inside front cover and the flap is magnetic. Very cool! I recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of the series, to anyone who plans to read all the books in the series, and to fans of fantasy. This series is really written for kids/youth.

The series is about the Greek gods in today's world. My son tells me that they live on top of the Empire State Building, but humans can't see the added floors. So it is modern day fiction, with a bit of Greek mythology mixed in. The contents of this book include:
Section1: Percy Jackson (Tells about Percy's life event, his parents, his friends, etc.) Describes The Furies and the Three Fates and the Prophecy.
Section2: Life at Camp (map of the half-blood camp, 10 signs you might be a half-blood, info on centaurs, pegasi, satyrs, cyclops and other characters living at the camp.)
Section3: Gods & Spirits ( The story of the kronos, Zeus and his brothers and children of the gods. Info on various gods, including Zeus, Poseidon, Ares, Aphtodite, Apollo, andmore.)
Section4: Percy Jackson's Bestiary (Describes various beasts/monsters such as Carniverous Sheep, Cerberus, Centaurs, Chimera, Cherry-Color Cows, Flesh-eating Horses, Hellhounds, Hippocampi, Hydra, Minotaur, Pit Scorpions, and MANY more).
Section5: The Labyrinth (A map of the labyrinth, including who/what you will encounter there. A history of Alcatraz.)
Section6: The Underworld (A map of the undersorld. A guided tour of the underworld by Hades' son.)
Section7: The Storehouse of the gods (List and explanation of artifacts and curiosities in the storehouse, such as basketball shoes - with wings, a celestial bronze knife, chariots, golden drachmas, javelins, invisibility cap, greek fire, yellow duffel bag, video shield, metal spider, mechanical statues, etc.)
Section8: Copendium (a list of mortals who see through the mist - they can see the gods - and a list/description of additional characters such as, Pan, Prometheus, Hyperion, Atlas, etc.)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians:The Ultimate Guide is great for those of us who enjoyed the books that Rick Riordan wrote.The Ultimate guide is great.It includes much of the info that we already knew and some that we didn 't!There was a little quiz to see what greek god or godess was your parent!I enjoyed every second that I read it!This great book included some cards about the main charaters!I enjoyed it and I hope you do too!

Dear Reader of Percy Jackson,

Although Rick Riordan actually didn't put together this ULTIMATE GUIDE to the PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS series, this handy reference to the New York Times Best-Sellers definitely helps to fill in the mental gaps and the big gap until the next Half-Blood prophecy can be fulfilled. Divided into various sections, I couldn't help but be reminded of THE DEMIGOD FILES, which was actually written by Riordan -- and it reminded me how much I enjoyed the short stories in that volume. Sadly, there are no short stories offered up this time.

Instead, we're treated to pretty much a Who's Who in the Percy Jackson world. From main characters, gods, enemies, and monsters, a reader who wants to check back in can quickly remember basic details about the series. While nothing major is given away, I would throw out the idea to wait to read this book until you've finished the series, as some slight things might be revealed to an astute reader. Also included are some fun maps of the Underworld and Camp Half-Blood, and a list of interesting weapons and items that the demigods use in their battles.

This full-color book looks pretty good overall, and has a pretty well-put together feel. The only thing that I really scratch my head over is some of the illustrations of characters. The style of drawings just doesn't seem to live up to the quality of the writing. And while this might be nit-picking on my part, it still kind of bothered me -- especially the depiction of Nico di Angelo and a couple other characters. I just kept thinking, "That's not quite what the book says about that guy..." Oh well. I can overlook those sorts of things I suppose.

All in all -- this is merely a good teaser and a reminder that THE LIGHTNING THIEF movie will be out in a couple weeks. Disney/Hyperion definitely knows how to plant product at the right moments to spur sales, which any avid fan of the Percy Jackson books will definitely want this little one sitting on the shelf.

Until the next outting to Camp Half-Blood,
--S. Stevenson

I purchased this guide to accompany the first set of Percy Jackson books - My 10yr old son has just loved it! Make sure to add it to your cart!

Karen R
St. Louis, MO

My Dad bought me this book while I was finishing the fourth one (this Monday) I really like the cards and the information they give about the gods. Also I like the pictures in the book. They are pretty much spot on to how I pictured the characters. My favorites are Zeus and Poseidon. I really like the cover with the changing images.
The actual information provides a good reference while I am reading although, there are a lot of quotes from the book itself. Which isn't a bad thing. I am just talking about new content. The illustrations are very good. I recommend this book to any Percy Jackson fan. My friend has this book as well and she enjoys it to.

Since the Percy Jackson adventures have no illustrations, this addition to the collection by Disney really enriched these wonderfully-written books by Riordan. Great job, Disney!

The Ultimate Guide for Percy Jackson is very cute addition to the Percy series. It covers the people and places in the Percy Jackson series and adds a lot of clever pictures, almost like a scrapbook. The cover is very clever with a magnetic closure. I wish they did something similar for books once in a while as it's very entertaining. It's a fun addition if you need a little more Percy Jackson in your life and you've run out of books to read.

Purchased as part of a set for my grandson. He loves the adventures and found this guide fascinating. I'll be happy to purchase other Rick Riordan books for him in the future.

This book is genial. My son and daughters and I like to read some more about demigods and gods. It's funny and interesting. We recomended at all. My daughter like viewing the paintings on the top of the book and she has a new interesting to read in English.