General Comment
This is a swords and sorcery series with a twist which I will get to shortly. While ostensibly young adult fiction like what one may find from the likes of Rick Riordan and J.K. Rowling, the series begins with young people who are dealing with bad parents, puberty, sexuality, insecurities and the tortures of school and their peers plus magic, monsters and mythological figures come to life. Personally I think the series is OK for ages 14+ but you may want to read all these reviews before you decide for whom some parts may be too adult. I will say out of the gate that the author was new to the genre and to fiction writing generally when the series began and there is evidence of this. She regularly breaks the first rule of good speculative fiction which is this: To obtain willing suspension of disbelief the author must take pains to provide realism and verisimilitude wherever possible, and that the fantastic magic or technology is set against this backdrop. However, whatever the author lacks in technical story telling skill she makes up for in her knowledge of Greek and Norse mythology and appreciation for the best of Western culture in all times, especially music both sacred and profane. But what is best about the series is its luminous treatment of true love, sex and beauty as gifts from God. And that brings me to the truth in advertising portion. This is a Christian story told by a person who became a more ardent Christian during the time she wrote it, and this shows, especially in the final book. If this is your thing you will love it. If it is not I suggest you keep an open mind because there is much here worth enjoying and thinking about. If that is not possible for you for whatever reason then this series is not for you. If you are involved with a church youth group it might be worth considering developing a lesson plan around these and reading them together.
Book One: Son of Thunder
Nerdy, asthmatic, homely and insecure Peter Perkins has trouble with bullies at the New England prep school he attends. A particularly bad episode ends when the school idol Val, a fabulously beautiful blonde a grade above Peter, defends him from his chief tormentor, Otto, the football hero. Immediately afterwards, he finds himself fighting giant monsters in the school parking lot, having transformed into some kind of armor clad super hero with the same girl, now in battle armor herself. She doesn’t recognize him. Between them they vanquish the foes and Peter runs away before transforming back again. Val turns out to be a Valkyrie in disguise who was posted by her father Odin to the school to find and help someone whose identity she was to discover. Val is now smitten with her fighting hero friend but forced to protect Peter. Peter is afraid to tell Val his secret and this sets up an identity confusion which plagues the two through many adventures. Peter meets and fights alongside other gods from various world mythologies and has a quasi-sexual awakening with some nymphs and dryads but is ignored by Val, who despises the annoying child who is now gaga for her. He hopes he can tell Val the truth about himself and she won’t just be disgusted. By the end of the book Peter has already grown a great deal in what is chronologically a short time and is using his new powers plus his natural mind and all the books he has read to help his companions defeat baddies. His other god friends see him for who he truly is and they try to explain that this is not the guy Peter sees in the mirror but is kind of a fusion of that guy and the one who looks like he stepped out of a Marvel comic in full regalia. Val is blind and there are more monsters waiting in the wings.
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