I just had the pleasure of reading two books which have been on my radar for a while now.
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief-
Not bad, not bad at all. But not Harry Potter. Very generic. Kid finds out he has special powers. Kid goes special place where there are others just like him. Kid is more powerful/special than all the other kids. Kid has to save the world because the adults are too stupid/not allowed to. I enjoyed the book well enough. But naturally some things bothered me. The fact that there are all these bastard children of old Greek gods around doesn't seem like the most wholesome message. Why Greek gods? I supposed because everyone is familiar with them even though they fell out of vogue nearly 2000yrs ago. And I don't particularly like how impertinent Percy is toward his elders or supposedly powerful gods. It's a book to be enjoyed not intellectualized I suppose.
Why do kid heroes always have to be rude and disrespectful toward just about everyone else? It's annoying and only encourages kids to become know-it-all jerks by the time they're 12. I'm of the opinion that there are plenty of those around already. And there never seems to be any ramifications for these attitudes or actions it's always dismissed as being "spunky" or some bull. I have nothing against spunk, but there is a limit, and it's rather boring to have another a-hole 12yr old hero. I guess the thing is, I just didn't like Percy as a person all that much. Now that I think about it, I wasn't particularly fond of any of the characters. Maybe I'm just jaded. Probably, definitely.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies-
Interesting. I liked it, but the novelty of having a Kung-Fu E. Bennet wore off fairly quickly. I ended up soldiering through mainly because I haven't read the original (I will now). The interjected Zombies were great fun, but I really wish that they hadn't done the ninjas or the kung-fu bits. I found it odd and really a little too much having Elizabeth always going off about honor and her Sholin master.
Fun idea. I think it would work better as a B- Movie than as a novel. That would be Hilarious.
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