Rick Riordan - Demigods and Monsters

LILI WILKINSON

NED VIZZINI

CARRIE RYAN

CARA LOCKWOOD

DIANA PETERFREUND

TERRI CLARK

BLYTHE WOOLSTON

BRENT HARTINGER

SARAH DARER LITTMAN

JACKSON PEARCE

ADRIENNE KRESS

BREE DESPAIN

THIS PUBLICATION HAS NOT BEEN PREPARED, APPROVED, OR LICENSED BY ANY ENTITY THAT CREATED OR PRODUCED THE WELL-KNOWN BOOK OR FILM SERIES PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS.

“Monster Recognition for Beginners” Copyright © 2008 by Rosemary Clement-Moore

“Why Do So Many Monsters Go Into Retail?” Copyright © 2008 by Cameron Dokey

“Stealing Fire From the Gods” Copyright © 2008 by Paul Collins

“Would You Want to Be One of Artemis’ Hunters?” Copyright © 2008 by Carolyn MacCullough

“Dionysus: Who Let Him Run a Summer Camp?” Copyright © 2008 by Ellen Steiber

“The Gods Among Us” Copyright © 2008 by Elizabeth M. Rees

“Percy Jackson and the Lords of Death” Copyright © 2013 by J&P Voelkel

“Eeny Meeny Miney Mo(m)” Copyright © 2008 by Jenny Han

“Percy, I Am Your Father” Copyright © 2008 by Sarah Beth Durst

“As Bad as They Wanna Be” Copyright © 2013 by Hilary Wagner

“The Greek Hero—New and Improved!” Copyright © 2013 by Hilari Bell

“Not Even the Gods Are Perfect” Copyright © 2008 by Elizabeth E. Wein

“Frozen Eyeballs” Copyright © 2008 by Kathi Appelt

“The Language of the Heart” Copyright © 2008 by Sophie Masson

“A Glossary of Ancient Greek Myth” Copyright © 2008 by Nigel Rodgers

“Introduction” and Essay Introductions Copyright © 2008, 2013 by Rick Riordan

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

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The original one, not Percy Jackson of The Lightning Thief , etc. The ancient Perseus was the son of Zeus, not Poseidon, so it’s curious that his mother picked that name.

Chiron wouldn’t use this example, of course, because in his world there are no such things as wizards. That would be just silly.

Just the opposite, since according to the agreement between the Big Three, you should not even exist, and lots of creatures would be trying to arrange it so you didn’t.

See previous footnote re: unauthorized offspring.

If we lived in the world of Percy and the Olympians, I would definitely wonder about that coffee chain with the siren on its logo, for no other reason than convincing mortal society that it is reasonable to pay three dollars for a cup of coffee is surely a plot to speed the end of Western Civilization.

Though this would explain a lot about Manhattan cab drivers.

By that I mean the mortal world, the immortal world, and the Underworld. Speaking of Hades, he may have a special reason to hate Percy, but all half-bloods should be wary of him. He’s like that kid at your school who never gets invited to play with everyone else, but with superpowers and several thousand years for his temper to come to a boil. Hades is understandably cranky.

None of which apparently changes the fact that monsters can smell heroes pretty easily.

This isn’t always an oxymoron, any more than “wise hero” is.

Or, more likely, they just don’t care.

Which you wouldn’t, because you can tell the difference between fiction and reality. If you can’t, then you have a bigger problem than mythical monsters.

At least in his dealings with monsters. In other matters, he still seems pretty clueless. Romance, for example (at least until he and Annabeth get together).

This is, perhaps, a product of the hero’s natural attention to so many details at a time, i.e., his ADHD.

Rhea, an ancient earth goddess, was the wife of the Titan Kronos and mother of Zeus, Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia, and Poseidon.

According to the British writer Sir J. G. Frazer, there was also an ancient custom of dressing young boys as girls in order to protect them from the Evil Eye, a kind of curse.

The story of Dionysus and Pentheus is told in a play by Euripides ( c . 480–406 B.C.) called The Bacchae . My summary of it is based on a re-telling by Michael Grant in Myths of the Greeks and Romans .

If you want to see what I mean, take a look at any of the old TV shows from that era.

Though the blues and Elvis’ music predate the sixties, both channeled a kind of freedom—pure, unrestrained soul—that could be said to be aligned with Dionysian energy.

One important exception to this rule is Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who encounters Percy at the Hoover Dam in The Titan’s Curse and sees right through the Mist, much to Percy’s shock. Her ability is not just a one-time aberration due to failure of the Mist itself, either. In The Battle of the Labyrinth , she sees through the Mist at Percy’s new school as a pair of empousai (vampire-like servants of Hecate) attack him. Her vision is even clearer than our half-blood hero’s: whereas Percy is mesmerized by one empousa’s blonde cheerleader charms, it’s Rachel who sees the empousa for the monster she really is and has to pinch Percy’s arm to snap him out of his illusion. Rachel’s remarkable ability to see through Mist even helps her locate an entrance to the Labyrinth as well as to negotiate its perilous twist and turns. And her unique abilities, though she is mortal, allow her to eventually take on the soul of the Delphic Oracle in The Last Olympian and utter the next Great Prophecy.

As I read the books and grew increasingly fond of loyal Grover, I thought how delighted he must be that the logo of New York was one of his favorite snacks. Okay, New York City is not the Big Enchilada—but Grover does favor apples as well. At least it’s not the Big Tin Can.