Opinion: Why I Will Not be Reviewing Percy Jackson

Series Plot: The series starts with Percy, a 12-year-old boy, learning that his father is Poseidon and that Greek gods are alive and real. He gets shipped off to Camp Half-Blood with other half-human-half-god kids and his adventurers start from there.

Age Range: 11+

Opinion:

I read the entire Percy Jackson series in middle school and loved it. My peers and I were obsessed and would talk about all the Greek Gods, imagining if Camp Half-Blood was real and what houses we would want to be in. It seems innocent enough but it isn’t.

The problem with this series is that the entire premise is built on shirk.

Percy and most other characters are children of Greek gods. These deities have omnipotent powers but are flawed as humans and are worshiped by Percy and other characters. Topics such as adultery are prevalent, although not discussed in detail. The camp director is Dionysus, the Greek deity of wine, and thus the kids are around and even drink alcohol freely. In the season finale there is an openly gay main character (who later gets his own spin off series). But at the end of the day we need to draw a heavy line on shirk. Not only is it shirk but it makes light on what “God” means. Percy and his friends help some, fight some and have even defeated so-called gods.

It is very easy to love the series and get caught up in the fandom. For example, when discussing Harry Potter someone might ask “What house are you?” It is all fun and games and we know there’s no such thing as Hogwarts or Gryffindor but it is different when it comes to Camp Half-Blood and the cabins. Kids try to see what cabins they would “be in” for fun but to indulge in the fandom is a way of normalizing shirk and multiple gods. Even though we are aware that it is mythology, this isn’t something to be made light of .

Additionally, the author for this series, Rick Riordan, made another spin off series regarding Norse mythology called Magnus Chase with a Muslim character, Samirah Al-Abbas who is half-human and half-god as her father is the Norse god, Loki. Hopefully, I don’t need to explain why this is mind-boggling. Sometimes no representation is better.

In conclusion, I am vehemently against your child reading the Percy Jackson series and highly suggest you explain to your child why. As much as we like to deny it, we are influenced by the media we consume. We see the influence of media in how we act, what we buy and what we believe in. After Queen’s Gambit aired (a show about chess) chess board sales went up 603% because people were now interested in chess. I’m not saying that your child reading the Percy Jackson series will turn them into a heretic but I am saying that after reading 30+ books in the Percy Jackson series the idea of who or what “God” is and can be might be skewed for them. Bear in mind that Rick Riordan has written multiple series regarding multiple mythological gods including Egyptian, Norse, Greek and Roman and spin-offs so keep an eye out for all of them.