My Thoughts on Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus

After some urging from my friend, I decided to try (finally) reading the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. I ended up finishing the books in both of the series mentioned in the title within a month and a half, and now I have a lot to say!

First off, overall, I thought all of the books were great. They had snark, humor, and action that left me craving more after every book. The character development is awesome, and you can see the difference in Percy from The Lightning Thief to The Blood of Olympus. I've decided to split up the rest of my thoughts based on both series, just to keep ideas organized.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians:

• So the first book felt a little "meh" to me. I still wanted to read the rest of the books, and it certainly wasn't bad, but I didn't understand why everyone loved the series so much.
• After reading the second book, the fandom started to make sense to me. It drew me in better, and kept me interested. I also remember feeling slightly annoyed at Grover for creating an empathy link with Percy. It seems cruel. If Grover went down, Percy would go down, too, and this doesn't seem like a situation a friend would put another in.
• The last book was probably my favorite. I really loved the fighting, which surprised me. Even in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, the fighting bored me. This time, I was wide awake, and rooting for the heroes! I will comment that I don't think Kronos used his powers enough, though. It's hard to believe that even someone manipulating time couldn't win a battle against Percy. I guess it just goes to show that being ultra powerful does not guarantee success.
• As a whole series, it earns 4.5 stars!

Heroes of Olympus:

• I was warned by many that The Lost Hero would be boring because Percy wouldn't be there, and I braced myself, but I found the book to be fine. In fact, I enjoyed it! Leo made every conversation hilarious, and it was nice to learn about new heroes. Although I really didn't like Jason (and still don't, #sorrynotsorry). He's pretty boring. Okay, so he lost his memory, but he never seemed to stand out to me. Everyone said he was a leader, he said he was under so much pressure, and he wanted to abandon Camp Jupiter for Camp Half-Blood. He never seemed to have any interesting thoughts, to be honest.
• Son of Neptune: Ugh, why did Percy lose his memory. I was mad at this, because I feel like it's not a proper way to add suspense. At least with Jason, I wondered where he was from. With Percy, I already knew his whole past, and was more annoyed than excited to see what he'd remember.
• Mark of Athena: Finally, everything is normal again. At least the two camps can meet up, even if "Leo" ruins that. I didn't really get Annabeth's quest, though. Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention, but I don't recall any change in Athena mentioned when the statue was brought out. Oh, and the ending: I was stunned.
• The House of Hades: I was afraid I'd only want to read Percy and Annabeth's chapters, but luckily, the rest of the POVs were interesting enough to keep me reading. This story captivated me at least as much as Mark of Athena did.
• Finally, with the Blood of Olympus, I was not disappointed. There was a solid lead up to a great, though short, battle, and a satisfying conclusion!
• I do have to wonder though: what did the heroes do in all of the books? Sure, they brought back a statue, battled some monsters, etc., but after each book, Gaea seemed closer to waking up, not farther. Maybe it's because heroes can't do that much damage to a sleeping Titan, but I feel like most of their work didn't make a huge difference in the end (besides closing the Doors of Death).
• Also I'm surprised that Piper's charmspeak was pretty much her weapon. I'd expect more monsters to be able to do it or resist it, but many seemed to fall under Piper's spell. Might convenient for Piper :).
• Overall, I may have liked this series better than the first, though both are close!

I tried reading The Hidden Oracle, but was honestly bored. The voice seemed too MG compared to the Heroes of Olympus, which I could qualify as lower YA. Plus, I'd grown too attached to the 8 demigods (and Nico and Reyna) from the last series to care about anyone else :P.

Anyways, what are your thoughts on the Percy Jackson books? Who's your favorite character (mine's Percy!)? Is reading Trials of Apollo worth it? Tell me below!