The Hero Perseus: A Mad Myth
Mystery
Atlas’ Revenge: Another Mad Myth
Mystery
Robyn and Tony DiTocco
Reviewed by Amy Ryder
When his parents divorce, PJ and his mom move to the tiny country town
of Athenia. PJ finds an old art set in his room, and he draws a
roly-poly old man who comes to life as Hermes. He convinces PJ
(actually Percy, or Perseus) to help him behead Medusa and save
civilization from a drought. PJ becomes much too close to people
in his past and present who are actually characters from Greek myth as
he accompanies Hermes on wild adventures based on the mythical Greek
stories.
The fast-paced action and element of mystery in these books would
appeal to the modern adventure fantasy reader. They do teach as
well as entertain, since they are based in mythology. The main
character is a fantastic athlete, and each book also contains great
sports action sequences.
The myths are woven naturally into the story, but at times they were
hard to follow, with many characters and situations thrown at the
reader simultaneously. For the young adult unfamiliar with Greek
myth, this series would be overwhelming at first. The second book
in the series has a smoother flow between the myth and the story.
Some of the characters are cliché, like the tomboy neighbor with
a secret crush on PJ, the “big man on campus” who is jealous of PJ’s
new popularity, and the crazy roommate who eats cold pizza and calls
everyone "dude." Overall, these are satisfying reads that will
appeal to readers who enjoy fast-paced fantasy and action stories.