Disney Plus has dropped the official trailer for the much-anticipated Percy Jackson series, titled Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Rick Riordan, the famous writer of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians book series, is actively involved in the series, mirroring his significant contributions to the two previous film adaptations; Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters released in 2010 and 2013 respectively.
Walker Scobell is set to portray the 12-year-old Percy Jackson in the series, who is just coming to terms with his newly discovered supernatural abilities as a demigod when Zeus accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. To discover the lightning bolt and put Olympus back in order, Jackson enlists the help of his friends Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood. The first eight-episode season of the action-adventure series will hit Disney Plus on Dec. 20.
The Percy Jackson series encompasses numerous books, some of which are spin-offs featuring characters other than Percy as the central figures. Here is the recommended reading order, starting with Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, which debuted in 2005.
1. Percy Jackson & the Olympians
The origin of the Percy Jackson series started with five books that were part of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series of books. Written by Rick Riordan, the series consists of:
- The Lightning Thief (2005)
- The Sea of Monsters (2006)
- The Titan’s Curse (2007)
- The Battle of the Labyrinth (2008)
- The Last Olympian (2009)
These five books make up the first series and it was the start of what would later be known as the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles, the franchise of which Percy Jackson is a part. Percy Jackson & the Olympians saw Percy dive into the world of Greek mythology, which he would find was very real. The first book starts a larger tale, spun throughout the five books and stretching beyond, of Percy questing to stop Kronos the titan from resurrecting himself after Zeus killed him years before.
The general idea of the books is that the Greek Gods all exist and partner with humans every once and a while to sire gifted children. These children are then usually special, along with having either Dyslexia or ADHD due to their minds being hardwired for Ancient Greek and a need to seek adventure worthy of a Greek hero. The demigods are all eventually brought to a camp called Camp Half-Blood. The books introduce Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, and the Satyr who is Percy’s friend, Grover. These books are important because the rest of the books in the franchise build upon the foundation of what this series set up.
The series also included fun spinoff stories which mostly told shorter stories with the characters and also featured fun puzzles for the reader to complete. These books included:
- The Demigod Files, which was released in 2009 with the stories taking place between books four and five.
- The Ultimate Guide was released in 2010 and is a guidebook to the series.
- Percy Jackson and the Singer of Apollo was released in 2013 as a short story published in Guys Read.
- Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods was released in 2014 and told the story of several Gods in Greek Mythology as narrated by Percy Jackson.
- Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes was released in 2015 and it was the sequel to Greek Gods, this time with stories of the Greek heroes.
2. The Heroes of Olympus
The Heroes of Olympus served as a direct sequel to Percy Jackson & the Olympians, having chapters alternating between different demigods who appear in the books, including Percy Jackson. The series consisted of:
- The Lost Hero (2010)
- The Son of Neptune (2011)
- The Mark of Athena (2012)
- The House of Hades (2013)
- The Blood of Olympus (2014)
These books introduced the idea that not only were the Greek Gods real but that the Roman Gods were real too. The Roman Gods were the more ruthless counterparts to the Greek Gods, almost rather than being separate entities, they were the same God with different personalities.
The Heroes of Olympus had seven demigods unite to defeat Gaia and her forces, who were set to destroy the world. These demigods consisted of newcomers from Camp Jupiter, the Roman camp, Jason Grace, Frank Zhang, and Hazel Levesque, while the demigods from Camp Half-Blood were Annabeth Chase, Leo Valdez, Piper McLean, and Percy Jackson. At the beginning of the first book, Percy is missing and the group’s main objective is to find him. Jason also has amnesia, which Percy also has when he is eventually found.
The Heroes of Olympus series then had two spinoff books as well, which consisted of:
- The Demigod Diaries, which was released in 2012, is The Heroes of Olympus version of The Demigod Files and is also filled with puzzles and short stories.
- Demigods of Olympus, which was released in 2015, is an interactive e-book.
3. The Kane Chronicles
Riordan wrote The Kane Chronicles at the same time as Heroes of Olympus. These books were less connected to Percy Jackson than Heroes of Olympus but were still in the same universe. Instead of demigods, the two characters, sister and brother, Sadie and Carter Kane were magicians. The books focused on Egyptian mythology rather than Roman or Greek, with Sadie and Carter Kane being descendants of Pharaohs and being chosen as hosts by the Egyptian Gods, Isis, and Horus.
The three-book series covers their discovery of their family’s history of magic after their father is taken by the God Set, who was being manipulated by the God Apophis. The series consisted of the following books:
- The Red Pyramid (2010)
- The Throne of Fire (2011)
- The Serpent’s Shadow (2012)
The Kane Chronicles had two tie-in books which consisted of:
- The Kane Chronicles: Survival Guide, which was released in 2012 and written by Mary-Jane Knight, is a guide to the world of Egyptian mythology, and The Kane Chronicles
- Brooklyn House Magician’s Manual was written by Rick Riordan, released in 2018, and serves as the guidebook to the series.
4. Demigods and Magicians
Demigods and Magicians was a crossover series that saw Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Sadie Kane, and Carter Kane come together. The three entries of the series were short stories eventually collected in a book entitled, Demigods and Magicians in 2016. The series consisted of:
- The Son of Sobek was originally included with the release of The Serpent’s Shadow in 2013.
- The Staff of Serapis was originally included with the release of The Mark of Athena in 2014.
- The Crown of Ptolemy was originally included with the release of The House of Hades in 2015.
Jackson, Chase, Carter, and Sadie engage in three distinct adventures as they battle dangerous creatures throughout the three crossover stories. Carter and Percy team together in The Song of Sobek to combat a massive crocodile that is threatening Long Island. The following story, The Staff of Serapis, features Annabeth and Sadie battling a strange two-headed creature with fire from a New York subway to an abandoned building.
The foursome finally comes together in the third and concluding tale, The Crown of Ptolemy, to battle the evil Egyptian magician named Setne and imprison him inside a snow globe.
5. Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard
Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard was Riordan’s take on Norse mythology with the heroes of the story having Norse Gods as parents. The book’s protagonist was Magnus Chase, son of Frey and cousin to Annabeth Chase from the other series in the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles. The main story sees Magnus Chase attempting to stop the Norse God of mischief, Loki, from starting Ragnarok. The series consisted of:
- The Sword of Summer (2015)
- The Hammer of Thor (2016)
- The Ship of the Dead (2017)
Two companion tie-ins for Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard were released and these consisted of:
- Hotel Valhalla: Guide to the Norse Worlds, which was released in 2016, served as a guidebook to Norse mythology.
- 9 From the Nine Worlds, which was released in 2018, was a compilation of short stories, one from each of the Norse Realms.
6. The Trials of Apollo
The Trials of Apollo serves as the follow-up to the Heroes of Olympus series. Written by Riordan alongside Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, the main character is Apollo, who is turned into a mortal by Zeus because of Apollo’s actions in Heroes of Olympus. Therefore Apollo, now a teenager named Lester Papadopoulos, must track down the lost Oracles to regain his godhood. The book features most of the characters from Heroes of Olympus but is much more Apollo’s story like how Percy Jackson & the Olympians were for Percy Jackson. The Trials of Apollo consisted of:
- The Hidden Oracle (2016)
- The Dark Prophecy (2017)
- The Burning Maze (2018)
- The Tyrant’s Tomb (2019)
- The Tower of Nero (2020)
The series also had two tie-in companion books which consisted of:
- From Percy Jackson: Camp Half-Blood Confidential, which was released in 2017, served as the guidebook for the series set on the Greek side.
- Camp Jupiter Classified, which was released in 2020, served as the guidebook for the series set on the Roman side.
That was every book so far in the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles and the order in which to read them.
Riordan might be back with another series focusing on Nico di Angelo and Will Solace, after the events of The Tower of Nero, but nothing is set in stone yet. The Kane Chronicles are set to be adapted into a Netflix trilogy of films, while Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is gearing up to hit Disney Plus this Christmas season.
For those who are already enthusiasts of the Percy Jackson universe, this was the perfect reading order, and for those who are yet to embark on this adventure, now is a perfect time to jump in!
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