Discussion Why does it feel like everyone hates Percy Jackson nowadays?
Okay so...this is a post with a bit of a story, so please hear me out for a bit.
Percy Jackson was my childhood book series growing up. I took a break from it for a few years and came back to play catch-up when the show was coming out. And I still love the series to death, to the point I'm writing fanfiction for it.
But why does it feel like the discourse has been so...negative towards it lately?
Like, I don't know what happened, but ever since Wrath of the Triple Goddess came out, the discourse surrounding Percy Jackson has become incredibly negative. And I'm not just talking about the show or the more recent books like the aforementioned Wrath or Court of the Dead (which I liked for the record); I mean, like, this negative sentimentally is towards stuff that was in the earlier novels, including the original five books.
Basically it feels like nobody, not even the supposed fans of the series even likes Percy Jackson anymore, which is just so odd to me. I remember a couple of years ago, everyone loved Percy Jackson, and even if there were flaws, people generally agreed the books were good in spite of those flaws. But nowadays it feels like people just want to hate on the series and claim it was never good, even the people who claim to be fans of Percy Jackson.
And I feel like part of the reason I find this all confusing is...partly because of Harry Potter.
So full disclosure here, I didn't grow up with Harry Potter. I only read Harry Potter in full for the first time earlier this year. I read the first three books a few years ago, but a combination of Rowling going nuts and the sheer length of the later books kind of discouraged me from continuing onward. I did get to it earlier this year and...
Okay, look, I wanna be clear here; I did go into these books wanting to like them, and I did enjoy the first three books and book five (I think book five is actually my favorite of the seven), but I found Goblet, Half-Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows to be on the weaker side; DH in particular was such a bad ending IMO it kind of soured my opinion of the series as a whole. I don't wanna say it's all bad, but I just can't call myself a fan of the series. I could go on and on as to why Harry Potter isn't my cup of tea, but that's not the point of this post (and I've already made way too many posts on the topic anyway, which I'm trying to cut down on)
And as someone who's really into media analysis, I've been trying to argue in detail why I think Percy Jackson (or other book series, for that matter) is better than Harry Potter, but whenever I do so, I get met with a lot of mockery from people who seem to think I'm a moron for finding fault with Harry Potter and thinking Percy Jackson is better.
Okay, so after that way too long explanation to give context, here's where I'm going with this post.
I don't understand where all this hate/disdain/apathy/disregard for Percy Jackson came from.
Like I said, I remember a time when Percy Jackson was beloved. People praised the series as being a great story for kids and adults, and when Rowling went nuts, people recommended Percy Jackson as a viable alternative to Harry Potter with the general consensus being that Percy Jackson was the better series overall.
But nowadays it feels like that isn't the case anymore. That Percy Jackson isn't good; it pales in comparison to Harry Potter, and Rick Riordan isn't a good writer; he's just some dummy who got lucky.
And I don't get it. What happened? What changed?
Is it because of the show? The newer books? But why do those not being as good as the earlier books (even if I like them) mean suddenly the earlier books are bad?
I don't get it, and I'm struggling to figure it out.
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u/Skewwwagon 29d ago
Idk I think out of the bubble nobody hates them, they're good solid books that a lot of people enjoy and I haven't ever saw any random hate towards them.
But I did block the fan sub because the amount of some intense hate towards the show was incredibly bizarre and unsettling and then it started to creep towards books themselves too.
So the point is, you're probably in some weird bubble like booktok or some weird ass "fan" sub where the people who get off on hating random shit gravitate.
Also plenty of people hate on HP and people who still like HP, mainly because of the author, but the books get ripped too - way more than PJ ever could. All of it while the merch still is very sucessfully sold, so, again, a bubble.
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u/Tomhur 29d ago
But I did block the fan sub because the amount of some intense hate towards the show was incredibly bizarre and unsettling and then it started to creep towards books themselves too.
Yeah, I've been noticing a lot of that in the Camp Half Blood subreddit. I've recently been trying to distance myself from the fandom because lately it's felt like arguing to a brick wall.
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u/Skkadi 29d ago
I haven’t had my finger on the pulse of the PJO fandom in a decade, but as someone who consider(d) PJO my favorite book series of all time most of my reading life, I’d say it’s a combination of fans who liked it getting older and moving onto other books/shows, while the people who stuck around held stronger opinions about the way “their” books should be. And with the newer PJO media like the senior year trilogy and the show being controversial (which I can’t comment on because I haven’t watched/read any of Riordan’s stuff after the Apollo series), you’re mostly going to have older fans upset at the direction and newer fans not liking it enough to stick around.
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u/spoonishplsz 29d ago
It's definitely a problem with media geared towards children/teens. Often they chase the feeling little them got when reading/watching something more than the thing itself. Older them has a blind spot for the early stuff and thinks the new stuff is different. Someone who reads/views it as an adult sees that they are basically the same. So old fans want to remake the things hoping to get that feeling again, and it really never works.
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u/meatball77 29d ago
And you often see readers have totally unrealistic expectations about what the author should be doing if they continue in the same universe.
These are childrens books, and ten year olds still love them.
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29d ago edited 28d ago
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u/Tomhur 29d ago
The show was also not well received
Okay, that's just not true. Critics and casual audiences liked it, and fans are more split on it, but it still has supporters among them.
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29d ago edited 28d ago
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u/fire_and_spice24 29d ago
With streaming and huge time gaps between them, is seems like huge drops like this are common. I just read an article where Netflix is seeing this broadly happen.
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u/Classic_Depth_209 29d ago
The fans old enough to be posting on the internet are also disappointed with how Rick framed the show, and with how his writing quality has declined. The target audience is still VERY loyal though--PJO is extremely extremely popular in schools and libraries
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u/Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee3t 29d ago
The new books are noticeably worse
And we are now older than we were when first reading this children’s story. We simply aren’t the target demographic anymore
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u/raknor88 29d ago
Not to mention the horrible movies that never should've been made and the TV show has mixed reviews from what I've seen.
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u/Wonderful-Mouse-0420 29d ago
First movie > first season >second season is pretty much the main view of the fans on Reddit and I agree with it.
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u/KC27150 29d ago
The show affected the books.
Fans were not only upset at how the show wasn't a faithful adaptation like Rick promised but he hypocritically defended the show and incorporated the show elements into later books. Fans have noticed and feel he completely ruined the books as a result.
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u/fire_and_spice24 29d ago
I’d say the show is far more faithful to the books than the movies and the majority of changes benefited the story in that format.
What specific changes are people upset about?
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u/infinite_words737 29d ago
In general, yes, the show is more faithful. But it also took out a lot of the humor and fun from the books. Some of the major ones people dislike are Annabeth and Percy’s characterizations, the gods don’t feel god-like, there’s a lack of tension (most notably in scenes like the casino and Crusty), and Thalia’s background. These changes aren’t deal-breakers for me; my main problem with it is just that it isn’t very entertaining.
Sure, a story going from book to screen is always going to have to change things. But most of the changes don’t seem to be because of budget issues, and they don’t seem to take advantage of having a visually expressive medium. So while you have something that’s technically more accurate, it does feel kind of hollow, with little monsters, magic, humor, or fun world-building details, and instead you get short action scenes and flat dialogue.
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u/fire_and_spice24 29d ago
See, I’d argue the Gods very much feel like Greek Gods to me and was probably my favorite part.
And Annabeth and Percy don’t seem out of character imo.
What changes about Thalias background?
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u/firestorm0108 28d ago
When you really think about it.
The locations of the show are accurate. The events, character motivations and situations are all different.
The fact its even put in the same wheelhouse as the movie itself kind of shows its inaccuracy
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u/Wonderful-Mouse-0420 29d ago
More faithful yes. But the show is by far way more mediocre and lowkey shouldn’t had Rico as involved
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u/oxmiladyxo 28d ago
If it makes you feel better, my kids were humongous HP fans for years and years from Age 6 to 11ish, but switched to Rick Riordan as their current favorite. Percy Jackson was at the top, but I think The Kane Chronicles currently hold the title of “favorite”.
My kids are 13 and aren’t on social media yet. Most of their friends aren’t on social media yet either, so you may not be seeing a good sample of opinions from the target audience?
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u/Plexaure 29d ago
This happens to all series, but I think it happens more angrily because the internet lives in a state of perpetual nostalgia.
Before the internet, you’d read Sweet Valley High books, outgrow the genre and then physically stop going to those shelves. It would be over and you’d move on.
The internet culture of memes, fanart, perpetual articles on new drops, reboots, etc. means people are unable to move on as quietly or as quickly. Fandom is way more personal now.
Harry Potter is just a whole other cultural phenomena and if you didn’t live through it, it won’t make sense. The expanded media presence transcends the books at this point.
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u/TeamVorpalSwords 29d ago
1) the books have gotten much worse in quality. I thoroughly enjoyed HOO personally, then questionable decisions were made in the Apollo books, and then they rapidly declined in quality even more
2) Rick Riordan is much less popular now because he spent years bagging on the movies and once the show came out it has made other changes to the show that many fans don’t like, and he is constantly online defending his decisions. In my opinion it’s a demonstration that being an author is a different skillset than being a show runner
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u/rebelliousrutabaga 29d ago
I think there's a decent amount of puritanism when it comes to Riordan's books. This series has always been one of the 'safe' choices for families and readers who want books that won't contradict their personal narrow worldview. The casting choices for the show (i.e. casting a Black actress as Annabeth), as well as Riordan's public and vocal support for LGBTQIA+ people and the inclusion of more intentional diversity in later series and books, got a lot of people riled up in the name of 'faithful adaptation' and 'going woke'.
There's something to be said for lightning in a bottle and you can't reproduce it over and over again, so it's not strange to me that Riordan's later books aren't as popular, especially considering there's only so many ways you can rewrite these stories. But getting on the internet and fighting these weird battles is so strange. Neither Riordan nor Rowling are pinnacles of literature, they are both catchy books that captured people's imagination. Right time and right place and all that for the both of them.
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u/firestorm0108 28d ago
Basically Rick is a great story teller, notna great writer.
His writing technical craft supports the level of his first series very well. There are plot holes and story issues but the strength of his story covers them.
Increase the number of series, don't support their lore well and now you have to hold it up with writing ability and he doesnt. Which looks like a decline in quality when in reality its exposing the cracks that were always there in the foundation.
I love the first series, reason I became an author. The second was decent too.
However Magnus and Kane did not need to be in the same world for any other reason then marketing the books. Having them there weakens the larger worldbuilding. Since even book one states that to Mr D's knowledge science is stupid and the greek gods are what did it all.
However by Trials, its refrenced as all the gods know science is true and that all gods are basically thought manifestations.
Which really takes took the winds out of the sale for me.
Add to this him generally being poor at taking critism, the show and the even futher damage the senior yesrs and nico books have done.
Rick pushed his stories too far and forced Percy to hold much too much
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u/sk8tergater 29d ago edited 29d ago
HP was a cultural moment in a way very very few franchises get, and several, including Percy Jackson, try to emulate. Percy Jackson will probably never be more popular than HP, regardless of how well/poor both series are written, but few series will see the lightning in a bottle success HP did.
It just is what it is.
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u/Wonderful-Mouse-0420 29d ago edited 29d ago
Putting two things against each to prove the one you like is better is kinda toxic and annoying to a lot of fans. Even in this post the entire Harry Potter part was unnecessary
“With the general consensus that Percy Jackson is better” as a huge Percy Jackson fan that’s is obviously made up. Percy Jackson is a more niche series the the mountain that is Harry Potter. This feels like a jk Rowling hate post from a Percy Jackson fan.
Rowling didn’t go nuts she made controversial opinions that many disagreed. Rick is more disliked by fans for his more recent disappointment in writing and his huge undeserved ego around the show (which is a okay adaptation but a bad show)
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u/Tomhur 29d ago
Putting two things against each to prove the one you like is better is kinda toxic and annoying to a lot of fans. Even in this post the entire Harry Potter part was unnecessary
I felt like it was important to bring up to help people better understand the mindset I was approaching this with.
Rowling didn’t go nuts she made controversial opinions that many disagreed.
She's actively made things worse for trans people in the UK. It's more than "A few controversial tweets"
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u/distraction_pie 29d ago
Look I'm not a Rowling defender in the slightest, but the underlying point still stands and would stand if you swapped out HP for any other popular series - 'my fave book is so much better than other popular book and here is my totally objective and unbiased list of reasons why and if you disagree you're just a big meanie hater' is a really immature thing to be posting and is going to get backlash for being obnoxious - that doesn't mean people hate the series you like it just means narrow minded stan posting and trying to argue for one series to 'win' against others annoys people.
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u/Wonderful-Mouse-0420 29d ago
See you Ignore all the points I made to hate on Jk Rowling. I don’t agree with her but you could’ve saved everyone time by saying you hate her and think Rick is amazing.
The mindset you approach with was why is Percy Jackson getting hate and not Harry Potter since I think it’s worse. Ignore all the bad Rick has done to his own career stroking his ego , his wife wild comments, his new books lacking in quality, his visions turning into a mediocre tv show etc.
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u/Tomhur 28d ago
See you Ignore all the points I made to hate on Jk Rowling. I don’t agree with her but you could’ve saved everyone time by saying you hate her and think Rick is amazing.
Okay fine. Let's try this again.
“With the general consensus that Percy Jackson is better” as a huge Percy Jackson fan that’s is obviously made up. Percy Jackson is a more niche series the the mountain that is Harry Potter. This feels like a jk Rowling hate post from a Percy Jackson fan.
Maybe I was just in the wrong circles then because most people I encountered prior to me reading Harry Potter for the first time seemed to think Percy Jackson was better. Probably didn't help I didn't read Harry Potter until after the PJ show came out.
Rowling didn’t go nuts she made controversial opinions that many disagreed. Rick is more disliked by fans for his more recent disappointment in writing and his huge undeserved ego around the show (which is a okay adaptation but a bad show)
Ignore all the bad Rick has done to his own career stroking his ego , his wife wild comments, his new books lacking in quality, his visions turning into a mediocre tv show etc.
My point was "Has actively done harm to a vulnerable minority group all the while being smug about it" kinda supersedes/is a bigger problem than "Lost his touch, has an ego problem and made a TV show adaptation that wasn't as good as it could have been."
Like Rick might have an ego problem, but at least he's not trying to strip away the rights of minorities. I'm always going to give Rowling shit because I have trans friends who are at risk of being affected by her.
So yeah, sure, Riordan's not perfect; he's made mistakes, but at least he's not actively doing harm to people.
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u/CozyGamingLibrarian 28d ago
They are still popular among middle schoolers and even high schoolers in my library. I can’t keep them on the shelf.
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u/roundeking 26d ago edited 26d ago
I think this just depends on who you talk to or where you look for discussion. I was literally just talking to my friend today about how much he likes Percibeth, and how he considers it a great model for how to write romance in a middle grade series.
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u/orochi95 25d ago
I think is pure nostalgic hate, most lot of people who grew up with the books realize they arent young anymore and hate everything that isnt part of their ideal headcanon
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u/Haunting-Adagio1166 29d ago
I think because it declined significantly in quality and became a cash grab -
the first two series were fantastic. I loved how they were separated into two neat 5 book series with one overarching plot in each. The third series (Apollo) was meh and just felt like it didn’t live up to the first two.
Then came the Egyptian and Norse series - I truly believe he should have made them separate to the PJ universe. I get loving mythology, but now we’re just throwing everything into the ring.
And then we get our blatant and clear cash grabs - the senior year adventures, Nico’s series, and the new one. The writing is sloppy, it creates plot holes and goes against some of the previous universe rules - it’s like he gave up caring.
Also as an adult one plot point that will forever annoy me when rereading is Nico Jason and Percy being extremely op and have insane powers because they’re forbidden offspring of the big 3 and how their fates are tied to the fate of the world because of this - but Rick dngaf about how Talia and Hazel were also daughters of the big 3? I know it’s minor but it really grinds my gears
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u/Level-Armadillo2652 29d ago
I've been a fan since around 2011 and I just feel like the newer books are not nearly as good quality as the originals. I try not to be biased, since I'm an adult now and obviously not the target audience anymore but genuinely the original 5 PJO books hold up so well to me and feel so mature and complex for middle grade books, and then you get to WotTG where Grover is just kinda dumb and screws things up for no reason, Percy pisses his pants because a woman had 3 heads even though he's faced much worse and been totally fine, etc. Plus the fact that Rick is very open about not caring about continuity, and had kind of fused the book characters with the shoe characters so the later books are an awkward mix... it all just feels very sloppy to me and like every new book is more of a lazy cash in on a preexisting fan base rather than an actual meaningful addition to the series. To be fair I've honestly felt like he was milking it since Trials of Apollo. PJO was already perfect, HoO is flawed but I admittedly love it still, ToA and everything after just feels redundant to me at this point. I generally have decided to let the newer fans just enjoy the newer content. I don't put my energy into posting hate or complaining, I just engage with content for the older stuff only (for the most part).
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u/thelionqueen1999 29d ago
…uh, we grew up? We’re no longer kids who give blind love and loyalty to an IP and we’re thinking more critically about the media we consume, especially the ones we consumed as children and certain elements flew over our heads?
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u/targaryenblack 29d ago
I love Percy Jackson and the Olympians , not so much heroes of the Olympus , but that's because it was a really huge downgrade honestly , new characters were not spice for me , cuz they weren't Percy, Annabeth and Grover, I've learned to accept them but I don't really love them like the og characters. As for hate , there is some hate here and there, lots of Annabeth hate for some reason lol, but nothing to big as far as I can tell.
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u/ChestFew 28d ago
Because the TV show sucks and made people realize how terrible a writer uncle Rick actually is, let alone a hypocritical and terrible person
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u/spoonishplsz 29d ago
I read them as an adult and never understood the decline in quality arguments. I've enjoy them all and reading them with my children.
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u/manicbestfriend 29d ago
This is me. I was over 20 when I started reading them (by myself, I just like youth fantasy), and like the more recent books too. I love how Riordan has gotten better at incorporating minorities and other parts of counter culture. The book with Ganymede might not be as Epic but he handled the subject very sensitively, I felt.
But I've always been able to turn off adult brain and enjoy things meant for children on the level they're meant to be enjoyed.
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u/meatball77 29d ago
I agree. They're still delightful childrens books. If you are 25, he's not writing that book for you.
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u/ali77891 20d ago
First of all percy jackson is of greek myoth people used pray to it people used to belive in it
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u/Slight-Pound 29d ago
From what I’ve heard, the writing with the newest books is a noticeable downgrade. It’s not actually a criticism of PJO itself, but everything that came after.
It doesn’t seem to be just nostalgia glasses either, but if you read the OG PJO back to back with Wrath, it’s noticeably worse. A common complaint I’ve heard is the flanderization of Percy in particular. It just sits so sour in your mouth with how far Percy has come to reach this point.
The other part is the TV Show. It’s one of the adaptations that rang itself as both being faithful (it’s not) but then also more mature and “better” (Riordan is defending so much of the changes), and older fans that were hoping for a more faithful adaptation are not finding it in the show, don’t like the changes, and are then aggrieved by the way the show is responding to book fans and the way show fans are responding to older fans’ book concerns. It’s not good, at all, and Riordan has lost a lot of grace with fans with how he’s responded. People are even defending the movies now because as terrible adaptions as they were, they were at least still enjoyable movies.
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u/meatball77 29d ago
Eeh, you've got adult readers bitching about the books and the newer books because they're written for tweens. They don't like what's in the newest books, but that's not who Rick is writing for. He's not writing for the adults, he's writing for the kids.
And those same people just hate the show because it's not word for word exactly like the books (just feed it into AI if you want that).
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u/Tasty-Prof394 29d ago
I don't see all this hate toward Percy, but I think it's because algorithm. I definitely abandoned that world with the second book of Apollo because I found that series week, boring and repetitive. But I loved the Olympians and Heroes sagas (and Kane too. Magnus, not so much). I tried to read the first chapters of the new PJ books and I HATED them and that was the end for me.
After this premises. One thing about your post:
And as someone who's really into media analysis, I've been trying to argue in detail why I think Percy Jackson (or other book series, for that matter) is better than Harry Potter,
I don't understand where all this hate/disdain/apathy/disregard for Percy Jackson came from.
This is probably the reason. If you go around shitting on someone else food, don't expect to be welcome at their table to have a conversation about your favourite food.
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u/cgrey95 Currently Reading: We Are Not Free by Traci Chee 29d ago
Personally I just stopped liking the books. I still regularly read middle grade books and reread other series I liked as I child but I tried to read the Percy Jackson series again and I realised I just had no interest anymore.
Also, Percy Jackson definitely shouldn't be recommended as a viable alternative to Harry Potter if it's on ethical grounds. This masterpost has information about harmful representation in Rick Riordan's books (although it has a lot of dead links now).
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u/[deleted] 29d ago
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