Common Sense Media Review
By Carrie R. Wheadon
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Often tragic, often bloody stories with a fun Percy twist.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
Demigod Percy Jackson offers up the stories of 12 heroes: Perseus, Psyche, Phaethon, Otrera, Daedalus, Theseus, Atalanta, Bellerophon, Cyrene, Orpheus, Hercules, and Jason. He relays the deeds these characters are still famous for today -- slaying the Minotaur, playing a mean lyre, founding the Amazons, retrieving the Golden Fleece, and more -- and, in equal measure, shows where they went wrong. Or, as Percy puts it in the introduction, how they "boldly screwed up where no one had screwed up before." Most stories in PERCY JACKSON'S GREEK HEROES end in tragedy, but not all do. At the end of Psyche's story, Percy marvels at the happy ending but promises the next hero he talks about -- Phaethon -- is a "total car wreck of a demigod."
Is It Any Good?
If it's possible, this giant, brilliantly illustrated volume is even more absorbing than Percy's take on Greek gods. As in Percy Jackson's Greek Gods, we get the warts-and-all portraits, and there are plenty of warts. Who recalled Hercules had such an anger-management problem? Or that the brilliant inventor Daedalus had such a horrible jealous streak? Author Rick Riordan takes pains to include some fascinating women in the mix -- no doubt they were harder to research than the men, and the extra effort is appreciated. Atalanta and Otrera are especially fascinating as extreme Wonder Women whom no man dared mess with.
Two maps help orient the reader quite well in ancient times. And Percy's modern sardonic-teen voice keeps readers laughing and the pages turning, especially when the character names get unpronounceable and the subject matter gets either too gross or too grim. This is a great book for parents to enjoy right along with kids.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about fatal flaws. What are they? How do they lead to some heroes' undoing?
Were you surprised that characters called heroes could have such dark pasts? What makes someone a hero? (Percy asks if the character Daedalus is a hero. What do you think?)
Phineas, a gifted seer, was punished by Zeus for telling people their entire fates. Do you think Zeus was right? Would you like to know everything that's going to happen to you? How is this dangerous?
Book Details
- Author :
- Illustrator : John Rocco
- Genre : Folklore
- Topics : Superheroes , Adventures , History , Fantasy , Animals ( Ocean Creatures , Wild Animals )
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Disney-Hyperion
- Publication date : August 18, 2015
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 8 - 12
- Number of pages : 416
- Available on : Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
Suggest an Update
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate