Books Like Percy Jackson

I don't want to seem too obvious, but have you read the other books by Rick Riordan focusing on the rest of the kids in the Camp Half Blood?

Some people might not know that the Percy Jackson And The Olympians series is the first part of the Camp Half Blood series, but there is a second part, made of currently 4 books, with another 2 on the way (one in October this year, and one next year).

These books are written in the same loved style that Rick has pulled off so far, and you will find some of the same kids that you're already familiar with - where this time they are on the center page, while Percy himself takes more a back stage role (he is still there though, from book 2).

So if you haven't read these books, I highly recommend them. They come the closest to the original series with the demi-god kid who saves the world over and over again.

The new demi-gods in this series are Piper, Jason and Leo. Once I've read these books I found that the writing style of the author has kind of grown a bit as well, it's like he got more experience and he's more comfortable with his new characters.

Don't get me wrong, reading about Percy Jackson was still one of my secret pleasures, but my initial worry that I won't find Percy as a main character anymore evaporated soon when I got drawn to the new coming to age adventures of these modern heroes of camp Half Blood.

Another favorite young adult series of mine is Maximum Ride by James Patterson. The story is about Max, a girl of 14 who is surrounded by her 5 friends - all who can fly. Literally. Granted this series has not much to do with Greek mythology, but something about it all reminded me strong about Percy and his group of friends who are always in trouble and always manage to become the heroes somehow.

I do love all James Patterson's novels, and this is in fact the first series written for young adults that I've read by him (I'm mostly enjoying his Alex Cross series and the Women Murder Club series). So when I started with this teen series based on a friend's recommendation, I was not quite sure what to expect.

I do still find traces of James Patterson's writing style, but it is indeed a genre of its own. Basically the story follows the 6 kids who are fleeing for their lives, who have no idea what happened to them, why they have wings and how is it that they can use them when the need comes up. They're apparently part of a genetic experiment gone wrong, where they escaped and are running literally for their lives.

Just like Percy and friends, they are also fighting evil - this time in terms of solders looking like werewolves. The pace is fast, the story gripping and you'll soon end up rooting for the kids.

Currently there are 8 books in the Maximum Ride series.

Btw, speaking of being part of an experiment and kids fleeing, you might also want to look into The Maze Runner teen series - it doesn't remind me so much of Percy Jackson, as much as of Maximum Ride, so keep this in mind in case later on you'll be looking for more books like Maximum Ride.

Percy Jackson is a half-human half-god, he is 12 and gets into trouble all the time. He has to fight gods, demi-gods and humans equally. And he's always saving the world.

Artemis Fowl is a 12 year old wealthy kid who is quite different from Percy in that he's actually a criminal. A genius one with a mind that can rival that of many masterminds. And his first bad deed - capturing a fairy, one that is quite dangerous too. Fairies are mythical creatures, quite nice and fluffy and loving, however here they are mean and as dangerous as they get. So Artemis has his hands full right from the start. He wants to learn all about the fairies and steal their gold too. I mean, don't they have enough as it is?

Despite his shady morals and evil genius, you can't not love Artemis and get really attached to him.

I love this series - it contains 8 books that are highly entertaining, full of action and quite humorous too. Also I love it how the authors of both series, Percy Jackson and Artemis Fowl, take their own take on the mythology, reinventing it as they go along.

As a side note - another series that strongly reminds me of Artemis Fowl is the Harry Potter series. You DID read the Harry Pooter series, right?

This is another interesting set of books for young adults who loved the Percy Jackson series. It follows Nathaniel, a magician in training who was sold by his parents to the government at the young age of 5.

Nathaniel is 12, and he is training to be a magician with a very cruel master, who doesn't fail to hurt him and humiliate him every step of the way. When he is 11, Nathaniel has enough. He promises (to himself) revenge and starts to read everything he can put his hands on to learn about the craft with an end goal: to summon the powerful ancient djinni Bartimaeus so he can order him to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from the magician Simon Lovelace, who publicly humiliated him recently.

I don't want to give more of the plot away, but I think you'll really enjoy this series if you loved the Percy Jackson stories. Here also we have a mix of today's world and supernatural (the London of today combined with supernatural beings like the djinni Bartimaeus). The kid is about Percy's age and he's jumping from adventure to adventure, danger to danger.

In a way again this set of books is also a candidate for similar books to the Harry Potter as well, so if you loved either of them (Harry Potter or/and Percy Jackson), I think you'll find this extremely fun - all 8 books of them.

The Companion Quartet is a 4 part young adult book series about an 11 year old girl, Connie, who stumbles upon mythic creatures of the sea when she is sent to live with her distant aunt Evelyn. Connie has a great affinity to animals and she can easier communicated and related to them than to people.

Not long after she starts going to the new school she makes new friends who belong to a Society for the Protection of Mythic Creatures, kids who can actually communicate with the various mythical creatures that surround the area. You'll find among them banshees, water sprites, pegassi, dwarves, dragons and many more. Soon it will become obvious that Connie will fit right in, and she is best fit to be companion to sirens, who are right now killing workers in the oil refinery. Her job now is to convince the sirens to stop the killings.

This sounds easy enough, but the problems start when it becomes clear that Connie is so much more. Not only a companion to one set of creatures, but she can actually communicate with all. She is a Universal, pretty much the only living one at the moment. Due to her rather unique talent Connie soon finds herself in danger.

This series is not quite as fast paced as the Percy Jackson series, but I do recommend it for anyone who loves reading about mythical creatures and about ancient mythology. A great read.

While the books above are my favorites and I feel they are closest to the Percy Jackson series, here are some that you might also find worth checking out. All young adult adventure series that are action packed with very likable characters.

1. The Harry Potter series - you did read the HP series. Right?
    
2. Evil Genius series by Catherine Jinks - a 3 part trilogy about a 14 year boy, a genius who at the age of 7 was hacking into computers, who now being bored as he is, loves to play pranks. Rather evil ones.
    
3. The Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness - a 3 part series about a young boy, Todd, who lives in a rather dystopian society: a society where everyone can hear everyone's thoughts. A fun read, especially that I also enjoy reading dystopian fiction.
    
4. The Fabelhaven series by Brandon Mull - it is an interesting 5 part series about Fablehaven, a save haven for mythical creatures who sought there refuge for centuries from evil. The story follows Kendra, who will be the main heroine who has to stop evil from destroying Fabelhaven and the world.
    
5. The Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz - a 9 part young adult series about Alex, a 14 year year old boy who is recruited to become a spy and find the ones who killed his uncle (who supposedly died in a car accident, something that Alex doesn't buy right from the start). A great story, well worth reading.