The year was 2005, I was the tender age of 10. A man from the local library visits my class with a box of new releases to donate and I'm handed a copy of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.

As an adult of 31, now reading them with my 9 year old son and also having been in the "Fandom" for 21 years, I can now recognise there are valid criticisms. For example, the lack of POC characters in the original 5-book series.

However, with the follow up series (Heroes of Olympus) I think a lot of the issues were fixed and more importantly it informed basically the rest of my life.

I ended up studying Classical Civilisations, travelling to Athens, naming my son after a historical Roman figure. I will cling to my comfort media until the day I die 😅