The Demigod Files
|
First edition cover | |
| Author | Rick Riordan |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Series | Percy Jackson & the Olympians (companion) |
| Genre | Young adult, Fantasy, Short story collection, Greek mythology[1] |
| Publisher | Disney Hyperion[2] |
Publication date | February 10, 2009[2] |
| Media type | Print (hardcover)[2] |
| Pages | 160[3] + 8 plates illus. |
| ISBN | 1-4231-2166-X [2] |
The Demigod Files is a collection of stories by Rick Riordan published on February 10, 2009.[4] It is a companion book to series Percy Jackson & the Olympians. It contains three short stories, titled "Percy Jackson and the Stolen Chariot", "Percy Jackson and the Bronze Dragon", and "Percy Jackson and the Sword of Hades", as well as a preview of The Last Olympian. It is set between the fourth and fifth novels, The Battle of the Labyrinth and The Last Olympian.
Additional contents are a letter from the Camp Half-Blood scribe Rick Riordan, question-and-answer style "interviews" with some of the campers, and various activities such as a crossword puzzle.[5]
There are some illustrations. The title page Steve James (presumably the black-and-white "Camp Half-Blood" map and "Annabeth Chase's Camp Trunk", interior with labeled contents, pages 78 to 81) and cartoon illustrations to Antonio Caparo (eight portraits of characters on glossy stock, unnumbered between pages 122 and 123).
Stories
"Percy Jackson and the Stolen Chariot"
Percy Jackson saves Clarisse La Rue from feather-throwing birds in his school. After the fight, Clarisse admits that, as part of a ritual for the children of Ares, she must bring Ares war chariot back to his temple, the Intrepid. But there is one problem: her immortal brothers, Phobos (representing fear) and Deimos (representing terror), who are the usual drivers and guardians of the chariot, became jealous and stole it from Clarisse. She knows she will be in trouble if she doesn't get it back by sundown. Percy offers his help, and Clarisse finally accepts it. They meet the two gods at a zoo. They fight them, who turn out to be extremely weak in battle (unlike the nature of Ares) once they discover how to counter the terror or fear, and are easily defeated. They bring the chariot to Ares' Temple on the Intrepid, an aircraft carrier that has since now become a museum. It takes place in between The Battle of the Labyrinth and The Last Olympian.
"Percy Jackson and the Bronze Dragon"
Percy Jackson and Charles Beckendorf are on the same team for capture the flag. Beckendorf, a son of Hephaestus, has a somewhat awkward conversation about girls, and thinks Percy should ask Annabeth, daughter of Athena, to the Fourth of July fireworks, the biggest dating event of the summer at Camp Half-Blood, that night. Later, when Percy's capture the flag plan is established, he and Beckendorf try to sneak up to the enemies flag. Instead, they find the Ant Hill, where the dreaded Myrmekes (giant, blood-red ants) are carrying a bronze dragon head. Beckendorf, who believes this is a blessing from his father Hephaestus, runs up to them but gets captured. Meanwhile, Silena Beauregard (daughter of Aphrodite) and Annabeth surprise Percy. They laugh at the indiscretion of boys, without understanding the gravity of the situation. When Percy explains what happened to Beckendorf, Annabeth makes a plan to save Beckendorf: they must find the body of the bronze dragon head, to remake the huge bronze dragon that disappeared fifteen years ago from Camp Half-Blood. They manage to save Beckendorf just in time, while the dragon leads an assault on Ant Hill. But at the end, the dragon is badly wounded. Silena doesn't want it to die, insisting on the fact that it saved Beckendorf. They run away from the dragon, who now pursues them after an order of Beckendorf, and manage to paralyze it, so it becomes a giant statue. Suddenly, some Athena children find the group and take Percy and Beckendorf as their prisoners and congratulate Annabeth and Silena for trapping them. Percy is outraged and accuses Annabeth of having plotted everything, Annabeth defends herself by saying the whole dragon and Ant Hill thing was a coincidence. Before going off to finish the game, she tells Percy to come see her during the fireworks. The boys are forced to stay in prison while the girls go win the game.
"Percy Jackson and the Sword of Hades"
Rick Riordan wrote this short story for World Book Day 2009. It takes place between The Battle of the Labyrinth and The Last Olympian. It seems to be part of the canon as a whole, as it was referenced in The House of Hades and The Lost Hero.
Persephone calls Percy, Thalia and Nico, the children of the Big Three, into the Underworld to retrieve Hades' new sword from a demigod spy who stole it. The problem is that Hades' keys, which let anyone out or into the Underworld, are in it. Persephone gives them a flower to track the thief. When all of the petals fall off, the sword thief has made it out of the Underworld. Percy, Nico and Thalia must retrieve the sword before time runs out.
They catch up with the thief, Ethan Nakamura, just as the last petal falls off the flower because Ethan has revived the titan Iapetus. At the culmination of their fight, Percy flings Iapetus into the river Lethe, a river that erases memories. Only Percy's powers as the son of Poseidon can keep him dry. Percy tells the now mind-wiped Iapetus that his name is Bob and that they are friends. When the three heroes and "Bob" return to Hades and Persephone with the sword, Hades is very unhappy about the sword and leaves in anger, threatening Persephone never to disobey him again. By this, they know that Persephone commissioned the sword against Hades' orders. (However, Percy saw a look of "hunger" in Hades' eyes while he stared at the sword.)
Camper Interviews
The book contains fictional interviews with multiple characters at Camp Half-Blood. Those include the Stoll Brothers, Annabeth Chase, Percy Jackson, Grover Underwood, and Clarrise La Rue.
Critical reception
The book received mixed reviews. Publishers Weekly criticized it saying, "Bland illustrations depicting the contents of Annabeth's trunk, a map of Camp Half-Blood and a short 'sneak peek' at the book The Last Olympian pad the contents (barely) to book length; the inclusion of a crossword puzzle and a word search makes the book difficult to share. Not a must-read-but try telling that to rabid fans."[5] School Library Journal reviewer Tim Wadham commended the writing, saying, "Despite the fact that this is more of a marketing package than anything else, the quality of and interest in the three stories likely justifies its purchase."[2][5]
See also
References
- ↑ The Demigod Files on LibraryThing
- 1 2 3 4 5 "The Demigod Files (A Percy Jackson and the Olympians Guide) (Hardcover)". amazon.com. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
- ↑ "The Demigod Files on goodreads". goodreads.com. Retrieved 2009-10-18.
- ↑ The Demigod Files on the author's website Archived April 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
- 1 2 3 "The Demigod Files (Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series)". barnesandnoble.com. Retrieved 2009-10-18.