Ratings: 4.5/5
Contents:Review: Rick Riordan whom I have called both my current favourite author and the American J.K. Rowling, I enjoyed The Demigod Files far more than I did the similar later, The Demigod Diaries by which I felt sadly let down if not betrayed. The Demigod Files' stories between four and five of the Percy Jackson and The Olympians series, a climactic time for the series. Percy Jackson was my introduction to Rick Riordan. Perhaps that's another reason why I prefer The Demigod Files to The Demigod Diaries.
- Percy Jackson and the Stolen Chariot
- Percy Jackson and the Bronze Dragon
- Percy Jackson and the Sword of Hades
Like The Demigod Diaries, The Demigod Files consists of three short stories by Rick Riordan alongside interviews with several key characters and a few easy puzzles. Also included are illustrations of some of the characters and a useful chart of the Greek gods, their domains, their sacred animals, and symbols.
All three of these short stories unlike those of The Demigod Diaries, are written from the point-of-view of Percy Jackson, who perhaps at least partially because of his familiarity and Riordan's ease in his voice, is one of my favourite of the many voices that I have seen Riordan capture.
In these stories Riordan expands several key side characters, especially Silena Beauregard. By the end of Percy Jackson and The Olympians and the beginning of The Heroes of Olympus, Silena is regarded in a better light by campers at Camp Half-Blood than I have ever regarded her, and the campers regard for her has always thrown me. She almost needs the bolstering from Percy Jackson and the Bronze Dragon.
The others with whom Percy interacts in these tales - Clarisse La Rue, Charles Beckendorf, Nico DiAngelo, and Thalia Grace - I did not need to learn more about them in these short stories, as I needed to learn more about Silena. And even the titan Iapetus. Where it was explained on why his memory has been wiped. But I was glad to spend time with them and to share in their adventures.
Riordan is a master of adventure stories. In all of these, the demigods faced monsters, deadlines, and impossible odds (the usual trials of Riordan book). Riordan also tempers all of the dread with his usual humour, a somewhat dry humor, I suppose that relies alot on a tone and sarcasm that does not match the situation. These stories are scattered with such lines as "A girl starts trying to kill you, you know she's into you" (p. 35), "One dragon can ruin your whole day" (p. 33), "It's great when you're a celebrity to squids" (p. 22). Out of context none of those have made me laugh, but when paired with imminent danger in which the demigod find himself, these nuggets of humour are so unexpected that they do wonders to lighten the tone without killing it. That balance of humour and peril takes talent.