'The Lightning Thief' Ch. 1-6 | Percy Jackson

Transcript was generated automatically and its accuracy may vary.

0:00

Hey, I'm Derek.

And I'm Noah, and you're listening to A Bite Of, where we take our current favorite pop culture obsession and enjoy it 1 Nibble at a Time Oh.

Old, new nibble, new old property.

0:17

Yeah, we are going back to our roots.

We started with a book and now we're doing a book again.

We started with a book and then was the second thing that we covered Bligh Manor.

So we also covered a book in that season, and then since then, not much.

0:37

No, not many books.

Many books.

Midnight Club for Patreon, but that was it.

We talked about books.

We did stuff on Patreon for books, but now we're going back to it because Percy Jackson has a show coming out on Disney Plus.

So why not cover the book?

You got to go to the sauce material.

0:52

Yeah, so this is the first, I think, official ABO.

Book Club?

Yay.

We want to know what you're thinking.

So how the I like how you never give anything after you sing, you just sing and then I think I said plenty.

1:12

That song, it spoke volumes.

It was emotional.

So how these are going to work?

We posted what chapters we're going to be reading and then the episode that comes out for those.

So if you want to follow along, share your thoughts or whatever, you can go to our Discord.

We have special book club channels on there.

1:30

And then if you don't want to do that, if you don't want to do the discord thing, just e-mail your thoughts or whatever to abonibles@gmail.com.

So do that.

Send us your nibbles, yeah?

And we want to know yours.

Yeah, and you can tell us episode before chapters, before whatever.

1:48

Whatever you're feeling, we're going to keep that e-mail open so it doesn't even have to be with the book club.

So if you just have thoughts on anything that we've covered or are going to cover, send us an e-mail, get some mailbags segment to go and remember mailbag.

Mailbag that was delightful.

Yeah, so we're going to go.

2:04

We have the 1st 6 chapters in this one.

We're covering the first six chapters of Percy Jackson, the Lightning Thief.

First one, very, very first one.

Let me tell you something.

So I read these not long after they first came out.

I love them.

2:20

I couldn't wait for the next volume to come out rereading it.

Apparently.

I remember nothing.

So I think that's one of the things that sparked us for doing this is we did read them long time ago, like a decade more ago.

2:35

And yeah, I don't remember much.

I was reading it.

Just right next to Derek.

And I was like, do you remember this?

And he's like, Nope, Nope, Nope.

So this is going to be a fun journey.

We're not going to spoil the whole universe or the end of the series or anything like that.

We're going to go with what we're reading.

2:51

We're going to try our hardest to not talk about things outside of it, and I do think it works in our favour that we don't remember specifics because we can't really spoil things that we don't remember.

So other than knowing literally basic plot points, I know none of the details.

3:07

All right, so before we get into this book, before we crack it open, we are on our way to 200 reviews, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

So if you've not thrown stars our way, we'd very much appreciate it if you didn't let us be in favor of our God and get us determined to be, I don't know, 200 reviews, whatever that means.

3:27

But they say you're not doing anything if you don't have the reviews.

So who do that?

How dare they say that?

They do say that we're doing stuff.

Yeah, real missus Dobbs them.

Oh, honey, as she says in the book.

Oh.

My God.

All right, so spoilers for the first six chapters of Percy Jackson.

3:46

Yes.

Should I give us a little journey into the Jackson universe?

How we got?

There.

Yeah.

Oh my God, I forgot we used to do this.

Yeah, here we go.

I'm telling you.

A little preamble, a little appetizer before we get it.

Go ahead.

So the tale of Percy Jackson began its first adventure as a bedtime request from Reardon son Haley, reflecting on a prompt he would give to his 6th grade students where they would create a demigod.

4:11

Yes, Rick was a teacher for 15 years before writing.

Reardon told the tale about a stolen lightning bolt and a kid named Percy Jackson.

He shares on his website that it took him three nights to tell the first heroic Jackson journey to his son.

With another nudge from Haley to put Percy on the page, Rick decided to write about the demigods epic Escapade Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief, The first in the five part series was published in 2005.

4:38

It has since become a worldwide phenomenon and LED to numerous spin off series about demigods from all different mythologies including Egyptian, Norse.

And the list keeps going, circling back to the most recent installment, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Chalice of the Gods, which just came out this year.

4:54

Yeah, we have it.

We have it.

We don't know if we need to read the other 800 books in between them if we're going to be spoiled.

I think we probably do.

But we might take our chances.

Over 190 million copies of his books are in print worldwide, and rights have been sold into more than 37 countries.

5:14

The first two books in the Percy Jackson series were made into movies in the early 2000s to mixed reviews, but now Disney Plus has created a series from the beloved books that will premiere this year on December 20th.

Yay.

So we are when this comes out less than a month to Percy Jackson.

5:33

That's exciting.

I'm very excited, yeah.

I can't wait to meet all these characters in the flesh.

It's going to be very cool to see how how they are now and looking much more like 12 year olds than they did in the movies where they clearly made them 16 and 17 year olds.

5:49

We're not going to talk much about the movies because one, I don't think we've really seen the second one.

I saw parts of it and I was like can't finish it.

And the first one we tried to rewatch and Derek fell asleep.

And I was like, you didn't miss much till this day.

I was just going to say I still have not seen the entire first movie.

6:07

I never saw it in theaters, but I was so excited for it that I purchased it on DVD and then I got about 20 minutes into it and I was so furious that I never watched.

It Oh my God, I think we'll we'll make some connections as we cause a lot of the problems happen in these chapters in the movie and yeah we'll get to it.

6:25

Yeah all right so let us officially take a bite of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief chapters one through 6.

So chapter one is I accidentally vaporize my pre algebra teacher accidentally.

So a school trip to the museum goes haywire when a harpie saying honey wreaks havoc.

6:46

Missus Dobbs.

Missus Dobbs.

So, OK, one of my favorite things about this is that not to jump to the series right away, but in the Disney Plus series, Megan Mullally is playing Missus Dobbs.

Megan Mullally is Famous Emmy a winning performance as Karen in Will and Grace, where she always says Honey, honey, what's this?

7:06

Honey, what's going on?

And in the text of the novel, Missus, Dobbs says.

Honey, I was like, they did that on purpose.

I also don't like it for some reason, like when somebody calls anybody honey in that way, I'm like, that's so condescending and that's not right.

7:22

I couldn't figure out how she was saying honey, so I just kept hearing Karen Walker saying, honey, you're going to die, honey.

What was it like like honey?

Yeah, probably.

Yeah.

It's just, it's fake sweet, That's what it is, you know?

It's like that artificial sweetener.

7:39

It's not good for you.

Sweet and love.

Yeah, it's the sweet and love version.

I really like the first page of this book.

I love like reading it now as an adult.

I read it when I was a little older.

You know, these are middle grade books, right?

So they're very easy to understand.

7:55

They're very well written for middle grade book.

But I love the beginning, right?

It has this thing of, you know, Percy Jackson.

It's a a he's narrating the whole book and it's a first point of view.

So everything that we find out in the story is through Percy Jackson, which is kind of nice because we're not expected to know all this stuff or like it's not jumping around between a bunch of things.

8:15

It's just what Percy Jackson is experiencing.

So we experience it as well.

And I love in the beginning how he's like if you see yourself in this book, hide, run like don't keep reading it and.

I just think, like, you know, being a 12 year old and reading that, it's like, OK, cool.

8:32

Like, I'm going to keep reading that, Yeah.

And it's.

And it's one thing to be reading a story in first person, but in those first few paragraphs he's breaking the 4th wall of the book and he's speaking directly to the reader.

He's like, look, this is what you're in for.

You're not going to like it, Put the book down.

8:49

And so it's a really fun introduction, like you're saying as a kid to have the main character talking to you and and actually telling you beware, don't turn the page.

But like you're saying, kids just couldn't resist that.

No, I wouldn't resist that.

I was like, yeah, I'm going to keep reading it.

9:04

Thanks.

OK, tell me more Percy Jackson and.

He's like, if you if you think this is a work of fiction, then I guess carry on.

It's like, OK, or is it because it is.

I always felt such a kinship to these stories because they take place in New York, you know, in the beginning.

And even Camp Half Blood is actually set out on Long Island, so it always felt extra special.

9:24

I wonder.

I know that, you know.

OK.

So, Rick?

Is from San Antonio.

He wrote these in San Antonio.

I'm not too sure how good his geography is of New York or especially Long Island because like the way he describes things or like where Camp Half Blood is, it's like OK that should be like Riverhead ish area.

9:46

We we live out on Long Island so like we can probably go to Camp Half Blood if it actually existed.

But like, I just love how there's like Ocean.

And like a bunch of creeks, I'm like, where is the?

Like I don't where is this sometimes I I wonder is it just a magical place so that it is like it like the foundation if you were like going if a realtor was there is on Long Island but once you cross the border it's kind of it's on realm, you know.

10:14

But it is interesting, right?

Because Percy and his mom live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and they love going to Montauk, which is the furthest point of Long Island, which takes like 5 hours to get there, and then Camp Half Blood.

10:30

They're so they're heading to Montauk and then Camp Half Blood, Percy says.

Something like it must be on the North Shore, which is the opposite shore.

Of Montauk, Montauk, So I don't know how far whenever we'll get into.

It later.

We have a whole thing about We haven't even gotten to Camp Half Blood yet.

10:46

You're right.

So.

Before we get to the stuff in Montauk, we find out that Percy is at Yancey Academy and he's gone to different schools every time.

He's in 6th grade, which is like crazy.

To my last memory of Percy Jackson was obviously the movie and then rereading this book I was like, well, he's not in 6th grade.

11:08

Like, this dude is obviously a senior, so it is fun to actually get the story of how it was supposed to be told.

He's a child.

He's young, he's a tiny little kid, but also he's at an Academy for like troubled youths that are all rich.

11:24

It's a very weird school.

We don't spend much time there.

It's there and gone.

But he always gets trouble during field trips, and that's pretty much what this first chapter is.

It's setting up his school, his best friend Grover, and going on a field trip and they're going to the Met, so they're still in the city.

11:43

I don't know where Yancey Academy is located.

It could be in the city, but it's also some sort of boarding school because he hasn't seen his mom in a long time.

But yes, they're at the Met and we also get a nice I wouldn't call it a nympho dump, but we do get a little introduction into the setup of Pronos and his children.

12:03

Which is important for later on.

Exactly.

So you know, Rick Reardon gives us a little Greek mythology lesson in this first chapter, and we see that Percy knows a lot about Greek mythology.

He's able to answer these questions.

He gets it right.

Also, because he's getting pushed to know this stuff from Brenner.

12:19

You know, you're very you're very right, because Brenner is the Latin teacher, but yet always manages to.

Greek mythology, Yeah, we've Greek mythology is there.

He wears Greek armor at certain school events, so he's really putting it on heavy.

12:34

Like Percy, pay attention.

Well, also, I mean, I think it just makes sense, right?

It's nobody's taking a Greek course, so the next best thing is to take is to be a Latin teacher to then like see if there's a demigod at the school.

Well, you know, I will say in New York curriculum, well, that just shows how good New York schooling is.

12:54

Or, you know, the United States school system in New York.

Curriculum.

We did mythology in fifth grade.

Oh yeah, we know.

Yeah.

So that's that's the thing.

So this kind of made sense.

I'm like, oh, there, you know, it was part of our social studies classes, our history classes in.

13:11

Yeah, so we do like Egyptian gods and Greek gods and things like that, so that makes sense.

But why the Latin teacher would be teaching it?

That doesn't really fit together, other than priming a young demigod to know his histories.

Yeah, we also find out that he has ADHD and dyslexia kind of find out.

13:30

It's not spoiler, but he dyslexia because his brain is hardwired to reading Greek and ADHD because that's just his battle reflexes.

That's just his mind always being ready.

I was like oh OK like that.

I mean like if you're a 12 year old and as most 12 year olds are diagnosed with ADHD in these times.

13:51

I'd be like, yeah, no, I these are my battle skills.

I am always ready to defend my family no matter what or the classroom door, whatever is happening.

Do not give me the Ritalin.

I am battle ready.

Give me a sword.

That's what I need.

Exactly.

It is kind of funny though, reading this because you're like, oh, this is great, this is great Neurodiversity, representation.

14:10

And then it's like, actually, no, it's not.

It's demigod representation.

Exactly.

So in this school trip, I like how Brenner puts Percy Jackson on the spot.

And like, he asks him the questions and everything and he gets kind of serious for a second.

And this is where you can see because again, it's a middle grade, it's very heavy-handed.

14:29

And like, oh, there's more to this guy than meets the eye because he's saying this is vital for you to know this stuff while winking.

Yeah, And he's just shaking him.

And he's just talking to Percy.

Yeah, there's a whole class of students.

What's the like, horrible bully girl's name?

14:45

Nancy, Nancy.

I think it's Boba Fett.

Boba Fett.

I keep saying Boba Fett in my head because it was very similar to that.

She never comes back.

She never comes back, which is so funny.

It's like she's such a big part of these, like first two chapters and she's so annoying and we see her full name the entire time, but then she never comes back.

15:03

She's a jerk.

She's just antagonist for this, these first two chapters.

It's really funny, but we also are introduced to Missus Dodds, who's a big part of Percy starting his journey a little earlier than both Mr. Brenner and Grover thought he was going to.

15:21

And she's described as this.

Missus Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket even though she was 50 years old.

Which is like what?

Like why can't a 50 year old wear a black leather jacket?

Anyway, she looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker.

15:38

She had come to Yancey halfway through the year when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.

Yeah.

It is really interesting.

So there's this thing in Percy Jackson that these demigods and mythical beings or whatever use this mist for humans, where it just like erases their memory or fogs it or clouds, whatever.

15:58

And it's used a couple times and I'm curious if that was used for when Missus Dobbs came in and also for when Brenner came in as well.

So.

I know in the movie it's very heavy-handed.

They're like, Oh yeah, he just came here and liked the mist, blah, blah, blah blah, blah.

But I do like these types of devices and these stories because it just excuses a lot.

16:18

Like we don't need to know, like how they got into that position.

It's like there's magical mist and it just did it.

It's good enough.

Yeah, The mist works for the middle graders.

It works for us.

Yeah, so in this, the end of the school trip ends with.

You know misses Dobbs being like can can can I can I talk to you?

16:37

And she like speeds her way back into there, lures him into a place and she turns into a fury and I like the detail of them saying she was wearing a leather jacket.

She has leathery wings so it was just really like a glamour of her wings.

And he defeats her because Brenner gives him the pen that turns into the sword and yay but he vaporized his pre algebra teacher.

17:01

And he's like, what the fuck is going on?

Take that.

Lady, I really like this introduction because, like you know, in the series, there's so much exposition because it's not only explaining like who this mythical creature is, but also explaining how it fits into this world, so that we get exposition a lot.

17:20

But I like this one because it sets up who Percy is.

It sets up that he doesn't know who his dad is.

He he has a best friend, Grover, who's kind of scrawny, also gets picked on.

And he's just trying to make his way through everything.

Yeah, but then also gives that high stakes thing at the end of the chapter of killing his algebra teacher.

17:39

Yeah, just Speaking of Grover getting picked on, I liked this one detail that was written so it's says this is Percy speaking.

Obviously I tried to stay cool.

The school counselor had told me a million times, quote count to 10, get control of your temper.

But I was so mad my mind went blank.

17:57

A wave roared in my ear.

Wink, get it?

Wink a wave.

We're not going to spoil anything because in these six chapters we don't really know too much.

But I think you can like who's the God of water?

18:13

Let's just say if Zeus was his father, it would say a Thunder clapped in my ear or something like that.

But I agree that this chapter, this first chapter is very strong and introducing us to the story.

It is very much the start of our hero's journey who didn't know he was a hero.

18:29

And so it's kind of like what just happened?

You want to keep going forward to really figure out what is this world and who is Percy?

Yeah, I love these stories because we don't have too many American based, you know, those are world underneath our nose type stories.

18:45

Most of those come from Europe and that's just because of how their culture and you know folklore and everything is.

And I like that this one is like one of the ones that is like.

Kind of takes things from another thing but puts it in our perspective and is written by an American author.

So it's fun.

19:00

It's fun to read this and how he like changes it for like the Western civilization.

But guess he's not going back to Yancey.

Percy, Percy.

He gets kicked out and I love that he like, he gets kicked out of this one.

Is this in chapter 2?

19:19

I think so.

OK, so I skipped ahead, so let's go to chapter Chapter 2. 3 old ladies knit the socks of Death Percy's final days at Yancey, have him overhearing whispers from Grover and Mr. Brunner.

A bus breakdown begets a snipping sight of beguiling biddies.

19:37

Yeah, so this really.

He's hearing Grover, who he thought was just his best friend, talking to Mr. Brunner, and they're like, it's happening too early.

They're coming for him.

Something's wrong and he has no idea what they're talking about.

And they mentioned the summer solstice and.

19:52

All of that.

So the things we know is that Brunner and Grover are in coots.

Something with the summer solstice.

And Percy is getting kicked out of Yancey, and I like that he's getting kicked out.

He's like, I called him an old snot.

20:09

That was the that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

You're.

Out of here, Jackson.

It's a school for troubled youths.

I think that like.

They say worse things but whatever.

They have a a bunch of money.

There is like some interesting like class like classes and that goes on in the school too because like people talk about like their summer homes and everything.

20:28

So.

And Percy, We find out later that his mom just, like, worked at the sweet shop in, like, the Trans Central Station.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So it's like even though he's with all these people, he still can't connect with them.

But I like Percy's attitude because, like, he sees all of that stuff and he's just like, they're just really annoying.

20:45

I just want to keep my head down.

So I want friends.

Well, and I think that's why he's attracted to Grover, right?

Grover obviously doesn't fit in for reasons that we all know why.

And so he's the only real sort of, I want to say person.

But he's not a person.

He thinks he's a person that he can really connect with.

21:03

And so for him to overhear Grover talking about him with Mr. Brunner is surprising.

And he almost doesn't really trust Grover anymore, right?

So once he gets kicked out, he then, with Grover as a 12 year old, has to take a bus from wherever Yancey Academy is.

21:20

Maybe.

Maybe Westchester?

I think it's like in Jersey or something like that.

Like it's not too far to to the city to get.

Back home, yeah.

And Grover, we find out that, like, he can't fail again.

We do hear that when he's talking to Brenner.

So there's obviously something that he's done before that he didn't do too well.

21:39

There are stakes.

He's failing, Yes, Grover.

We also see Grover hand Percy a business card that says Grover Underwood Keeper Half Blood Hill, Long Island, New York.

And then it has a phone number, which I wanted to actually call before we started recording this episode, but I didn't think of.

21:57

But it's 800-0090 zero 09.

I don't think that's a real number.

Wouldn't it be funny though, if you call and it's like Grover Underwood, Yeah.

That would be nice.

Maybe they're going to do something for the Disney Plus show, right?

Yeah, we'll see.

So on this bus trip, it breaks down at some point.

22:14

And they get off the bus, and there's these three ladies who we know as the fates.

It's very obvious who they are.

And they're knitting these gigantic socks.

Whoever sees them doesn't like them.

But Percy sees one of them snip the cord while they're looking at him.

22:31

They don't take his their eyes off of him.

And that's not good, because if you watched Hercules, you know that when a cord is snipped that somebody's destiny and fate is to die.

And Percy saw.

And Percy knows this, too, because, as we know, Percy is very he.

22:48

He knows all the Greek myths and everything.

Mostly, I would say.

Mostly when he gets to camp half blood, he's a little fishy on the details.

Fishy.

Yes, Dice.

Well, fishy on the details.

It's so like, Grover's freaking out and he's like, I'm going to walk you back to your place.

Don't leave me.

23:03

Of course Percy ditches him.

Ditches him.

Rude.

He's like, I don't trust you anymore.

I don't know what your deal is.

I'm going, I gotta get home.

And that's really Chapter 2.

Yeah, it's him getting back to his mom's house.

So chapter 3, Grover unexpectedly loses his pants.

23:22

I didn't write that.

That's the name of the chapter.

My synopsis is Gabe is abusive.

Percy and his mother make way to Montauk directly into a storm.

Grover shows his gams.

Oh, nice.

OK, so.

I love and hate.

23:40

You know, there's there's a lot of similarities.

If you're reading this, say you've only read Harry Potter, right?

I promise I'm not going to bring up Harry Potter as much.

But if you've read Harry Potter and you read this, you kind of see some similarities.

That's just how kid fiction, that's just how middle grade is.

And most of these kind of stories, you need these mentors.

23:56

You need these, this trio of friends that are going to be the big adventure.

And you also need one of the parents to be married to a Jackass.

Yes.

So it's it seems that his mother, Sally has, like Noah mentioned, she works at a candy shop.

24:13

She's sort of fallen on hard times.

I just want to read the description our introduction to his mother.

Well, I want to preface this with I love Sally.

Sally is amazing.

We love Sally, but this is how she's described.

Her name is Sally Jackson, and she's the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck.

24:34

Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was 5, and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her.

She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative writing program.

Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him.

24:52

After he died, she was left with no money, no family and no diploma.

I, you know, like it's not necessary.

And then on top of that, Percy's dad isn't there.

You know why, but it's not there.

25:08

So like she couldn't even be with the person that she loves.

She's lost a lot of stuff.

But saying that she could be just as bad as smelly Gabe and she's not.

She is a supportive kick ass mother.

I don't know why she's with Gabe, but whatever.

25:24

But she could have been.

Nasty person.

And she's not.

Yes.

So this is one of the details that I completely forgot about.

I completely forgot that Gabe existed, that there was this horrible stepfather that was basically he's just, you know, abusive.

25:39

He's he's mentally abusive.

He's emotionally abusive.

He's verbally abusive.

I'm sure he's physically abusive.

And I'm just like.

Said, But it's yeah, implied.

I'm just like, why is she with him?

I think because this is just me theorizing, but obviously.

She knows about Percy and what he has to because she knows about the camp, which we're going to get to.

25:59

I think it's just because he's like me, smelly, but like it's just somebody that couldn't possibly tie them to anything that would alert them of him.

I don't know if she did it to protect Percy, but that's the only thing I can think of because.

26:15

Yeah, I think she said something like, he's been good to us.

It's like, has he though?

Like, I don't think he has.

Yeah, I want to read the introduction to Gabe here.

So it says.

Finally she married Gabe Ugliano, who was.

That's New York.

Yeah, it's like basically he's ugly guy who was nice the 1st 30 seconds we knew him, then showed his true colors as a world class jerk.

26:37

When I was young, I nicked him, nicknamed him Smelly Gabe.

I'm sorry, but it's the truth.

The guy reached like, moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.

Yeah, and so he's like playing cards with his friends and he's being like, he's like, empty your pockets, give me your money.

26:52

And even the friends are like Gabe.

The kid just walked in the house, stopping.

A jerk.

So not even, I mean let's just he's literally stealing from a 12 year old as soon as he gets home, they haven't seen him for six months.

He gets there and he's like, do you have any money?

He's like, no.

And he's like you took a cab here.

27:08

So he gives him the money and it's just like that's the type of person.

And it's like I hate him and I can't wait until they just like he gets what he deserves.

Like, please, dear God, his mom finally comes home and she knows that he's kicked out.

Of Yancey, Of course he is.

27:25

He didn't make it a full year this time, but almost did.

And her way of punishing him is like, we're going to go to the beach, go to Montauk again.

Amazing mother.

Yes.

The thing I I feel like, well, we know Sally knows way more then she's letting on.

27:44

And so it almost feels like I wonder if it's a tradition.

Whenever Percy gets kicked out for whatever reason, they go and escape for a little bit because maybe something has happened at the school, like very much in this situation something has happened at the school that is linking him to his father and she's trying to protect him.

28:00

So they need to get away for a little bit while the dust settles.

Not even that.

There's a whole thing with blue food.

So it's like all on the tip of the nose.

It's like she knows.

And also he loves blue food.

It's like blue cookies and blue pancakes and blue everything.

I do like that the blue food thing is really a snub to Gabe because Gabe went on some rampage about blue food doesn't exist.

28:23

So she makes blue pancakes, blue cookies, she plays, you know, blue cord and tortilla chips.

So it's almost like Sally hates Gabe as much as Percy does.

But like you said, she's just doing it to sort of protect Percy in some way.

But also the ocean.

The ocean, yeah.

I I love how they, he, like, threw that detail in there.

28:42

But it's like, yeah, it's the ocean.

Like, get it?

The ocean I loved.

When Percy wants to retaliate against Gabe, he thinks to himself, Maybe I Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot and make you sing soprano for a week, he's talking about his testicles.

29:00

Ridiculous.

Yes, it's ridiculous.

So they make their way to Montauk.

They're in.

Their beachside house and a hurricane comes.

There is some conversation that Percy and his mom have about the father.

Not too much really goes on, but like he left, he was lost at sea.

29:19

Ocean.

He lives in the sea.

Or he lives in the sea, but she doesn't give too much away.

But then the hurricane comes and she wakes up and she's freaking out.

Then who comes out the door?

Grover.

And he's like, I was tracking you.

Why did you leave me?

29:36

I just had to go to the bathroom for Grover.

Grover's really been put through the wringer, and I and I love this Grover.

Grover feels sort of like nerdy and scrawny and nervous, and you just can't help but feel for him.

That's one thing that I didn't like that they did in that movie and you know, I think with the script and the characterization they gave these kids for.

30:02

For Percy Jackson, for the movie, I was like, what am I talking about?

Grover is Grover and Andoeth are so mischaracterized that it's insane that these are our actual characters.

And there's something more sweet and compassionate and relatable to this Grover than there was with the Grover in the movie, because it's just so cool and suave and very much like a like a ladies.

30:24

I didn't like it.

Like they're supposed to be kids and like, they're just, yeah.

Anyway, so.

Not only does Grover come through the door, but he comes through and he where his legs should be.

There's fur and, you know, clay beaded Gapis gorgeous.

He's he's given us that little Mr. Tumnus realness.

30:39

Yeah, he says.

One of the last lines in this chapter is because where his feet should be, where there were no feet, there were cloven hooves.

Dun Dun Dun cloven.

Hooves.

So that brings us to Chapter 4.

Yes, this one is titled My Mother Teaches Me Ball Fighting.

30:57

Percy, his mother and Grover try to beat feet, but a bull blocks their path.

A golden light, a fight and Percy's arrival at camp.

That's a lot of peas.

Sorry, my closest.

But peas, listen, we're going to, we're going to have a hard time if we're covering Percy Jackson.

31:17

Yeah, just don't, you know.

So the.

We find out that the reason why his mom hasn't really told him anything and he's kept in the dark is because she says the less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract.

This is what Grover had said, and she echoes that and she in this.

31:34

So they're they're going to camp half blood now there's a hurricane.

They know that they're after them and.

Percy is so confused.

He's asking questions and like they're not really answering it.

They're like, we are in trouble.

I can't answer this now and it's like, well, you should have like there's no time to explain exactly.

31:52

We have to go.

Exactly.

So we find out that not only a hurricane is raging and it's a big storm, they're trying to get to camp halfway from Montauk all the way over there.

It's going to take a little bit, but there's a minotaur after them.

Big old Minotaur.

32:08

The Minotaur.

The yes, it's.

And so this is the description of the Minotaur that I really enjoyed.

Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster.

He was 7 feet tall.

Easy.

His arms and legs like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine.

32:26

Bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other seps all stuffed like baseballs under vein webbed skin.

Oh my God, he wore no clothes except underwear.

I mean bright white fruit of the looms, which would have looked funny except that the top half of his body was so scary.

32:48

Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and gotten thicker as it reached his shoulders.

No, per southeast.

So he's a real bull.

Very descriptive for a 12 year old.

33:04

Yeah.

Also, wow, excuse me, tighty Whitey furry worry.

In the rain.

In the rain.

Stop, Percy.

OK, let's stop sexualizing the Minotaur.

33:23

I mean, maybe there's something wrong that when I read that, I was like, huh?

But I mean, it's on the paper.

It's in black and white.

Yeah, so they crash.

They're have.

Grover is just.

Completely useless from here on out.

33:39

He's like not saying he's useless, but he's useless.

He's on the ground.

Yeah, he gets swatted and which about it?

It does come back him not fully like taking Percy to Camp Halfwood is a factor in his story later on, so it is important.

But just like the title says, his mom teaches him bull fighting.

33:59

She tells him at the last second.

Just dodge out of the way, which I think.

Most of us kind of know just like stuff like this, it's also very T Rex in Jurassic Park and their sight hearing are terrible.

So just don't move too quickly, don't get, you know, you can get away from them whatever.

34:17

But yeah, it's very much like bull fighting when he charges jump out of the way.

And so there's questions here that I wonder, like, how does Mama Jackson know so much about this stuff?

You know, did she train in some way?

34:33

How did she kind of come up to know that one?

I mean, obviously she knows that gods are real, but that minotaurs can come after you and this is how you defeat them.

Yeah, I think that's a question that will probably get answered later, maybe not in this book, but later, I guess.

They did something to be said of like, you know, we find out in this book why the the gods can't be with the kids.

34:55

There's a reason why.

They're not just all awful, which most of them are, but I am curious in like the time that they spent together, the parents that he did tell her all of this stuff just in case 'cause I guess if you were going to like if you actually love the person, you'd be like, OK, in case a fury comes, this is what you do.

35:14

In case a minotaur comes, this is what you do.

But I am curious like why does she know if you know?

And don't tell us because we obviously don't remember, right.

It's so funny as you're speaking.

I'm going, maybe they explain it later on.

And I'm also a little, a little blurry on why he's not why he in particular is not at Camp Half Blood.

35:37

Yeah, I think he's too young.

I I think that's in the in here.

They said.

Like he's not.

He needs to mature a little bit.

He needs to know a little bit more.

He needs to prepare a little bit more.

At least that's what Brunner's been doing like.

He could have taken him at any point but he was training him and getting him ready just with the knowledge.

35:53

Yeah, I think in the next episode that we do, I hope they explain camp half out a little bit more, because even the movie didn't explain it well and I'm confused and like how it works.

Like, do they just go there for a summer and if they get determined, which means they find out who their parent is?

36:10

Then they can leave.

Or are they always there?

Or are they always there?

I don't know.

I guess this series abound.

So we do also find out that Sally cannot go to Camp Halfwood and she keeps telling Percy just take her over and go, take her over and go.

And of course he doesn't want to leave his mother.

36:25

While he's finding the bull, part of the one of his horns comes off.

He's able to stab the Minotaur with it, but before that.

Oh yeah, He kills his mom.

Yeah, there you go.

Important.

I was like, wait, how did he kill his mom if he already died?

Yeah, yeah.

36:41

So the the monster basically, like, chokes her and squishes her and then she turns into golden light.

Yeah.

And.

Same thing happens to the Minotaur when he stabs him.

Yeah, And then Percy ends up stabbing him.

So it it was that was another moment that I looked at no one.

And I was like, Percy's mom dies.

We were like, wait, what?

36:58

We were both very confused these early chapters.

I think we have also been in the mist for far too long.

Has it?

It's been like 15 years.

I don't know.

I was long time.

I think I started reading them when I was in college.

It's been so when I was like 18.

So that was 20 years ago, yeah.

37:14

It's been a lot.

It's been a long time, so this is fun. 20 years didn't come out until 2005.

Around then around then, it's.

It's been fun rediscovering this story, though, because it's good and I like it.

So Grover and Percy make their way to camp.

37:30

Yes?

So chapter 5, I play Pinochle with a horse.

So Chiron and Dionysus and Pinochle.

Oh my.

Percy has told the truth about the gods and discovers there's more to Mr. Brunner than meets the eye.

37:46

Oh my God, up with him.

So this chapter really begins.

So once Percy crosses the line into Camp Half Blood, he collapses.

And so he's being nursed back to health by various people that he has no idea who's nursing him back to health.

38:02

But this is our first introduction to Ambrosia.

And is it nectar?

So that they taste like your most fond memories, your most delicious things?

And So what?

Is it like buttered popcorn and chocolate chip cookies or something like that?

38:18

I think his is the the home cooked cook.

The cookies, Yeah, the homemade cookies that I was going to say home cook cookies that his mom made.

Like that's the thing.

And like, he could have sworn that he was drinking a warm drink, but it it wasn't.

And it also seems very powerful because Grover's like, no, more like you can't.

38:37

I think it's like you can get addicted to it.

Yeah, you can't have more than just that.

But we also kind of get glimpses of our #3 in this trio, Annabeth Chase.

And we do hear in his, like waking up and going back that like, you know, he he he's the chosen one, he must be.

38:54

And we hear somebody say be quiet, don't say anything.

He's still kind of conscious.

Like what is it about not telling Chosen ones that they're the chosen one for?

Us.

Nothing to do with them.

It's all because of us.

Like maybe if you just told them from the beginning then they would know they'd be able to train appropriately.

39:14

I mean, maybe though, like, maybe they don't train and they're just like, I'll be fine because like, I'm the chosen 1.

I guess it's something to be said about the hero's journey, right?

Is that they have to go through trials and tribulations to fully rise to their potential and know who they really are.

But like, if you just told the guy, he'd be sad.

39:31

So we have this new baby, little half blood.

He's new to the camp, he's new to everything.

But he killed a Minotaur, which a lot of people at camp apparently cannot say that they've done because they've just been training.

So already he's like the talk of the camp, but with that typically brings like bullies and like eyes on you that you might not want.

39:52

And Percy's not the type of person that would kind of want something like that, because I think that there are certain, like gods and their descendants who feel jealous that they aren't the ones who rose to fame or that defeated the minotaur, did whatever.

We do find out that there is like the big three, right?

40:08

It's like Aries, Zeus and Sidon.

And so like, especially people in those houses are going to be like have bigger heads than most of the other people or other people like vying to do better than them.

So yeah, there's a whole hierarchy that goes on within these, like 12 cabins or 12 houses or whatever you want to call them.

40:31

It's interesting.

He went from one school where it was like, oh, all these people have money.

And I don't till like kind of the same thing, but more like literal power and not just money, yeah.

Percy can't catch a break, basically.

And he's also, you know, with these kids who have been, who have known about Camp Half Blood, have been training.

40:48

So they already have an upper hand on him and are holding it against him that he's almost had an adventure.

Yeah, Alrighty.

I do love in this chapter because we get we get some more descriptions of of Camp Half Blood as we go.

But I really like the descriptions.

I think Rick, I'm using first name basis Rick, I did meet him once.

41:07

Oh had a book signing at the bookstore.

Very nice guy.

But he does great with the descriptions of this and it did very much seems like it was essentially like you put Greece like Greek architecture in this camp.

Yes.

In the woods in Long Island.

41:23

And that's what it is.

So there's 12 houses he gets a little tour of camp, half blood with.

Does Brenner give it to him or prover?

So in this particular chapter he just talks to Runner and he meets Dionysus and he's told about Camp Half Blood and why.

41:44

And this is something that I appreciated.

I remember, even when I first read it, that Mount Olympus is not a stationary thing.

It moves to wherever sort of Western culture is flourishing the most, and at this point in time it was seen as New York.

42:00

So it exists above the Empire State Building and that's why Camp Half Blood is out on Long Island.

They talk about it's like it's like the heart of, you know, the the soul of Western civilization.

And that's why they moved here.

So they've moved a couple times.

And that's why you have like Zeus and you have like Odin and like, you know, it's just wherever they've moved.

42:19

And now, currently they're just in America, which I do want to say, like, there is something funny for this whole thing, right, Of like, you know, the kid knows nothing about anything.

And then like he's like going to be on a quest to save Western civilization.

And it's like, OK, like what exactly does that mean?

42:40

I don't think they're the best, but it's.

Fine.

That is unfortunately the weight that a hero has to have on their shoulders.

God no ask no questions and just do it.

Me and we're also we're also introduced to Mr. D Dionysus.

42:58

Is sort of an interesting character.

You don't know whether to love him or to fear him.

And so I think that we see that he can get a little scary, he Percy says.

I saw visions of grapevines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turn to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts.

43:20

I knew that if I pushed him, Mr. D would show me worse things.

He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a straight jacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life.

Yeah, he he questioned.

Him being a God, he's like you, a God.

And then he shows him all that and it's like, oh, let.

Me tell you a little story, kiddo?

43:36

Yeah.

Look into my eyes.

So Dionysus is the God of wine, if you want to put it simply.

And he does not want to be there.

He's essentially like the headmaster, the the camp leader.

Right.

Director of Camp Half Blood.

And he's there because he's in trouble.

43:51

He's put in, he's grounded literally for a couple centuries so that he had a chance before and now he got grounded there.

He's got a bit of a chip on his shoulder and now he's just a babysitter and he does not like it.

No, he can't even like some of them wine and stuff like that.

He has to do Diet Cokes.

Which Grover eats the cans?

44:07

I didn't know Seders 8.

I guess he's metal part goat.

Yeah, but do goats eat metal?

They eat trash, yeah.

Trash.

That's illuminating.

Sure, Okay, it's good for them.

But for Grover, he loves it.

And then, of course, we get the big reveal that Mister Brunner steps out of his mystical wheelchair and he's actually Chiron.

44:29

Yes.

And if you have read the song of Achilles, my Madeline Miller, you know that they're a big character in that one.

They are the the Centaur that trained the heroes that we know in mythology, like Jason and Hercules.

And now he's training Percy.

44:46

Did you cry after reading Song of Achilles like everybody else in the world?

I did, yes.

So did I.

All right, on to our last chapter.

For this episode, Chapter 6, I become supreme Lord of the Bathroom, a tour of Camp Half Blood deems Percy undetermined and ends in a tidal wave of toilet water.

45:05

Yeah, so I like how we we didn't necessarily know what was going to happen in Chapter 6.

But I like this stopping because one of the big thing that's going to happen at camp is capture the flag and this is leading into them.

And right before we find too much information out, we get introduced to some of the cabin people and one of our antagonists that is at camp.

45:28

I don't like her, but Annabelle Chase?

Love her, Annabeth.

Did I say Annabelle?

I said.

I think I said Annabelle before, too.

Did you?

I didn't catch it.

Maybe Annabeth.

Oh my God, I'm so sorry.

OK, so the.

First episode first, but so yeah, so Annabeth Chase lover.

45:47

I love how he describes her too.

And he's like, you know, she has her hair is like curly, like a Princess.

And I'm like a 12 year old would say that.

But I'm glad that he is like respectfully describing this person that he's obviously infatuated with.

It's very cute.

Yes, I like it.

46:02

She there's there is that moment right away where you're going.

This could be more.

We also learn a little bit about Grover and that he has to reach a goal and demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, which we're not really sure if he's done yet.

46:18

He's failed?

Yeah, basically he doesn't want to fail again because I guess he can't continue to be a keeper if he fails.

And then what does a Seder do if they're not a keeper?

He doesn't want to.

Do it, obviously.

And then of course we do go on the tour.

And this is actually one of my favorite things I think in any sort of, you know, kids book where there's people from different places or houses or whatever you want to call it, we get to see the very personality of those people that are living in that place.

46:47

So we describe different houses we meet.

You know, we see the Aphrodite cabin, we get to Aries cabin, which is red and scary and look like somebody with rage just painted it with a red.

Yes, Wool Rage.

But we also get to Hermes's cabin, where we meet Luke, who is 19 years old, has a beaded necklace, and is very welcoming to Percy as an undetermined and not an actual child of Hermes.

47:13

This is this is really fun too.

Like thinking back on the set up for this stuff.

Luke is important to the story, but I like how like the gods that they're under, it just like all makes sense.

Hermes is a very interesting God.

He's actually one of my favorite ones because he's so complicated and can be scary and like his whole thing with like Cersei, it's just really cool.

47:36

But he's also the God of travellers, so that's why most it's cabin is one of the most packed cabins.

Because until you're determined, meaning you know what cabin you should be in, everybody goes to Hermes Cabin.

And also Annabeth is there too, because she doesn't know, so it's really nice.

47:54

How is there no mythical determination?

DNA test some Maury Povich of the Greek gods that can say you are the father.

I think it's like one of those things where it just adds to the story, right?

It's like, who were they like?

Oh, you know he felt a raging ocean in him.

48:12

Like, they can't just ask questions.

Like, do you feel any of these emotions?

Would you describe a stomach ache like this or like they?

Don't have a BuzzFeed, Chris.

And that's our problem.

That's what we're upset about.

I do.

It is funny though, because I think on the back of the book or the inside flap, whether you're reading paperback or hardcover, it literally says Percy Jackson, demigod son of Yeah, I mean, it's not, it's not really a spoiler, right?

48:35

It's like he's the son of Poseidon, I think.

It's like, oh spoilers, it's it's all over the place.

And also this book is like 20 plus years old.

So we know.

But it is fun.

It like adds to that thing, right, Of like which house is he going to be in?

Like reading for the first time?

48:51

You don't, you don't really know.

And like who are his friends going to be in?

Yeah, it's really cool.

I like it.

But he has no, there's no space in there because there's so many people seriously sleep on the floor.

But he does find out that there's like a capture the flag thing.

It's like a big thing that's going to happen there.

But we also do meet the jerk of the camp, Clarice Clarice.

49:10

And of course she comes from Aries.

Like that's her.

Her dad.

Yeah, apparently she's giant.

Yeah, she's.

Well, actually what I liked about the description of Arise again, I keep going back to the descriptions that he uses.

49:25

Is that like, she's not bad because she's big?

She's not, like, mean because she's like a big person, or like she she towers over people or whatever.

It's like she abuses her power.

Yes, but like, I liked in the description that it wasn't like, no, of course, because she's big.

49:44

She's mean.

Or, you know, like demonizing it in a way.

She just chose to be mean, yeah.

Well, the the way I saw the description is him going, she's so strong.

She must be so strong because she looks like she could, you know, lift a school bus or whatever it was.

So I agree I did like that, but of course we do.

50:02

But she is a bully and so she is our first real other than the Minotaur and Gabe antagonist here at Camp Half Blood.

And they do have a little bit of a showdown.

In the bathroom where she wants to give him a swirly, yeah.

She goes and tries to give him a swirly and he feels a tug in his stomach, which I love that descriptor, right.

50:24

I think that's like something that you can as like a 12 year old or us as adults.

I could feel that like we get those feelings sometimes and the toilets hose them down.

And not just like spray water.

No.

Literally pushes them out of the bathroom.

Guises so all of the camp can see what Percy just did.

50:42

If you don't know what his whom his father is at this point like, you know it's water.

Do you see what we're we're doing here?

But I'd love that, Annabeth.

One of her first thing was like, I want you on my team.

She knew the 2nd that she saw him.

She's like, it has to like there's something important about you and you're gonna be on my team for this.

51:01

Capture the flag.

And that's where we end, that's where we end our first six chapters.

I think it's such a great start, right?

I think if the 1st 50 pages don't really hook you, maybe the books not for you, but I wanted to keep reading, but because we're doing this book club I was like.

51:18

Yes, we.

But we we have our players in place now where we're.

We are very solidly on the hero's journey and we are learning a little bit more about each of them as we go on.

I'm very much looking forward to our next 6 chapters, Very exciting.

Is there anything else that you wanted to say about these six chapters before we I just oh, go ahead I was.

51:38

Going to say, I just think it's a solid introduction, you know, And so it it's it's bringing me joy, kind of.

Feeling that joy again that I felt when I was first reading it and the fact, like I said, that I've forgotten so many of the details.

It is sort of like reading it new again for the first time.

51:54

Yeah, I I do like the detail that we find out that Seder's mature, like half the rate that people do.

So like Grover's, like, what?

Like, in his 20s, technically.

But still in 6th grade.

In 6th grade, I like those little details that they give for the story.

52:11

I'm very excited.

Next episode we'll take the.

We'll post it in Discord or on socials, but quiz to find out what cabin that you're in.

I'm very curious to see what cabin Derek is in.

Watch it be Aries, you know.

52:30

It's always the nice ones.

I could be powerful.

Thank you very much.

I feel like I'm going to be in a jerk cabin.

I don't know.

I'm scared.

That would be maybe you'll be Hermes, perhaps, I mean.

52:45

Come on, kombucha girl, this guy, he said.

Kombucha Artemis?

No.

We'll see.

OK.

Yeah.

But don't forget to tell us what you think about these first six chapters.

You can do it on Discord or you can e-mail ABO nibbles@gmail.com ABO nibbles and then next week we have our next chapters.

53:08

Exciting times ahead.

Goodbye.

Bye.