I've been reading
Harry Potter for a quite a while now as you can probably tell if you've read a
lot of my pieces. As of a few months ago, I finally finished reading every
single book in the series, front to back. Not too soon after I finished my
friend nearly forced me to start reading
the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series, claiming it was supposedly as good
or better than Harry Potter. Upon
finishing the first book and currently reading through the 2nd I've noticed
quite a lot of similarities between the two series.
For one thing, both
books are about a normal boy discovering an alternate fantasy world to reality.
For Harry Potter it's the Wizarding World and for Percy Jackson it's the
Olympian World. In both series, these alternate fantasies are hidden and kept
secret from the normal people the world.
Another blatant similarity would be Hogwarts, Harry's school, and Camp
Half Blood, Percy's Summer camp. Both books center around going to these places
that act as a "true home" for Harry and Percy. They feel most
comfortable when they are their and train for their future. Not only that, but
even the character set up is pretty similar! Harry, Ron, and Hermione; Percy,
Grover, and Annabeth. Percy being the main character. Grover being Percy's good
friend is like how Ron is to Harry. Annabeth being the smart female of the
group just like Hermione. Gabe, Percy's mean step father, is basically the
equivalent of the Dursleys, Harry's family, to Percy. They both are treated
terribly by them. I could really go on forever with the similarities, honestly.
However even though
there are tons and tons of similarities, obviously they can't be exactly the
same. The over all writing styles of the two series are completely different
from each other. Harry Potter is written in the 3rd person in a very formal
way, not using any slang and using a big vocabulary. Percy Jackson is in first
person in Percy's perspective and is written a lot more casually because of it.
This probably also has to do with the setting in which the two books take place
and where they are written. While Harry Potter takes place in and is written in
United Kingdom, Percy Jackson takes place in and is written in America. These
two different cultures make a big difference when it comes to the writing. And
of course, probably one of the more obvious differences, is the theme. As
stated before Harry Potter has to do with the Wizarding World and magic while
Percy Jackson has to do with Greek Mythology and Gods. While Percy Jackson has
to do with young warriors learning how to fight monsters, Harry Potter is about
young wizards and witches learning magic. They're two completely different
themes.
That being said, I
still think both books are very, very similar. I recall upon reading the first
Percy Jackson something about Percy seeing someone reading a book with a wizard
on the cover. Could this be a settle nod to Harry Potter? Could the Percy Jackson
series indeed be inspired by the Harry Potter series, if not only partly?
Perhaps that's why they are so similar to each other? Either way, at the end of
the day I still prefer Potter over Jackson regardless.
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