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The demigods are as diverse as us mere mortals, and so are their adventures. In this companion to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus series' Riordan Riordan gives us a few sneak peaks back in time to fill in gaps around the other stories, and his son, Haley Riordan, takes the groundbreaking series his father started as his own bedtime stories and gives us his first story set in the world of demigods.
"The Diary of Luke Castellan"
Luke is a character we see as a bad seed, but there has to be more to him. In this diary excerpt, we see Luke and Thalia fighting for their lives out in the world against the monsters who hunt them. What they don't expect is to find another kind of demigod who could be their very undoing.
"Percy Jackson and the Staff of Hermes"
The gods can be many thing, but one thing they can be counted on for is to need the demigods to do their dirty work. All Percy wants to do is spend time with Annabeth, his newly anointed girlfriend, but Hermes has another plan for their time, and of course, it involves one bizarre and cantankerous monster!
"Leo Valdez and the Quest for Buford"
As a son of Hephaestus, Leo is an amazing tinkerer. Unfortunately, by failing to properly care for a magical end table, he may have lost the key to stopping certain disaster (Windex is NOT the same as Lemon Pledge!). Luckily, his friend would never let him fail.
"Son of Magic"
Claymore doesn't have time for questions, and certainly not questions that will cause him as much trouble as Alabaster's question. As the leading expert on death, Alabaster hopes Claymore can help him stop the evil woman who is coming after them, but he has no idea how dangerous it is to even know Alabaster.
This was a cute selection of short stories separated by word jumbles and quizzes to test your knowledge of the Greek vs. Roman gods. The short stories were not necessary for understanding the rest of the series', but they are certainly fun for the Olympus buff. The final story, "Son of Magic," is interestingly written by Riordan's son, Haley Riordan. Before the story, in a short note, he explains the Percy Jackson sagas began as bedtime stories to his son, and Haley was given the opportunity to write a story for this book. To be honest, that story has a very different tone from Rick's stories, which you have to be prepared for (it is very dark!), but I was quite impressed. It is a different kind of story, but the idea that the original audience for these stories delivered this contribution at the age of 16 is pretty impressive! Of course, he doesn't have the same abilities of his father, but if he keeps writing like this, he will get there some day!
"Welcome and Congratulations. You have been chosen to become one of the Nephilim."
The Shadowhunter's Codex is a manual for new Shadowhunters. It is meant to guide them into their new, dangerous, usually short life. The life of a Shadowhunter is violent and often brief, but their role in containing rogue Downworlders and preventing harm upon mundanes by demons and the like is an important one. While most Shadowhunters are born into the life, some mundanes can ascend to become Raziel's soldiers. For those who have not been raised as a Shadowhunter, there is a lot to learn. The Codex is meant to guide those young, new Shadowhunters to prevent their even more untimely deaths.
This is a brief little book that is mostly unnecessary if you have followed along with the series up to its most recent book. It details everything from the Mortal Instruments to a Shadowhunter's weapons to the different kinds of Downworlders. While I didn't mind all this information, and enjoyed this little manual, it is pretty repetitive and would make only the most die-hard fans happy. The most important information you get is the history in the last part of the book. The history of the Shadowhunters has been touched on in bits and pieces throughout the series, but it was good to have it all together in one place.
The most entertaining part of this book wasn't the actual book itself, but the "notations" made by Clary, Jace, and Simon. They were funny little quips, especially about the parts where the Codex is lacking due to plot events from previous books. If I hadn't read the series, though, these little smart-guy comments wouldn't make much sense. I would use this book for a student who is going through the series but reads slow and might lose track of different names that are complex and unfamiliar. Using this as a dictionary/reference of sorts for those oddball items and names would help them keep up with the series at their own pace. It was a cute companion to the story, but if you read pretty steadily with the series, it isn't entirely necessary for your Mortal Instruments enjoyment!
