Pretty good, an excellent book for early and tentative readers. Not brilliant but fun and exciting. Riordan's fast paced action makes the story come alive and his classic humor brings back a few laughs. Again, not a brilliant book but a fun read and nice book to reread every once in a while
I am impressed by these books for my 4th graders. Reasons: contemporary setting: iPods, earring in nose, etc., historical background the adventure weaves around finding clues that relate to a famous historical person - so some actual learning might take place. The books remind me of the Magic Treehouse series but these books are set at a higher reading level. The language is clean and the attitudes are fairly decent. The suspense keeps the interest up.