Rebecca's Reviews > Athena the Brain

This is a middle school AU of Greek mythology. It provides a good explanation about why the gods are so capricious in myth: the majority are actually middle schoolers. It is more accurate than a middle school AU has any right to be, but it still takes some inaccuracies with the myths and interprets them strangely. There are many things that I thought the authors invented for this series, and then I find them in Percy Jackson or mythology books and I am surprised.

The main character, Athena, has been raised on Earth, and then she is invited to transfer to Mount Olympus. I know there was a period in the myths where she was training with humans in Libya, one of those humans being Pallas, a character in this book, but I don’t think that corresponds to Athena’s backstory here. The reason, I think, why Athena was raised human here is because so she would be a stand-in for the audience, and also a Hermione-type, studying a lot and being really smart so she can catch up to everyone else.

Athena gets introduced to the world. In classes, the gods play with mortals like toys. Athena meets a lot of characters. She feuds with Medusa and makes friends with Aphrodite, Artemis, and Persephone. Athena is less of a jerk than she is in myth, and she feuds with Poseidon, who is even more of a drip than he is in myth. Although Poseidon is an older Olympian in myth, he is the same age as Athena here so he can feud with her about Athens.

This book is a bit silly, but it’s also very good. It’s a great introduction to Greek mythology for kids and little girls, even if it is only a springboard for further discussion.