Wise words of Stannis Baratheon.

It's not bad, but reading so many nauseating PJO fanfics makes me wary of picking it up. Even then I'm leery on continuing to read this.

My only problem (aside from possible abandonment, but that's pure entitlement) is the jarring 'half-flashback, half-actual shit happening).

It's better than most PJO fanfics for sure, but it keeps me from being immersed in learning what Percy did. It's sort of like you're watching this crazy good movie, you're partway through it, then some asshole grabs you and says,

"Nope!"

And throws you into another movie theater. It's incredibly disconcerting.

 

It's been updated once a year for the past two or three years, so I don't think it's abandoned so much as just slow in coming.

 

Eh.

Could be my cynicism, or my familiarity with at least monthly updates. I still think it's abandoned.

 

I think the author is in their late twenties and works a full time job. She’s said previously that this is the main cause of her slower update schedule.

That said, I do agree with salsa’s point on the flashbacks. From the second chapter on, I was much more interested in what was happening in the current time (labeled as “5 years after the titan war”).

EDIT: the information in the first paragraph of this post was not from ANs, but in fact my PMs with this author on FF.net.

 

You have a point.

/shrugs/

However (again, cynicism) it's things like these that kind of make me meh

I want to kill something.

Again, slow updates. I merely don't get too optimistic about a story unless it has a fairly quick update schedule. That would be within at least a month.

Despite how much I sneer at the (guest's) review, I largely don't get too optimistic about certain stories for a similar reason. Sometimes real life gets in the way, and I'm not spiteful about that.

 

In the AN at the end of chapter 5, the author said that she had Percy meet Hercules to “cut out a lot of the writing she had planned for the Giant War”. This, coupled with the fact that the author has been writing this story for five years, is barely enough to break through my long-earned cynicism. This was the best fic of one of my favorite book series’ as a kid, so my hope for a good PJ fic starts and ends here.

 

This story went on hiatus for almost four years between chapters 3 and 4 so I'm not really concerned about a few months. And besides that, the author is active on SB and has posted about the story a couple of times since the last update.

 

I'm glad you can be optimistic about it.

/shrugs again/

But I won't be.

 

Have you considered fucking off?

Seriously man, you've made your point. You're a cynical old bastard. Cool story. Next please.

EDIT: On a more on topic topic, I actually like the back and forth between the past and the present. The main plot is fun and all, but I'm loving seeing Percy explore the world without a care. Nice to see the hero get a break every once in a while.

 

No, no, the point's got across. I was being a toxic asshole.

I'll stop screwing around here. Hopefully, I haven't ruined the story for you.

 

Welp, just woke up and saw it updated. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10043079/6/Son-of-the-Western-Sea

Going to read now.

 

Yup. Just finished reading the update. Percy's continuing his personal journey despite the gods restricting his physical location to the western world, which is great. It feels like things are settling into a place they always should have been - as if he ran a lap around his destiny before beginning to settle into it.

The author has done a great job of intimating at the type of predestination which was a big thing in Greek mythology. Not necessarily Percy's fate, but as if there was a particular shaped hole in fate waiting just upstream, and Percy just so happens to be growing into the right shape to fit it.

 

An update!
Hell. Yes.

This chapter has just the right amount of foreshadowing in it to keep this interesting. I cannot wait to see how this author is going to handle the Giant War, especially when Percy is being brought more “into the loop” in regards to Hera’s plan. It might just be the my personal hope, but is that a Percy/Artemis pairing I smell? Yes? No? Given how she expressed her reaction to him regarding his past relationships, in addition to her questioning Rachel on Percy’s precious personal conduct, I hope I’m not just reading into things too much.

 

I feel like this chapter was nearly a response to reviews he may have gotten, he explicitly shows how much more powerful the greek gods are than their counterparts here.

 

Artemis' defining characteristic is that's she's a virgin goddess. It's at the centre of her entire character. She's not questioning Percy's past relationships out of self-interest, she's doing it out of the contempt she feels for all men, even those like Percy who are somewhat redeemable in her eyes.

I have confidence that the author isn't a hack who will destroy a character for the sake of forcing a pairing, especially after the care and consideration that went into Percy's previous hookup here. I mean, in what other fanfiction does the protagonist manage to have an M/M/F threesome while remaining in character and having it be a source of legitimate plot conflict as opposed to inane fluff or smut? Even the very fact that it was a threesome helped to cement the picture that it was somehow a conspiracy by the Eastern gods to steal Percy away from the Western ones, and doubtlessly caused the conflict to escalate more than had Percy just hooked up with some random foreign goddess.

I cannot see any possible way in which a Percy/Artemis pairing would ever be possible, and the whole thing smacks of the "lesbian conversion" hetero posturing nonsense you occasionally see from dudes taking it as a point of pride to hook up with lesbians and convert them to dick.

 

A fair point, and it’s entirely possible my own weaknesses to that pairing are blinding me.

That said, stranger things have happened in FanFiction and mythology. I have every confidence that if someone can make that pairing work, it’s this author. Not that will it will happen, but I get the feeling that based on the word count compared to the progress made through “canon” events, this is going to be a longer story.

A lot of things can happen on a global, inter-pantheon scale. A god or goddess changing and/or losing part of their representation is far from implausible. Of course, given that the odds of that pairing actually being used are low, and is used distastefully by most people, I feel as though it will be a moot point.

 

Not to turn this into a debate on “who does Percy hook up with next”, but I feel like pretty much all of the Greek pantheon wouldn’t appeal to Percy. He hates when the gods get nosy into his love life, and he’s probably aware enough to not shit where he will soon be eating. Maybe the muse of astrology, just because they’re destined to at least be working together.

All and all, great chapter. Loved how Percy has been shown to be growing in strength.

 

Apparently, my hopes will go unfulfilled, in this fic at least.

Mac messaged me on ff.net and asked me to inform everyone that the virgin goddess’ sexualities will remain unchanged.

/me sad

For those interested, according to the author,

“The breaking point will come when Percy is caught between conflicting loyalties, not because he finally gives up on Poseidon and his father's family.”

She is apparently planning to have Percy go through the Giant Arc as a demigod still. Well, with him believing he is a demigod. This could mean that there is going to be a more expansive story than just Canon “Heroes of Olympus” stuff, which is an awesome idea if true.

Edit: I just confirmed with the author that the story does not end with Gaia. I’m absolutely looking forwards to original, post canon work from an author this talented.

 

Wait were you actually serious about wanting that to happen? Oof.