My son's current favorite author, so I thought I'd read the Norse gods series with him. I know very little about Norse mythology, so I have no idea where Riordan has minipulated tradition for his own purposes. This was a fun, though very snarky introduction. I appreciate snark as a literary device, but I think it was overused here, sometimes deminishing a climatic event. Or maybe I'm too old, since I'm obviously outside the target age range. I look forward to reading the next books in the series with my son. Riordan's other series have certainly sparked my son's interest in traditional mythology, which is essential to reading Classic literature.