Michael G. Munz

Michael Reads Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief (Ch 9)

November 9, 2014 By Michael G. Munz 2 Comments

The square root of nine is three! And what does that tell us?
Absolutely nothing.

Oracles in the Attic! No, it’s not a V.C. Andrews novel; it’s time for the ninth chapter of Michael Reads Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief…

I Am Offered a Quest

After a bit of good ol’ fashioned teenaged social ostracizing (on what could arguably be termed an officially “epic” level, given the mythological connections), Percy is offered a quest! It’s an exciting development that would have been completely surprising were it not for the spoiler in the chapter title. (I’m teasing, The Lightning Thief, I’m teasing. I still likes ya!) [Read more…]

Michael Reads Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief (Ch 7)

November 3, 2014 By Michael G. Munz Leave a Comment

Yeah, it’d be nice if there were a clever caption here, but we can’t always get what we want.

Something was stolen, monsters are attracted to demigods, and Mr. D’s still cranky. I now present the seventh chapter of Michael Reads Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief…

My Dinner Goes Up in Smoke

This is another chapter that’s primarily given to world-building and character development, both of which are welcome things at the moment. Most of the development goes to Annabeth while she introduces Percy to more of the camp and many of the concepts related to it. I still like her – she’s friendly enough, but she’s got her own agenda as well; this is a good thing. She seems to be her own character rather than just a prop for Percy. Luke, the counselor that’s one of Hermes’s sons, got a bit of development, too, but so far the book hasn’t had a chance to give him too much depth. [Read more…]

Michael Reads Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief (Ch 4)

October 24, 2014 By Michael G. Munz 1 Comment

Send Fourth the Minotaur!

Lightning-lit battles, horny adversaries, and even more pantsless-Grover! It must be time for another installment of Michael Reads Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief. It’s the 4th chapter…

My Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting

MY mother once taught me how to catch bumblebees. Never bullfighting. Then again, there were very few bulls in our neighborhood, to say nothing of minotaurs. That’s county zoning law for ya. [Read more…]

Michael Reads Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief (Ch 3)

October 22, 2014 By Michael G. Munz 1 Comment

See that exclamation point? It means get excited!
…Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Lousy step-parents, blue candy, prophetic dreams, and missing pants! That can only mean that it’s time for another installment of Michael Reads Percy Jackson! Enter The Lightning Thief, chapter three, a.k.a.:

Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants

I suppose it’s better to lose them unexpectedly. …I’m not sure how to back up that statement. And that’s my favorite chapter title so far. [Read more…]

Book Review: The Kingdom by Cain S. Latrani

October 21, 2014 By Michael G. Munz Leave a Comment

From Goodreads: My review of Cain S. Latrani’s insane comedic fantasy, The Kingdom…

The Kingdom by Cain S. Latrani

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If I may borrow from Forrest Gump (and that shows you how old *I* am), this book is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re gonna get. Each chapter of The Kingdom is a short story making up the larger whole, and each story contains things that are:

Laugh-out-loud hilarious
Absurd
Offensive (in a funny way)
Offensive (in a not-so-funny way)
Meta
Referential
Completely bonkers
Tacos

[Read more…]

Michael Reads Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief (Ch 2)

October 19, 2014 By Michael G. Munz 3 Comments

Two comes after one!

Okay, so chalk up two gigantic marks on the “Michael Guessed Wrong” tally. Today I encounter overheard conversations, old women with dangerous shears, and likely centaurs in Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief, chapter two, a.k.a.:

Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death

I’m a big fan of adding the suffix “of death” to pretty much anything. (Though I tend to prefer “-o-death” for a more festive bit of mortal danger…) I therefore liked this chapter right from the title. I was also pretty sure it meant we’d be seeing–or at least hearing about–the Fates (a.k.a. the Moirae). In Zeus Is Dead, the Fates were at once the most difficult and the most interesting characters for me to write, so I was eager to see how Riordan tackled them. [Read more…]

Michael Reads Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief (Ch 1)

October 16, 2014 By Michael G. Munz 3 Comments

(The full chapter title wouldn’t fit in the image.)

And so it begins. A simple field trip, pre-teen social stress, and confirmation of what we’ve all suspected: at least some of our math teachers are secretly bloodthirsty harpies just waiting for us to screw up so that they can kill us. All this and more in Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief, chapter one, a.k.a.: