I'm reading these out loud as bedtime stories for my son. He LOOOOVES them, and I'm enjoying them. It's 3.5 stars, really, but I'm rounding up to four to account for that. And hey, at least Riordan isn't butchering the mythology like some folks. 
 Sometime when I have a minute to myself (when I'm not single-momming a sick seven-year-old, for starts), I would like to expound upon my personal interpretation of the Greek Gods and what they were for. Because frankly, I think of Western Civilization - that is, classical Greek philosophy, politics, science and art - to consist largely of shaking one's puny mortal fist at those asshole gods and their stinking afterlife. I don't think classical scholars would agree with me, but then, there's a reason I decided I couldn't stomach grad school.