On the Radar: 'The Demigod Files'
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By John A. Sellers -- Publishers Weekly, 1/22/2009
After a four-year run, Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series—about a boy who discovers he is a son of Poseidon and embarks on a string of modern-day adventures involving ancient Greek gods, heroes and villains—will draw to a close this spring. But arriving ahead of the fifth and final book is a companion title, The Demigod Files. The paper-over-board title aims to make readers experts on the Percy Jackson universe, offering interviews with characters from the series, games, puzzles and two original short stories by Riordan.
Although The Demigod Files doesn’t go on sale until February 10, Disney-Hyperion has already sold out of an initial printing of 300,000 copies and has gone back to press, bringing the in-print total to 500,000 copies. The publisher has created an in-store display for the book, as well as a video featuring Riordan, viewable on the Percy Jackson Web site.
The final Percy Jackson book, The Last Olympian, pubs May 5 (readers can get a sneak peek at the book in The Demigod Files, which includes an excerpt). Riordan will embark on a multi-city U.S. tour, beginning on The Last Olympian’s laydown date, with tour details to be announced in the coming months. And Riordan fans can take heart: as PW previously reported, the author has a Camp Half-Blood spin-off series set to debut in 2011, as well as another new fantasy series launching in 2010.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Demigod Files by Rick Riordan. Disney-Hyperion, $12.95 ISBN 978-1-4231-2166-4
