I'm a not-so-closet young adult books fan. I've tackled the Harry Potter saga, the first of the Twilight series (with a quick flameout in the second), and the first of Rick Riordan's books in the Percy Jackson series, The Lightning Thief. I actually read the last when the movie was in the theaters so I was happy to give it a spin once it broke out on DVD as Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Chris Columbus of Home Alone and the first three Harry Potter movies (among others) helmed it, while a host of stars, including Liam Neeson, Uma Thurman, Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Rosario Dawson, and Ray Winstone filled out the parts of adults in the series' mythology. Packed with special effects (seriously, what did you expect from a book littered with humans who bear the power of the gods?) the Blu-ray version springs deep waters of wild special effects and crazy energy.

Percy (Logan Lerman) doesn't know much about his origins when we first meet him, and his subsequent coming to awareness mirrors the coming of age that we'd expect from a teenager. Obviously, there are Harry Potter parallels, but the way that Riordan's world integrates the world of the gods and the mythology with the normal, everyday world that you and I expect is our reality makes this quite different. Sure, other books and movies have also tried to integrate the hot topics of Greek mythology which seem to rise and fall or cycle through every decade or so when they become "cool" again.

Percy isn't an orphan, which sets him apart from just about every Disney protagonist (and Harry again), but he is joined by a ragamuffin crew of peers who may or may not be what they seem, providing humor and fellowship along with his merry quest. Of course, there are actually five books in this series, with an additional second series scheduled to release in the fall, but here, we're in the getting-to-know-you stage with Percy. We also get to know his buddy Grover (Brandon T. Jackson), his best girl Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario), and the rest of the motley crew which pop up throughout the series.

I know some people have screamed "knockoff," but to me there's plenty here to go around. Having been captivated by The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings, The Wrinkle In Time series, The Dark Is Rising, and everything by Lloyd Alexander as a youth, I know there's plenty of imagination to spare, and I think there's room for Percy right next to Harry. We've definitely been set up for Percy to show up again and again through movies, and the graphic novel we get a sneak peek at here.

Thankfully, the three-disc version includes the digital, the standard, and the Blu-ray, as well as sneak peeks behind the scenes of Camp Half-Blood, with the gods, and a bunch of add-ons. The new Live Look features includes featurettes from Fantastic Mr. Fox, Tooth Fairy, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. But that's all icing on the cake compared to the exploration of Percy's world, and the opportunity to reflect on what it means for us to examine our own possibilities, intentions, and destinies.

Percy isn't expecting any of this to happen when he wakes up, but what results is a phenomenal grasping of the opportunity laid out before him. Sure, he can't do it alone, but it's like a great awakening, not unlike our realization that we are meant for something more, when we reach out and grasp the grace extended to us through Christ. Sure, the mythology is different (and fictional) but the understanding is still there: we're meant for something more than we can see, intended to use our gifts for the greater good, and bound to battle evils we can't see, evils who long to stop us from our ultimate goal of achieving peace and seeing God's kingdom reign on earth. That's not exactly where Percy ends up... but it's close. And you'll enjoy riding the waves of his progress, cheering him on from the shore.