User blog comment:Xean/Percy Jackson doesn't want to be Harry Potter/@comment-99.66.37.12-20091208041319

"They are really not alike except that they are both "fantasy". That is where all similarities end."

Actually, this isn't true, although I agree that they're mostly compared to HP for the same reason that HP is compared to LotR. . . that's all the fantasy that most "mainstream" book and movie reviewers know.

That said, some parallels that go beyond "both are fantasy" (that don't mean there's any inspiration, etc.): 1) Main characters: Orphan (or near orphan) Boy with super-parent(s), Brainiac Girl, somewhat Clumsy/Goofy Sidekick Boy (HP the "Chosen One" - PJ, Son of Poseidon; Hermione Granger - Annabeth, Daughter of Athena; Ron Weasley - Grover) 2) Boarding school in both cases (Camp Halfblood - Hogwarts), both of which have magical protection

Of course, in both cases, these elements are part of a system that has been proven to work (based on sales and bestseller status). Obviously, boarding school stories have been around for 200+ years and the trio of heroes is fairly common even back to the Arthurian legends. And magic (demi-god) schools have been around in fiction for most of the last century.

What I find amusing (and this is as a 30-something fan) is the idea common in several posts here that a person can only be a fan of one series or another. I say this as a big fan of Rowling, Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl), and, more recently, Riordan, with minor interest in Jonathan Stroud's Bartemaeus trilogy and major fandom of several "adult" authors' series (C.J. Cherryh, Karen Traviss, Larry Niven, et. al.)