Race in Percy Jackson

So, I haven't been reviewing the Percy Jackson series, because I've been listening to them and I don't review audio books (have to draw the line somewhere!) BUT! I have been enjoying them (I'm currently on disc 1 of Last Olympian.)

Anyway, Chasing Ray had a link to this post at HappyNappyBookseller about the racial implications of one of the character deaths in Last Olympian. (Not too spoilery--the death happened like, in Track 6 on the first disc, so it's fairly early.)

It's worth a read.

Also, I'd like to call out Jesse Bernstein, who narrates these books. Asian-American characters DO NOT have Asian accents. Sorry, nope. There is no reason that Mrs. Chase should have a really, really thick generically-East Asian accent. NONE. It bugged me so much, I even grabbed a copy of the book to see if she was written with one. NO. Also, if I recall correctly, Ethan Nakamura doesn't need a slight Japanese accent. Just because you're Asian doesn't mean you're not a native speaker of English. D'UH.

I love the series, and overall the audio is really good, but this bugs me to no end. And it's not the way the books were written.