Move aside Daniel Radcliffe, there’s a new bemused and unlikely hero in town. 

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief is the latest kids book to be given the Hollywood treatment. The American series centres on a young boy, Percy, who discovers that he is the son of the Greek God Posiedon. As you can imagine, this news rather changes the young lad’s perspective on things, and he rather sensibly decides to leave the drudgery of everyday life in favour of beating up the Gods ‘n that. So far, so good.

The only problem  is that Harry Potter fans everywhere are raising squeaky and shrill complaints about the novels, stating that they believe the premise to be far too close to the JK Rowling creations. Some of the issues include: 

1. Like Harry, Percy gets whisked away at a young age (12 rather than Potter’s 11) to ‘demigod camp’. Can anyone say ‘Hogwarts’?

2. Both heroes have similar side-kicks; a bumbling but soft hearted chum and an overbearing, intelligent lady-friend. Ron and Hermoine make up the Potter camp, and Percy risks it all with a pal named Grover Underwood and a love-interest by the name of Annabeth. 

3. Potter gets to Hogwarts via Kings Cross station. Percy enters the world of the Gods via The Empire State Building. Is it just me, or is Percy sounding just a hell of a lot cooler than the wizard dude?

4. Harry and Percy both end with a ‘y’.

Only time will tell whether these claims have any real clout, but one only has to look at the wealth of literature JK ‘borrowed’ from to realise that all is fair in love, war and annoying fictional teenagers.