What is special about the Percy Jackson Book Series?
The Percy Jackson book series is a special epic fantasy fiction series written by Rick Riordan, loved by adults and children alike. The series revolves around the main character, Percy Jackson, who discovers he is a demigod (half-human, half-god) after Mr. D tells him and takes him to Camp Half-Blood. Percy Jackson then goes on many adventures with his friends Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood.
Throughout the series, Percy Jackson must stop the evil forces that are trying to take over the world or destroy it. In the first book, The Lightning Thief, Percy Jackson must find Zeus’ stolen lightning bolt before a war between the gods starts. In the second book, The Sea of Monsters, Percy Jackson and his friends go on a quest to save Camp Half-Blood from an attack by Kronos’ army. The third book, The Titans Curse, sees Percy Jackson and his friends rescuing Annabeth from Hades’ realm. The fourth book, The Battle of the Labyrinth, has Percy Jackson and his friends trying to stop Kronos from rising to power. And finally, in the fifth and last book of the series, The Last Olympian, Percy Jackson and his friends must stop Kronos from taking over Mount Olympus.
The action-packed books in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series has been very popular, and has won several awards, including being named a New York Times Bestseller. But, all good things must come to an end. Don’t worry though, because we have the perfect series to read next!
The Wullie the Mahaar Gome Series – the next Percy Jackson?
Readers and critics alike have called the Wullie the Mahaar Gome series the next Percy Jackson! The books follow the adventures of a young boy named Finnley McDougall and his best friend, a young girl named Hadley Kobayashi, who – like Percy and Annabeth – need to fight evil with the help of some magical and mythological creatures. But, unlike the Greek Gods in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson, our heroes have to save the world with the help of rock creatures called gomes. One gome in particular is very special, and his name is Wullie!
Meet the Gomes – the Heroes and Villains of This Epic Series
Like the Percy Jackson series, the Wullie the Mahaar Gome saga is full of magical creatures. However, unlike the ancient demons & good and evil gods Percy Jackson fans are used to in the series by Rick Riordan, the creatures in this series are magical rock creatures called Gomes. Gomes are as old as time itself and ruled long before the dinosaurs. When the earth cooled volcanos and it’s formation, they went to sleep. It is only recently that humans have disturbed them, digging into the earth for treasures and tossing aside the Gomes like worthless rubble. Gomes only reveal themselves to selected humans, either befriend or scare them. Because children have a better imagination and are more accepting of unusual things than most grown ups, children find it easier to recognize and interact with gomes. Kids who like Percy Jackson are sure to love meeting the gomes in each new book in the series!
Meet Wullie, The Perfect Companion for People who love books like Percy Jackson!
Wullie, the titular gome of our series, has lived for thousands of years and has met many amazing people along the way. Unlike most gomes who eat rocks, Wullie eats a big variety of types of metal and uses their properties to help him. If someone grabs him by surprise, whether he is in his living state or his petrified rock state, he can sting them to get away. He also carries a lizard skin backpack with him, which holds cool and helpful things. Wullie is a fierce fighter, and will punch and slash his way out of any situation to make things right.
The Best Fantasy Books to Read That Are Similar to Percy Jackson
For parents of middle-grade and other young readers who love Percy Jackson and the other ‘Rick Riordan presents’ books, it’s best to hear it from our fans of all ages. The parents of 12-year-old Holly said:
“We loved learning about Scottish Folklore and adventuring through familiar Seattle locales with the rude, scruffy and endearing Wullie-The- Mahaar-Gome and the dynamic, mystery solving Finn and Hadley. Old Scots Words & Slang a bonus and some good laughs. Had to pause for giggles many times while attempting to read aloud together.”
For the families of Percy Jackson readers looking for adventure books, these large chapter books are perfect to read aloud or on your own.
What About Adults Who Love Percy Jackson and other Rick Riordan Books?
The Wullie the Mahaar Gome fantasy series is not just for children – it’s for all readers who like Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan! While this is a story about a young boy and girl at the surface, it’s for everyone, just like Percy Jackson’s series of books. One Amazon reviewer says
“Right from the start to the end, the author had me transferred to a remarkable storyline filled with endless entertainment. The grandeur of the different scenarios and characters is clearly felt with the author’s precise way of narration. Highly recommended to readers from all age groups to be enjoyed immensely.”
The Wullie the Mahaar Gome Series: The Perfect Books to Read Next
No matter how old you are, entries from the Wullie the Mahaar Gome series will certainly be some of your favorite books. These books don’t feature Percy Jackson’s Greek mythology – this series takes a step away from Greek Gods like Apollo and traditional fairy tales and focuses on Scottish Folklore, a whole land of stories that hasn’t been explored by mainstream media.
Author David Kennedy McCulloch says There are no dragons, vampires, norse mythology or medieval knights in these pages. Gomes (NOT gnomes) have complicated lives with underground cities, strange customs, magical powers and political rivalries. My stories have a strong connection to Scottish mythology but take readers all over the world and even back in time. Many Scottish words (especially the insults) are onomatopoeic and are great fun to say out loud. Each book comes with a glossary in case you want to know that a “ramstougerous tatterwallop” is a “boisterous and disorderly scarecrow.” If you’re looking for more books like Artemis Fowl or anything from the Rick Riordan presents imprint line of stories, you’ll love Wullie the Mahaar gome!
In book one, Finnley McDougall’s boring schoolboy life in Seattle gets turned upside down when Great Uncle Hugh gives him a most unusual gift – a scruffy, rude, bad-tempered Scottish rock creature called Wullie who brings danger and disaster with him wherever he goes.From French snobs in fancy hotels, rusting barges on the Seattle waterfront, abandoned coalmines and flooded quarries in the Scottish hillsides filled with bullies, gangsters, slobbering dogs and weird food Finn is drawn into an evil plot that threatens to destroy everything he loves… including Edinburgh Castle. The only person who thinks that Finn is smart enough or brave enough to survive all this is his best friend and next door neighbor, Hadley Kobayashi, a girl who is wiser and tougher than Finn.
In the second book in the series, A beloved sculpture is stolen by an acid-spitting rock creature in Barcelona. A smart, brave thirteen year-old girl deals with her father’s ditzy girlfriends in Seattle. A doleful sandstone gome battles wolf hounds and guard geese at Cragganbogle Castle on the Western Isles of Scotland. When Finnley and Hadley’s Seventh Grade class is invited to spend a vacation in Spain these unlikely events are drawn together into an adventure filled with more danger, weird food, snooty popular girls, underground cave cities and evil bog witches than they could have hoped for. Can they survive the Rock Pit of Torture and Justice, attacks by a cloud of midges and divebombing bonxies, and the embarrassment of Hadley’s mother’s naked Druid dance under the Midsummer moonlight? Only if their scruffy, rude, bad-tempered companion, Wullie, can do the impossible.
These are just two of the five books in the Wullie the Mahaar Gome series, with many more to go! Continue reading for an interview with the author.
Meet the Author
David Kennedy McCulloch is the author of the Wullie-the-Mahaar-Gome fantasy fiction series. These are scruffy, rude, bad-tempered mystery adventures for the young at heart. They are strongly based in Scottish folklore but will take you into places all over the world and into your imagination. The main character, Wullie (Scottish for William or Willie or Bill or…) is a grumpy rock creature, or gome (not gnome! Wullie is likely to throw something at you if you call him a gnome) who becomes entangled in the lives of humans in the most delightful, scary, hilarious, dangerous ways. David grew up in a quiet rural backwater of Scotland where his dad was the village schoolteacher. He got marooned on an island in the wild, wet, wonderful Pacific Northwest where his writing is interrupted by visits from his kids and grandkids. Most of the time he is not scruffy, rude, bad-tempered or mysterious. But sometimes he is.
Interview with the Author
Please introduce yourself to readers. I grew up in a tiny hamlet in rural Scotland (Mahaar is a real place) where my father was the village schoolmaster. The idea for Wullie came from the mouth of a local dairyman to my five-year-old ears. A long-lived species of rock creatures is living secretly among us feeding on human emotion while plotting to destroy us and take over the planet. That concept stayed in my subconscious for decades before erupting onto the pages of my notebook in vivid detail as I sat in ferry lines. It grew into this scruffy, rude, bad-tempered mystery adventure series.
What should we expect from the Wullie the Mahaar Gome series this year? You can expect to see Hugh McDougall’s Field Guide to the World of Gomes: Volume 1 later this year which will help readers recognize the various gomes and other fantastical parts of the world of gomes. And I realized I have several adventures that just didn’t make it into the books so those will be released in Adventure Decks card games from Blue Forge Gaming so that readers can have those adventures right alongside Finnley and friends. When I asked Wullie if he needed a break he answered, “What kind of draft question is that? Just sit on my rocky wee bum and let evil gomes wreak vengeance?! Away you go so I can think up me plan!” So I guess I should add that Book 5, Desolation Moor, is due out in 2023 as well.
There are more than 600,000 novels published every year in America alone. What distinguishes you and your work from the masses? There are no dragons, vampires, or medieval knights in these pages. Gomes (NOT gnomes) have complicated lives with underground cities, strange customs, magical powers and political rivalries. My stories have a strong connection to Scottish mythology but take readers all over the world and even back in time. Many Scottish words (especially the insults) are onomatopoeic and are great fun to say out loud. Each book comes with a glossary in case you want to know that a “ramstougerous tatterwallop” is a “boisterous and disorderly scarecrow.”
Following the tradition of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and The Magic Tree House: Merlin Missions, the Wullie the Mahaar Gome series explores real-life locations and real world history, wrapped in an action-packed adventure series with a cast of characters nearly any kid could relate to. What are the challenges and benefits of including educational content in a fictional (and often magical) series? I take readers to places both real and imaginary by describing scenes in vivid and visceral detail using all five senses. They feel like they are standing beside the characters in the stories. They taste the bitter air in abandoned coal mines, smell the urine-soaked alleys in Barcelona, or hear the cries of the Andean condor soaring high above them. Details of dangerous and complex underground gome cities feel equally authentic. Real-life can be hard. My stories give people a chance to get whisked all over the world and experience surprising and fantastical events in colorful detail.
