I kind of hate that people say the Percy Jackson series and all of Rick's other books are kid series so adults and their opinions should stay out of it and that the series shouldn't go too dark. Yes the books are kids books, but if you are going to have it have connections to mythology especially Greek Mythology you have to be prepared for it to get dark because of the dark origins of its source material.
The people saying that are young and think they're going to grow out of their current interests and hobbies. They can't fathom that when they're 30 or 50 they're still going to love the same book as when they were 10 and that they're still going to have Opinions on it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ They think their whole adult lives are going to be having babies (but without having sex because sex is evil and gross) and filing taxes. Or whatever nonsense the kids like to spout to try and shut down adult conversations. Idk I always roll my eyes and block them. They’re not worth getting upset over.
The series is already dark. Rick just ignores that when bad shit happens there are actual consequences for it and turns everything into one big joke...when it gets acknowledged at all. A lot of the younger readers don't even notice (except for the ones who Notice, because they have Reasons to notice) or also turn it into a joke, even when they don't know why they're laughing.
How many times have you seen people come back to the series and go "whoa this totally flew over my head!" Followed closely by "I wish we got a book acknowledging this at all." Remember the whole "demigods don't get PTSD because they don’t have trauma" debacle? Absolutely terrible. Anyway, the series is already dark but Rick refuses to acknowledge it and when he does, it's usually done so in the most offensive ways possible.
Actually, you know what, I’m going to add another paragraph because as dark as the PJO series is, it’s still wildly unexplored and most of the darkness comes from throwaway lines that, like I said, aren’t explored and have no consequences. But then Rick is aware of other dark children’s authors like Darren Shan (Cirque du Freak, The Demonata) and Michael Grant (Gone Series) enough to put them both as Magnus Chase’s favorite authors in the MCGA books….and neither of them pull their punches with their own novels. I mean, Michael Grant graphically kills kids left and right in the Gone Series. There’s one death that I think about almost every day because it was…delicious (this is hilarious if you know which one I’m talking about). Darren Shan excels at body horror and gross out horror and putting his child characters into Situations.
But Rick very much pulls his punches. Maybe it’s because Rick is a Disney writer. Maybe it’s that 9-12 year old rating (although I feel like I’ve read darker books for 9-12 year olds). Idk. Maybe he could do better if he wasn’t wearing a metaphorical muzzle.
Personally, this is why I enjoy writing fanfic for the series so much. I get to play in and expand this world that is so tiny, so neglected, has so much potential but just wasn’t explored as much as it could have been.
