"Clarisse is Achilles" basically cemented my love of the books forever, really. Well, Percy was Achilles, too, I suppose, but he didn't get the fun parts.

I agree very much about non-Percy relationships getting shortchanged (though...well, Percy isn't self-absorbed, but he's not exactly very observant of the world around him, and it is all his POV) but I felt there was some critical analysis and deconstruction about traditional ideas of (male) heroes and heroic quests that made up for that with me.

And put me down for one of the ones who was shocked to really like Percy.