Review: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

The Lightning Thief

Author: Rick Riordan
Series: Percy Jackson & the Olympians, #1

Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school... again. And that's the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he's angered a few of them. Zeus' master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.

Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus' stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

I started reading this book not really knowing what to expect. I mean, I knew it was about half-bloods (demigods) and the Greek gods but I didn't know much more than that. I had a completely different idea as to how the book was going to be than what it actually was. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't disappointed in it. It was just different. With that being said, there were several things that I figured out pretty easily but I won't let that sway my rating any since this is in fact a middle grade novel. One thing that surprised me though was the fact that Percy was so young. I guess I've been reading so many books about teenagers that when Percy's age came up as twelve I was a bit shocked though I should have known.

The thing that I was most confused about was Percy's stepdad and his relationship with his mom. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why such a great woman was with such a horrible man or how she even ended up with him in the first place, but thank god that question was answered. It all made sense after that moment. There is something that bothered me about the book that I feel like I must discuss because it's glaringly obvious from the first couple of pages yet it takes FOREVER for anyone to actually figure out who Percy's father is. I mean, how can you NOT know who he is when a certain element bends to your every whim, yet you still don't figure it out?? And what was worse, the other campers couldn't figure it out either. Campers who had been there for years and who lived there year-round. I mean, I suppose a certain thing that I won't mention because of spoilers could have caused their lack of knowledge on the matter, but to me, if I was one of the characters in the story, I certainly wouldn't have ruled it out.

Okay, that little rant is over. I did really enjoy reading this book and it made me want to get out my mythology book and read the different stories pertaining to all of the gods that are mentioned throughout the story to refresh my memory. I have to say that Percy's voice was very easy to read. He's a bit sarcastic and has incredible wit, even though he sometimes did some things that weren't the wisest throughout his journey. Not to mention, several things just didn't go his way. It was like everything was working against him and even though he knew he was being watched on his trek across the country, the gods still blamed him for something he didn't do which didn't really make much sense to me either. The mythical world however is fantastic with a good portion of it being regular ol' US of A, except there were monsters and gods roaming around it everywhere. And believe me, he runs into A LOT of them. I'm really looking forward to reading The Sea of Monsters and eventually introducing this series to my son when he gets a bit older.

I rate this book:

The Percy Jackson Series

Spoiler Time

Quotes:

I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talk about you to an adult.

I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.

I whistled. "You have evil thoughts for a goat."

"Why, thank you."