Book Review – The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

I’ve been meaning to read this series for a very long time now and finally, I did! The Lightning Thief which is the first book of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, gave me a very good start thus making me more excited to read the second book. This is highly recommended!

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1
First Published by Disney Hyperion Books on June 28, 2005
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Mythology
377 pages
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Buy: Book Depository, Amazon
Find on Goodreads

Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can’t seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse—Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy’s mom finds out, she knows it’s time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he’ll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends—one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena—Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.

Review

I’ve been meaning to read this series after watching Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief movie a long time ago. And I can’t believe it’s been 8 years since that movie was out! I love everything with Greek/Roman mythology in it, so imagine my big stupid grin when I saw this one in the big screen. But unfortunately, during those time, I hate long reads. I always assume that series always ends with cliffhanger so whenever I get an idea to try the first book, I always get discourage. But last night, I finally did it. I’m not sure what I was thinking or why I finally did it, it just…happened.

Even if 8 years have passed, I can still clearly picture out the movie and I thought it’s going to be a problem. But after reading the whole book, I think it was a good thing as I was able to picture out every scenes in the story so easily and clearly; the settings, the people and especially the gods. Ofcourse it has its own disadvantage as well as I’ve got to know who’s the bad guy and all, but it didn’t really destroyed my whole reading experience. While reading, I was always alert as I’ve been anticipating when will they discover the bad guy, but overall, it was the least of my concern as the more pages I read, the more immerse I am with the story.

The first thing I noticed when I read the first page of this book was the impeccable writing style and the tone this story exudes. The main character of this story is Percy Jackson who’s only 12 years, and as expected, he’s a bit troublesome. And amazingly, Rick Riordan was able to make the tone of this story reflects what 12 years old will act and sound like. Plus, I also love the fact that it’s consistent. I don’t really mind dual or multiple POV unless they’re executed badly or confusing but sometimes, I would like to know what the other main characters are thinking. For this book, it’s all taken from Percy’s POV which sometimes give me a feeling that he is talking to me directly, and that’s definitely a good thing.

I don’t think I need to summarize the story because the sypnosis above already did it perfectly. Since I don’t have a lot more to say, I think I’ll share some of the things I noticed from the book that wasn’t in the movie or vice versa (only those that I can remember though *wink). The movie was amazing, especially on the part where Percy and the gang was in the quest of finding Zeus’ missing lightning bolt, but ofcourse the book was better (it always will). There’s some scenes in the book that wasn’t included in the movie, and vice versa. But the main difference that I noticed was the ending. Ofcourse they have the same bad guy but the book has an addition of unsuspecting bad guy and that really surprised me. Even after watching the movie, I have to say that this book still managed to surprise and amaze me.

What can I say about Percy? At first I don’t really have a regard to his character. He’s only 12 years old so some attitude problem there and then should be expected but he’s troublesome than what I imagined. But when he found out that he’s half-blood and all we’re properly explained about his behavior, I finally understood him. I get to like his character little by little as I proceed then get amazed with everything he accomplished especially on his fighting skills. I also love the fact that he love his mother so much. And speaking of his mother, I really admire her for everything she did to keep Percy safe. I also find it more amazing how she’s very eager to solve her problem just by herself and not being dependent to anyone.

There are some few characters in this story that I really like and that includes Annabeth (Athena’s daughter) and Grover (satyr). This trio kind of reminds me of Harry Potter and his gang. Percy and her friends were in a dangerous quest but once in a while, this story manages to really makes me laugh especially when there’s Grover involve lol. Aside from the two, I also like Chiron (centaur) and believe it or not, Hades (I bet that made you curious eh?). It’s not really like as in very like, but I kinda understand his character and he’s not really that mean than what we all expected him to be.

This story had quite a lot of characters but after finishing it, it felt like they were fewer. Well, I guess it’s because this story focus more on Percy’s adventure plus not all half-bloods we’re named, only those that are significant.

Everything looks and sounds perfect really, but I just can’t seem to give this one a 5 star rating just yet. Besides, I can always come back when I think my rating was incorrect. So for now, I’ll giving it a 4.5 star (which isn’t really far from 5 stars *wink).

Challenges

Other Books In The Series

Book Review – The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Preview & About The Author

Book Review – The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan Rick Riordan is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of over twenty novels for young readers, including the Percy Jackson series, the Kane Chronicles, the Magnus Chase series and the Trials of Apollo. He is also the author of the multi-award-winning Tres Navarre mystery series for adults.

For fifteen years, Rick taught English and history at public and private middle schools in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Texas. While teaching in San Antonio, Saint Mary’s Hall honored him with the school’s first Master Teacher Award.

While teaching full time, Riordan began writing mystery novels for grownups. His Tres Navarre series went on to win the top three national awards in the mystery genre – the Edgar, the Anthony and the Shamus. Riordan turned to children’s fiction when he started The Lightning Thief as a bedtime story for his oldest son.

Today, eighty-six million copies of his books are in print in the United States, and rights have been sold into more than 37 countries.

Rick Riordan now writes full-time. He lives in Boston with his wife and two sons.

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