Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Title: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Author: Rick Riordan

Publisher: Miramax

Pages: 375

My Rating:

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's 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's 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.  -summary from goodreads.com

Alright so this isn't usually what I read, I tend to go for the Young Adult genre, but since I'm a big fan of the Harry Potter series (please don't judge me! Unlike many I actually had to wait for each book to come out. It was torture!) I decided to give it a try and I must say, I really enjoyed the Lightning Thief. Ever since the good old days of watching Xena and Hercules, I have always had a soft spot for ancient Greek tales. I love how Mr. Riordan was ale to successfully clash together our modern world w/that of the Greek Gods. Very original and creative!

Throughout the book we follow 12 year old Percy who finds out he's the son of a Greek God, & not just any God... He's the son of one of the "Big 3"; we're talking about the one and only, Poseidon. Percy has no choice but to leave home and go to Camp. I loved, loved, loved the idea of Camp Half-blood! Here he trains, meets new friends and learns a thing or two on the rules the Greek Gods have bestowed on all Half-Bloods or Demigods. After receiving his quest; Percy, Annabeth & Grover head out to save Percy's mom who was kidnapped by Haydes. This is when the action packed writing begins :) we see many of our favorite Greek monsters come to life in this awesome kid story.

Overall, PJO The Lightning Thief is a creative, action packed, modernly written tale that you will not be able to put down. I probably finished book one in a couple of hours. The writing is simple & sounds very much like a 12 year old dyslexic boy :) Mr. Riordan did an awesome job in bringing Greek mythology back to life!