The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan Book Review

The Lightning Thief 

By: Rick Riordan






This book is a fun ride through a landscape of Greek myths and legends in the modern world.  The Greek gods are very much alive and well, and still up to their old tricks including having children with mortals.  Most  modern people never see this world, or rather they see it but they rationalize it away.  This is helped by the fact that most demigods and monsters use the aura of awe and confusion around them to keep hidden.  The book is the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, and does a good job of introducing the world.  The book is intended for young adults, but anyone who can get over the fact that many of the characters are very young has a good chance of enjoying this book.



The only issues I have with the book are probably young adult genre issues.  Instead of having conversations to introduce the characters the author instead uses the plot device of summer camp activities to achieve character development.  In addition due to the fast pace of the book there are not really any lulls to take advantage of as stopping points in the book.  Despite this quirk the character development is done well and the book is still quite enjoyable to read.

For most of his life Percy Jackson did not fit in anywhere and he was constantly getting into trouble.  Weird things just seemed to happen around him, and though people in authority couldn't figure out why they somehow knew that they were his fault.  Throughout his life Percy has been shuffled from school to school whenever the previous one decided to be rid of him.  This all changed with a visit to the museum in New York.  There he discovers that despite being dyslexic he can somehow read ancient Greek.  Just as he is coming to terms with this he is attacked by one of his teachers, who morphs into a winged hag, and another teacher tosses him a pen that transforms into a sword to defend himself.  It turns out that Percy is a demigod.  His absent father is none other than Poseidon, and now that he knows, the mythical monsters that live all around modern society can sense him.  Percy is very quickly taken to camp half-blood where he can train in the skills he will need to survive.  He ends up needing them much quicker than anticipated when Zeus's Master bolt turns up missing, and Percy is blamed.  Percy and his new friends from camp are tasked with retrieving it to prove his innocence.  The myths and legends of ancient Greece are being remade in modern times, and it seems that Percy will play a  role.

This book should really appeal to its intended young adult/older children audience.  It is also a good read for anyone who enjoys urban fantasy, and Greek myths.  The modern spin that the author puts on old tales is very entertaining, and brings the gods and monsters of the Greek pantheon to life in a new age.

This book can be purchased at www.amazon.com in print or as an e-book.