I have wanted to reread Percy Jackson and the Olympians series for a while now. These books are what started my need to read in middle school. If you notice how destroyed my copy is, you can tell the book used to be my favorite. I felt indecisive on whether or not to review one of my childhood favorites, because how can I do my best to be objective about the rating when nostalgia takes over. Then I remembered all book reviews are subjective. We even mention it in our book rating scale. Which brings me to my decision to review and rate all of them. I will do my best to not rate every book a ten since I have always loved them. Without further ado, let’s get to it.
“If my life is going to mean anything, I have to live it myself.”
Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief
The Summary
The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan starts with a young Percy Jackson pleading to the reader. He tells the reader in first person if they believe they are a half-blood like him to put the book down immediately, because the life of a half-blood is hard. Percy Jackson, a troubled boy with ADHD and dyslexia, found himself kicked out of many schools. Percy claims weird things happen to him which causes him to get expelled. His most recent expulsion: He vaporized his teacher with a magical sword pen thrown to him by his Latin professor.
Percy returns home from boarding school to his mom, Sally, and horrible step father, Gabe. When he and his mom decide to take a vacation to Montauk, Percy’s best friend Grover warns them monsters are hunting Percy. Sally tells Percy she must take him to a summer camp for people like him. On their drive to the summer camp, a minotaur stops them and takes Sally to the underworld before Percy kills it.
At the camp, Percy learns he is half human and half Greek god, along with all the other students that attend the camp. He also discovers that someone stole an important item from Zeus. Percy then embarks on a quest with Grover and another camper named Annabeth to retrieve the stolen item and deliver it back to the gods before the summer solstice.
During their adventure the trio encounters many other monsters from Greek mythology, such as Medusa. Ares comes and tells them to run a favor for him in return for a ride to where they are going. Finally, the three arrive at the underworld to confront Hades, who they assumed stole the item. The book ends on a nice little twist which sets up the rest of the series.
The Good
The Lightning Thief is a fast paced story, which makes it hard to put down. Rick Riodan writes a story that is easy to get invested in. He includes humor and emotional moments throughout the book, making it a fun read. When I first read The Lightning Thief I wanted to learn more about mythology and keep reading the book series.
One thing that stands out from other books are the chapter titles. Nowadays chapter titles are rarely used. Each chapter title in The Lightning Thief hints at what’s going to happen in the chapter in a unique humorous way.
Another great thing about the book is the mythology lessons. Riordan tells the myths and legends the ancient Greeks used, in a modern and fun way. After putting this book down, I wanted to learn more about these Greek myths. Middle schoolers learn a part of history without even realizing it. This can spark further learning or just a desire to read more books.
The Bad
A few things stand out that some people can end up not liking. First, the book is heavily plot driven with minor character development. The characters reveal their backstory or their emotions, and then it’s right on to the next plot point. There are no slow moments to breathe or to feel the emotions of each character. I love to see character development, even in plot driven books. Secondly, some of the humor is cheesy. While the book is meant for middle schoolers, some of the jokes throughout fell flat with me.
The Review
The Lightning Thief is a great book for all middle schoolers and teenagers to get into. Even as an adult I found the reread just as enjoyable as I did when I was twelve. If you are now my age and looking for a good young adult book to get into I highly recommend reading this one. Don’t feel embarrassed to read a young adult book because over half of young adult book readers are adults. The Lightning Thief is a fast paced, entertaining book that is hard to put down and I cannot wait to reread the next one in the series.
8/10 Splendid
Have you read this series? Do you want to read it? What’s your favorite young adult book? Let us know down below in the comments. We love to hear from you
As always, happy reading!
1 thoughts on “The Lightning Thief Book Review”
Comments are closed.