Book Reivew: The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson And The Olympians #1), by Rick Riordan
★★★ and ½ (rounding up to 4)

Synopsis: 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, for Poseidon has evidence of showing wanting to overthrow Zeus millennia ago.
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.
In A Sentence: A surprisingly enjoyable read!

My Thoughts: This is one of those scenarios where I watched the movie first and wasn’t enthusiastic about reading the book as a result. The movie was mediocre at best, so I was expecting the book to be about the same. I resigned myself to reading this story, however, for the sake of a reading challenge.
I was pleasantly surprised by this novel. It’s a kid’s book but one of the better ones. It looks at a few real-life issues (abusive or neglectful families), while at the same time showing you a fantastical hidden realm involving Greek gods and other mythical creatures. Kids find that they are special after all, and they end up being the ones who save the day. I already knew the twists and turns of the storyline because I saw the film, but I was still able to appreciate the plots’ finer points. It was action-packed and hardly slowed down one bit. Plus, I enjoyed all the references to Greek Mythology.
I think my one issue with this story is the age of the kids. I mean, c’mon, 12?! That’s a lot of hero work for a bunch of 12-year-olds. I think that was my only problem with the story, although granted the story is geared towards readers of that age group, so maybe I shouldn’t complain too much.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, enough so that I might continue with the series for a little while. I don’t think it’ll ever be a favorite of mine, but it was still a lot of fun. Great for anyone who loves children’s fantasy and Greek mythology.


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