A troubled kid with a mean stepfather and ADHD learns his real father came from Mount Olympus and is suddenly thrust into a world of dangerous adventure. Percy Jackson must come to grips with his true lineage, battle monsters and complete a quest to prevent a war of the gods and global war.
Additional Information
The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1
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8.0 | |
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7.0 (1) |
Added by Terry
April 11, 2010 
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Book Info
| Author | Rick Riordan |
| Illustrator | - No Illustrator |
| Publisher | Disney Hyperion, 2006 |
| Genres | Action / Adventure / Sports • Fantasy / Make Believe |
| Age Range | 6th through 9th • High School |
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Mamma Bookworm review
Potter Readers Will Love It!
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan is the first book that I have read trying to jump on the Harry Potter reader fan wagon that is actually pretty darn good. Percy Jackson is a troubled kid - he gets into trouble no matter how hard he tries to stay out of it. He's only in the 6th grade and he has already been kicked out of six schools. He's hyperactive and dyslexic, and even though he loves his mom a ton, his home life is far from perfect. After getting kicked out of his most recent school he heads home to spend the summer with his mom and step dad in New York. But when crazy monsters start attacking him out of nowhere and his best friend turns out to be half goat, Percy starts to think he's going crazy. But not quite, turns out the dad he never met is actually a Greek god. The first few chapters of the book are about him coming to terms with the fact that he is a 'half-blood' (half human, half god) and is in constant danger from monsters. He escapes to a special camp for kids like him and in the perils journey to get there, loses his mother at the hand of a minotaur. Percy is devastated and is determined to find a way to get his mom back from the underworld - a quest may be his only chance. While reading this book you can easily tell who it is geared towards - Harry Potter fans. Young boy finding out he is more than he seems, and goes to a special place to develop his powers and fight bad guys. But I have to say, this concept of the Greek mythology is a great spin on it. While reading there was actually a lot of things that I never knew about the story of the gods and it made for an interesting subplot. Percy is similar to Harry - but more in a Rebel Without A Cause type way. He is blunt and doesn't think before he speaks. He is jaded about being sent away to schools and doesn't do well because if his temper and his learning disabilities. But all in all, he is a pretty good kid and means well. The story continues with him on a quest with two of his friends to return some stolen godly weapons and he hopes to save his mom in the process. The action is pretty much constant and violent - but because they are monsters/gods they just disintegrate and nobody is ever hurt much. It might not have the depth of description and detail like the Potter books, but if you have a kid who really loves adventure stories this might have more of the level of excitement they are looking for. I could see some parents having a problem with this story in a religious sense. While it does have a whole central story revolving around gods and demons - they actually do mention that the gods are still considered like VP's to someone higher up, making them more like a high ranking saint. I don't think that this was the case in the original mythology and may have been added to help sales, but I'm not positive. Overall, a really good story and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series. If you have never read HP or even if they were not your favorites, I would give Percy a shot. He has a little more edge and maybe a little more 'bad boy' would be right up your alley. |
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Reviewed by Mamma B
July 10, 2010 #1 Reviewer View all my reviews Report this review |
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User reviews
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Harry Potter Like Adventure
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
If you are familiar with the Harry Potter series this story will be very familiar to you. The central themes of discovering a world just under the surface of fantasy, adventure and peril are one in the same. However, there is enough uniqueness here to make it a fairly unpredictable action-filled read and Potter fans will like this book very much. There is a good bit of time spent discussing Greek mythology, enough to qualify as educational, and the author definitely felt it was important to have done his homework here as I'm sure any Sociology teacher would give this book a thumbs up. The action is pretty non-stop and there is a budding romance story (very tame but will obviously be developed across the series) so it would likely appeal to a wide audience of middle and high schoolers, girls and boys alike. An all around fun read, fairly educational on mythology, but nothing really groundbreaking from a literary standpoint.
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