Book Review: Percy Jackson #1

Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1

The Lightning Thief

by Rick Riordan

Another great book. I can see mythology purists not liking it. Ah, but that is their prerogative. True. Now on to our reviews.

Haley

I can't believe Percy is only in sixth grade! He's doing so much and acting so much older. He's nice and caring too. I like that in characters. Love this book. I wonder if book two is just as good?

Kaya

I love Greek mythology. This doesn't exactly follow everything as we learned about it in social studies, but a little literary license isn't bad. I'd highly suggest reading something like Bulfinch's Mythology to get more knowledge on the characters' backgrounds. This was a pretty hefty quest for Percy. I'm glad he had help. I'm also glad he used his head and learned things along the way.

Kirsten

I wonder if Mr. Riordan will write any books about Percy meeting the Norse gods and goddesses? That would be interesting. Of course, almost everyone thinks they know Thor and Loki from The Avengers movies...

Kirsten!
Yes?
Focus on this book, please.
Okay. 

The Lightning Thief is a very interesting read. Percy finds out a lot about himself and his mother that he didn't know. Then he has to try and find his mother with the help of a few friends, but there are also those working against him. A great quest story. I'm looking forward to reading more of this series.

Lanie

I may never look at garden statuary the same again. Ugh! Anyway, Percy is really cool. He has to deal with a lot of strange stuff happening very quickly and he does so pretty well. It is kind of interesting that Percy is the lead of a trio with another guy friend and a girl friend. But getting too many people working together can make character development difficult.

Melody

So very much NOT the movie! However, to paraphrase our one friend (who was really talking about Harry Potter, but it applies here) the movie is a lovely and exciting visual companion to the book. Another friend hated the movie because it was so off the book, but in reading the book I can understand why they did what they did. 

The Lightning Thief is a great read! The story flows well and it is very interesting as well as exciting. Percy is already on a quest when he is given the next quest. It's good the two compliment each other. He grows a lot during the story. I like that he is able to rethink things to see a bigger picture after given more facts.  Looking forward to book two.

Xyra's Review

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Super cool is not quite the same as amazing so 4 stars. Well, 4 1/2 stars! :-)

I have always been drawn to mythology - ever since we studied the Greek gods in social studies in middle school! One of my favorite songs is Brian Ferry's Don't Pay the Ferryman (about Charon). So it is no surprise I really liked this story. Although, it might be shocking that I didn't read it right away. In this case, it was better that I saw the movie first. Since then I have been looking for an opportunity to read The Lightning Thief.

The one thing I had trouble visualizing is Percy as a sixth grader. I would have had this issue had I not seen the movie. Very few of the sixth grade boys I know of speak or act the way Percy does. Plus in this day and age kids that age aren't allowed to do many of the things Percy does unaccompanied by an adult (buy bus tickets, train tickets, etc.)

Setting that aside...this was a great quest and coming of age story. I liked how there were forces trying to protect Percy until he was ready to go up half-blood hill. It was interesting to see his experiences there and how he started to feel as if he fit in despite grumpy Mr. D and the Ares cabin's attempts for him to feel otherwise.

It was sad that it took him so long to realize who his father was. Even though the clues were small, they were there.

Mr. Riordan was quite imaginative in how Chiron and others could mask their true forms in modern facades.

Overall this was a really good read. Those with no mythological background will hopefully look up the origin stories of the gods, goddesses, monsters, and other beings otherwise they may be slightly confused. I am looking forward to book 2 and the others in the series.

Kid Lit Blog Hop

it's getting near the end of the school year? Looking for something fun to read over the summer? Check out our book reviews and those in the Kid Lit Blog Hop - the other book bloggers have lots of interesting suggestions.

[This post links up to the Twitter Linky party from our Magyk/Septimus Heap review, but to a different hostess site.  Our next review will link into #59.]

Happy reading!