Title: Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan Author: Rick Riordan
Series: Percy Jackson and The Olympians #1
Genres: YA, Fantasy, Mythology
Publisher: Disney Hyperion Books
Source: Physical book
Pages: 377
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SYNOPSIS: Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can't seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse—Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy's mom finds out, she knows it's time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he'll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends—one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena—Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.
THE WORLD: For me it was a very new world, I have not or at least do not remember ever reading any books about Olympian Gods and it was definitely refreshing. The world we have in this book is very much like ours, except there is Olympus with all the Gods and then there is Underworld where Hades rules and on Earth we get all these monsters. Aside from that there is this Half-Blood campus where all the heroes aka half humans have gods go to train and to wait for their quests. Now it being a different world it was also a little bit disappointing for me, I expected the Gods to be more intelligent. After all they were living for thousand years and what...they still as ignorant as your average spoiled child. What I also did not like was this whole Olympus is above the United States because that is where Western Civilization went and is the center...I mean hello Europe...It was just sad really reading it.
CHARACTERS: The main character in this book is Percy Jackson of course, 12 years old boy who has dyslexia and ADHD. I am not sure if I like Percy much, for me he is a very fake character. Plus, not all children with dyslexia and ADHD are as bad and as troubled as Percy is described. And another thing I did not like...he is twelve for crying out loud. What kind of adults let the group of children go on and save the world. And I am not talking teenagers like in Harry Potter. I am talking about 12 years old children. Another character that is in Percy's group is Annabeth...a little annoying brat with daddy issues. She was kinda useless really. But who I did like was Groves aka a boy goat. I did not understand his character much but I am hoping he will come back in the next books.
LOVE: None, thank you thank you thank you! Tho I have to say this book has some serious messed up image of children and parents love.
PLUS: I did like learning the names of Gods and their stories.
MINUS: The book is just too fake and the characters are not very interesting also. I mean in what school do you have a whole year long class of learning about Olympus Gods? In university I could understand but in school...yeah right. Maybe instead of learning about irrelevant things all year the children should learn something useful...like actual history or foreign languages. And also, in the Half-Blood camp...like there is training and all but no school? So you just get half-blood children and brainwash them to be a push-around and do what Gods tell them to do. Very inspiring.
MINUS: The book is just too fake and the characters are not very interesting also. I mean in what school do you have a whole year long class of learning about Olympus Gods? In university I could understand but in school...yeah right. Maybe instead of learning about irrelevant things all year the children should learn something useful...like actual history or foreign languages. And also, in the Half-Blood camp...like there is training and all but no school? So you just get half-blood children and brainwash them to be a push-around and do what Gods tell them to do. Very inspiring.
OVERALL: It was an alright book, I think I will continue with the series eventually, maybe not next year but eventually. But I must admit, if I read this book in middle school I would have hated it, it is just so so fake and lacks so much research. To look up the names of Olympus Gods and a few stories on Google is not enough for writing a book. I expected way way more. I give it 4/5 stars but really it is more like 3.5 or even 3.25 stars.
What do you guys think about PERCY JACKSON?
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