The Lightning Thief

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan is a story about a boy that discovers his father is really a Greek god and his life is turned upside down as he discovers the real world. After a brief interlude at Half-Breed Hill Percy, the main character, must travel across the land to recover an artifact stolen from Zeus.

Characters:

Percy: Son of Poseidon, a bit hot-headed and, really, not that bright. The story is told from his perspective so we get lots of insight into how this 12 year old thinks.

Grover: Best friend to Percy and a Satyr who is not very good at what he does, but is helpful and the comedic relief of the story.

Annabeth: Daughter of Athena, a fairly smart girl who finds herself tied to Percy and eventually becomes friends with him.

Story:

The story follows Percy as he is discovered in middle school to be a half-blood, and is attacked by one of his teachers, who is actually a Fury in disguise. After the attack Percy returns home then is pushed to a 'summer camp' by his mother, who knows the truth. Percy's father is one of the Greek gods and the monsters are hunting him down because of this. On their way to the summer camp Percy is attacked by a minotaur that he kills, but not before his mother disappears after being struck. Percy ends up awakening in camp Half-Blood Hill, a camp for children of the gods. Though his previous life appears to be ruined, Percy finds he finally fits in here, with other children, learning to be a hero. Unfortunately that doesn't last and Percy, Gordon, a satyr who was watching over him in his previous school, and Annabeth, daughter of Athena head out on an adventure to rescue Zeus' lightning bolt.

Review:

This story is, effectively, Harry Potter with a new paint job. Percy is picked on and doesn't fit in until he finds out about this other half of the world, where he learns new techniques and such that will allow him to become a hero. His first day he kills a minotaur, marking him as a special and he is the only child of Poseidon in the last 60 years. The story is neat in some cases, including a lot of mythical creatures from ancient greece, but the stories keep getting mixed up, to the point where they are sometimes no longer even recognizable from the source material. If I weren't such a greek nerd it probably wouldn't bug me too much, but the story just rubs me the wrong way.

Overall the writting is solid, the story is a rehash of existing ideas, and the plot is very predictable.

3/5 stars, 4/5 if you're under the age of 14.