Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief Book Review

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief Book Review

 

AUTHOR: Rick Riordan

RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2005

SERIES: Percy Jackson & The Olympians (Book 1)

PAGES: Approx. 377

RATING: 5/5 STARS

Admittedly, I’m as late to jumping onto this bandwagon as a person can get.

I mean, the first book was published in 2005 and it’s only now, over a decade later, that I finally found the time to buy myself the complete book boxset and start reading them. Talk about lazy, huh?

When I first heard about this series all those years ago, I can remember the first and only thing people kept on telling me whenever they recommended the books to me: “It’s just like Harry Potter, I swear to god, it’s just like the Harry Potter series!”

Being practically obsessed with everything Harry Potter, to the point where I scare off potential friends with my fanaticism, I found this comment intriguing and had immediately put Percy Jackson at the top of my To-Be-Read List. How I managed to not pick up these books sooner is due entirely to the fact that I had over a thousand other books to read long before this series first started and even now, almost eleven years later, that list still hasn’t gotten any shorter.

However, I am a person who sets out to finish what she starts, no matter how long ago those tasks were set, and it was earlier this month that I picked up the first book, The Lightning Thief, and started into the world of Percy Jackson and his entry to Camp Half-Blood.

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In the beginning, as I was getting to know Percy Jackson, I could see how the character and story could be compared to Harry Potter, in that it’s a fantastical read, filled with adventure, magic and danger, and which we learn about and explore alongside a young hero-to-be that had no knowledge of another world’s existence but has a part to play in it. But as the novel progressed, Percy Jackson became something new, something different. Its story is incorporated with actual history and information of the Greek gods, heroes, monsters and myths that we either heard about in school or learned from Disney’s Hercules, although Rick Riordan was careful not to overwhelm the reader with so much that it took focus away from Percy or the other characters taking center stage.

Percy Jackson isn’t a normal kid, but he is a kid that people can relate to. He doesn’t do well in school sometimes. He can get in trouble. He stands up to bullies. He sometimes doesn’t know when to rein in his anger. He loves his mom and his friends, and seeks approval from his previously-unknown father. He’s brave (I mean, who else would take on a mythological creature capable of killing you without a weapon? Besides Harry Potter, I mean.) And, last but certainly not least, he has a sharp tongue. I mean, boy, is he sarcastic!

For those of you out there who still haven’t picked up this book series, two things I want to say to you:

First, unless you’re like me and have a gigantic ever-growing list of books to read, you have no plausible excuse for not having read this series because I’m betting my life savings that even those living under rocks have done so by now.

Second, Percy Jackson is a great and quick read. I’ve finished this book within four days and, like Harry Potter, it’s a book that can be enjoyed at any age, filled with characters that you immediately want as your best friends, complicated histories that made me want to look up Greek mythology, and mounting drama that has you guessing to its conclusion.

The Lighting Thief was a great start into a new series with a satisfying end that made me want to immediately pick up the second book. It’s a story that introduced a new world of heroes, myths and adventures, much like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and A Song of Ice and Fire.

I’ve never read any of Rick Riordan’s other books but he has proven to be a great writer and I highly look forward to not only finishing the rest of the Percy Jackson books (nearly done with the second right now), but venturing into his other book series.