The Lightning Thief

The Lightning Thief... Hmmm... I was pretty skeptic about this series at first, before I started reading it. I came across this when I was going through Harry Potter fanfictions. I held off from reading it for a few more years though, when I was sure that I'd out grown my Harry Potter mania. When Goodreads recommended this book, I figured it was finally time for me to pick it up and start reading.

The story is told in a first person kind of way. Many of the ideas are pretty much synonymous to the Harry Potter series. Small scrawny hero-check; intelligent girl-check; loyal friend-check. This book has been marketed as a children's book, and when I was reading it, I was pretty much wondering if children would understand half of what they were reading. The book has a lot of Greek Mythology; stuff that people from other cultures, like the Indian culture, would not understand unless they read about Greek Mythology. That is not to say that I haven't heard about Zeus or Poseidon or Athena or Hades; I had. I just don't know their...positions, for lack of a better word...in the real world. Riordan obviously didn't want this to be just a children's book. He has aimed for a bigger audience.

So, like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson is a half-blood. Of course, in Potterworld, this has a completely different meaning. Percy is the son of a god and a mortal; he is the son of Poseidon, the God of the Sea. He is impulsive, suffers from dyslexia, ADHD and is labeled as a bad kid in every school he has ever been in. He changes schools like we change bracelets; the kid had changed six schools in six years!

So, Percy is carted off to Camp Half-Blood, after he is almost roasted alive in his step-fathers Camaro. Camp Half-Blood is the safest place in all of world for other half-bloods like him. Yeas, others. There are many. You would be surprised by the amount of children that the gods have sired.

The adventure part is very well written out. Riordan must deserve his credit for that. Also, Riordan has been very creative with the titles of each chapter and has made a conscious effort to make the starting of every chapter unique. Throughout the book, I was anxiously anticipating the start of a new chapter and I was never once let down.

The book is fast paced and enchanting. Never before have I imagined Gods in human form, but Riordan made that possible. If you're looking for a good bed-time story to read to your children, this is perfect for you. Percy is heroic, modest and humble. All things that children want in a literary hero.

I give this book a 4 star rating.