The Lightning Thief
Ratings1,801
Average rating4.1
Simple, easy read. Very enjoyable, and I loved Percy's attitude towards the Gods. I mean it really did seem like he had a death wish but it was hilarious to read.
Loved, loved, loooved this book! I am so happy that I FINALLY decided to read Percy Jackson. I enjoyed every single page of this book and it is such a nice and easy read - obviously, it's meant for kids mostly, but I'm a kid at heart, okay?
I am so excited to read the next book in the series and dive deeper into the world of Percy Jackson.
Questo è un libro che mi sarebbe tanto, ma proprio tanto, piaciuto leggere una trentina d'anni fa; mi avrebbe fatto impazzire, lo avrei adorato. Ma così non è stato e sebbene l'ho comunque apprezzato anche adesso ovviamente, la mia età di lettore non mi consentono di osannare una storia che però mi sento di consigliare a tutti i giovani lettori.
Mi è piaciuta tantissimo l'idea, la storia e i personaggi... la cultura mitologia degli Dei greci è appassionante e l'autore ne prende a piene mani e la rende masticabile e affascinante a dei ragazzini che non possono che rimanerne entusiasti (personalmente, avendolo letto su un ebook reader ho passato metà del tempo della lettura su Wikipedia a leggerne i miti).
Consiglierei questo libro a tutti i ragazzi, ma io non credo che proseguirò con la lettura della saga, non subito almeno. Purtroppo la mia età anagrafica pesa parecchio sulla mia valutazione: avrei preferito la stessa storia, con personaggi adulti a tinte molto più dark... che ne so una sorta di avventura alla Indiana Jones con una connotazione più da mistery o noir con pennellate da horror per quanto riguardava la discesa negli inferi. Questo sì che mi avrebbe fatto arrivare alle cinque stelle.
Ogni libro che leggo mi don qualcosa e per questo ringrazio Percy per le ore passate su Wikipedia a ripassare o scoprire completamente i miti greci di cui ero all'oscuro.
Super late to this party but dang! This was good. So glad Henry wanted me to read it to him.
Ok now that was fun. I have been wanting to read this series for a while since I LOVE Greek mythology.
Love the writing, the characters and the story. Excited to see where the next one goes.
infinity/5 stars “The real world is where the monsters are.”
I guess since I reread this, for perhaps the billionth time in my life, I now get the opportunity to review it. Hopefully, I don't screw this up.
I didn't like Harry Potter when I was little (though I love it now, and that's all that matters), but I can imagine that my feelings towards Percy Jackson reflect those that many people who grew up with Harry have. I couldn't get enough of the story, I told everyone I knew to read it, and I impatiently waited for the next release.
I was ten when I read PJO for the first time, only two years younger than Percy himself in the first book. Now, I am the same age as Percy, perhaps a year or so older. As Percy has grown, so have I. Through the trials of my life, and through the trial of his fictional one, it's as if we've grown together, and no matter what we do, we just can't escape one another. People complain about Rick not letting this world go, but I disagree. I just don't think I could ever let go either, as this story is a huge part of my life.
I remember ordering The Lightning Thief from a Scholastic book Magazine and receiving it at school a few weeks later. I remember sitting down and reading it for the first time ever, and loving every word. I remember spending every penny I got for Christmas on books 2-4. I remember finishing them and going to my school library craving more books on Greek Mythology. Then, one day in May, when The Last Olympian was finally released, I remember sending all the money I saved up with my mother for her to pick it up at Barnes and Noble during her lunch break. I remember taking the beautiful black book out to recess the next day to read it on the playground. The Percy Jackson books changed my 10 year old life, and it has influenced my current tastes in books and the person I am today.
I don't know where to go with this review, but I think I should talk about the characters for at least a few paragraphs. As a child, the cast was one of the first I've ever read that I could entirely relate too.
Take Percy Jackson, a young boy unsure of himself, who doesn't know where or if he belongs. Watch him learn that being different is okay, watch him become powerful and still stay humble. Or Take Annabeth, the smart girl with ambitions bigger than herself, and watch her evolve to someone who is more than just smart, but caring and wise. Even take Grover, the awkward kid with dreams of saving nature, and watch him slowly get the chance to actually live his dreams.
Yet, I want to talk about my favorite character in the series, perhaps one of my favorite fictional characters of all time: Luke. As a child, I didn't understand why I loved him so much. I found myself always rooting for him even if I probably shouldn't. With this reread, since it's been almost 6 years since I have last reread it, I thought that my more mature mind would finally see the evil traitor that others see in him. Yet, I found myself loving him even more than I previously did, and I finally figured out why I liked him so much, and I know my explanation is going to get confusing, so bare with me.
The reason: he's easy to understand.
Many antagonists in books are hazy, you don't get where they are coming from. Luke is different, it's easy to pick up why he hates the Gods so much, how they have made him feel used. He's done all these things for them, and he doesn't even receive a simple thank you. In later books, you see Percy struggle with the same issues. Percy has saved the world countless of times, had a year of his life taken away from him by the Queen of the Gods, gone through countless shit without much recognition. Even Percy is tired of the Gods, but unlike Luke, he doesn't turn evil and try to take down Olympus. I find Luke to be so interesting, because he can be used as a example of what makes Percy such a strong character. It's a Neville vs Wormtail situation. It's what could have been. I find it an interesting way to develop a character. It makes me love Luke just way too much.
It makes me love this series just way too much. It's one that I will never grow to hate, but will stay with me for ages. I will reread it more times to count, force my children one day to read it, and I will love it more with each read.
To me, this series is revolutionary.
Loved it a really well written book .
Will recommend the audiobook also as it takes you in the world of Percy.
Excited for reading the rest of the series...
Uno de los mejores libros que he leído, en la relectura no empeoró y me hizo recordar que cosas que me había olvidado
3.8
this book really good to anyone who's want to learn about myth & greek ..
but, i don't know ... i just read this when my mood is bad. so when i reach half of the book it's took a long time to resume. but here ! finally i'm finish reading this book ! ..
i think someday i'm going to reread again when my reading slump go away :”
I understand the nostalgia people feel for a series from their childhood. I was in high school when this series came out and read the first 3 books in college. Though I had fun at first, I got bored with the formula halfway through the 4th book and assumed it was an age issue. Recently, I've reread many of my favorite (and least favorite) books from childhood and have a really good grasp on what I would have liked and disliked as a kid. So I thought I'd give the series another go, almost 10 years after my first time reading it.
Unfortunately, I feel the same about the writing and plot progression as I did when I first read it. My younger self definitely would've been disappointed with it. Now, Riordan does a great job of incorporating elements missing from many middle grade stories, such as disability representation. However, I found this whole book really formulaic and lacking in tension. The kids would go to a new place, the place or host would turn out to be bad news, then they would escape. It took them far too long to be weary of new people. And considering how many dangerous situations they were in, I should have felt scared for them. I didn't though. It was very “after school special” with every chapter presenting a new problem and solving it within 10 pages. I also don't love Riordan's writing style and think it's a bit too robotic.
I really enjoyed the humor and characters and even laughed out loud a few times. I think the overall themes are great, but I feel there was a wasted opportunity to teach kids about dealing with real loss. Everything was just so very clean and easy. Kids books don't have to be that way. The action never stops, which is fantastic, but I would've loved fewer encounters with monsters and more development, more struggle, and higher stakes for those encounters.
I think it would also help if I found Greek mythology more interesting. I'm really neutral on it, so I didn't feel particularly invested in meeting all the gods and monsters. It seemed like the whole point was to pack in as many as possible to pander to readers who came in with existing knowledge of Greek mythology.
Reread 2022: I keep rereading this series and I keep falling in love with this world, these characters every single time. <3
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Reread July 2021: Here I am, once again, still being overly obsessed with the world of Percy Jackson. Rereading this book always makes me feel so nostalgic. This series was my childhood: loved every moment of it. Even though it is written for a younger audience it's a fun series to read for every age.
Yes, I'm happy to be back in this world again.
____________________It has been two years since I last read a Percy Jackson book, so I was quite anxious to see if I'd still likethe series as much as I did before (when I was a child and now as an adult). It did NOT dissappoint. I was loving it, I loved the foreshadowing, the beginning of an amazing friendship between Percy, Grover and Annabeth. I always highly enjoyed the first book and it was the same this time. I loved reading the beginning of Percy's journey and the betrayal of one of his, so called, friends. (I actually really liked this character when I was younger). And I still kind of like that character, but not as much as I used to. Overall, I'm so happy to be rereading this wonderful series. I feel like I've forgotten so many details._____________________
ahhh, it feels SO good to be back in this wonderful world. I missed it.
CAWPILE Breakdown:
Characters: 6
Atmosphere: 8
Writing: 7
Plot: 6
Intrigue: 6
Logic: 9
Enjoyment: 5
Ha estado entretenido, ojalá lo hubiese leído cuando los compré, los habría disfrutado mucho más.
This is a great book... For kids. It's a bit too simple for most adults. If I would have known it was written more like a kids book I would have skipped it, however nothing really indicated that it was a kids book.
3.5/5
Having missed a childhood full of Percy Jackson I finally decided to pick up the series in time for Riordanthon.
This is another story that has an unexpected hero. I can't wait to see what Percy has in store and to see him grow up!
This book is still so, so good. The description is great when it needs to be, and the story and action just flow. I didn't realise how much of the book was set up before the main plot gets going, but it's worth it for the emotional payoffs throughout.
A solid teen lit book
Easy to read and simply written make this a book that's enjoyable to follow. The story essentially consists of kids going through multiple.challenges, meeting different well-known characters along the way.
There are no amazing surprises and there's nothing that makes this series I'm desperate to continue with but glad to have read it
My nephew was reading this because we bought him the series. He asked me to read it with him so I did. I totally found myself enjoying this book. This was so much of a blast of a book to read. As I was reading this book, I remember what it was like to be a kid again. This book really made me feel like I was reading for fun again. Percy Jackson and his friends really were just like any other kids, but have all these weird and crazy things happen to them because being kids of Gods, nothing is ever simple.
Percy Jackson doesn't seem to be having a good day or even a good week when we first meet him. He seems like a kid who has been hallucinating. Only problem is that Percy is not imagining or hallucinating the things he sees. Percy doesn't realize that what he is seeing is real. This was really well done and well played. He thinks that he is going crazy. I would too if I saw the things that he saw in the book.
Plus he has to deal with his mother, and Grover telling him some pretty crazy things about him being the child of a god. He also finds that Grover is a satyr and has to bring him to a place that houses half-bloods like himself. Nothing is ever easy because every mythological creature is after him and he doesn't understand why. I thought that the first few chapters were very action packed. Percy and Grover definitely seem to have an adventure with a minotaur and all the craziness indeed. Percy doesn't really know what to do, but he manages to defeat him. Him and Grover somehow manage to make it to Camp Half Blood.
At Camp Half-Blood, Percy discovers a whole lot of things about who he is related to and not in a good way through a lot of different actions. Plus, there a lot of children who are like him, Half-Bloods, Half-God, half-humans. I thought that the other children were interesting and our great. I totally find that Annabeth was a lot of fun (plus she is a NY Yankees fan, so I like her immediately). He finds out through an accident that he is the son of Poseidon. So of course, things get more interesting.
Percy gets accused of doing something that he didn't know. This leads to a crazy quest of course for him. I totally find how fun the quest was for Percy and his friends. The other Gods seem determined not to help him or setting him up for their own nefarious purposes. Some of the Gods want Percy to fail or die. He has decided to take on a hero's journey which is never easy. I totally love the quest and all the crazy things that he has to experience along with his friends. The aspect of the mythology was great. Plus, the use of the God's themselves was something that I didn't expect. I find that this series charming and I am glad that my nephew asked me to read it with him.