Book Review: Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief

Title: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Author: Rick Riordan
Pages: 375
Publisher: Disney, Hyperion Books
Characters: Percy Jackson, Grover, Annabeth, Mrs. Jackson, Zeus: lord of the sky, king of gods, Poseidon: lord of the sea, Hades, lord of the underworld, Kronos: evil titan lord
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction
Rating: 8/10

'Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eye.
My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.
She snarled, “Die, Honey!"'

This excerpt is from Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief the first book of this series. After being expelled from a school each year, 12 year old Percy Jackson returns from Yancy Academy and goes on a vacation with his mom to the Montauk beach. But when they get attacked by a monster, his mom asks him to go to a summer camp for his protection. Percy fights the monster (a minotaur), but his mom is taken away at the end of the fight. Percy must learn how to fight, and go on a quest to save his mother and father. He must find the lightning bolt belonging to Zeus, lord of the sky and another object belong to a god that is accused of being the thief. He must find these objects in 10 days or war will occur on Mount Olympus.

My favorite character in The Lightning Thief is Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. She is my favorite character because as she, Percy and Grover go off in their adventure, she saves them quite a few times, but also makes many mistakes on what to do. This tells us that everyone is not perfect, because even though Annabeth is the daughter of wisdom she can also make mistakes.

I like Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief because for one there is no other book about Greek gods and goddesses, that shows that even their slightest mistakes can cause huge problems. Another reason is that even though there are books on Greek mythology this is the first book I have read where myths actually come alive, and where Gods are the cause of all unlucky and lucky things.

Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief is a book that describes what is happening just right so that it seems like you have to watch out if you don’t want to be losing your head to a sword! Also it is full of twists and turns that make it seem that Percy and his friends have already solved the problem but there is still a piece missing. Rick Riordan is an author who will constantly make you want to pick up this book to finish it. Also he keeps his readers in suspense so that you can’t tell if Percy did the right thing or if he made the decision that could end all humanity.

Will Percy and his friends find the lightning bolt? Will Percy be able to clear his father’s name? Will he be able to save his mom? Will he even survive his quest? If this book review makes you curious then read Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief. I recommend this book to anybody who is interested in any type of mythology and mysteries.