Review: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

How was everyone's week-end? Hope everyone had a good time, despite the possible bad weather :D

Mine was quiet, but enjoyable. I was able to read Archangel's Kiss by Nalini Singh and my favorite female curling team won their 3rd national title in a row! Woohoo!! Plus, I started reading a manga named Bakuman which was really interesting and enjoyable :D And I've even started cleaning my room again for the Chinese New Year :D Hopefully, it'll be done in time and I won't have to rush :P

Last month, I read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, all 5 books :) I've been meaning to write some posts about the books, but just haven't gotten around to do it. Then, this morning I realized that the movie is coming out this Friday... that's exactly 5 days. Hmmm, 5 days, 5 books... see where it's going? LOL. So let's start :)


The Lightning Thief by Rick Rioardan
published by Hyperion Books in June 2005

Percy Jackosn is about to be kicked out of boarding school... again. And that's the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he's angered a few of them. Zeus's master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.

Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus's stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest. Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

Genre: Young Adult, fantasy
Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book #1

The Story: Percy is a 12 years old boy who has always felt different from others and thus, isolated. In addition, weird things keep happening to him and lately, it's getting worse. First, he gets attacked by his math teacher how then disappeared and nobody seems to remember her. Then, his new best friend, Grove, is acting very strangely...

Sensing the danger, Percy's mother decides to bring him to a summer camp that was suggested by Percy's father. While Percy and Grover make it safely to the camp, Percy's mother falls victim to a Minotaur. Finally, Percy puts two and two together and realizes that he is a half-blood, i.e. the child of a mortal and a Greek god... and he is not the only one. The summer camp welcomes all the half-bloods and train them to face dangers and monsters.

Soon after his arrival, Percy is claimed by Poseidon... which causes a big brouhaha due to the prophecy and the breach of a pack. Years ago, the Oracle announced that a catastrophe would happen once the half-blood of one of the big Three (Zeus, Poseidon and Hades) would turn 16. As a result to the prophecy, the three brothers have sworn not to have any other half-bloods. Thus Percy is somewhat feared.

Furthermore, Percy has been accused to have stolen Zeus's lightning bolt and now set out on a quest in company of Grover (who turns out to be a satyr) and Annabeth, daughter of Athena, to find out the real culprit.

My Opinion: Okay, my synopsis was perhaps not the best... but all I have to say is that I really enjoyed The Lightning Thief a lot :D Enough to make me pick up the sequel right away :) Enough to have me read the whole series in a week! :D

Basically, I enjoyed Mr Riordan's writing a lot because it was simple to read. It seems to me the simplicity of the writing style showcased the world building, as in readers were allowed to focus more on the details of the world building. The world building was also very interesting and intriguing. I really enjoyed how Mr Riordan mixed the Greek mythology into our modern world and I liked the idea of a summer camp to train half-bloods. Even the idea of 12 cabins, each representing a god or goddess and their half-bloods living in their respective cabin. Everything was just fun and very clever. Definitively an interesting world and a good start for a young adult series :D

Not only was the world building interesting, but so were the characters and the storyline. The three main characters, Percy, Annabeth and Grover, were a bit stereotypical, but not annoying so they were fun to read and follow. The best though was to see Mr Riordan's take on the gods and goddesses - their personalities, the modern spin on them and their relationships LOL.

Great world building, fun characters and best of all, a great plot. The storyline was interesting, complex and it contained enough twists to surprise the readers and keep them intrigued. In addition, I felt the storyline was not overshadowed by the world building, which is rare considering how complex it is, so Mr Riordan did a great job balancing the two.

One thing I was happy about is that the relationship between Percy and Annabeth at this point is still very platonic. I mean, they're 12! I'm not even sure they really like each other LOL.

My Grade: B++. All in all, The Lightning Thief was a very enjoyable. The focus was where it should have been and it's a great opening to this series :D

***

Here are the three actors chosen play our three main characters: Logan Lerman as Percy, Alexandra Daddario as Annabeth and Brandon T. Jackson as Grover. Personally, I have never seen any of these actors' performances so I cannot really criticize the choice. They all look older, more like 16 years old instead of 12 which is more appealing to the audience, so not a bad decision. I think Logan Lerman will be able to portray Percy convincingly. I'm not sure about Annabeth... She's supposed to be blond ^_^; Okay, I'm being picky here... but you know, would it have been hard to follow the book? As for Grover, well I guess they had to be politically correct, right? Among the three, I think he was the weakest choice... simply because he doesn't look "weak" enough in my opinion. Grover is not the bravest satyr and I don't think that will come across. I don't know if people remember the satyr in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but that was closer to my idea of Grover.

So what do you think? Do you agree with the casting of Percy, Annabeth and Grover?