[close] This book was good, but not great for me personally. I love Greek mythology so the idea really appealed to me. This story is packed with action and I can really see a huge appeal for the younger audience. Although there is plenty of action and adventure I really found a lot of it to be pretty predictable. Still a good series and I am going to give a few more a try. These will be great books for my kids as they get a little older and will make great read alouds. ( )

I love this book for introducing Greek mythology to students who could care less about mythology. In fact, I would use this to teach it without telling the students that that was what we were doing. That's the best way to learn, right? Without realizing that you are actually doing it? ( )

OK, this was just a plain fun book. The Lightning Thief is the first installment in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which answers the question of what would the Greek gods be doing if they still existed today. Riordan sticks to the "rules and regulations" of the ancient myths, making sure that his story fits in the criteria of how the gods can interact with the real world, as opposed to changing established myths and lore to fit his needs, and I appreciated the story that much more for the effort that he put forth in that regard.

The story is fairly formulaic in the way most YA fantasy is these days: boy is an outcast and doesn't fit in with the normal crowd and doesn't know why; boy has a very dysfunctional family at home; boy discovers that he is actually something more than normal (in this, a demigod); boy goes off to specialized school to fit his needs; boy makes two friends (1 boy and 1 girl); boy immediately makes rival at school; boy goes on quest; boy confronts evil being and defeats him when he obviously shouldn't have been able and in the end proves his worth above and beyond what anyone expects. Because the story is so formulaic, I found certain elements of the plot fairly predictable, but that didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the book.

My biggest problem with the book is the pacing at the beginning. Fairly early on in the book, Percy suffers a significant personal loss that he seems to get over in the course of a day. And within the week, he has come to complete terms with the changes in his life and accepts everything about his new life as a demigod in complete stride. It seemed like Riordan needed his story to move along quicker, so made Percy assimilate some rather significant changes in his life a little too quickly for my taste. This just seemed a bit too rushed. The rest of the book moved along quickly, but didn't seem quite as rushed. The ending was satisfying, tying up just enough of the plot threads and leaving just enough questions to make me want to see what happens next.

Several friends have been pushing for me to read this series for awhile now, and I'm glad that I finally caved to the peer pressure! Setting aside all of it's predictability, The Lightning Thief is a great read and if you are a fan of Greek mythology, I think you'd really enjoy it. I'm anxious to get to the next in the series! ( )

EXCELLENT!! ( )

I LOVE mythology, and this book just fed that love even more. This was such a fun read to see those myths brought to life. My only concern is that this book becomes very difficult to follow if a reader does not already understand the myths mentioned throughout the book. I picked up the book to pass along to my son once I was finished, and I must say that I am quite surprised that this is a kid's book. Mythology is not necessarily a subject taught to the target audience, and there are so many of the myths that are mentioned in passing without full explanations that I feel a reader who is unfamiliar with the stories would miss out on the danger, the explanations, and the subtext interwoven throughout the plot.



However, that did not stop me from thoroughly enjoying the book. It has action, adventure, and history rolled into one story. The writing is engaging and not overly simplistic. While there is quite a bit of detail, it is not as vivid as I might have wished. I felt the message behind Percy's quest, of being true to yourself and to your friends and ultimately to have faith, is an important one to learn at a young age.



I absolutely cannot wait to read more of the series, but I am uncertain just what my son will think of it. Will the myths be over his head? Will he grasp the context? It will be interesting to watch his reaction once he gets around to reading it. For myself, I will be hard-pressed not to pick up the rest of the series immediately, but I may be biased with that whole love of mythology thing. ( )