The Lightning Thief
Author: Rick Riordan
Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: Disney Hyperion Books
My Rating:
Summary:
Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus’ 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.
First Sentence: Look, I didn’t want to be a half-blood.
My Review:
Ever since The Mark of Athena came out, it was all I’ve read about in the book blogging community and heard about in Barnes and Noble. “Do you have The Mark of Athena in stock?” I overhead a lady ask a Barnes and Noble salesman, in which he immediately ran to another salesman and demanded to know where their giant order of The Mark of Athena had gone. I had never read anything by Rick Riordan before and when I found out the first book in the series was The Lightning Thief, I decided to give the book a try and see what the hype was all about.
I liked Percy. He managed to get several chuckles out of me while I was reading and that’s no easy feat. However, I didn’t really care about his friends, Grover and Annabeth. If they both died, I would just shrug and be like “oh well.” That being said, I felt like I had no deep connection with any of the characters in The Lightning Thief, including Percy. Maybe this book was meant to be a light fun read (since it is a children’s book after all), but I expected more, especially with all the hype surrounding the book.
The pacing was kind of slow in The Lightning Thief. The action and fighting scenes, if you can call some of them fighting scenes, could be better written with more action. The transition scenes in The Lightning Thief bored me, the only scene that really caught my attention was the casino scene since I figured out something suspicious was going on, but I didn’t know what. All the other scenes were pretty predictable with me thinking, “No, Percy, can’t you see something is weird?” and “Oh my goodness, just do it already!” The worst part was that I can’t exactly blame Percy for his actions because he’s a sixth grader.
I figured out the identity of the friend that would later betray Percy a little bit after the prophecy was revealed. It was pretty simple to figure out who it would be and when I found out I was right, I was kind of disappointed since I honestly was expecting more.
Overall, I expected more from The Lightning Thief, especially with all the hype surrounding the book. However, I decided that I am going to read the next book in the series, Sea of Monsters. I just don’t know when, but definitely not any time soon. Now off to watch The Lightning Thief movie!
sad that you didn’t love this one. i am a big fan of the first percy book. the movie is not good though. fair warning. :)
thuy @ read now sleep later
Thanks for the warning, but I watched the movie anyway. You’re way right, the movie was AWFUL. D:
Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [41]
I tried to read this one, and couldn’t really get into it.
Happy reading and have a happy holidays and Merry Christmas!
Brandi from Blkosiner’s Book Blog
I couldn’t get into it either in the beginning, but as I read on, it got a little bit better, so I continued reading on. o:
Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [41]
I love this book :)
I’m glad. (;
Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [41]
I read this book after seeing the movie so I was a little dissapointed on the book because i found it prety boring but i liked the world the author created and i love percy and the other characters being kind of funny
If you had read the book first, you’ll feel a lot different about the movie Ariana.
But yeah, The Lightning Thief book was pretty boring in a way. :l
Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [41]
The Lightning Thief book was better than the movie, for me. But the movie was still enjoyable. The Percy Jackson series falls short of 5 stars but the story does improve by the time you get to the fifth book. Riordan vastly improved with the Lost Heroes series – better writing style but with almost the same beloved characters you’ll meet in Percy Jackson. I reviewed the books in the Lost Heroes if you want to check them out :)
The book was better than the movie for me too! :D
And I’m glad to hear that the books get a lot better as the series goes on.
I’ll skim over them. I don’t like reading other people’s reviews before I read the actual book in fear that they’ll change my opinion before I read the actual book. :P
Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [41]
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy this as much as you thought you would! I on the other hand really loved them (But I read them when I was a middle grader). I suggest you try to continue the series because it gets better as you go along- and if not maybe see if you can try reading The Heroes of Olympus series without having read Percy Jackson.
Yeah, I’ve heard tons of different people telling me to read on the rest of the series. I will sometime soon, I hope. :x
Kelly recently posted…ARC Book Review: This Song Will Save Your Life – Leila Sales
The first book may not be as good as the other book, but you have to continue the series. Trust me, it was fantastic!
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I will sometime later. I have so many other books I have to read right now. ):
Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [41]
absolutely LOVED this book! Rick riordan’s writing style is so established and his characters so well developed – I loved Percy, one of my absolute fav characters! :D
The rest of the series is exceptional!
Ha ha, I’m glad that you absolutely LOVED this book Fatma! ;D
I still have to read the rest of the Percy Jackson series. So many books and so little time.
Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [48]
I loved this book! Rick Riordan is one of my favorite authors! You should check out the rest of the series, see if you like them too. The movie for this, however… well, let’s just say we don’t like to talk about that. Not even the movie for Sea of Monsters. Oh gods.
I hopefully will check out the rest of the series soon. There are just so many books out there and so little time to read, especially with school. D:
And oh goodness, I saw the movie for The Lightning Thief and was absolutely HORRIFIED on how they slaughtered the book. -shivers-
Kelly recently posted…Book Review: Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer – Katie Alender
I never considered reading this since it is a childrens’ book but so many adults seem to like it that I might give it a try. I haven’t read the Harry Potter books for this same reason!
Mhm, this series is a middle grade book, yet tons of people from different age ranges read it. I’m a bit curious about why so many people like it. o:
Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [57]
I remember when an author wrote on one of her blog posts about books she’ liked to read along with her young children. One of the books mentioned was The Percy Jackson series. I decided to give it a go and I bought the first one. After reading the first one I had to read the second, third, and fourth. Sadly, I never made it to the fifth book. So if I ever went to buy it I’d have to start all over. But I didn’t finish reading the series because I didn’t like the books. Out of nowhere I started liking other books and hearing about new one’s and my attention sort of just went everywhere. I never got to read the last book but I know I would like to. I’m glad you enjoyed the first book as well :)
You didn’t like the books? o:
I’m scared about starting this series because I don’t want to not like this series and become the black sheep while MILLIONS of other people LOVE this series. It’s so nerve-racking. :X
Kelly recently posted…Stacking the Shelves [57]
I read this a few years ago, so I don’t remember most of the little stuff. I loved it because I was reading it in school and it was actually fun. I was MG-age at the time, so that might have been why I enjoyed so much. I really liked Percy, and I liked Annabeth only because I suspected it would turn into something more. As for Grover… Yeah, no lasting impression from him, so I guess I wasn’t too into his character, either. Mostly, I loved the mythology. There are way more references to myths in the other books, so that kept me going. If you don’t like Sea of Monsters, I’d still suggest reading the rest. It gets better, if you’re into the myths.
Joanna V recently posted…Just a Saturday Post
I have younger cousins that like this series, but they say it’s no Harry Potter. ;) Good review.
Sorry, but have you read the entire series? Up to trails of Apollo? Nope? Then don’t talk. Your not the one to talk. But if you did? Fine.