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The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)

Rick Riordan

Start date: August 2, 2017

Finish date: August 31, 2017

Discussion: Books of the Month

Why we're reading this: August 2017 Young Adult Book of the Month
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What Members Thought

Jan 20, 2011 Kate rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fill-in-the-gaps-project, mini-books

Why, oh why, did I wait so long to read this book??? It was really good.

I have never been a fan of Greek mythology. I felt like teachers tried to ram it down my throat too much when I was little. I feel like it was brought up almost every year in some form or another each and every year at school. So instead of learning it (like you should through repetition), I came to resent it.

Well, this book threw that all out the window. Now I want to research all of the Greek mythology that was talked abou Why, oh why, did I wait so long to read this book??? It was really good.

I have never been a fan of Greek mythology. I felt like teachers tried to ram it down my throat too much when I was little. I feel like it was brought up almost every year in some form or another each and every year at school. So instead of learning it (like you should through repetition), I came to resent it.

Well, this book threw that all out the window. Now I want to research all of the Greek mythology that was talked about in this book. I want to better know who the Gods and Goddess were and the demi-gods and everything like that.

Percy Jackson was an intriguing hero. He was sort of reminiscent of Harry Potter (including the "Golden Trio" comprising of one female and two males). And I thought that that would perhaps annoy me. After all, there can only be one Harry Potter series... And I did love it so much. Well, that was wrong.

While Percy Jackson does resemble Harry Potter (hello, black hair and green eyes), he is a lot more likable than Harry Potter. I know that a lot of people will disagree with me about this, but I found the character of Harry Potter to be extremely self-involved. He had a whole "poor me, pity me" thing going on that I found really annoying.

Percy Jackson, on the other hand, is never self-pitying. He is a true hero, even taking into account what the person he is rescuing would want. He isn't willing to sacrifice everything to get what he wants (including himself) and he seems to have a good head on his shoulders. In addition, I found his two companions (Annabeth and Grover) to be amazing. They added so much to the story (whether through their wisdom, idiocy, humor, etc) they were great. It is so nice to have heroes that aren't always perfect, make a few mistakes, but end up coming out ahead in the end.

Outside of the characters, the whole idea of this quest was brilliant. The idea that someone stole Zeus' master lightning bolt and it has to be restored before World War III breaks out was amazingly clever. And then the journey to get there was great as well. Whether it was the random run-ins with monsters or the settings they encounter, the whole thing had me laughing all the way through.

One final thing to look at in the book is the settings. Can I just say that Rick Riordan is a genius! It is great. To thing that Mount Olympus is in New York or Hades is in L.A. is amazing. The whole concept that Mount Olympus and Hades moves over the years based off of what country is in power is so original. And then you have a camp that is entirely for demi-gods??? Brilliant. Pure genius.

Honestly, I have nothing negative to say about this book. I am left with only two questions at the end... Why in the heck did I wait so long to read this (it has been on my bookshelf for over four years) and When can I get my hands on the next one??? I cannot wait to read the next book. ...more

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Aug 21, 2011 Tien rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult, adventure

Considering that I've read the graphic novel version and watched the movie, it was a pretty good read. I half-knew what to expect (of course, I didn't expect the graphic novel nor the movie to be 100% faithful to the book even though the graphic novel was pretty much bang on) so I supposed it lessened the enjoyment a bit. I didn't think I would enjoy this book, I didn't plan on picking it up because I thought it was a pretty silly idea and not original at all. However, it was full of adventure, ...more

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