From the Bookshelf of Nothing But Reading Challenges…

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
[close] August 2017 Young Adult Book of the Month

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 163 topics — 23,383 comments total

Books of the Month

* The Names by Florence Knapp - Sep 25 Adult / Non-Fiction BOM (starts 16 Sep)
By Moderators of… , Challenger-in-Chief · 15 posts · 92 views

last updated 22 hours, 58 min ago

* The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese - Sep 25 Theme BOM - South and South East Asia (Starts 5 September)
By Moderators of… , Challenger-in-Chief · 39 posts · 74 views

last updated Sep 16, 2025 09:01PM

showing 10 of 289 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Aug 07, 2018 Vanessa Gayle ⚔️ Fangirl Faction rated it liked it

Shelves: audio, reviewed, urban-fantasy, own-ebook-read, fantasy, adventure, own-physical-read, childrens, mythology, middle-grade

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

This review MAY contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

I fairly enjoyed this. I admit that I have seen both of the Percy Jackson movies prior to reading this. I was oddly surprised by how much the movie differed from the book. No clue why since that is usually the case. I have a feeling that I would have enjoyed this one much more if I had actually read it when I was a middle schooler. I am in my mid-thirties so the age disconnect was pretty extreme.

Even though this book was ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Feb 20, 2010 Morgan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, paranormal, young-adult, mythology-and-folklore

I definitely agree with others who have mentioned the first person narrative being a little awkward.

Being a bit of a mythology nerd definitely had me figuring out a lot of the twists ahead of time (won't go into them here), but it was still a really fun and enjoyable read. Light and entertaining.

Now I want to borrow the rest of them from my aunt.

Definitely would recommend to fans of mythology (of any age), people who enjoyed Harry Potter, etc. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Feb 15, 2013 Marla Cosner rated it really liked it

Wonderful start to a series, recommended to me by my fourth grade son :) The story is one you will find yourself thinking about and wondering what happens next while you are reading; and that makes up for the sometimes-awkward writing style. Overall, a good and fast read--even for adults!

1 like · Like · see review

Apr 24, 2013 Andrea rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-fantasy, read-sorted, fiction-juvenile

- More like a 3 from an adult point of view, but quite a successful middle grade book
- A bit predictable, yet the ability to guess the outcome does not spoil the enjoyment of adventure
- If you read this to your kid, perhaps introduce them to Greek mythology adopted for children first It would make the book even more enjoyable
- Too much action sometimes. The book, like its protagonist, seems to have ADHD. Every five minutes there is a fresh monster or something
- I appreciated all the references ...more

Like · see review