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karen's Reviews > The Lightning Thief
The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)
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this is a perfect book for young teenagers. if you were trying to devise a formula for writing a perfect book for this age group, you could not have done much better than this.
1) mysterious parentage. kids are totally self-absorbed. some never grow out of it, of course, but in younger people, it is more excusable - their internal life makes up the majority of their experience, they are used to being the center of attention and they spend a lot of time thinking about themselves and fantasizing. so having romantic, mysterious origins is the best thing ever - "maybe i am the son/daughter of a god/goddess/russian count, etc..." i still wonder about that, even though it is clear where i came from.
2) this book has excellent gender equality, so it appeals to both younger girls and boys. goddesses are just as cool as gods, and their children are equally badass. this is rarely the case in teen adventure lit. (see naruto)
3) this makes history class relevant.(or wherever it is that kids learn about those wacky greeks) personifying the gods and goddesses makes them more recognizable and immediate for kids; bringing old litterature aliiiive and all that. and they will definitely learn not to mix up chiron and charon.
4) but it is also wonderfully subversive. it is all about polytheism and it makes the point that what we consider mythology today used to be a very real belief system for tons of people. any bright kid is going to make the logical leap to thinking about contemporary religion and how one day, it may well fall under mythology for students of the future, and how any current religious disagreements will be just like poseidon and athena's quarrels. because of this, i am surprised that this series has not been more frequently challenged/banned. oh, i know why, because the people most likely to challenge shit are not themselves capable of making that logical leap; they operate solely on knee-jerk see-a-bad-word reactions.
but this book is great - it has fantastic pacing, the characters are incredibly appealing, i like the premise, and i really really like that it is five books only. i will definitely read the rest of these puppies when i get around to it.
come to my blog!
1) mysterious parentage. kids are totally self-absorbed. some never grow out of it, of course, but in younger people, it is more excusable - their internal life makes up the majority of their experience, they are used to being the center of attention and they spend a lot of time thinking about themselves and fantasizing. so having romantic, mysterious origins is the best thing ever - "maybe i am the son/daughter of a god/goddess/russian count, etc..." i still wonder about that, even though it is clear where i came from.
2) this book has excellent gender equality, so it appeals to both younger girls and boys. goddesses are just as cool as gods, and their children are equally badass. this is rarely the case in teen adventure lit. (see naruto)
3) this makes history class relevant.(or wherever it is that kids learn about those wacky greeks) personifying the gods and goddesses makes them more recognizable and immediate for kids; bringing old litterature aliiiive and all that. and they will definitely learn not to mix up chiron and charon.
4) but it is also wonderfully subversive. it is all about polytheism and it makes the point that what we consider mythology today used to be a very real belief system for tons of people. any bright kid is going to make the logical leap to thinking about contemporary religion and how one day, it may well fall under mythology for students of the future, and how any current religious disagreements will be just like poseidon and athena's quarrels. because of this, i am surprised that this series has not been more frequently challenged/banned. oh, i know why, because the people most likely to challenge shit are not themselves capable of making that logical leap; they operate solely on knee-jerk see-a-bad-word reactions.
but this book is great - it has fantastic pacing, the characters are incredibly appealing, i like the premise, and i really really like that it is five books only. i will definitely read the rest of these puppies when i get around to it.
come to my blog!
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Reading Progress
November 16, 2010
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Started Reading
November 16, 2010
– Shelved
November 17, 2010
–
Finished Reading
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by
Greg
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rated it 4 stars
Nov 21, 2010 02:33PM
Who would you like your parents to be?
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Great review, Karen. I will read this book soon and see and compare my notes with yours. Thanks!
I was actually adopted, I am fairly sure. don't tell my parents I know.
My nine-year-old read the entire series this summer and loved them. great books.
no one in particular, i just want to be an heiress. i have worked hard enough, i would like to retire to my inherited castle and read for a year before returning to the workforce. IS THAT SO WRONG???but if it were a god-situation, i could be poseidon's kid; that would be all right.
What the fuck, I just went to your profile page and a talking ad came on the screen something about new mothers. Is this your doing? Is there something I should know about? Have you given birth to a child and given the child away and one day that child will dream that it had been adopted and little will it know that it's mother is the Queen of Goodreads.com?
really?? i never have my sound on so i am rarely afflicted by these ads you people complain about all the time. maybe goodreads.com is trying to impregnate me, and i will give birth to that bee or something...
any current religious disagreements will be just like poseidon and athena's quarrels - Karen, dead right: you should go and sort out the Middle East now.
Alan wrote: "any current religious disagreements will be just like poseidon and athena's quarrels - Karen, dead right: you should go and sort out the Middle East now."i know, right?? my skills are being totally wasted here shelving books... i think i shall replace the u.n. with... just me.
Heh. You are a pretty united person after all. I just picture Little Bossy Karen treating entire nations like elementary school friends: "Okay, Yemen, now we're gonna play dress-up. Put the Legos away. And stop oppressing your citizenry, mmmkay?"
karen wrote: "i will give birth to that bee..."The only thing more horrifying would be if the bee is born with a conjoined twin. And they're fucking.
either i have a fever, or those two comments were funny!!
This is really impressive. Loved the review, well done.
Me as well great job Karen! :) (gives standing ovation*)
Quite welcome happy reading people!;)
I couldn't agree more! It's fantastic
One of the best book ever read
I liked this review a lot yours is the best review I have ever come across
well golly, thanks!
Bitch fuck you ass hole
I have read The Lightning Thief and I recommend it to anyone
Wow! An amazing review! Karen, you outdid yourself.
oh, man - thank you! guess i peaked six years ago! i gotta channel that old karen and see what she has to say about some of the stuff i need to review now...
yeah, i need to read the rest of them someday!
George wrote: "Wow! An amazing review! Karen, you outdid yourself."Noooo. Certainly didn't peak, but an amazing review. :)
I love this book. There's a whole series of these books! I have them all, their awesome! #Romance #Fantasy #Adventure
Btw, I want to be Atheana or Apollo's daughter. Go demigods! Love Thalia, and in greek myths she's godess of Festivity! OWN CHRISTMAS!!!
Greg wrote: "What the fuck, I just went to your profile page and a talking ad came on the screen something about new mothers. Is this your doing? Is there something I should know about? Have you given birth to ..."It just occurred to me that it would be a lot harder these days to hide your secrets from ad algorithms than to delete browser history and cookies.
I'm 10 and I'm on chapter 19!
i read all series; rock iz my fav author.
i think i would like my dad to be Hypnos so i can sleep all day(Hypnos= sleep god).LOL
so good u should read the heroes of olympus (spoilers) it involves Roman demigods and camps and stuff.
kissmbaohborel wrote: "yA fuck you bitch"kissmbaohborel wrote: "i will hack your account too"
make me sound smart.
You said that it was meant for kids but your review was targeted more to adults with the word choice you used. Kids would have a hard time knowing if they would want to read the book or not based on this review.
the book is targeted towards young readers but i am grown and this review is my response to what i read. kids don't look to me to figure out whether or not they want to read a book - they don't care what old fogeys think.
Cool!!Comment by Zoe Wu.
great review.But I'm still not really into percy jackson.I have one of the books at home I started it but was never able to finish it I just could'nt enjoy it.But I hope other people like it.
