Book Review: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

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For my December book, I read Rick Riordan's first book in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, The Lightning Thief. My boyfriend's niece and sisters-in-law read the series, so I decided to give the first book a shot. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and finished it in two days!

Percy Jackson & the Olympians is a young adult fictional series that follows twelve-year-old Percy Jackson and his adventures. In The Lightning Thief, Percy attends Camp Half-Blood for the first time. He discovers who he really is--the half-blood (half human, half god) son of the Olympic god Poseidon. He realizes that his ADHD and dyslexia is really because the ADHD will help him in battles and Greek is the language that is more natural for gods and half-bloods. He will need those traits to complete a quest--finding and returning Zeus' stolen master lightning bolt.

Percy deals with the same troubles most of us face while growing up--getting into trouble at school, having problems that make you feel like an outsider, not fitting in, and learning to trust family and friends. Luckily, he has his best friend Grover (who turns out to be a satyr) and fellow half-blood Annabeth (daughter of Athena and a West Point professor) to help him complete his quest. They travel from New York to California, meeting new monsters, gods, and unexpected challenges along the way.

The book was very entertaining, and I enjoyed the clash of present-day America with the world of the Greek gods. I found it amusing that Mt. Olympus was at the very top (600th floor?) of the Empire State Building in Manhattan, New York while the Underworld was in Los Angeles, California. I highly recommend this book if you enjoy young adult fiction books. It would also be a decent book for a gift if you have any nieces or nephews.

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