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

Rick Riordan

Start date: November 12, 2014

Finish date: January 13, 2015

Discussion: recommend highly

Discussion leader: Mugdha Keskar

Why we're reading this: This book is amazing...
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Showing 2 of 2 topics — 8 comments total

recommend highly

Highly recommended
By Molleca · 1 post · 108 views

last updated Sep 14, 2023 06:07PM

Just for starters
By Anna · 2 posts · 142 views

last updated May 09, 2013 08:24AM

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What Members Thought

Nov 16, 2010 karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: and-so-this-is-grad-school

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. s 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! ...more

204 likes · Like · see review

Jun 01, 2009 Greg rated it really liked it

Shelves: sf-fantasy-and-other-dorky-shit, books-for-kids

I liked this more than I thought that I would going into it. Basically it's kind of a stereotypical adventure story, a dude discovers he has powers, he makes friends with some others sort of like him, and he goes on a quest where he discovers stuff about himself while he does stuff. I think the difference between say Harry Potter and this, is that I kind of give a shit about Greek Mythology and I don't give a shit for the fantastical realm of Dumbledorf, Broomball and Slithering Salvadork, that ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

Sep 07, 2008 Terri rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult, mythology-fairy-tales-legends

Percy Jackson has never really fit in. He has been kicked out of 6 schools in 6 years. He has dyslexia and ADHD. Pretty sad for a 12 year old. But his whole world is about to change when he is attacked by his math teacher on a school field trip. His world begins to get stranger and stranger and he finds out the Greek gods are real and his father is a god. He is then sent on a quest with far reaching consequences. I really enjoyed this story. it was fun and the characters fascinating.

4 likes · Like · see review

Apr 04, 2010 Jane rated it liked it

Shelves: childhood

two chapters in, i don't really like this.

***

okay, so i like greek mythology. otherwise, it mostly seems to be taking enormous advantage of a popular genre. the characters and plot devices seemed...intentionally familiar. harry potter, anyone? ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Apr 11, 2010 Bill Doughty rated it did not like it

Shelves: kids, fiction, fantasy, young-adult, mythology

I always loved reading Greek mythology as a kid and had high hopes for this, but just thought it was painfully by-the-numbers. I wanted an entertaining, breezy fantasy, but all I got was Harry Potter in Greek myth drag.

1 like · Like · see review

Nov 05, 2013 Malia rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult, 2013-reads

This is a promising start to the series. I love classical mythology, and this take on what the gods are like in contemporary times is really fun and clever. I felt like this book had too much plot and not enough character development, though a decent amount of world building, but it's good enough to make me want to keep going with the series. To draw the inevitable comparison, I wasn't wild about the first Harry Potter novel either... ...more

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Jul 17, 2009 Helenn rated it really liked it

Shelves: general, crazy-people-with-magical-powers, cuz-there-was-nothing-better-to-do, last-minute-panic

I was in Gainsville, had just gotten out from watching the Harry Potter movie and my mom was no where to be seen... so I walk into Walmart and pick me up a copy of this book. Have to say is pretty good... had to picture in my head but pretty good and really predictable... but heck I liked it!

1 like · Like · see review

Dec 22, 2015 Kati rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2015, urban-fantasy, in-english, audiobooks, young-adult

The beginning was a bit wonky, but then it got really going and I was very happy with it. And especially with the main character, Percy, who was just the right amount of cheeky without venturing into the brat territory, and also very, very brave. Lovely story.

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Mar 28, 2009 Shannon rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult, the-next-harry-potter, myth, read-in-2009, first-in-a-series, read-in-2022

I found this to be a fun read. I was familiar with enough Greek mythology to recognize characters and guess at some of the story and I thought that some of the ways the old Greek characters were integrated into a modern setting were very clever. It seemed like a good start of the series, and I hope to enjoy the next one as well.

First read and reviewed April 2009

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