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| The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1) | 
 enlarge | Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Miramax
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy New: $2.50
You Save: $5.49 (69%)
New (48) Used (35) from $2.10
Avg. Customer Rating:  257 reviews
Sales Rank: 897
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 392
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0786838655
EAN: 9780786838653
ASIN: 0786838655
Publication Date: April 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New - Has remainder mark. Fast shipping from trusted wholesaler with many exclusive publisher contracts.*
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| Customer Reviews:
 Who's yo' Daddy? May 6, 2007
18 out of 19 found this review helpful
Percy Jackson has always been different from other kids. He's dyslexic and suffers from ADHD, and is always getting into trouble. He's been expelled several times, and the only thing that holds his interest is Greek mythology.
We soon learn that Percy has close ties with Mount Olympus, and when monsters from mythology start popping up looking for his blood, he ends up at a very special school for kids like himself, where he starts to put things together to find out who he really is.
Before he knows it, he's off on a quest with his two friends, Grover and Annabeth, to recover a powerful lightning bolt, property of Zeus, which has been stolen, supposedly by Percy himself. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades are having a little disagreement about the theft of the said lightning bolt, and unless Percy can retrieve it and return it in time, the resulting fallout will have earth-shattering consequences.
This great (albeit relatively unknown) first book of the series is an easy read, and is sure to encourage young readers to improve their knowledge of Greek mythology, especially the stories of the Minotaur, Medusa and the gods Poseidon, Ares, Zeus, Hades, Kronos, Athena and so on. Highly recommended for young readers in search of an original and imaginative adventure series.
Amanda Richards
 Greek mythology mixed around in a pot July 2, 2007
18 out of 75 found this review helpful
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan is one of the rare children's books I cannot recommend. I'm disappointed because I wanted to like the story, but it is so derivitive. Unfortunately, The Lightning Thief reads more like the story of young Hercules than an original work of fiction. Anyone who has read Greek mythology will recognize the many borrowed ideas. Anyone who has watched Hercules or Xena will know how the plot is going to work out.
Putting Percy Jackson in a more modern setting doesn't help much either, and the early set up of the story seems to be torn from the pages of Harry Potter where poor Percy is the subject of abuse and a misfit that doesn't fit in who later discovers a magical world. Instead of Hogwarts though, Percy journeys off to Camp Half-Blood where special kids like him go to train against monsters.
Reading this book was a chore and I couldn't wait until it was over. I'll read the others but only because I've already purchased them. My kids, however, says they're not going to continue. They give the story two thumbs done.
My advice on this one is to purchase the first book only. That way if you don't like it, you won't have wasted your money on the other books.
Disillusioned (son of Discerning Reader) April 4, 2006
14 out of 39 found this review helpful
Okay, I really wanted to like this story but could only get half way through before it was so stupid I didn't want to finish it.Sure it moved along quickly, and Percy got into one scrape after another - but Aunt M for Medussa? It started out good, and I know a lot of kids liked it to the end so I'm real happy for them. I just didn't like Percy much, or Anabeth, and all that monster stuff was real lame. I like Artemis Fowl, Harry - and Ender's Game is one of my favorite books - all their characters were believable and they were smart. Percy just didn't cut it and I felt like I was in ancient history class.
 Clearly a Harry Potter knockoff, but still fun anyway September 29, 2005
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
This book was obviously inspired by HP - instead of being about a boy With a Past who can do odd things, turns out to be a wizard and goes to wizarding school, it's about a boy With a Past who can do odd things, turns out to be a demigod and goes to demigod camp.
The parallels run right through the book - he has two friends; a bossy know-it-all girl and a whacky boy with low self-esteem, he has a bunch of eccentric but loveable teachers (including one who doesn't like him much), and he gets to be famous because of something he can't remember (the identity of his father). And there's a group of kids at the camp who are naturally mean (the children of Ares, God of War, as opposed to the Slytherins). Instead of platform 93/4, we have Floor 600 of the Empire State Building (a floor which supposedly doesn't exist). The world of the gods is right next to the world of the mortals, but the mortals don't notice. And so on and so forth.
BUT - and this is a significant but - it's still fun to read anyway. There are plenty of original elements to make up for the borrowed stuff, and the book has a light, fun tone which makes it a good-natured and enjoyable read. At one point there is an obviously deliberate nod to JKRowling - the hero comes across someone reading a book 'with a wizard on the cover', which appears to be thoroughly engrossing. So go ahead and read this book. It's fun, some of the jokes are laugh-out-loud funny, and the pacing is nicely brisk.
This book is an example of the fact that ideas which aren't 100% original can still be fun. When I reviewed Eragon, I didn't complain much about the stolen elements (ie the entire book). Instead, I focused on the fact that it wasn't fun to read. Percy Jackson, by contrast, isn't strikingly original but is still compulsively enjoyable reading. So I'm praising it. Younger people and the non-analytically-minded will especially enjoy it. Dive right in!
GREAT READ November 15, 2006
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
If you like Harry Potter, you will probably like this book, too. Come to think of it, if you do not like HP, you may still like this book. Recommended reading ages are grades 5-9 but if you're younger and like to read this book may very well be fine . . . and, this book is actually written well enough for adults to enjoy as well.
Tale focuses on a 12 year old boy named Percy who isn't getting along with just about everyone in school and soon discovers part of his problems are related to the fact that he's the son of the Greek God, Poseidon, which leads him to a training camp for Half-Bloods/Demigods and then a quest to stop the Zeus and Poseidon from tearing the whole world apart.
PROS
(1)Told in first person narrative and therefore flows particularly well.;
(2) Hip and cutting edge enough, focusing on popular, trendy spots like Las Vegas, at one point, for instance.;
(3) Well detailed info on mythology so one could learn a lot without cracking open a mythology book. A lot of the details are woven into the story rather than just told to you.;
(4) Some really funny lines or events;
(5) Well established relationship with his mortal mother;
(6) Some good action scenes that focus on Greek Mythology; and
(7) A few surprised even the veterans of fantasy reading won't spot.
CONS
(1)For adults, if you don't like archetypes and standard story archetypes, you may find this a bit predictable in certain parts. Remember that it's written for young readers.; and
(2) Percy tends to fall into a few jams because he doesn't think things through. He's twelve so I suppose he gets some slack for that but then he also does some smart things so judge it as you will.
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