Title: Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Author(s) Name(s): Rick Riordan
Published in: July, 2005
Why You Might Like This Book: Read this book if you enjoy
- quick, fast-paced reads,
- children’s fantasy,
- young adult fantasy,
- children’s fiction,
- young adult literature,
- mythology,
- Greek mythology,
- magic,
- superpowers,
- making new friends, and
- young adult adventure.
Who Should Avoid This Book: Avoid this book if you are triggered by or dislike
- murder,
- death,
- abandonment or neglect by a parent, and
- being bullied.
Recommended for Children? Yes.
Percy Jackson is a twelve-year-old boy who is aware that he is not like ordinary kids of his age. In six years of his schooling, he’s changed schools six times because each time, he would be caught doing something unbelievable, completely out of his control, and the school would suspend him. He has been diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD, and he is now in Yancy Academy, a boarding school for troubled kids in New York. He has a strict teacher Mr. Brunner who teaches mythology and is bound to a wheelchair but is also a fun teacher, especially around tournament days when he would come dressed up as some ancient Greek character with all the right accessories as well and encourage the students to learn his subject thoroughly. He also has a friend, a classmate named Grover, who is polite and nice but is an easy target for bullies like the kleptomaniac, freckled, red-haired girl student Nancy Bobofit.
Awkward things often happen around Percy, for which he couldn’t find any reasonable explanation. This year, when they go on a class tour, Nancy keeps picking on Grover and Percy until Percy loses his temper, and suddenly, Nancy is caught off-guard and in a strange position. Their pre-algebra teacher Mrs Dobbs, who for some strange reason often supports and likes Nancy and seems to deeply dislike Percy takes him aside to have a chat. That’s when Percy sees her in a different form – she no longer looks human; instead she has wings like a bat’s, her fingers grow longer, her fangs come out, and her eyes glow with anger. Suddenly, Mr Brunner comes to his rescue and throws a ballpoint pen at him, which Percy catches and it then turns into a sword, which Percy uses for self-defense in the moment, and Mrs Dobbs disappears into thin air, just like that. None of this makes any sense, and when he comes out of the place and talks to his classmate and Mr Brunner, they all act as if they have never heard of anyone called Mrs Dobbs and their pre-algebra teacher is in fact another woman named Mrs Kerr. As always, Percy is confused as to what has been happening. For a few days, the weather is also terrible, as if there’s an intense torando coming their way. And Mr Brunner had specifically said that he expects the best from Percy this year in his subject, so he tries to remember all those Gods’ names and learn well, but that is too much for him, and he begins hallucinating. Later that day, he walks up to Mr Brunner’s office to seek help, but he overhears his teacher and Grover talking about him, debating whether to tell him (Percy) or not, is he ready for it or not, as Grover says that he is starting to doubt and even they know now, but Mr Brunner says that the Mist will cover up everything and Percy couldn’t have known. Having overheard his best friend and his teacher talking something mysteriously strange about him makes him feel only more puzzled.
Later, he gets expelled, and on his way home, he finds Grover annoying and untrustworthy, so he escapes from there and he goes back to his home. His mother is happy to see him but his step-father is as mean as ever. His mom, Sally Jackson takes him on a weekend vacation to the cabin they would go to every year for their vacation and their time alone. This time, Sally also seems quite mysterious, and the weather changes a lot, as if a tornado would hit them soon, and even though Percy doesn’t understand what is going on, his mother tries to protect him from something, says she didn’t send him to the summer camp because she was selfish and wanted to keep him close to her. She insists that they leave the place and surprising him, Grover joins them – did his mom and Grover know each other all these years? And he notices that Grover’s human form shifts and he has legs and hooves like that of a donkey’s; Grover informs him that he is a satyr. Sally and Grover try to escape the place, with a monster chasing them, and take him to the summer camp because that’ll be the safest place for him. On their way up the hill, a minotaur chases them and Grover and Sally try to protect Percy, but Sally is vapourized there, right in front of his eyes. Her last attempt was to keep Percy safe, so following her instructions, he fights the minotaur, breaks its horn, and flees into the campus.
Now he is in a completely new world: “Camp Half-blood”. All the children there are “half-gods”, born to a couple, with one of their parents being a Greek God and the other being a human being. He meets Annabeth, a girl older than him, who feeds him ambrosia and takes care of him, many other students there like him, the half-bloods, all of them being children of one god or another, Luke, the best swordfighter they have there, the head of the place, “Mr D”, a mean girl called Clarisse and her friends, and so on. But he also meets a few familair faces: Grover, his best friend is not a human being; he is a satyr. Mr Brunner, whose real name is “Chiron” is no human being either but a centaur who is their trainer and is skilled in archery. Grover and Chiron were meant to protect him. This place is the safest possible place for all the half-bloods like himself, and they all learn to fight and train themselves.
Percy is placed in cabin eleven because he is “undetermined”, which is the word for children who don’t know who their god parent is. Luke administers this group and is kind to him, but he has no friends. He has lost his mother, finds out that he is no human but a half-blood, realizes that there are so many others there who are far more skilled and knowledgeable than he is and feels ignored. Some bully him, some seem to have high hopes for him, and some others just treat him like any other person, but Luke – a senior half-god, a young man who excels in swordfighting trains him and teaches him how to fight and defend. Then comes the event Annabeth has been waiting for – “Capture the Flag”, a sport for the half-gods where two different groups of students compete and the group who captures the other’s flag and runs to the finish line wins. Percy is added to the team with cabin eleven and Annabeth and a few others; Clarisse and her mates determined to make him suffer and punish him. He fears failing and embarassing himself and others, but suddenly, when he comes in contact with cold water, he experiences a surge of strength, and defeats all of them, impressively. Anabeth makes Luke and others watch what had just happened, making Percy get into the water again – he becomes more powerful – because he is the son of Poseidon, the God of water.
This is just the start; there is more to come, as Percy, Anabeth, and Grover go out on a quest and they have to fight enemies and monsters he never imagined he would have to do. There are magic and action in almost every chapter. This is a fast-paced novel that would normally be quite enjoyable for children. It also works as a good read for adults occasionally. With all the helpless, lonely child as the main character, magical creatures, superpowers, living in a school-like place with children and teachers who are all not merely human, in many ways, the Percy Jackson series might remind you of the Harry Potter series. Yes, both are children’s fantasy novels. But unlike the Harry Potter series, which went deep into character building and hooking the reader with emotions of the main character, this book is very light and fast-paced. If you are an adult reading this, you might want to consider buying this for your niece or nephew or your own children if you are a parent. I would give this a 4-star rating. Happy reading!
