The Lightning Thief

I started reading this with The Newest Olympian podcast, which is great fun. However, I couldn't wait a week for each chapter. I just had to finish. I remember listening to it with my son on road trips when he was pretty small. This series really created a love of mythology in him. That said, I don't really remember much of the series beyond what was in the less than good movies.

Riodan does a pretty good job with the teenage voice. Percy and Anabeth both sound like teenagers, maybe a bit older than they are in the books but still teenagers. Also, I love that Percy is a good kid whose been in trouble a lot. I've met lots of kids like him as a teacher. Percy and Anabeth both really exemplify the untainted view that the world should try to achieve social justice, that things should be fair, and we should all work to make them such if we can. Those things that are out of our hands are out of our hands, so be it.

Percy feels like a real hero.

My only frustration with this book is that it really isn't a self contained story. Despite being book one of a beloved series, this book feels incomplete.

I just re-read this (and will go on with the series). You ask why? Because I was seeing the 2nd movie the other day, and damn it, but I couldn't remember anything. I hear thats a pretty common issue with us bookworms. However, I remember being enchanted by the series and reading it in a week or so. So I decided to re-read them and try to remember it better.

So, on to the review. Its a pretty good book, considering the absurdness of its core-concept; and given that, it is handled pretty well. A lot of the characters are straight caricatures of their mythological personalities, and this is carried over to the demi-gods themselves. As a result, a lot of the book becomes predictable given you know what everyone is good at at even given moment.

The only character that shows some self-belief and strays from their "God-given"/inherited personality is Luke, and he doesn't have enough scenes in the book anyway. But all things considered, its still a good book. I'd give it 3.5 stars after my re-read.

[guessing at the star rating / mining my old FB notes now that they are almost impossible to find]

now i know why the actor playing percy jackson is soooo thrilled. this will likely be the new harry potter - each book getting a movie - so he's in for fame, money, stardom, more money, women, and more money still.

actually, i really enjoyed the book as i was clipping along. i can see the appeal to young readers, and i turned my son on to the book by telling him the first few chapter titles (I accidentally vaporize my pre-algebra teacher...Three old ladies knit the socks of death), and then reading the first few papragraphs aloud. for awhile we were tag-team reading. when i wasn't using it, he was reading it and - hey - if it gets boys to read - all the more power to it.

the problem came when i put it down for a day or two. it lost momentum for me. i guess i can't re-enter fantasy after i've been away from it, but i don't think that will be a problem for boys.

btw - i read this for book club. i wouldn't have read it otherwise, and that's what's good about someone else choosing your book - you get a broader view than you would on your own. so now fierce has found a whole new series