Percy Jackson and the Olympians: the Lighting Thief Review

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: the Lightning Thief is no doubt one of those amazing books that goes on my 'Read It Again and Again' list. I picked it up while doing NaNoWriMo 2011, just to see how another author took on Greek Mythology, which was the topic of my novel. To put it lightly, I was blown away. To the farthest corner of the Universe. The very edge of the cosmos. The- well, you get it. One of the things I liked most was that the book never actually said there isn't a God in the Christian sense. In fact, is hinted that personified and unpersonified Gods coexist.
Moving on... This book was hilarious. I could barely read from laughing so hard at some points. I also loved how Riordan took Greek tales and myths and created scenarios suited to them. I was interested to find out that Medusa was once Poseidon's girlfriend and that Athena had actually 'created' the Gorgon sisters after finding Medusa and Poseidon in her temple. Her sisters were punished as well, since they helped her sneak in. 
I loved Camp Half-Blood, and found the fact that most of the Cabins were honorary was an obvious fact that you don't get at first. I liked that the characteristics of each cabin corresponded to their respective god, such as Zeus' having lightening bolts and Hera's having pomegranates.
also liked the chapter with Procrustes. I found his maniacal determination to make people fit into his beds funny and 'like, seriously?' at the same time.
I found the Underworld interesting. The Fields of Punishment sickened me and the Fields of Asphodel filled me with dread. It actually made me really think about getting something done in this life. 
Now, let's talk about Percy. According to the Camp Half-Blood wiki he's a twelve year old boy diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia who has been expelled from every school he's ever attended. This is Percy in a nutshell. The ADHD is something that while it might not help him function in a classroom as well, his ever shifting attention will help him keep an eye on things in battle. The dyslexia is a side effect of a mind wired to read Ancient Greek. All the demigods have both of these conditions, so things are more interesting. Grover and Annabeth were two very outstanding secondary characters that helped develop Percy. You got to know him better though them as well.  
I really liked the ending, especially Gabe's fate. 


Well, thank you for reading this review! I tried to keep it as spoiler-free as possible, but that was a big fat, Greek God sized flop, if you may. 

May the Force be with you! Annika Elipton signing off!

1 comment :

  1. "One of the things I liked most was that the book never actually said there isn't a God in the Christian sense" YES I totally agree!! I liked that too! AWESOME review! I actually did a review on this book too! http://leesliterarylounge.blogspot.com/2011/08/percy-jackson.html

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