Review: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Title: The Lightning Thief
Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Scholastic
Publish Date: June 12, 2005
Genre: YA, mythology
Pages: 377
Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians
1. The Lightning Thief
2. The Sea of Monsters (April 1, 2006)
3. The Titan's Curse (May 5, 2007)
4. The Battle of the Labyrinth (May 6, 2008)
5. The Last Olympian (May 5, 2009)

*Read for book club.

Synopsis:
Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school...again. And that's the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he's angered a few of them. Zeus's master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.

Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus's stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

From Goodreads

I have to say, it took me a little while to get into this book. I don’t know why. Maybe it was because I’m so used to reading from a teen female’s point-of-view that I was a bit thrown off when I went to read one with a 12-year-old male main character. I think I was also missing the romance I’m used to reading.

I really did like the story. There was always something going on, and there wasn’t much time spent waiting for something to happen. I like stories that always keep me on the edge of my seat because I know something is going to happen again. However, I also found it predictable. I guessed a lot of stuff before it happened, both about characters and events. But really, I don’t mind that too much because it keeps me reading to see if I’m right.

The main characters made a great team. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover worked really well together. They always had each others’ backs and there wasn’t any big tension or disagreements between them. I’d definitely read this book with my future class because it promotes strong friendships and getting along regardless of your various backgrounds.

I would recommend this book to students in middle school, probably not older. I think if I’d read this in high school I wouldn’t have liked it as much because the main character is a 12 year old boy. But if the reader also likes Ancient Greek mythology, they might be more likely to enjoy it. I’m glad I read it, and it’s definitely one that I’ll recommend to my students when I have my own classroom.