Book Review: Percy Jackson and the Olympians – The Lightning Thief

Percy Jackson and the Olympians – The Lightning Thief

This book is about a boy named Percy Jackson, and you will soon find out, he is not an ordinary boy. He is about to be kicked out of boarding school, again but that is the least of his troubles. Lately, strange 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 real life. To make matters worse, he has angered a few of them. Zeus’s master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect!

Percy Jackson and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus’s stolen property in order to bring peace to a very upset Mount Olympus. In order to be successful on his quest, he will have to do more than catch the real thief. He must also 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.

Are you ready to join Percy Jackson and his friends and go on an adventurous journey?

Overview

This is the story that started it all. Rick Riordan fans will tell you that this is the first book that unlocked the imaginative world of greek mythology and roman mythology and bring them to life in present-day Upstate New York. It is one of many Rick Riodan books that will draw you in so deep that you cannot put the book down until every last page is read. And once you are done, you are hungry for more.

Riodan has a writing style that is easy to read and intriguing at the same time. For this book, he writes from the point of view of a 12-year-old boy, talking about his daily life and the strange things that seem to be happening to him. It is full of personality, character, as well as jokes and sarcasm, as you would expect from a young almost-teenager.

There are 22 chapters and every page is lavishly illustrated by artist John Rocco, bringing all of Riodan’s characters to life. I really enjoyed the big pages and the colors on all the pages as I read the book. There is even a ribbon bookmark in the book to help you mark the page you stopped on. Some illustrations are full-length pages, while others are in between the words. With every page you turn, there is something interesting to see.

This deluxe gift edition of the internationally best-selling first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, is a must-have for Riordan fans. If you know of a Riodan fan, I highly recommend adding this lovely book to their collection.

• Age Range: 8 – 12 years
• Grade Level: 3 – 7