~Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief~ Book Review

My older sister and best friend have both read the entire series of Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan. And they’ve been trying to get me to read it, too, because it’s apparently ‘So awesome!’ And I resisted for the past two years, maybe a bit more, just for the simple fact that I could. Yeah. That’s kind of my thing, in case you haven’t noticed.

However.

I’ve been having a hard time with a few of my male characters lately, making them sound way too feminine. (Because, hello, young woman here.) So then Cardinal (15) got a sly look on her face and said, “You know… Percy is a boy. And the books are in his perspective. That might help you out…” She knows I’ll do anything for my novel. This felt like a set-up, and an extremely clever one at that. But I knew that Percy Jackson had to be a good series, otherwise my sister wouldn’t love it so much. So I read the first book this week and— WOW. It really was amazing!

I really won’t spoil anything this time, I swear.

First things first: The characters. Percy is hilarious and gutsy and clever and pretty awesome— and very boyish. Which I appreciated, of course, and I’ve already used his character as inspiration for my male characters. So, thank you Rick Riordan! Percy is great!

Annabeth is an icon. She’s witty and sarcastic and an excellent person. She reminds me a little bit of Flynne, in a way. She kind of resents Percy in the beginning, because of… wait. Nope. Read the book and find out!

And Grover, that old chap. He’s got that Sidekick Archetype feel to him, you know, brave, but in a smart way, and supportive of Percy.

The way that the three main characters interact is dynamic and captivating, and they are just so funny.

Second, the book has taught me some Greek mythology, such as the story behind Medusa. Like, okay, I knew who Medusa was, but I didn’t know how she became a monster. (Medusa, a mortal woman, was dating Poseidon and they went on a date in Athena’s temple, which angered Athena, of course, and she cursed Medusa to be ugly and petrify anybody who looked at her face.)

Third: The plot, of course! Percy is taken to Camp Half-Blood and is given a quest a few weeks into his training. He needs to find Zeus’s master bolt— a weapon more powerful than a nuclear bomb, which was stolen a month or so ago— and return it to the god before the summer solstice, which was only ten days away. There’s danger at every turn. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover have a knack for running into monsters and awful places, which they only barely manage to escape each time. They meet Ares, the god of war, and he asks them to retrieve his shield from a waterpark. In return, he gives them a backpack filled with supplies and gets them a ride to their destination:

The underworld. They go into the Land of the Dead seeking Hades, who is convinced that the two Heroes (AKA half-bloods) stole his invisibility mask. Percy tries to convince Hades that he didn’t steal anything, but the god of the dead gets infuriated and accuses them of stealing his mask along with Zeus’s master bolt. And if you want to know how the book ends… read it. :)