Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Review #38: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Title: The Lightning Thief (Book 1)

Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Miramax Books (Hyperion)
Format: Paperback purchased
Genre: Young Readers 8-12
Series: Percy Jackson and the Oympians
ISBN: 078683865-5

Rating: 9/10

My Review and Description:

What a fun book! I am so glad I finally read this. It's been on my shelf for years now! Percy Jackson is really fun lead character full of personality and fire and energy. I grew to really like him throughout his adventures and I really look forward to continuing on to the other books as well.

Percy Jackson is a 12 year old kid in and out of all the boarding schools in New York. He's smart but dyslexic, has ADHD and well, kind of a temper. After getting kicked out of Yancy Academy in NYC, he heads home to the small apartment he used to live in with his mom and stepfather.

His stepfather is a jerk, of course, and he wishes it was just him and his mom. He is happy, though, to find out his mom planned a weekend trip to their cabin for just Percy and her.

The trip there begins all of the adventure. But to go on, I would have to give away some plot points. Not good! You must discover them on your own! Let's just say it involves monsters and Gods in the mythological form! And Percy is the key to preventing a war.

A former co-worker of mine once described this series as "sparkly" and I would agree. Though certainly rich with detail of stuff you learned in school it also bubbles with delight, whimsy, fun and adventure. I can see this filling the void left behind by Harry Potter. I'm cool with that!

The movie is due out on February 12 and is produced/directed by the same people who did the first Harry Potter. It is big, bright, glossy and cinematic. Only problem is that the boy that plays Percy looks a wee bit older than 12.(16 maybe?) I guess a little marketing towards the Twilight/Harry Potter age is why this is. ?

Check out this website for the trailer. Percy Jackson-The Movie

The rest of the series goes like this:
The Sea of Monsters- Book 2
Titan's Curse- Book 3
Battle of the Labyrinth- Book 4
The Last Olympian- Book 5

Can I read them all by the movie release date? Probably not but I do want to read the rest at some point.

Happy Reading!

red headed book child








10 comments:

L. Diane Wolfe said...

It sounds cute! Thanks for a little background info before the movie comes out.

Tales of Whimsy said...

Great review. I can't wait to read this.

Amy J said...

Great review!

Like that new blog header huh? Larissa did that for me! Tomorrow she is going to work on a new rating system for me! I am so excited! I told you the graphics get addicting! Just you wait!

Jenny said...

Ooooh I can't wait to read this!! Great review! I've been meaning to read it for a while now and just saw last week that a movie is coming out. I went and bought this yesterday so hopefully I'll get to it soon.

I have yet to finish the Harry Potter series! I love them though. Don't know what's wrong with me!

brizmus said...

Well then, I guess I've got to read this soon, with the movie coming out and everything! how exciting that there are monsters and mythical gods! Yay!

Ryan said...

Love the book love the series. Great review.

Mel (He Followed Me Home) said...

I so want to read this series - even more so now! Glad you're loving it!!!

Melissa (My World...in words and pages) said...

I am so glad you enjoyed this book. My son is currently working on reading it... He's been trying to read it for about 2 months now. He's 10 and with all the homework and such he is a little slow at it. Plus he keeps leaving it at school because they are to have a book to read in school. I can't wait for him to get done with it so I can give it a try.

Alyssa Kirk said...

So glad you enjoyed this. I read it after Gregory told me I absolutely had to. It was fun! Gregory loved the rest of the series too. He's a bit upset that the movie looks like it is deviating from the book (older kids and several other things) but we just keep telling him to get over it and enjoy the movie ride. It looks like fun! Hope we're right or he'll never let us hear the end of it!

Christine said...

So glad you liked this one... although I'm not surprised. It is very well loved. I'm next on the reserve list for this one at the library. I've been wanting to read the series for a long time, too. Now I'm seeing more of my grown up book blogging friends reading it so I'm more motivated. Plus, the movie's coming soon.