Sunday, February 14, 2010

The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: Book 1

Percy Jackson's life has gotten very wierd. Not only has he been kicked out of boarding school once again, but odd things have been happening around him such as the monsters from his Greek mythology class chasing him and trying to kill him. Turns out, the ancient Greek gods are real and one of them is the father that abandoned Percy as a baby. Even worse than that, somebody stole Zues' lightning bolt and Percy is the prime suspect. Percy and his friends have ten days to to find the lightning bolt and return it to Mount Olympus.

I've heard tons of comparisons of this series to the Harry Potter series and there are a  number of similarities (orphaned boy who has magical powers, two sidekick friends - one very smart and the other a goofball, both boys have a quest to complete that if they fail means horrendous things for the world) but that's about where the similarities end. Rick Riordan's book is steeped in Greek mythology. There are allusions to classical characters and legends scattered all through the books. I'm positive I missed more than one (guess I'll need to find that copy of Edith Hamilton's Mythology and do some studying). This first book was very fast paced, easy to read and fun.

Book 4 in the 101 Fantasy Challenge

1 comments:

  1. I've almost completed the third book in the series. It most definitely has not replaced my addiction to Harry Potter, but it is an entertaining read. I, too, must buy Edith Hamilton's book!

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