Review: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

Poseidon. Earth-shaker. Storm-bringer. Father of horses.

Hail, Perseus Jackson! Son of the Sea God!

If you are weird, impulsive, have dyslexia but reading Greek still comes easy to you, then you have come to the right place! Mr. Peter Johnson….oh, I am sorry! Percy Jackson will guide you through the journey on becoming a real hero of the real world where the real monsters exist.

In my experience, this book was really amazing and entertaining! Do you know why? Because it is about myths! I love myths! I have always loved myths because they tell stories with a deeper truth and morals that transcends time. I am almost always curled up with a mythical story running in my mind. I love myths so much that I throw random mythical jokes in front of people and no one gets it. I love myths so much that people get surprised when I tell them that I haven’t read Rick Riordan’s books.

Well, thankfully, it won’t happen anymore because I have finally thrown my hands on his books and I vow to myself that I will devour them all till they are left no more. Now let’s get to the review!

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. The story is narrated by Percy, himself, with an amazing opening chapter where he directly tells the reader to stop reading if they think they are having troubles in school, get hallucinations, are impulsive or are just maybe *leans closer and whispers* special.

Percy, who has ADHD and dyslexia, studies in a boarding school that he absolutely hates, and as if that isn’t already enough to deal with, he starts noticing strange things happening around him. Like the moment his Maths teacher suddenly turns into a monster and tries to kill him, and later finding out that there was no such teacher like that. Things get even stranger when he hears his best friend and his Latin teacher discussing something about him in hushed tones. And especially, when he finds out that his best friend, who is apparently not a human, and his mother think that it is time that he knew the truth about his father and the place where Percy actually belongs to- A summer camp for demigods.

I loved the writing style of this book. The mood, the atmosphere, the setting and even the characterization were so vividly captured and described by the author and with such ease! Not once did I find any heavy descriptions or any sort of info dumps in the entire book. For this to be a middle grade book, it was both, an easy to understand read and a feel-good comical take on myths and monsters.

The plot was properly planned out and was beautifully executed with fast pacing and layered characters. The mysteries were solved at the right moments, added with more suspense and questions. I have said this before but I will say it again. I loved the characters and their characterization. You know you are reading a good book, when the character just breathes and you know who it is we are talking about. Also the setting! I loved the way Rick has described the camp, the cabins and the underworld. It is like I know those places by heart! As I have been there!

The one thing that spoiled the fun for me was the fact that I had already solved the main ‘who-done-it?’ mystery way before they even reached the underworld. So when the secrets were finally revealed, I was like- ha! I knew it. I don’t know but I felt like it was predictable or perhaps its just me who had her suspicions over everyone.

But overall, I give this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars. I thoroughly loved this book and I highly recommend it. It has A+ plot, A+ characters which will make you root for them, A+ pacing that will keep you on your toes and A+ action scenes and monsters!

Happy reading! ❤